Studies Weekly Blog

The end of the school year is upon us.  The students are excited and anxious for summer to begin (and teachers are, too), but the planning for the next school year is already underway.  Teachers are receiving grade level and classroom assignments, reviewing student data and making placement recommendations.  Now that time of the year to take inventory – what materials need to be replenished?  What does your budget look like?  (Probably like a desert or the tail end of an all-you-can-eat buffet at closing time!)

Many teachers receive a paltry sum to purchase needed classroom materials.  The dollar amount is usually around $100.  A hundred dollars!?  Pencils, crayons, copy paper and a few stickers are what you’ll probably be able to afford unless you dip into your own pockets to help purchase the necessary supplies.  Studies Weekly wants you to be able to purchase our curriculum without using your precious budgetary dollars!  Keep reading to find out how!

Get your incoming students’ parents to help you purchase the best curriculum money can buy for the 2012-2013 school year!  Go to the Studies Weekly website:  www.studiesweekly.com then use the scroll features on the “Products & Prices” box located on the right side of the screen to locate your state and grade level – click the “Search” button. The next screen will feature the products available to your state.  Look at the left side of the screen and see the “Downloads” section – click on the “Parent Letter”.  There you will have access to a beautifully written Word Document parent letter that you can customize to meet your unique situation.  Print the letter out, highlight the dollar amount you are requesting and place that letter on top of your Back to School Event information packet.

Don’t be like the Little Red Hen and hope that someone will help, be confident and bold – ask and tell parents you need this dollar contribution.  Be professional, be courteous, be an advocate for your students!  We want your students to have access to Studies Weekly – the BEST hard copy and 100% digital content available in the United States!  After all, doesn’t every child deserve the very best and doesn’t every parent want the very best for their child?

Take charge, Teacher and give your very best with Studies Weekly.  Teachers keep on teachin’! (Cue music Stevie Wonders’ “Higher Ground” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X00XdLhFLSg or if you prefer, the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s version:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gs2o5T7oN8 )

Thanks for reading!

Kim Mogilevsky

Boynton Beach, Florida

Do you ever wonder about the propaganda in political speeches and literature? Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, published in this country in 1776 and quoted by George Washington in the Revolutionary War, advocated declaring independence from Britain. At the time of its publication, even though it was wildly popular, it was considered radical propaganda and wasn’t too publicly discussed for fear of reprisals regarding treason. Now it’s considered an important and influential document in American history. But what about current political messages? Could it be that the “propaganda” we read and hear today becomes the basis for policies, laws or global actions of tomorrow? In Paine’s day, local newspapers and pamphlets were the typical modes of expression. Now, political literature and speech travel the communication channels of the globe in mere seconds. You couldn’t keep someone from hearing about something if you tried. Just ask me about the time I tripped going up the stage at that …oh, never mind, you probably already know. Electronic media allow us to reach billions of people with a keystroke. Scary, but cool.

Case in point: Kony 2012 and if you haven’t heard about that, just highlight the phrase to “YouTube it,” “Facebook it” or “Google it” (our new verbs will probably be old relatively quickly, whether we perform them to look up info, be it propaganda or just plain research, or to spread our own messages to the universe). And so what about “Kony” or other issues that we now have the inconvenience of knowing about? Paine said, “Tyranny…is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph”.  Remind your students of that while thinking about how bombarded they are with information they’d be better off not knowing.

And the next time you think you’re about to pull your hair out over a political speech, candidate’s TV commercial or unsolicited message, stop and read or listen closely. What’s really being said/not said, despite the messenger? What’s the condition of our country and our world, based on the issues being communicated or propagandized? And what, as educators, can we do to open students’ minds to the resultant civic duties and basic citizenship issues that evolve (use Social Studies Weekly, to start!)?  Paine wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls”. Well, guess what? All times have tried teachers’ souls. Are today’s political messages really about radical times in our country? I think not. Revolutionary times? Not so much. (Okay, mini-movements in the U.S. like “Occupy____” abound, but, revolutions? No.) Are these responsible times for opening students’ minds to civic duty and American citizenship? Yes, totally. Yes! Yes, definitely! Paine lives on because he made ideas about the duties of citizenship accessible to the average person. We can afford our children no less. It’s not just propaganda. It’s common sense.

Thanks for reading,

Monica Sherwin

Ormond Beach

The survey results for the Studies Weekly May Survey are in!  57% of you voted for  “Easy Mother’s Day student-made gifts.”  Thank you for your input!

The Studies Weekly Mother’s Day Project is to create a flip book card using this two-page worksheet: Studies Weekly Mother\’s Day Project

Please view the YouTube “Studies Weekly Flip Book Tutorial”:   http://youtu.be/z-l0-XPPWCY

Please let me know how your Mother’s Day projects turn out.  Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mommies out there,too!  Here’s a sample of the finished product:

Front:                                             Inside:

Thanks for reading (and downloading),

Kim Mogilevsky

Boynton Beach, FL

Recently, inspired by Florida Studies Weekly, Week 22 (4^th grade), I read Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, to my class. In it, a small boy wants to help a lady at an “old folks’ home” remember her past, so he asks other home residents what a memory is. “Something happy… something sad…something warm,” they say. Wilfred then finds 5 special items that help the lady remember in fascinating form. Afterward, I asked my class to do something similar, to honor ancestors. Each child brought in 5 things and told us the items’ significance (or you could try creating a Heritage Corner, post “Best 5 Family Photos” or invite ancestors in for a live interview. Priceless! The results were phenomenal. I know I’m a sentimental sap, that’s all! This can be done on any occasion when family visitors are present (think Mothers’ Day Tea). Memories that brought down the house okay, it was really my classroom:

• A birth certificate of a great-grandpa from Poland that was concealed for years to hide his heritage (original copy entrusted to a 4^th grader!)
• A first edition of Peter Rabbit, with a lovely inscription for a new generation
• A tattered gas rationing coupon from WW II (teachable moment!)
• A painting of two small sisters finished just days before the artist passed away
• A baby washcloth that was saved because it carries the scent of a grandma’s lotion, taken out to smell when the child misses her (grown-ups were crying at that point!)

Just today my son was asking about my ancestors. I told him and reminisced…

…about how my grandfather was sneaked in a crate onto a boat from Czechoslovakia as a toddler, because my great-grandparents couldn’t afford legitimate tickets for everyone to come to America to join the rest of the family.

…about the passenger manifest from their ship,  listing physical description, literacy level, amount of money in pockets and destinations of new arrivals to this country (incredible primary source!) Click on the link below to see the webpage listing my great-grandma.  Her name is Julia Mikus, registered on line 15, and heading to Leadville, Colorado!! My grandpa is John Mikus, the next name shown as Janos, age 3.

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup_weif_5a.asp?src=%2Fcgi-bin%2Ftif2gif%2Eexe%3FT%3D%5C%5C%5C%5C192%2E168%2E100%2E11%5C%5CIMAGES%5C%5CT715-0923%5C%5CT715-09230656%2ETIF%26S%3D%2E5&pID=1020

Imagine being 24, traveling with small children across the ocean, not speaking the language, and going across a big, new country to find your family! Wow!

…about the time I went to visit Ellis Island and ended up buying a pencil in the gift shop so that I could make an etching of Grandpa’s name from the wall of immigrants- students don’t have experiences like these anymore! (Image of Wall of Honor can be seen at: http://www.wallofhonor.org/Img/DSC_0303comphireslarge.gif)

…about how some tourists at Ellis Island were sobbing at the memory, or the significance, of arriving to this land of freedom and opportunity, something far too many people take for granted.

We educators are responsible for helping students experience family histories. We need to keep the past alive, re-invent lost arts (needle/thread activities, letter-writing, setting tables for special dinners, even conversing), and remind children that the important things in life aren’t things. Children must become aware of their own story. Participate in keeping families strong and heritage vibrant! And take the time to rekindle memories with ancestors from time to time- something happy, something sad, and something warm…

Thanks for reading,

Monica Sherwin

Ormond Beach

Is it possible to make learning vocabulary words something students will look forward to each week?   The Studies Weekly team says, “Yes, we can!”  (Sorry, I had to borrow that line from Bob the Builder…)  Teachers need to keep domain-specific vocabulary acquisition for students  fresh, fun and innovative!  Check out Studies Weekly’s latest “How To” video here and see if this is something you can implement to make vocabulary building a “want to” instead of a “have to” for your students (click this link):  Studies Weekly: Using Words to Know

The Studies Weekly bloggers would love to know what you’d like for the month of May.  Please take our multiple choice survey (click this link):  Month of May Survey — it’s one question and completely anonymous!  The survey will be open until Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 3:00 pm EST.  Thanks in advance for viewing our video and taking the survey!

Kim Mogilevsky

Boynton Beach, Florida