The Slavery Debate

 Great job to the kids who came prepared with their inventors!

Here are the inventors that were picked:

Nick - Steve Jobs

Kaden - Leonardo DaVinci

Lamoni - Tesla

Kensi - Edison

Nadya - Braile

Meridian - H.R. Reese

Preston - Wozniak

If you didn't pick an inventor yet bring one next week!  The reports are due the last 2 weeks of class.  We will send out some ideas for their reports but they should start the research now~

Plus GREAT job to the kids who really READ the blog.  We had 4 kids read the blog and find the hidden message.  Aamon, Preston, Kensi and Meridian.  They got a sweet reward for being so diligent.  Hopefully every week the kids really read the blog to find all the pearls that are hidden there.  

We had the kids attempt to fill out a map as it looked in the 1860's.  They did a great job!  We will try again in a few weeks so keep working on those states and territories.

New Time Cards to add to.  Put them in the full order below.

Britain outlaws slave trade (1807)
US outlaws slave trade (1808)
Harriott Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Abraham Lincoln becomes 16 President (1861)
US Civil War begins (1861)

Note Cards ORDER

US Constitution Ratified (1787)
2 groups of pioneers moved from New England & Massachusetts to settle Ohio territory (1787-1788)
George Washington President (1789-1797)
Mission Santa Cruz established (1791)
Eli Whitney invents cotton gin (1793)
Eli Whitney invents interchangeable parts for muskets (1797)
Mission San Jose established (1797)
John Adams President (1797-1801)
Thomas Jefferson President (1801-1809)
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
Mission Santa Inez established (1804)
Lewis & Clark begin expedition (1804)
Lewis & Clark return from the west (1806)
Robert Fulton invents regular steamboat service on the Hudson River (1807)
Britain outlaws slave trade (1807)
US outlaws slave trade (1808)
James Madison President (1809-1817)
US Declares war on Britain (1812)
Mission San Rafael Arcangel established (1817)
James Monroe President (1817-1825)
Industrial Revolution begins in U.S. (1820)
John Quincy Adams President (1825-1829)
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad chartered (1827)
Andrew Jackson President (1829-1837)
Indian removal Act (1830)
Boston & Providence Railroad incorporated (1831)
Cochise leads band in fight with Mexicans on Gila River (1832)
2 Seminole War begins in Florida (1835)
Samuel Morse invents telegraph (1836)
Cochise participates in a peace treaty at Arizpe, Sonora in Mexico (1836)
Cochise befriends Americans, hoping they will help fight Mexico (1839)
Cherokee Trail of Tears (1839)
Elias Howe invents sewing machine (1844)
The Oregon Trail – Simmons-Bush Party leaves Missouri for Oregon Territory (1844)
Donner Party leaves Springfield, IL headed for California – over half of their party died when they were trapped in mountains by snow and ran out of food & other supplies (1846)
British give up their claim to Oregon Territory (1846)
Mormon Battalion, the only religious-based military unit moved west from Iowa to San Diego (2000 miles)(1846-1847)
Brigham Young leads Mormons westward to Salt Lake Valley (1847)
Oregon become US Territory (1849)
B&O’s westward route reaches the Ohio River – first eastern seaboard railroad to do so (1852)
Harriott Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Abraham Lincoln becomes 16 President (1861)
US Civil War begins (1861)

The girls started us out right with a quote, flag and prayer

The debate was very interesting!

They seem to make everything fun!

It was a hard topic this week - slavery.  Something that brings out a lot of emotions!  We learned that it was even worse than a lot of us thought.  Most slaves weren't kidnapped but instead sold or traded by their own tribal leaders for gold or other commodities.  In fact when the British Abolition Act was passed in 1807, the King of Bonny in Nigeria condemned the legislation - "We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our prophets and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself".  What is your favorite holiday?  comment below.  It created a lot of greed and sorrow.  Changed the way ships traded and people were treated and the world's economy.

There were many sides to the slavery argument and each side felt very strongly in their opinions.  It was a trying time and the world was ready for something better.  We talked about William Wilberforce and how he changed the hearts and minds of the people in Europe.   We watched a great clip from the movie Amazing Grace where he talks about the horror of a slave ship.  They stopped the slave trade in 1806.  The US followed a year later in 1807.  That didn't stop slavery just the slave trade.  Slavery didn't stop in the US until 1863.  It didn't stop in Africa until the 1900's.

We discussed how the industrial revolution changed the way businesses were run and the cost of having slaves wasn't as efficient as machines.  The south wasn't as quick to catch on to that and so luckily we had an amazing Patriot Abraham Lincoln.

We watched Lincoln debate Douglass in one of their many debates.  It was a powerful and moving clip.  Feel free to watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKfNMel5dug

We then watched a clip from the movie Roots.  It was a hard clip to watch.  Kunta is the main character and he has just been caught from running away.  He is severly whipped until his owner thinks he learns his lesson.  It was very hard to watch but hopefully it helped the students to get a glimpse into the awful world of slavery.

Then we had our debate.  The kids did great.  Some of their arguments were very interesting.  Sister DeGuzman coached them a little bit and helped steer them in the right direction. It was great practice for future debates.

HOMEWORK
*STUDY your note cards!  The treats will keep getting bigger and bigger!
*Finish reading In the Shadow of the Alamo - due November 1st.  Come prepared with 10 captures for a special treat.  No book read and no captures no treat.
*Read the Blog

*Start work on your inventor

*Don't forget to study the 1860 map!

QUOTES:
11/1 - Merridian
11/8 - Matthew
11/15 - Gabe
11/29 - Preston
12/6 - Nicolas
12/15 - Sister DeGuzman

President Report - Matthew & Kaden

Sharing Your Genius

We started off with a bang - actually it was almost a sword fight.  Gabe gave a great presentation on James Monroe and brought in a giant sword.  He was very prepared with skits, interviews, pictures and treats.  He really raised the bar for our President reports.

We then had the students pull out their time cards.  Kensi was the reigning champ and we waited to see if anyone could take that crown away from her.....it was close there were a couple close calls but Kensi took it again!  The gauntlet has been thrown!  Challenge is on.  Work hard on your time cards.  There are NO new cards this week so there should be plenty of time to study the cards especially since there was no homework last week.  ;)  FYI we will bring lunch in the last day of class for whomever has all the cards momorized in order....

We started the lecture off talking about the California missions.  The Spainards set up Missions all along the coast in California, each one within a days ride of the rest.  The missions did some great work in bringing trading to the coast, farming, and Christianity.  However to set these things up they took away the freedoms and free agency of the Native Americans.  We talked about the consequences that happened for this expansion and overreach.

 Ammon started us off with the pledge and a patriotic quote

Can you see James Monroe in that picture?

Gabe gave a great presentation!

 Gabe had the students perform a skit during his presentation of James Monroe

 They were all excited to help out!

 Some yummy and bloody treats from Gabe's presentation

 Kensi our reigning Queen of Note Cards!

 Gabe and Nicolas helping paint our mission roof

 They were so good today!

 Working on our mission.  Who knew it could be that complicated?

 The girls worked diligently and quietly as usual ;)

 Teamwork makes the dream work

 The California missions

It's almost done - we will show the final product next week

We then compared that to sharing our own beliefs and when it is appropriate and when it isn't.  We also talked about great ways to share the blessings they have been blessed with in their education, religion and their God given talents.  We talked about how we know where and how God wants us to share our genius.  We had a great discussion and it was great to see the students come up with some great ways to mentor siblings, share beliefs with friends and how they can do that as a missionaries someday or even today.  We also talked about instances where it is good to learn from another person's story and share our story as well.  Even if that sharing never turns into them accepting their thoughts on education, values or religion we have just touched someone's life and they have just learned a valuable lesson.  We interrupt this message to add a secret encrypted blog question to see if you are actually reading this.  Comment with your favorite candy on the blog.  Parents please don't prompt your students.  We want to see who is reading the blog and checking for their assignments!

We then moved on to making our missions.  The kids were excited becuase some of them had never built a mission before.  We had some kids cutting out the parts, some building the mission and some painting the mission.  We worked really hard but we ran out of time. 

HOMEWORK

*Come prepared with 2 inventors of your choice for the Inventor report.  The report is not due until the end of the semester but we want to narrow down the choices.  Come with 2 in case there are duplicates.  It can be any inventor!

*Start Working on your maps - you will need to know all US states up to 1860 by the end of the semester

*STUDY your notecards!  The treats will keep getting bigger and bigger!

*Prep for the debate - the slavery argument.  You won't know what side you will be on so be prepared to argue both sides.

*Continue reading In the Shadow of the Alamo - due November 1st

Living In the Wilderness

  Well first off what an amazing bunch of scholars. Today we started almost on time. whoo hoo! By the time we master the time this semester will be over. Our morning flag honor was done by Nadya. She shared a great quote and it was a wonderful tribute. Remember if you are late to class and enter during the flag ceremony just freeze at the door and salute. Ammon offered our prayer and we were off to learn about history and ourselves.

We had our timeline cards test. Is your scholar studying their timeline? ask them? Lamoni finished first but dropped his cards and had the order wrong so Kensington was able to finish and steal the win. There is only a tiny bit of competition. ;) but Kensington set the time to beat for next week. 

 Meridian was our first scholar to give her U.S President report and to sum it up WOW! I learned so much and it was so creative. She taught us about William Henry Harrison.

Did you know he was the first President to die in office? He only served for 1 month as President prior to his death. Since President Harrison joined us today in a dead state Meridian passed out cookies in the shape of a ghost. nothing like a little sugar high to get through your day. :P

After the Presentation was completed there was a quiz..it pays to listen and Ammon took home the grand prize. There were some very jealous scholars in the room.

We had a discussion on "The Wilderness". What kind of people go into the wilderness? Can the wilderness have both positive and negative meanings? What can we learn about the wilderness? It took a certain kind of person to live on the frontier. We discussed What type of person would be willing to go into the wilderness. How does it change a person to live in the "wilderness". We discussed the Israelites in the Old Testament, Book of Mormon stories and Stories of Jesus who all spent time in the wilderness. We discussed what they learned from their experience. We looked up the definition of wilderness in a physical sense and defined it in a spiritual sense.

We discussed how many settlers displaced the native American people. The US divided and sold much of the land that the native Americans had lived on for many years. We have an obligation to share our talents and our genius, but how do we balance that with a respect for the rights and beliefs of others? How do we slow down our lives enough to hear the revelation that is needed in our life?

We took some time to go outside and be alone, meditate and take some notes. We told them to think about their lives and set their priorities. We encouraged them to find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where they are going and what they will need to do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often “withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate ourselves spiritually as the Savior did. We encouraged them to write down the tasks they would like to accomplish each day. Keep foremost in mind the sacred covenants they have made with the Lord as they write down their priorities.

We then discussed the Louis L'Amour's short story:

Ask your scholars what they learned about the wilderness and themselves.

HOMEWORK:

Study those Timeline cards!

 Start reading our book for this month.

 

 U.S. PRESIDENT REPORTs:

10/18 James Monroe - GABE

Patriotic Quote: 

10/18 Ammon Pond

We love having these scholars in our class. We welcomed back Nicolas Johnson...He shared some amazing insight in the class and related it to his experiences in Ecuador. WOW! what an amazing group of youth...we are honored to work with you all..

 

Till we meet again!

Sister de Guzman

Sister Tollestrup

Pioneers

Sister DeGuzman started the class off with their timeline cards.  It is getting harder and harder each week as we add cards to our timelines.  Encourage your student to study those cards!  They are welcome to put pictures or drawings on if it would help them.

 Sister Tollestrup then gave our first President report on President Polk while the students colorfully filled out their critique sheets.  We learned that President Polk had an obituary written about him dying of diarrhea before actually died.

 We then talked about what it means to be a pioneer.

pi·o·neer

A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.

Verb:Develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity).

We talked about past pioneers and pioneers of the last 50 years. 
Neal Armstrong, Bill Gates, Condaleeza Rice etc.

We talked about how they can be pioneers in their own lives today.

We talked about the Donner Party and the Mormon Battalion but ran out of time to watch the videos on those groups.  The kids will get extra credit if they watch the videos!

Mormon Battalion Video 

Donner Party (warning - there is disturbing content)

We had a great book discussion of The Oregon Trail.  We were so proud of the kids who came prepared with the book read and 10 captures.  We hope ALL of our students will come prepared next time.  The students who were prepared got a treat of donuts.  I brought plenty to go around and went home with way too many.  There was a great discussion with the students captures.  It really helped to keep the discussion going.  We decided the book was very informative but very dry.  The kids that made it all the way through the book were troopers!

 Lamoni is one of our big thinkers

 There was a lot of concentration as the kids made their way on their trail

 Kaden is always good for a face off in class

 We also played a version of the Oregon Trail game.  The kids felt firsthand what good and bad luck means to you on the trail.

 We mapped out the Mormon Battalion Trail, the Donner Party Trail and the Oregon Trail

We had yet another great week with your students.  Thank you for sharing them with us!

HOMEWORK

Study timeline cards!

Write about how you are or can be a pioneer today.
Format can be essay, short story, journal entries, newspaper article,
Format can be essay, short story, journal entries, newspaper article, etc. Be
creative!

Read The Gift of Cochise by Louis L’Amour (hand out)
Discussion next week.

President Report - Meridian - William Henry Harrison

Patriotic Quote - Nadya