http://picasaweb.google.com/davosaurus.rex

We'll be looking at this historic event in detail over the next two weeks. Please read the article below to find out about the spill:

Scholastic Magazine's Article

The timeline below organizes the events of the disaster and the attempts to stop the flowing oil:

CNN Timeline

Can you find two different strategies that British Petroleum used to try to stop the leak? We'll be writing a brief narrative of the disaster using the facts presented on the timeline. Organizing an essay in the order that the events occurred is called "time order" or "chronological."

The disaster in the Gulf makes us ask the question: "Is it worth it?" Oil and natural gas are required by our current way of life. Americans use petroleum for a variety of uses such as powering our cars, providing electricity, and creating plastics. Download and read the article below that looks at the trade off between oil exploration and environmental safety.

Scholastic's artcle: "Should We Drill?"

When you compare two things (like why we need to drill versus why we shouldn't drill) you create a type of essay called "compare and contrast."

Is there a compromise between the two viewpoints? Can you think of some ways that we can keep jobs, keep our cars running, and still be environmentally conscious? Brainstorm some ideas with a partner and then check out the following sites for some hints.

Energy Kids

Energy Quest

Energy Hogs

As we're studying electricity too right now, be sure to follow the links that show how electricity is created at the power plant.

When you look at a problem, propose different ideas to fix it, and then choose the best one overall, you've just created a type of writing called "problem-solution."

Enjoy the activities, but remember that your main goal is to practice some different ways of organizing your writing and to learn what you can from this horrible accident. The worst mistake is the one you don't learn from.

The movie below shows oil and natural gas pouring into the Gulf.

For Open House next week, you'll be choosing two of your favorite blog post assignments to share with your parents. You may do more if you have time, but you must do at least two.

Here's how it works:

Go through your old blog posts and find one that you're proud of and that you learned a lot from.

Click on it so that you're looking at just that post.

Next, copy the link. You'll need it for pasting later.

Now, start a new post. Call it: Reflection 1. The second one you do will be Reflection 2, but do one at a time. Each reflection will be a separate post.

The first thing you'll put in your post is the link to the other post- the one you just copied.

All you have to do is write the title of the assignment, highlight it, and link it.

Next, you need to answer the following questions about the assignment. Use complete sentences.

(you may copy and paste the questions below into your blog post)

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REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Why did you chose this piece to include in your portfolio?

What was the purpose of the assignment? What were you supposed to learn?

What are the strengths of your assignment?

If you could add to or redo your assignment, what would you do differently?

What did you learn from the assignment? Besides what you were supposed to learn, were there any other ideas or skills that you picked up from doing this assignment?

On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you give your assignment and why?

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For my reflection questions, I used Mr. Howe's list as inspiration.

Read through these two websites as we start putting our own guide to prospecting in class.

http://www.calgoldrush.com/graphics/evolution.html

http://www.sierrafoothillmagazine.com/goldmethods.html

Who knows- in these economic times, learning how to find gold might be useful!

You'll also write a reflection about what you think it would be like to have to worry about highwaymen everywhere you went during the Gold Rush.

Use this picture to help you out:

Today you'll be comparing prices during the Gold Rush with prices at our local grocery store.

You can use this link to Albertson's Online to help you find out how much the items cost today.

Stay focused on what you're looking for. If the site asks you for a zip code it's 91350. Also, make sure that you don't add anything to your cart- you're just browsing the aisles.

Record your prices on the price comparison page in your Miner's Journal.

Now try a room!

I really like this one, but it's a bit more complicated. I really like the artist's use of color.

Now that you've arrived, have a look around town. Here are some of the stores you might go to:

http://mylearningcenter.net/hornspoon/francisco.htm

Think about what you might need for prospecting.

Write a post as a reflection to this one.

What do you think about the different places in town?

Make a list of items that you might need at the diggin's.

You finally get to figure out what a horn spoon is!

What do you think about all the high prices? Why do business owners charge so much?

Use: dlindsay, spoon, literature, reflection as keywords