To Kill a Mockingbird Trial

Instead of just reading To Kill a Mockingbird, we turned the classroom into a courtroom and acted  out chapters 17-21. The students did an amazing job playing their characters and creating a visual to remember these crucial scenes in the book. 

College Application Week

November 3-7 was College Application Week in Michigan. There were various activities going on throughout the school, including giving all seniors time to fill out and submit college applications.

However, I believe it is important to talk to the Freshmen and Sophomores about college and what they can be doing at this stage of their lives.

We had a great discussion on Monday about college in general and what resources are available to them.

The powerpoint I used in class can be viewed by clicking on the following link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1l9JqyWeYbaLKmQEzwQnhLgcZmQV--F6xlkMlncrho_0/edit?usp=sharing

I also shared a spreadsheet template I encouraged the students to make a copy of and start filling out. This spreadsheet will help them keep track of all of the things they are involved in, which will make college and scholarship applications much easier to fill out when the time comes. The spreadsheet can be found by clicking on this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10yUls0VIztBJXRCRyxEiUhg1iLBtSG2Si70d4WiPbA8/edit?usp=sharing

Students of the Week Oct.-Nov. 2014

After contacting the Detroit Pistons, they have given me access to tickets for four-five games per month. So, I have decided to give my Students of the Week their choice of Piston's tickets. 

In the middle of the month, the Piston's organization sends me a list of all the games that I can request. When that email comes to me, I will award all of the Students of the Week. 

When the email came this month, I had four awards for each grade level ready to give out. 

Here are the most recent Students of the Week: 

Michigan Author, Krista Bur, Talks to Sandusky Students

We were so fortunate to have Michigan author, Krista Bur, come to speak to the freshmen and sophomore classes today. She discussed the writing and publishing process with the students and shared many tips with them. It was a great chance for them to ask questions and learn from someone that has been through this process, which started when she was their age.

There are many opportunities to follow Krista Bur and learn more about her. The published book she shared with them can be found on Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Krista-E-Bur/dp/1494277808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415370663&sr=8-1&keywords=krista+bur+the+hidden

(She is also offering discounted, signed copies for our students. Please send me an email, ecarlson@sandusky.k12.mi.us, if you would like to take advantage of this offer.)

She also shared with them the organization she co-founded. This organization became a key part of the publishing process for her. It is open to anyone that would like to become a Michigan author.

http://www.michiganauthors.org/

Krista also has a Facebook page and a twitter account: @KristaBurAuthor 

Here are some pictures from our day with her: 

Socktober Donations

Sandusky Jr./Sr. High School students did a great job collecting items for #Socktober. During the month, 722 pairs of socks, 82 pairs of gloves, 30 hats, and a variety of items such as scarves, coats, boots, canned food, toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, and blankets were collected. 

Special thanks to Mr. Gurnee for taking care of the project and for getting the donations to organizations in Sanilac County.

These sophomore girls, along with a few others, really stepped up to help motivate students to bring in donations. Mrs. Kaatz's 4th hour class donated the most items! Congratulations!

HMC (Here to Make a Change) Club

A new club has been established at Sandusky High School. Forty-two students have signed up to be part of the HMC (Here to Make a Change) Club. The goal of the club is to promote positivity throughout the school all year long. I am so proud of the dedication and determination these students have shown in the creation of this group and through their first positive campaign. I can't wait to see all of the great things they do for our school. 

October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. Today, October 22nd, was National Unity Day. People across the nation were asked to wear orange in support of bullying prevention. Not only did the HMC promote wearing orange today, but they also tied their first campaign to Unity Day. 

Each of the HMC members was given a stack of post-it notes last Friday. They wrote positive words, phrases, and quotes on their post-its. We collected the post-its on Tuesday night. A lot of the HMC members met Tuesday night to hang the post-its throughout the school.  When students and staff arrived Wednesday morning, they were greeted by over 600 positive notes. Most of the notes are still hanging at the end of the day. And...eight more people asked to join the club after seeing what a difference these initial students are making. 

Look for information about November's positive campaign. The HMC students are working on a positive poster competition. All students can enter the poster contest for a chance to win great prizes. The best part is these posters can all be posted around the school after the competition. 

Students of the Week 10/10 & 10/17

I am a little behind in posting the Students of the Week, so I decided to post the past two weeks on here. 

Students last week: 

Students of the Week for this week:

Persuasive Techniques

One of my favorite units to cover is persuasive techniques in speaking and writing. For the past two days, the sophomores have been identifying persuasive techniques in John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address. I have been so pleased with their progress and ability to work in groups to complete this task. Our goal is to now use these techniques while writing our VFW Voice of Democracy speech. 

Teen Read Week

This week is Teen Read Week. Our librarian, Mrs. Wheeler, is promoting this event throughout the school. Students caught reading without being asked to read will be given a Pride Ticket. Tickets can be turned in for prizes on Friday in the library.

For more information about Teen Read Week, check out this website: http://teenreadweek.ning.com/

I will update this post with pictures of students "caught reading" this week.

We are so lucky to have such a great library for the students! 

Socktober

This week my freshmen and sophomore students were introduced to ethos, pathos, and logos. As we started digging through persuasive techniques, our Spanish and P.E. teacher, Mr. Gurnee, sent out a request for us to look at the Socktober challege put out by Kid President: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZGyUZ9YrM

Not only is it a great video to point out some of the persuasive techniques we are studying, but it is also a perfect opportunity for my students to do something positive and help people in need. We are all excited to get this underway for month of October. 

The items being requested are socks, blankets, hats, gloves, coats, canned goods, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. Everything will be donated to organizations within Sanilac County.