Beatnik Day is scheduled for a week from Friday - 4/23 - all students will recite a poem from memory with passion, oomph and gusto in front of the class - we are covering a variety of poets this way and delivering poetry in one of the prefered ways it is intended to be delivered - out loud - with an audience :) kids are expected to wear black on that day - they can talk to me if this is an issue - also, there will be xtra credit for extra effort with the Beatnik look - goatees, berets, turtle necks, glasses, bongos.....(yes i know this is the stereotyped version - but we are doing a rather Hollywood version of the Beatniks - no government bashing or drugs allowed!) - kids are welcome to bring pillow, bean bags, etc... as they will be sitting on the floor. i will be providing hot h2o and cups - they need to bring their own hotchocolate, cider, or tea.

In the realm of Civics - we completed our Wa. St. govt. ?s last week and there will be a quiz covering those questions as well as the bill of rights. (blocks 2 and 3 will quiz on tuesday - block 1 on wed. ) - the cycle of power is our next quiz - we are using this with Animal Farm - they will get Russian Rev. notes with Mr. Thornton today when we swap classes. All students (blocks 2 and 3) should be through ch. 6 my tomorrow with 2 questions written for each chapter - and we will finish the book by Friday.

I will be out of the classroom on Thursday (all day) and Friday PM for track meets - Mr. Harms will be here to carry on with Dictatorships vs. Democracies - current events - etc....

welcome back! i would say happy spring, but since the weather was nicer in edmonton than it was in pullman i think i'll wait on that salutation. ok - so in the coming weeks look for conversations about the "cycle of power" - a visual graphic i use to compare democracy with dictatorships - look for discussions regarding the book, animal farm - and continued study on the constitution and the branches of government. we will also be selecting poems for beatnik day - the poems must be apx. 20 lines from a published poet - of a more classic nature - or at least not suess or silverstein :) - and memorized so the student can own the poem when they recite :) final date for beatnik day will be announced by next week. happy 4th quarter - look for 3rd quarter grades by tues. (essays will be next quarter's grade)