Edublogs Awards

It would be wonderful if the pursuit of academic excellence garnered awards and attention in the way that actors, musicians, and athletes do, and the The Edublog Awards make that possible.  As blogging enthusiasts, we would like to nominate the following blogs and tools for making the blogging universe infinitely more interesting and engaging.
Photo Credit: fdecomite via Compfight cc
Playmobils of the world

Best class blog: Huzzah! 

Best individual blog: Anthony’s Cool Blog

Best group blog: Cougar News Blog

Best free tool: PhotoPeach

We wish our nominees well!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Huzzah!!

Welcome to the sixth annual ECS Medieval Fair!

As part of the middle school’s study of Medieval Literature, we welcome you to our    re-creation of a trade fair, a common event in town squares during the Middle Ages.  Held on this feast day of St. John Berchman, in the year of our lord 2013, our fair offers you handcrafted wares and authentic food and drink in exchange for your pennies.  At 10 am, the bell will ring, signaling the start of our mystery, miracle, and morality plays.  Until then, please shop, eat, drink, and be merry!!

Let the Fair Commence!!  God speed!

Medieval Fair 2013 on PhotoPeach

What about living in the Middle Ages is better than living in modern times?  What is worse?  If you could live in any time period, which would you choose and why?

We are Thankful For….

In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving this month.  Thanksgiving began when the Pilgrims thanked God for their new home in Plimoth and their new friends, the Wampanoag tribe.

We are grateful for our friends at Huzzah who helped us learn the basics of blogging last year.  They continue to be an inspiration to us, and we want to congratulate them on their recognition today from The Edublogger as an exemplary classroom blog.

Hooray for Huzzah!

Hooray for Huzzah!

As we mentioned yesterday, we are also thankful for our veterans.

For the rest of this month, we’d like to make a list of everything for which we give thanks.  Add to our list by leaving a comment and continuing the count with a numerical number.   Let’s see how much thanks we can give!  100 items?

We are thankful for…

1. Huzzah! 

2. our veterans

3. finding my lunch box that had been lost for a week!  Thank you, Mr. Mackey!

4. watching my son and daughter play basketball for their school teams this afternoon.

5.  the knowledge that God is watching over me.  Today I lost my car key and couldn’t go home from school.  Without realizing it, I had put it down this morning, along with a lot of other things I was carrying, on a wall near some bushes.  When I picked up all the other bags, I left the key there.  At lunch time, a 5th grader found it in the mulch.  He told his teacher.  She brought it to the office.  At 4:30 when I wanted to go home, I had no key.  After frantically looking through my pocketbook and schoolbag, I headed back into school to look on my desk, telling my daughter to pray to St. Anthony and praying myself, “Dear St. Anthony, please look around.  Something’s lost and can’t be found.” Mrs. Gunther, the 6th grade teacher I ride to school with, followed me back into school, even though I told her she could wait in the car.  She saw the 5th grade teacher and told her we were looking for the key.  The 5th grade teacher had found the key; it was in the school office!  BUT the office was locked. and everyone had gone home.  Boo hoo.  We tried the parish office.  Yes!  Brother Peter had a key and knew the code to the alarm.  He unlocked the door, turned off the alarm, looked around for my key, FOUND IT, reset the alarm, and gave me back my key.  In order for me to get my car key back, all of the following had to have occurred:  Mrs. Gunther had to have decided to follow me back inside school; the 5th grade teacher had to also have been working late AND walking out of the building at the exact same time we were walking back in, the 5th grade boy had to play in the mulch today and found the key to begin with; Brother Peter had to be available late in the day.  THANK YOU ST. ANTHONY!

What are you thankful for?  Write it down!  Next comment starts with #6.

 

 

 

 

Veterans’ Day

American Soldiers...Memorial Day 2010

Photo Credit: Beverly & Pack via Compfight cc

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”  Have you ever really thought about the words we say each morning as we pledge allegiance to the flag?  Our flag is a symbol of our country.  We are very lucky in our country to:

  • be one nation without civil strife
  • have freedom of religion
  • enjoy liberty and justice for ALL

Sometimes we take our freedom for granted.   Today is a day to remember all the veterans who fought, many giving their very lives, so that we may continue to have these freedoms today.  American veterans have also fought and served our so that others in the world could have these freedoms.   We thank these veterans for their service and for allowing us to live in freedom.

On September 11th, we wrote a post A Day of Remembrance.  Revisit this post and then visit The Learning Lair, Huzzah!, and/or Mr. Miller’s Class and see what students and teachers around the world are doing to remember our veterans and promote peace.

As we know from our studies of Medieval times, from this summer’s novel A Long Walk to Water, from last year’s novel Under the Blood Red Sun, and from the story of Malala, war is, sadly, a constant in our world.  Our class is trying to contribute to peace in some small way, and we have voted to hold a middle school dance to raise funds to dig a well in South Sudan.  We hope to contribute to peace in our world through dance.

 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal … a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance … a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to lose and a time to seek; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We thank our veterans for this time of peace in our country and pray for peace throughout the world.

Do you know any veterans?  How has their service impacted you?

What can you do to promote peace in our world?

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