Propaganda

These are the six propaganda techniques we talked about in class today.

Bandwagon - Groups of people doing/wearing the same thing. Everyone else is doing it.

Appeal to status (snob appeal) - Only the best belong to our club.

Plain Folks - Makes you think the person in the ad is just like you. Everyday people.

Statistics - Uses numbers to sell a product.

Testimonial - A famous person endorses a product.

Name calling - Comparing two products and saying one is better.

Crazy Days!

Well, another crazy day has gone by. I feel like I have been missing in action for the past few weeks (and we've only been in school a few weeks!) I didn't really think much of it until today when a student asked me why I've been gone so much. So I thought I'd give a little explanation to others who are wondering. The first week of school I attended my co-workers funeral. Last week I had a sub in the middle school while I did some reading testing in the elementary. Tuesday my son Max was sick and tonight, after a trip to the emergency room, I found out he has croup, so I will be gone tomorrow and Friday as well. It's so hard to be gone from work, I really enjoy the kids and feel a little out of sorts when I'm not there, but my baby needs me, so home is where I'll be.

Critical Thinking

Our first unit in Social Studies is critical thinking. This unit focuses on problem solving using three steps; 1. Identify and clarify the problem 2. Collect and judge information 3. Solve the problem. This week we have been focusing on step one by looking at various skills used in identifying a problem. We've talked about perception (using your 5 senses), finding the main idea, creating good questions, making comparisons and determining relevance.

Today's activity included listening to The Wide Mouthed Frog and Click Clack Moo, Cows that type. We used these stories to help us create open ended and closed ended questions.

Tomorrow the kids will be getting a study guide for a quiz they are having on Monday.

About me...

Well we're one week in and I have about 70% of my kids names memorized. Since I'm working on learning about your kids, I thought you might like to know a little about me. I grew up on a dairy farm north of Melrose and graduated in 1995 from Melrose High School. I then attended St. Ben's and received my bachelors in elementary education with an emphasis in social studies. I was hired to teach 3rd grade in 1999, the next two years were spent in 5th and 6th grade. The following year I was asked to teach 7th grade social and I have been here ever since! I love teaching in the middle school, the kids are crazy, loud, fun and excited to be here. There is never a dull moment with 7th graders. I received my masters degree in education in 2005 from Southwest Minnesota State University. My husband Ben and I live on a dairy farm (the same on I grew up on) and have three kids. Sam is in second grade, Grace is in kindergarden and Max is 17 months old. I think this is going to be a great year!

Welcome Back!

Whew! We successfully made it through the first day of school. Hopefully your kids are as tired as I am and go to bed early tonight. (At least that's my plan!) Today I gave each of the students a class syllabus. Please take some time to review this with your child, there is a sheet for you to sign and return by Friday. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions, comments or concerns.