Maya Angelou
January 25, 2012Pink and Say
January 24, 2012
Today we read a good book by Patricia Polacco. I want you to think about what you liked about this book. What would it be like if you had to go fight a war when you were only14? Would you be scared? Who was your favorite character in the book? You can email your responses through our ePAL accounts.
Miss Roche
Class X03
January 9, 2012
Students’ City Scape.. Impressions of living in a big city…..
Now hanging at 400 First Ave, NYC, NY
Who is Emmett Till?
January 1, 2012
I was perusing Hatchet « Stuff From Room 311 and I started reading one of their blogs about Emmett Till. Do any of you know anything about this young man? I thought it to be important to do some research about him. Below are some web sites that you will find information on.
Author Susan Klopfer invites us to view her Emmett Till blog…
January 1, 2012
Miss Klopfer has found our website and commented on our Emmett Till blog. She invites us to visit her website where we can find more information about the Civil Rights Movement, Emmett Till and others.
Read Miss Klopfer’s comment’s below:
http://missroche127.wordpress.com/2007/01/25/who-is-emmett-till/
Visit Author Susan Klopfer’s website here:
Martin luther King, Jr.
January 1, 2012
On January 15 we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday.
I Have a Dream…
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. We celebrate his birthday on the third Monday in January. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who used peaceful methods to counteract the inequalities of laws and society.
New Year Resolutions…
December 30, 2011
Ramadan
December 23, 2011Part of the Ramadan holiday tradition is for peopleto take a self-inventory of how they can make improvements within themselves. Students in Class X03 also took a self-awareness assessment and came up with different areas that they would like to try to improve.
Dante: I’m going to try to compose myself when I find I’m getting mad. I will try to do a little bit of homework for my grandparents.
Anastasia: I would like to not talk out all the time. I want to learn to stop myself from calling out and respect others.
Michael: I would like to be a better student by working at completing my task faster and paying attention more.
Devin: I will be considerate of others if I need to make myself more comfortable. I understand that this is selfish.
Tyla: I want to refocus myself when I see I begin to drift away from what’s going on in the class or at home.
Nickolas: I want to stop beating up and cursing at my brother. I want to be a better big brother to him so how I can show how to a better person.
Chayanne: Achieving my goals, by doing my schoolwork faster.
Daijore: I would like to be a better student by arriving on time, completing all of my tasks, and completing my homework.
- What is the Islam Religion?
- The word Islam comes from an Arabic root words meaning ‘peace’ and ‘submission. Islam teaches that one can only find peace in one’s life by submitting to Almighty god (Allah) in heart, soul and deed. The same Arabic root word gives us “Salaam alaykum’ which means ‘Peace be with you. ”which is the universal Muslim greeting.
- Islam is a major world religion, with over 1 billion followers worldwide (1/5 of the world population). IT is considered one of the Abrahamic, monotheistic faiths, along with Judaism and Christianity. Although associated with the Arabs of the Middle East, less than 10% of Muslims are in fact Arab. Muslims are found all over the world, of every nation, color and race.
- Who is Muslim?
- A person who believes in and follows Islamic beliefs is called a Muslim, also from the same root word. So, the religion is called “Islam” and a person who believes in and follows it is a “Muslim”.
- What is Allah?
- Allah is the proper name for the Almighty God and is often translated merely as “God”. Allah has that are used to describe his characteristics: the Creator, the Sustainer, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
- What is the Islamic lunar calendar? (Hijrah)
- This calendar has 12 lunar months, the beginnings and endings of which are determined by the sighting of the crescent moon.
- The Islamic calendar is the official calendar in many Muslim countries. However some Muslims also use the Gregorian calendar however for religious purposes they use the Islamic Calendar.
- What is Hijrah?
- This is when the Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Madhinah.
- The ‘five pillars’ of Islam: In Islam, faith and good works go hand in hand. A mere verbal declaration of faith is not enough for belief in Allah makes obedience to Him a duty.
- Ramadan:
- What is Ramadan?
- Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar. Every day during this month, Muslims around the world spend the daylight hours in a complete fast.
- It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. There are as many meanings of Ramadan as there are Muslims.
- Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur’an, giving charity, purifying one’s behavior, and doing good deeds.
- The third “pillar” or religious obligation of Islam, fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control.
- Ramadan begins in the ninth month of the lunar calendar and at the first sighting of the new moon. The ending of Ramadan is marked by the celebration of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr, is similarly determined.
- What is ‘Eid-ul-Fitr?
- ‘Eid-ul-Fitr, the Festival of Fast-Breaking. The celebration at the end of Ramadan is called ‘Eid-ul-Fitr (the Festival of Fast-Breaking). It is a joyous occasion, similar to Christmas in its celebration but with strong religious significance. The giving of a special charity for this occasion is obligatory. Muslims dress in holiday attire, attend a special community prayer in the morning, and visit friends and relatives. Greetings of “‘Eid mubarak,” or “a blessed ‘Eid” are exchanged. In some places, children are given gifts or money by their parents and relatives.
- The celebration of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr lasts three days, although the main festivities occur on the first day. In Fort Collins, Muslims gather in a community center for prayer and a community breakfast. Students and workers of all ages take time off from school and work whenever possible. Muslims in the United States are trying to gain recognition of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr, one of their two main festivals, as an official holiday.
- When does fasting (sawm) begin?
- The daily period of fasting starts at the breaking of dawn and ends at the setting of the sun. In between — that is, during the daylight hours — Muslims totally abstain from food, drink, smoking. This is to demonstrate self discipline. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset.
- A secondary goal, fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to thankfulness and appreciation for all of God’s bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.
- What is a Qu’ran (Koran)?
- The Qur’an is the central religious Verbal-Book of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Kuran, Koran, Qur’ān, Coran or al-Qur’ān. It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language. Muslims hold that the Qur’an is the verbal divine guidance and moral direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God.]
- Muslims holds that the Qur’an was repeatedly revealed from Allah to Muhammad verbally through the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in 610 CE, when he was forty, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.
Class X03 Celebrates Kwanzaa
December 14, 2011
Kwanzaa is a non-religious African American holiday which celebrates family, community, and culture. It is celebrated for seven days: December 26 – January 1.
Winter Solstice
December 3, 2011
Celebrate the Holidays the Italian Way…
December 1, 2011
Class X03 is celebrating the holidays Italian style.
Christmas season in Italy is traditionally celebrated December 24-January 6, or Christmas Eve through Epiphany. This follows the pagan season of celebrations that started with Saturnalia, a winter solstice festival, and ended with the Roman New Year, the Calends. However there are lots of Christmas things to see during December prior to Christmas, many starting on December 8, the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.
La Befana
Italy’s traditional celebration includes the tale of a white-haired witch known as La Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones.
According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused.
Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger.
Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus. Children hang their stockings on the evening of January 5 awaiting the visit of La Befana.
La Befana Festivals
The town of Urbania, in Le Marche region, holds a 4-day festival for La Befana from January 2-6. Children can meet La Befana in La Casa della Befana. This is one of the biggest celebrations for La Befana in Italy.
The Befana races are held in Venice on January 6. Men dressed as La Befana race in boats on the Grand Canal.
Gobble, Gobble
November 18, 2011
Harvest Those Pennies…
November 18, 2011
Main Entry: 1har·vest
Function: noun
Pronunciation: ‘här-v&st
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English hervest, from Old English hærfest; akin to Latin carpere to pluck, gather, Greek karpos fruit
1 : the season for gathering in agricultural crops
2 : the act or process of gathering in a crop
History of New York…
November 17, 2011Some great webquests… for all to explore… 4th grade Social Studies….
Everything you ever wanted to know about turkeys… and then some..
November 15, 2011
Social Studies…Puerto Rico
November 8, 2011
Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean, an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of the Dominican Republic.
Veteran’s Day
November 3, 2011
Now more than ever we should pay homage to this day. Rememberance of all those who give their lives so we can live in our great country.
Armistice Day Becomes Veterans Day
World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.
In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.
Tomb of the Unknowns
Official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day center around the Tomb of the Unknowns.
To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil.
At 11 a.m. on November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes “Present Arms” at the tomb. The nation’s tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the laying of a presidential wreath and the playing of “Taps.”
Unknown Soldier Identified
On Memorial Day (which honors U.S. service people who died in action) in 1958, two more unidentified American war dead, one from World War II and the other from the Korean War, were buried next the unknown soldier of World War I.
A law was passed in 1973 providing interment of an unknown American from the Vietnam War, but because of the improved technology to identify the dead, it was not until 1984 that an unidentified soldier was buried in the tomb.
In 1998, however, the Vietnam soldier was identified through DNA tests as Michael Blassie, a 24-year-old Air Force pilot who was shot down in May of 1972 near the Cambodian border. His body was disinterred and reburied by his family in St. Louis, Missouri.
