Thinkfinity: Resources for K-12

Picturing America at HCMS

Researching eras : Ms. Arp's LA

Ms. Arp's Language Arts classes are researching "eras" in United States history. Ms. Arp and I are working together to incorporate Georgia Performance Standards, 21st Century Skills and National Technology Standards into this lesson. Students locate their facts, along with visual and audio components, and will work together to create Power Point presentations. They are using Galileo for most of their research.
Today, we discussed plagiarism (stealing from the original author), copyright (even on websites), citing sources (on cards and within the PPT) and judging websites for value (wikipedia is an edited online encyclopedia...anyone can put anything on a website).
We are using 12 desktop student computers and three laptops connected to the wireless network in the media center.

LIfe is Short, Pray Hard

This is a small book, recommended as part of WrestleMania Reading. It's a compilation of church signs across America. Like these...
"People do odd things to get even."
"Remember that the rabbit foot...didn't work for the rabbit."
"Smoking won't send you to Hell, it'll just make you smell like you've been there."
Authors : Mary Compton and David Compton
Publisher : New American Library
Copyright : 2003
Subject search : Church signs -- United States -- Humor
WrestleMania Recommended Book

How to Write Killer Fiction

How to Write Killer Fiction : The Funhouse of Mystery and the Roller Coaster of Suspense is a book about writing books. Author Carolyn Wheat knows what editors want and shows how to achieve writing and publishing goals.
Students who want to write -- to really write -- will want to check this out!
Author : Carolyn Wheat
Published by John Daniel and Company
Copyright : 2003.
Subject Search : Detective and mystery stories -- Authorship, Suspense fiction -- Authorship.

Bat Masterson : The man and the legend

Bat Masterson: The Man and the Legend isn't about the actor on the Western TV Channel. This biography tells about the real man, who was a typical Western hero but not a typical man of the Western frontier. He was a buffalo hunter, Indian fighter, lawman, professional gambler... He associated with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and William F. Cody. He was a fight promoter, sheriff, newspaperman.I like reading about the Old West and the real men and women who lived there. This biography includes several photos that tell stories of their own.
Author : Robert K. DeArment
University of Oklahoma Press
Subject Search : Frontier and pioneer life -- The West, The West -- History -- 1848-1950, Pioneers -- The West -- Biography.
Copyright : 1979.

Eighth Grade Book Club

Eighth grade book club members are blogging about books!
Check out their blogs and start reading!

Hello Mrs. Thompson's class!

Hello!
I have heard what a great group of students you are! We are in Heard County and I am the media specialist at our school. I updated the survey. Please vote on the kind of books you like. That will help me when I make an order for more books!
You may click on the comments on the Pompeii books to see what our students found while researching this interesting subject. If you want to comment here, click on the comments and let me hear from you.

BTW, Mrs. Thompson... I think your students deserve a marble for learning about blogs! So, add one to the jar from me.
:-)

Bodies from the Ash

Bodies from the Ash : Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii by James M. Deem. This book is located in non-fiction, 937 DEE. Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, p2005, c2005

Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-48) and index.;August 24 and 25, AD 79 -- Rediscovering Pompeii -- The plaster bodies of Pompeii -- Lives from the ashes -- Herculaneumaes different fate -- A final excavation. Describes the archaeological excavations that began on the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum which had been buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79.

--Follett.com

This is one of the resources used in the collaboration lesson on Pompeii (South/Vinson) for sixth grade students. Students in the sixth grade first block, please post one fact in the comments and turn in your page of notes to Mrs. Vinson. Remember to post where you got your information and include your name (first name, last initial).

The History Puzzle

The History Puzzle: How We Know What We Know About the Past. By Susan Provost Beller. 901 BEL.
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books, p2006, c2006

This book includes a collection of 19 stories that attempt to piece together events in history when not all the information is available, and includes stories of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Martin's Hundred, the Great Wall, Herculaneum and Pompeii, and Custer's Last Stand.
--follett.com


This is one of the resources used in a collaborated lesson between Mrs. South and Mrs. Vinson for her sixth grade language arts classes. Students, refer to Chapter 12: Buried History -- The story of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
Students in third block/sixth grade, post one fact on Pompeii and turn in your notes to Mrs. Vinson. Remember to include where you got your information and also your name (first name/last initial).