PA Distance Learning Project

What's Lori Reading?

2011-07-22T08:41:00.001-07:00

Lori Forlizzi is one of our instructors, and her specialty is reading.

Lori is currently reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Freedom is a novel that explores the relationships between family members and how they appear to each other and to people outside the family unit. Lori says she is reading this book because she liked one of the author's earlier books, The Corrections.

What's Chuck Reading?

2011-07-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Chuck Klinger is one of our instructors. His specialty subject is math.

He's reading The Bourne Legacy by Eric Van Lustbader. Chuck says he liked the Bourne movies so much that he's decided to read the book that have not been made into movies. He says they are fast-paced books that keep him reading to see what will happen next.

Chuck coaches his daughter's soccer team, so he is also reading Coaching Girls Soccer by John Dewitt. He says it is helping him to understand the fine points of soccer better, and also provides him with ideas for drills to use during practice.

What's Destiny Reading?

2011-07-20T11:43:00.001-07:00

Destiny Long is our fearless leader! She is our program coordinator, as well as a distance instructor. Destiny is very, very busy and doesn't have much time to read books, but she does read magazine articles. She is taking Spanish classes and she is currently reading her way through an issue of People Magazine -- in Spanish!

What's Lisa U. Reading?

2011-07-20T11:33:00.001-07:00

Lisa Urban is our Distance Learning Liaison for the eWorkSkills program. She enjoys reading Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" mystery series, and is currently reading T is for Trespass. The series centers around a female private investigator named Kinsey Millhone. Lisa says she likes these books because Kinsey is a smart, competent, and capable woman who always solves the mysteries and catches the bad guys! Lisa says, "It's fun to see what titles Sue will come up with as she works her way through the alphabet!" The next book in the series is U is for Undertow.

If you'd like to read Sue Grafton's mystery books, you might want to start with A is for Alibi.

What's Shannon Reading?

2011-07-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Shannon Mischler is our ESOL instructor.

She's been reading a lot lately, and she's been reading different genres and styles of books. She recently finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Shannon says the topic was not something that would normally interest her, but the writing was "riveting." Shannon's father-in-law was a B24 pilot during WWII, just like the main character in the book, so she enjoyed being able to sit down with him and listen to his stories of flying during the war. Real-life experiences can sometimes bring a work of fiction alive!

Shannon has also recently finished Moll Flanders by Daniel Dafoe. She says, "I was astonished at the seventeenth century depiction of independent women. Truly one of the original stream -of-consciousness chick lit books!" Dafoe is an ancestor of actor Willem Dafoe (a bit of trivia!), and he also wrote Robinson Crusoe.

Shannon is currently reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Wharton's works usually employed dramatic irony to portay the lives of the upper class. The Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 making Edith Wharton the first woman to win the prize.

What's Jen Reading?

2011-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Jen Wagner is one of our DLP teachers. We all teach all subjects, but Jen's specialties are science and math.

Jen says she doesn't have much time to read, but when she does, she reads Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She loves the story and admires the main character, Elizabeth Bennett.

Jen also likes to read books by Nora Roberts. Her current favorite is the new Vision in White series.

She enjoys reading to her children. Favorite children's books include The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog by Ana Martin Larranaga, and The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood.

Jen says she loves to read and wishes she had more time to do it. When she does have time, she likes to read happy books.

Summer Session Begins Monday

2011-07-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome back, DLP students! We hope that you are having a great summer and keeping cool during this heatwave. Our Summer Session begins Monday, July 18.

This blog has been added as a resource on our Moodle site.

If you have any suggestions for the blog, please email me at svanart@tiu11.org.

DLP on Hiatus

2011-07-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our students for completing another session and another year of classes! The Distance Learning Project will be on hiatus until mid-July.

Seward's Folly

2011-03-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Before the Civil War, Alaska was a Russian territory. Russia offered to sell it to the US, but the Civil War, and America needed to focus on that. When the war ended in 1865, US Secretary of State William Seward wanted to expand the US as much as possible. He wanted to go ahead with the purchase of Alaska from Russia, but he needed approval from the US Senate and Congress. They laughed and called the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox." They believed the land was useless, full of ice, snow, and frozen land.

Seward's purchase of Alaska was approved by one vote. Settlement was slow until 1898, when gold was discovered there. Since then, other Alaska has found to be a wealth of natural resources, such as oil.

Did you know that Alaska is closer to Russia than it is to the US? The Bering Strait, which separates the two countries, is only 2.5 miles wide! Alaska is about 500 miles away from Washington, it's closest American neighbor! Alaska's entire land border is next to Canada.

Alaska is also the largest state. Its land mass is about 1/5 the size of the rest of the United States. The second largest state is Texas, which is about half as big as Alaska.

PAACE

2011-03-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'm at PAACE this week.

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

2011-03-03T08:49:00.001-08:00

On March 3, 1887, Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan met for the first time. Helen was 6 years old and Anne was 20.

Helen Keller was born in 1880 to a Confederate Civil War veteran and his wife in Alabama. When she was 19 months old, she contracted an illness which left her deaf and blind. Her parents, who wanted her to have as normal a life as possible, contacted Alexander Graham Bell, who was an authority on deafness. Bell also invented the telephone. Bell told the family about the Perkins School for the Blind, near Boston. In turn, the school recommended Anne Sullivan as a teacher for Helen.

Anne Sullivan was born in 1866 in Massachusetts, and was a student at the Perkins School. Because she has a severe visual impairment herself, she had some understanding of Helen's feelings of isolation and frustration.

Anne tried to teach Helen by using her finger to spell out words in the palm of her student's hand. Helen did not understand what her teacher was doing, and resisted, sometimes violently. A breakthrough came one day when Anne held Helen's hand under running water, and spelled out the word "water" in her other hand. At last, Helen understood! From that day forward, she wanted Anne to teach her everything she could.

Helen's love of learning flourished she was able to complete high school and go on to Radcliffe College in Cambridge, MA. She was the first deaf-blind person to receive a Bachelor's degree. She graduated from college with honors in 1904.

Helen and Anne became inseparable. Anne accompanied Helen to college and continued to help her to communicate and study. This only ended when Anne died in 1935.

Helen became an author and a public speaker. She published her first book, an autobiography called "The Story of My Life," in 1902. She was a strong advocate for the deaf, the blind, and racial equality.

Helen Keller died at her home in Connecticut in 1968 at the age of 87.

Apologies and Call for Suggestions

2011-01-20T05:27:00.000-08:00

I have been very lax this month in posting. The new year has been very busy, but I promise to try to get back to posting on a regular basis, even if it's just weekly.

If you have any questions, or something you'd like to know more about, please comment on this post, or contact me directly.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

We at DLP hope that you all have a safe and wonderful 2011!

The PA DLP blog has been dormant for the last several weeks, but I'm ready to get rolling again! I hope that you enjoy the blog in the coming year!

Feel Free to Comment!

2010-12-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post, or to contact me. You are also welcome to use the check boxes under each post to let me know whether the post have been helpful or not.

What Do Hot Beverages Have to Do With Politics?

2010-12-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

Before the American Revolution, our country was under English rule. The colonists had to rely on England to import a lot of goods, and tea was one of those goods. The East India company was a large trading company. They were having financial problems and in danger of going out of business, which would have a devasting effect on England's economy. England decided to solve the problem by placing huge taxes on goods that were shipped to the American colonies.

The Americans were already angry about taxation without representation, which meant that they paid taxes to England, but they were not represented in the British government, called Parliament. They did not feel that they were treated as tax-paying citizens. They felt disrespected.

At the time, there was an underground, or secret, resistance group called the Sons of Liberty. They were led by Samuel Adams, and membership included Paul Revere, Patrick Henry, John Adams, and John Hancock. To some, the Sons of Liberty were heros; to others, they were terrorists.

The American Colonists were already paying heavy taxes on printed materials, sugar, textiles, and other goods, but the final straw came when England enacted the Tea Act, which gave the East India Company a monopoly on all British colonies, including America. This meant that colonists were not allowed to buy tea from anyone else.

Other colonies simply refused to allow the tea to be unloaded from the ships, and allowed them to sail off to other colonies. In the Massachusetts colony, however, they not only refused to allow the tea to be unloaded, but they would not allow the ships to leave Boston Harbor. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of colonists, led by the Sons of Liberty, boarded the ships and threw all of the tea into Boston Harbor.

In response to "The Boston Tea Party," England closed the port of Boston and declared that the colony would pay for the tea that was destroyed. They took complete control of the Massachusetts colony, basically declaring martial law. Colonists were even expected to provide room and board for occupying British troops.

This chain of events led directly to the organization of the Continental Congress and the American Revolution. If you'd like to know more, plenty of information is available online or at your local library!

So what does the Boston Tea Party have to do with the modern Tea Party we've been hearing about on the news? The Tea Party, is not a "real" political party, but more of a movement. It's made up of a group of people who support tax cuts, less government spending, and lowering the national debt and the federal deficit, and they believe that Washington is not serving their interests. Most Tea Party supporters are conservative Republicans, and Sarah Palin is one of their main public figures. Their name connects them to the Boston Tea Party, because they have adopted a Sons of Liberty phrase as one of their slogans: "No taxation without representation.

The Coffee Party arose in response to the Tea Party. Although the Coffee Party is mostly made up of liberal, or progressive, democrats who want to separate big business from politics, they are a more diverse group of people. There are even some conservatives who support the Coffee Party. The group is also interested in environmental, energy, and immigration issues. They encourage all Americans to become involved citizens.

Wikipedia

2010-12-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you would like to read more about any of the posting on this blog, or anything else you would like to know more about, check out http://www.wikipedia.com. This site is a giant encyclopedia, and the best part is that everything is hyperlinked. This means that, as you are reading, you can click on the highlighted words to go to another page and learn more about that subject! You could spend an awful lot of time on wikipedia just jumping from subject to subject!

Remember, the more you read, the more you know!

Sitting Bull and General Custer

2010-12-15T06:37:00.000-08:00

Many American children have played "Cowboys & Indians." Usually the "Cowboys" were the good guys, and the "Indians" were the bad guys. A better name for the game might have been "Cavalry & Native Americans," and historically speaking, the "Indians," or Native Americans, were not bad at all. They were simply trying to preserve their culture and keep their lands from being stolen.

The events of the 1800s resulted from Anglo-American expansion across North America. Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man and chief in the Dakota Territory, which is now North and South Dakota. Anglo-Americans, or white men, were moving further and further west into Sioux territory and meeting with resistance from the Sioux people. In the mid-1870s, the Northern Pacific Railway attempted to build a railroad directly through Sioux territory, and the Sioux resisted.

Shortly afterward, Civil War vetaran Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills to scout for gold and a place to establish an Army fort. When he announced that there was gold in the Black Hills, mining companies wanted a piece of the action.

The government tried to force the Native American people out of their lands and onto reservations. This action led directly to the Battle of Little Big Horn. The Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho joined forces to fight Custer's 7th Cavalry near the Little Big Horn River in the Montana territory. The Army attacked the Native American camp, not realizing how many tribes had joined together. The US troops were badly outnumbered and they lost over 700 men, including Custer himself.

After the Battle of Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull led his people to safety in Canada. They stayed there for four years, but returned to the United States as they were facing mass starvation. Sitting Bull surrendered in 1883, and was sent to the Standing Rock Reservation in what is now South Dakota.

In 1890, the Ghost Dance religious movement gained popularity amongst Native Americans. In an effort to keep Sitting Bull from supporting the movemnet, a group of Indian police was sent to arrest Sitting Bull. They went very early in the morning, hoping to avoid confrontation; however, the confrontation took place anyway, with several people, including Sitting Bull, being killed.

Shortly after this happened, the Wounded Knee Massacre took place, and ended the Native American resistance.

Saturday Night Live Released on This Date in 1977

2010-12-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Are you old enough to remember disco? It was a popular dance style in the 1970s. On December 14, 1977, a film called Saturday Night Fever was released. It was about a young man in Brooklyn, NY, who lived for dancing at a local club. The young man was played by a very young John Travolta. The movie was all about the disco culture, and the soundtrack, which heavily featured The Bee Gees, became a bestseller. That was when music was still released on vinyl disks that us old folks called albums! If you'd like to see a little bit about what the late '70s were like for young urban 20-somethings, head to your local video store!

Blog Changes

2010-12-14T08:20:00.001-08:00

You may have noticed that this blog has been changing over the past month. The posts have been leaning more toward reading, history/social studies, and science, than about math and writing. While I will still be posting on these subjects, I am planning to include more posts about cultural literacy. This means that, not only will I be posting on things like Watergate and the Civil War, I will also be posting more about modern cultural references, such as movies, books, television, the Internet, and news items.

Cultural literacy is more than reading. It is having the background knowledge to make the most of your reading. Have you ever started watching a movie in the midde, so that you didn't really know what was going on? That's how a lot of people feel when they read a newspaper. One of my goals for this blog is to help fill in those gaps!

Race to the South Pole

2010-12-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

Roald Amundsen was an explorer from Norway. He was among the first group of men ever to spend the winter in Antarctica. He had also been exploring the Arctic. In 1909, he was planning an expedition to become the first man at at the North Pole; however, while Amundsen was plannig his trip, American explorer Robert Peary beat him to the North Pole.

Amundsen did not give up. He turned his attention to the South Pole. Robert Falcon Scott, and English explorer, was also leading an expedition to the South Pole. He and Amundsen were competing to get there first.

Amundsen's team set up their camp 60 miles closer to the South Pole than Scott's team. The Norwegian team relied on sled dogs for transportation, while the English team used motorized sleds, Siberian horses, and sled dogs. These two factors made the difference, not only in winning the race, but in life and death.

Because Amundsen's camp was 60 miles closer, his return trip was shorter. Scott made it to the South Pole a full month after Amundsen. To make matters worse, the weather was very bad on his long trip back to camp. His motorized sleds broke down, and his animals had to be put down. Many of Scott's men, including Scott himself, froze to death.

Roald Amundsen had another notable achievement, but it was mistakenly attributed to Richard Byrd until 1996! Amundsen attempted many times to become the first to fly an airplane over the North Pole, and he came within 150 miles of his target. He finally accomplished the feat in a dirigible, or a zeppelin, in 1926. Unfortunately, Richard Byrd beat him to it by three days. In 1926, Byrd's diary was discovered. It seems, according to the diary, that Byrd actually turned back before reaching the North Pole, because he had a oil leak. This new information means that Amundsen was not only the first person to reach the South Pole, he was also the first person to fly over the North Pole. Because Amundsen died in 1928, he never knew about his North Pole flight's success.

Thank Marconi for Radio!

2010-12-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the song "We Built This City (on Rock & Roll)" by Starship?

One of the lines in the song goes like this:

Marconi played the mamba

Listen to the radio

Do you know who Marconi was or what he had to do with the radio?

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor who lived from 1874 until 1937. He won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for his work in wireless telegraphy. Before Marconi, we had telegraphs, but they could only be used with a network of cables and wires. Marconi proved that it was possible to not only transmit information via wireless radio waves, but he was the first person to send such signals across the Atlantic Ocean. Other scientists believed, correctly, that wireless radio waves would be lost after travelling approximately 200 miles, because the would continue to travel in a straight line, rather than follow the earth's curvature; however, after much experimentation, Marconi was able to bounce signals off the Earth's ionosphere to reach a receiver in Newfoundland, Canada.

Marconi's wireless system was widely used on ships to maintain contact with the mainland. One of those ships was the RMS Titanic. The radio controllers aboard the Titanic who sent out the distress signal were employed by Marconi's company, Marconi International Marine Communication Company. Only one survived the sinking. Despite his injuries, he helped the radio controllers aboard the rescue ship, RMS Carpathia, to send wireless messages to New York regarding survivors, and to send messages from survivors to loved ones. Marconi's invention saved the lives of 706 passengers that night. Without it, more than 2,223 lives would have been lost.

Think about that the next time you turn on the radio!

Nobel Prize

2010-12-10T09:03:00.001-08:00

It is a great honor to win a Nobel Prize. The Prize is given to people whose work over the previous has been a great benefit to mankind. It awarded annually in the categories of chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, and peace.

The Nobel Prize is named for a Swedish scientist named Alfred Nobel. Nobel invented dynomite and other explosives. When he died in 1896, his will stated that most of his fortune should be banked and the interested should be distributed each year to the person or group of people whose work over the past year had the most benefit to mankind. It is believed that Nobel created the award because he felt guilty that his inventions were used for violence.

The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, five years to the day after Nobel's death. The awards are still given each year on December 10. The Nobel Prize is considered the most prestigious prize in the world. Winners are given a cash prize, as well as the gold medal pictured above.

Past Nobel Prize winners include Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela.

For more information, and to find out about this year's winners, go to http://nobelprize.org/ or just watch the news today - December 10, 2010!

Winter 1 2010 Session Begins!

2010-12-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome, new and returning learners! The Winter 1 session begins Monday, December 13.

We mailed all of the materials out yesterday. Online students should have received an email that included links to your classes. Workbook students should receive their materials in the mail over the weekend. If you have not received your materials by Wednesday, please let us know.

Because the holiday season falls in the middle of the Winter 1 session, this session will be seven weeks long, instead of the usual six weeks. Enjoy the break and please have a pleasant and safe holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T06:19:00.001-08:00

The District Learning Project office will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We've all heard the story of the first Thanksgiving. In 1621, the pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, gave thanks to God for helping them to survive the long New England winter. They celebrated by inviting their Native American neighbors to a feast that lasted for three days.

Although Thanksgiving has been celebrated since that time, it wasn't an official national holiday until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared it, and proclaimed that it should be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

In modern times, most families celebrate Thanksgiving by visiting and enjoying a turkey dinner. Certainly, we at DLP will be enjoying friends, family and food, and we hope that you will be doing the same. Please take the time to reflect on the things for which you are thankful, and remember those who aren't so fortunate.

History and Reading - Gettysburg Address

2010-11-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

On this date, November 19, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made a speech at the dedication ceremony at the Gettysburg National Cemetary. This speech, called "Lincoln's Little Speech," because of it's short length, has become famous as The Gettysburg Address. This is the text:

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war . . . testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated . . . can endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate . . . we cannot consecrate . . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us . . . that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion . . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom . . . and that government of the people . . . by the people . . . for the people . . . shall not perish from this earth.

Let's look at it one paragraph at a time. Most people have heard "four score and seven years ago," but don't know what it means. A score is 20. Four score is 4 x 20, or 80. Four score and seven is 80 +7, or 87. If we subtract 87 years from the year 1863, we get 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. Lincoln was saying that, in 1863, the year he gave his famous speech, America had only been a nation for 87 years, and that our nation was founded on the principles of liberty and equality.

In the next two paragraphs, he is acknowleging that the civil war tested whether our nation was strong enough to uphold those founding principles, and that he and the other people were now gathered on part of the battlefield to dedicate the cemetary for the men who died to uphold those principles. He says they are there because it is the right thing to do.

In the fourth paragraph, the president then says that, although they have gathered to dedicate the cemetary, their efforts are small in comparison with the men who died here. The blood and bravery of those men who fought at Gettysburg had already made it hallowed, or sacred, ground. Lincoln goes on to say that in the future, people (us) will not remember the speeches that were given at the dedication ceremony, but they will always remember the Battle of Gettysburg and the men who fought and died there.

In the last paragraph, Lincoln asks that we, as Americans, dedicate our lives to the principles that the founding fathers set out for us, and that, over the years and throughout many battles, our citizens have fought to uphold: a nation where all are welcome, free, and equal.

Science - Uses for Human Hair

2010-11-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

People laughed when the suggestion was made to use human hair to soak up the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, but that idea is not so offbeat. It was also suggested to help with the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989.

Try this experiment after your next haircut:
Fill a bucket with water. Add enough cooking oil so that you can see the oil floating in the water. Next, cut the foot off an old pair of nylon stockings (pantyhose), stuff it with hair, and tie the end shut. Put the bundle into the bucket of water and watch it collect the oil. It really works!

Woman have long known that the oil from human hair keeps sewing needles sharp and rust-free. They used to keep the hair from their hairbrushes in "hair catchers," and when they had enough, they would use it to stuff a pincushion.

Human hair has been woven to produce fabric for clothing, and twisted to make rope.

Recently, it has also been used as a substitute for silicon in solar panels.

It also has applications in agriculture and the food industry. It is being woven into mats and uses to keep moisture in and weeds out in gardens and fields around the world. In some countries, because food is scarce and hair is high in protein, oil is separated from hair and processed to become a substitute for soybean oil.

Of course, we can't forget the more obvious uses for human hair. It is still used in wigmaking, and cosmetic testing.

Can you think of any other ways to recycle human hair?

History - Watergate in a Nutshell

2010-11-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

It all started in 1972 when a security guard at the Watergate Hotel and Office Complex in Washington, DC, was making his rounds. He discovered several doors with tape over the locks. He removed the tape and moved on. When he came back an hour later, he found more tape over the locks. He called the police.

Five men were arrested for burglarizing an office on the 6th floor. The office belonged to the National Democratic Party. After much investigation, it was discovered that the burglars had ties to the Committee to Re-Elect the President, also known as CRP, or jokingly, CReeP. Many prominent people in Washington were allegedly involved, not only in the conspiracy to commit the burglary, but also in the resulting cover-up. These included some of the president's top aides and advisors, as well as people in the Justice Department, the FBI, and the CIA.

The Watergate Break-In quickly became known as the Watergate Scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Nixon maintained his innocence to the end, but the Republican Senate voted to remove him from office. Nixon decided to resign rather than be impeached.

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, uncovered much of the story with the help of an anonymous source who went by the name of Deep Throat. Deep Throat's identity remained secret until 2005, when it was revealed that he was the former Deputy Director of the FBI. Woodward and Bernstein wrote a book about the Watergate Scandal called All the President's Men. It was published in 1974. In 1976, All the President's Men was made into a movie starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.

Writing - More Fun with the English Language

2010-11-16T05:51:00.001-08:00

Here are some rules to remember when writing:

1. Don't use no double negatives.
2. About them sentence fragments and pronouns.
3. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
4. Correct spelling is esential.
5. When dangling your participles are in the wrong place.
6. Use your apostrophe's correctly.
7. Don't use commas, that aren't necessary.
8. Proofread you writing.
9. i think case is important.

Remember, you must first know the rules before you can break them!

Reading - Fiction, Nonfiction and Genres

2010-11-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gone into a large bookstore and felt completely overwhelmed? It can help if you understand how the books are arranged.

The first thing you should know is that all forms of writing are divided into two groups: fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction is made up.

Nonfiction is true.

Fiction and nonfiction are both divided into subcategories called genres.

A genre is a category.

Fiction is divided into genres such as mystery, science fiction, romance, and drama.

Nonfiction is divided into genres such as biography, how-to, travel, political, history, and self-help.

Fiction and nonfiction are both made up of many, many genres. I've only listed a few. If you're one of those people who says, "I don't like to read," maybe you just haven't found the right genre yet. Think of something you're really interested in, something you would like to know more about. Everyone is interested in something! It could be cars, dogs, cooking, outer space - absolutely anything! There is a book - probably a whole genre out there just waiting for you! And remember - books are like potato chips; one is never enough!

Writing -- A Few Simple Rules

2010-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that, while your writing teacher corrects your punctuation and your tenses, famous authors use them in novels all the time? If you pay attention, though, those novels are sometimes written from a certain character's point of view, that is, the character is telling the story. Other times, the author only breaks the grammatical rules when he is writing one character's dialog. In these cases, the author is using grammar to reveal details about a character.

Make no mistake. These authors know how to use perfect grammar, but they choose to break the rules in order to let us infer more about a character. You must know the rules before you break them!

Here are some examples of how you can have fun with the rules of grammar:

1. Always avoid alliteration.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. Avoid cliches like the plague.

4. Employ the vernacular.

5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

8. Contractions aren't necessary.

9. Foreign words and phrase are not apropos.

10. One should never generalize.

11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

12. Don't be redundant. Don't use words more than necessary. It's highly superfluous.

13. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

14. Be more or less specific.

15. Understatement is always spectacular.

16. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

17. One-word sentences? Elliminate.

18. Analogies are like feathers on a snake.

19. The passive voice is to be avoided.

20. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Reading - Bram Stoker & Margaret Mitchell

2010-11-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

What do these two authors have in common?

Bram Stoker was an Irish threatre critic who also wrote several novels, the most famous of which was Dracula, which was published in 1897. With this book, Stoker took an obscure bit of Eastern European folklore and turned into a cultural phenomenon. Without Dracula, there would have been no Interview with the Vampire, and no Twilight.

Margaret Mitchell was an American journalist who spent ten years writing one novel, Gone With the Wind, which was published in 1936. This book tells the story of a spoiled southern belle during the American Civil War, who loses everything, but finds herself. Without Gone with the Wind, there would have been no Steel Magnolias, and no Cold Mountain.

Although Stoker was born in 1847, and Mitchell was born in 1900, they share a birthday on November 8, and their works have heavily influenced modern literary and film culture.

Both Dracula and Gone with the Wind have been made into award-winning films.

Social Studies -VOTE!

2010-11-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

Did you vote on Tuesday? Are you registered? Everyone in America ages 18 and over has the right to vote, and we should all exercise our right to choose our leaders. If you're not registered, it's easy! Just go to the Voter Registration Office at your local courthouse and tell them you'd like to register. They'll ask you to fill out a form. That's it! Bear in mind, that even if you are registered, your registration can expire if you don't go to the polls on Voting Day.

Here is a brief history of voting rights in America:

In 1787, the US Constitution allowed only white male property owners, ages 21 and over, the right to vote.

By 1843, all white men over the age of 21 could vote.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed. This gave all men over 21 the right to vote, regardless of race or ethnicity. Despite the passing of the 15th Amendment, minorities were regularly discouraged, and even prevented, from voting through the use of literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and even intimidation.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women over the age of 21 the right to vote.

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed. This put voter registration into the hands of the federal government to ensure that minorities were not kept from registering. In essence, the 15th Amendment was finally enforced, almost 100 years after it was passed.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment was passed, lowering the voting age to 18.

In 1982, amendments were made to the Voting Rights Act to include provisions for Americans with disabilities that may have previously prevented them from registering and/or getting to the polls. This also included Americans who are unable to read and/or write, or who are not fluent in English.

As Americans, we are very fortunate to have the right to choose our own leaders. Citizens of many other counties do not have this right.

In case you're wondering whether your vote really counts, consider this:

One vote made Rutherford B. Hayes the President of the United States of America in 1923. One vote also gave Adolph Hitler control of the Nazi Party in Germany in 1923.

Writing - The English Language is Difficult!

2010-11-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the English language is one of the most difficult languages to learn to read and write? The reason is that, although we have rules, we also have many, many exceptions to those rules. We also have tons of homophones, or words that sound the same, but are spelled differently or that have different meanings. And then there are homonyms, or words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings.

Keep in mind that because our language is so crazy, we are able to have a lot of fun with it!

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

Since there is no time like the present, it is time to present the present.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with the planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections, my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Reading - Stephen Crane

2010-11-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

On this date, November 1, 1891, American author Stephen Crane was born in Newark, NJ. Crane's best-known work is The Red Badge of Courage, a novel about an 18-year-old young man who goes off to fight for the Union Army in the Civil War. The main character, Henry Fleming, has a romanticised idea of war when he leaves home, but he as the story progresses and he is forced to confront the realities of war, and becomes a man as he faces his fears.

The Red Badge of Courage is an example of American naturalist literature. Naturalism portrays the subject as it is, rather than how we think it might be. For example, like the Fleming character dreams of becoming a war hero at the beginning of the book, but when he gets there, he actually sees the grit and violence of war, and Stephen Crane portrays this very much as if he had seen it himself, in stark detail. It is interesting to note, however, that Stephen Crane had never seen battle at the time he wrote the book. Crane chose to write the book in this manner, because he had read accounts of soldiers who had fought in the Civil War, and he found them dissatisfying because the soldiers told about what they did, but not about what they felt. Crane felt it was important to include emotion in his story so that the reader could empathize with the characters, rather than just read dry accounts about what they did.

Stephen Crane died in 1900, of tuberulosis, at the age of 28.

Tip of the Day - Social Studies

2010-10-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

On October 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States was born. He was an avid hunter and naturalist. When he was growing up, his room always contained a pet mouse or a collection of stuffed birds. When he was president, zoologists recognized him as one of the best field naturalists in the country. He was also an authority on North American Game.

In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt, at 43 years old, became the youngest president ever to assume the office. He stamped the presidency with a vitality that delighted most Americans and was elected to a second term in 1904.

Roosevelt set aside land for America's first national parks and monuments.

Tip of the Day - Reading

2010-10-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

Author, Poet, Activist - Dr. Maya Angelou

Born Marguerite Johnson on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas between her mother and her grandmother. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.

At age seven, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend, who was subsequently killed by her uncles. The event caused the young girl to go mute for nearly six years, and her teens and early twenties were spent as a dancer, filled with isolation and experimentation.

At 16 she gave birth to a son, Guy, after which she toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess. On returning to New Your City in the 1960s, she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and became involved in black activism. She then spent several years in Ghana as editor of African Review, where she began to take her life, her activism and her writing more seriously.

Dr. Angelou has written many autobiographies and published several volumes of verse.

In 1993, Dr. Angelou read On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration, a poem written at his request. It was only the second time a poet had been asked to read at an inauguration, the first being Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F, Kennedy. In 2006, Dr. Angelou agreed to host a weekly radio show on XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends channel. She also teaches at Wake Forest University in North Carolina where she has a lifetime position as the Reynolds professor of American studies.

Fun Science Facts

2010-10-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

There are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in a child's body. As we grow, some of the bones fuse together.

Fleas can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms, this is equal to a 6 foot person jumping 780 feet into the air.

Velcro was invented 50 years ago.

The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.

It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.

An inch of rain water is equal to 15 inches of dry, powdery snow.

40% to 50% of body heat can be lost through the head as a result of its extensive circulatory network.

The ears of a cricket are located on its front legs, just below the knee.

Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Today in History

2010-10-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

On October 20, 1803, the Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven. The agreement, which provided for the purchase of the western half of the Mississippi River basin from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents per acre, doubled the size of the country and paved the way for westward expansion beyond the Mississippi.

The bounds of the territory, which were not clearly delineated in the treaty, were assumed to include all the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, at that time known as the Stony Mountains. Just twelve days after the signing of the treaty, frontiersmen Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an expeditions to explore the newly acquired territory.

The purchase of the Louisiana Territory and the Lewis and Clark expedition marked the beginning of a century of conquest. As explorers, speculators, adventurers, and settlers pushed the territorial boundaries of the United States westward toward the Pacific coast, the notion of America as a nation always pushing toward new frontiers took hold in art, literature, and folklore.

Tip of the Week - Compare and Contrast

2010-10-19T06:53:00.001-07:00

You may be asked to write an essay that compares and contrasts two things or ideas. Remember this:

Compare = Similarities

Contrast = Differences

When you are asked to write a "compare & contrast" essay, you should discuss the ways in which two things are the same and different. The easiest way to organize your ideas for this type of essay is by using a Venn Diagram. Just make two overlapping circles. Label each circle with one of the things you're comparing and contrasting. For example, in this diagram, we're comparing and contrasting dogs and cats. In the "dog" circle, we've listed some ways that dogs are different from cats; in the "cat" circle, we've listed some ways that cats are different from dogs. In the place where the two circles overlap, we've listed some things that apply to both dogs and cats.

Now we have our ideas all set up for three paragraphs for the body of our essay. In one paragraph, we'll talk about dogs. In the next paragraph, we'll talk about cats. In the third paragraph, we'll talk about both of them. Of course, we'll still need opening and closing paragraphs, too! Use this Venn diagram to practice writing a "compare & contrast" essay, or make one of your own!

Tip of the Week - Reading

2010-10-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

We're once again combining the Reading Tip of the Week with Today in History! Author Terry McMillan was born October 18, 1951. McMillan was born and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. She was a single mother living in New York in the 1980s when she attended a writer's workshop in Harlem. She went on to write several novels including Mama and Disappearing Acts. Two of her novels, Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, have been made into movies. If you haven't read anything by Terry McMillan, check out one or more of her books!

Skills Tutor Update

2010-10-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Skills Tutor site is experiencing technical difficulties, but they are aware of the problem and they are working on it. If you are having problems accessing the site, don't worry! Just try again later

Fall 2 Session Begins Monday

2010-10-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Fall 2 Session begins Monday, October 18, and runs through Friday, December 3.

Online students-- you should have received an email with your class information, along with your usernames and passwords. You may begin working when you receive this information.

This blog is not part of your classes. It is here to provide you with helpful tips and information, plus some fun and interesting facts. Feel free to comment on posts!

Although this blog is intended for PA Distance Learning Project students, it is open to the public.

Tip of the Week -- Fractions

2010-10-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

A lot of folks are afraid of fractions, but the truth is that we use fractions every day. Every time we use money, measure something, or tell time, we are using fractions.

A fraction is simply this: a part of a whole. The top number is the part and the bottom number is the whole.

A penny is 1/100 of a dollar, because 1 dollar and 100 pennies are the same thing. A quarter is 1/4 of a dollar, because 1 dollar and 4 quarters are the same thing.

And inch is 1/12 of a foot, because 1 foot and 12 inches are the same thing. A foot is 1/3 yard because 1 yard and 3 feet are the same thing.

A minute is 1/60 of an hour, because 1 hour and 60 minutes are the same thing. 15 minutes is 1/4 of an hour because there are four sets of 15 minutes in an hour.

The most common way that fractions are taught is with pizza. Most pizzas are cut into 8 slices, so if we have 8 slices, we have one pizza. Therefore, a slice is 1/8 of a pizza. If two friends share a pizza, and each person eats 4 slices, then each person has eaten 4 slices out of 8, or 4/8, which is the same as 1/2.

Tip of the Week -- Division of Germany

2010-10-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

The United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union (The Allied Nations)fought together against Germany, Italy, Japan (the Axis Powers) and during World War II. Both factions included many smaller countries, as well.

When the war was over, much of Europe was in ruins. Germany was a broken country, with it's infrastructure destroyed and its people unable to help themselves. The Allied countries, with the exception of the Soviet Union, wanted to rebuilt Germany so that she could become self-sufficient again, under the Marshall Plan. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Germany as an Eastern Bloc country, so the she would be under Soviet Rule.

As a result of this disagreement, Germany was divided into two countries, East Germany and West Germany. East Germany became a socialist Eastern Bloc country under the Soviet Union, and it's official name was the German Democratic Republic or GDR. West Germany's official name was the Federal Republic of Germany, or FRG. American, British and French troops remained in West Germany throughout the rebuilding, and in 1955, the country was declared "fully sovereign," or operating on its own, with it's own government. West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Allied troops maintain bases there until this day, under NATO.

Throught the 1950s, many people attempted to defect from East to West Germany. The easiest place to do this at the time was in Berlin. Although the entire city was in East Germany, half of the city was controlled by the US, Great Britain and France.

In 1961, the Soviets built the Berlin Wall on the border of East and West Berlin. They said it was to protect East German citizens, but it was most likely to keep them from defecting to the West. The Wall became the symbol of the Iron Curtain, the border between the East and the West. In 1990, Germany was officially reunified, and the Berlin Wall was taken down.

Writing Tip of the Day - Spelling

2010-10-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, October 9, is International English Spelling Day!

Look around for misspelled words on signs, in newspapers and magazines, and other print materials. Play spelling and word games alone or with your friends. Read a dictionary - seriously!

Check out this website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spday.htm for more information. The site includes games, spelling tests, and interesting information about why we spell words the way we do. One article talks about what writing was like before we had dictionaries, and people spelled any way they wanted.

I encourage you to check it out!

CCAC Offers Bonuses for GED Students

2010-10-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/personal-finance-in-pittsburgh/fee-ged-classes-for-allegheny-county-residents-come-with-bonus-at-ccac

We all know that a GED can lead to more pay, but it can also help you get a discount on college tuition!

Reading Tip of the Week: Tone

2010-10-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Just as we have a "tone" when we speak, writers and their characters have a "tone."

When you read, think about the characters. Tone can be detected from their words, from the way the words are delivered, and from context. For example:

Jane said, "I'm going to Joe's house."

This sentence is flat. We have no idea why Jane is going to Joe's house, or how she feels about it.

Jane exclaimed, "I'm going to Joe's house!!"

Jane's tone has changed. She's excited or happy now.

Jane rolled her eyes and sneered, "I'm going to Joe's house."

Her tone has changed again. Now she's sarcastic.

A character's tone can change throughout the story, just as a real person's tone can change, depending on the situation.

If we think of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is a character in the story. His tone starts out calm and calculating, and slowly builds to guilt, and finally to terror and madness.

Sometimes, though, a character will have the same demeanor throughout. Let's look at Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula. The Count behaves differently with different people, just as we all do. He is a charming gentleman to Mina, a controlling monster to Renfield, and a dangerous adversary to Van Helsing, but he is always secretive, cryptic, and mysterious.

Tip of the Week -- Science

2010-09-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity. She did not actually discover radioactivity, but she did give it the name, and she created the theory of radioactivity. She also developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and she discovered two elements, polonium and radium.

Marie was the first scientist to explore oncology. Today, when we hear of people undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, we can thank Marie Curie. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, grew out of the Radium Institute, which Marie founded in 1932.

Although Marie was Polish, she was the first female professor at the University of Paris. Her husband, Pierre, was also a professor and a scientist. Together, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Their daughter, Irene, carried on the family tradition, winning a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. Irene's children are prominent scientists as well.

Marie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Goose Day

2010-09-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

Today is September 29 - Goose Day!

The Medieval Period is also known as The Middle Ages. It lasted for 1,000 years, from the 5th century until the 15th century (the 400s until the 1400s). During this time, people celebrated Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael, as a religious festival.

Michaelmas also happened to be the time of year when peasants paid their rent to the landowners. A peasant would come to the landlord's castle or manor house with rent, which could be paid in currency or, more often, a portion of the crops from the fall harvest. The peasant would also bring a stubble goose (a nice, fat goose), for the landlord's table, to ensure that the lease would be renewed for the coming year.

When the British began to colonize the United States in the 1600s, they brought the tradition with them. The only place in the US where it is still celebrated is in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, where there is a large population of people with British and Scots-Irish heritage.

In modern times, Michaelmas is called Goose Day, for the traditional goose dinner Mifflin Countians have on this day. Many restaurants in the area have a "goose day special." Eating goose on September 29 is said to bring good luck in the coming year. Other festivities include a 5K run and a "Wild Goose Chase," which is a county-wide scavenger hunt in which teams of people pile into cars and head out in search of clues. Another tradition is that a police officer will pull over a random car with out-of-state license plates, tell the occupants of the car that they will need to be "taken in," and then treat them to a surprise goose dinner at a local restaurant.

Tip of the Week -- Singular and Plural Possessives

2010-09-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

Last week, we talked about apostrophes in contractions and possessives. This week I wanted to take a closer look at possessives. Possessive apostrophes can be confusing, but we'll try to make it clear.

Singulars are easy! Just add "apostrophe s". For example, Jim's car.

But what if Jim uses his real name, James? Is it James' car? James's car? James car? Well, James is one person, so he's singular. Use the same rule! James's car is correct.

Now let's look a plural example. The Smiths live next door. Notice that we just add an s to show that there is more than one Smith living next door. If they have a cat, we would say the Smiths' cat. The apostrophe after the s shows that Smith is plural, that is, a number of Smiths own the cat. If Mrs. Smith lives alone and has a cat, it would be Mrs. Smith's cat.

Here's an easy way to remember: If there is one Smith (singular), then the singular word Smith appears before the apostrophe. If there is more than one Smith (plural), then the plural word Smiths comes before the apostrophe.

Let's look at one more example. What if the James family lives next door? We say, "The Jameses live next door. If Mr. James (singular) has a truck, we would say Mr. James's truck. If the James family (plural) has a dog, we would say the Jameses' dog.

Banned Books Week September 25 - October 2

2010-09-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

As the character Scout Finch said in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from 1960: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

Scout was saying that reading is something people take for granted, like breathing. As we assume the air will always be here for us, so we assume that books will always be here. Not so.

The American Library Association declared annual Banned Book Week in 1982, and we celebrate by reading books that have been challenged or banned. Every week, there there is mention in the news of a person or group of people who want this or that book removed from library shelves for one reason or another. Do you want other people to decide what you are or aren't allowed to read?

This is just a very small list of the books that have been banned or challenged in the past:

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Beloved by Toni Morrison

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Little Women by Lousia May Alcott

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradburg

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The list goes on and on . . . and on . . . Be a rebel! Support your right to FREADOM! Read a banned book!

September 24, 1789

2010-09-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

On this date in 1789, the United States Supreme Court was established, as Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, and President George Washington signed it into law.

The original Supreme Court had six justices, but over the years, that number has increased to nine. Justices serve until they day or retire. New justices are nominated by the president, but must be confirmed by the Senate.

The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all laws in the country, especially those in which the United States Constitution comes into play.

Math Tip of the Week -- Subtracting Time

2010-09-24T05:58:00.001-07:00

Subtracting time is no different than subtracting other numbers. We know that if all of the digits on the top are bigger than all of the numbers on the bottom, we just subtract straight down. The same goes for time.

But what happens if we have to borrow? When subtracting time, we don't so much borrow as we convert. If we borrow from the hours column, we must add the number of minutes (the equivalent to the hours we borrowed) to the minutes column. It looks like this:

We would use the same process for subtracting units of measure, too. But we would use the equivalent numbers for the measures we're working with. For example, 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 pound = 16 ounces, etc.

Today in Science History

2010-09-23T05:43:00.001-07:00

On September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle, a German astronomer at the Berlin Obervatory. Galle discovered the planet, not by directly observing it, but through mathematical calculations based on variations in gravity on its neighboring planet, Uranus. Italian astronomer Galileo observed Neptune as early as 1612, but he thought it was a star.

Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman god of the sea, because of its blue color. It is 4 times bigger than Earth. Neptune rotates on its axis faster then Earth does; a day on Neptune is 16 hours long, whereas a day on Earth is 24 hours long. Neptune takes longer to orbit the sun than Earth does, though, so a year on Neptune is the same as 165 Earth years. Neptune has eight known moons, while Earth only has one.

Neptune is a gas giant, meaning that it is made up mostly of gases, as opposed to rock and other solid matter. Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane.

Social Studies Tip of the Week -- Nathan Hale

2010-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

On this date, September 22, 1776, US patriot Nathan Hale was executed by the British for spying.

Hale joined the Continental Army, serving in a Connecticut regiment. He was involved in the overthrow of the British in occupied Boston in 1775.

In September 1776, he went behind enemy lines on Long Island, NY, to gather information about British troop movements. While he was there, the British took control of Manhattan. Hale was captured September 21, while trying to cross Long Island Sound to get back to American-controlled territory.

Nathan Hale was hanged the morning of September 22, 1776. According to legend, while standing on the gallows awaiting his execution, he uttered the famous words, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." He was 21 years old.

September 21, 1866

2010-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Science fiction pioneer HG Wells was born today in 1866. Wells wrote such classics as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and War of the Worlds, all of which later became classic films as well.

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles directed an narrated War of the Worlds as a radio play on the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS). The play was presented as a series of "news bulletins" and without commericial interruptions. It was intended as a spooky Halloween show. Unfortunately, many Americans had missed the beginning of the show and did not realize that it was a Halloween prank. This resulted in mass hysteria across America by people who believed that space aliens were invading the planet.

Writing Tip of the Day - Apostrophes

2010-09-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a sign like this at a store or along a road:

Did you notice that unnecessary apostrophe? This is called a "grocer's apostrophe" because it is commonly seen in grocery stores and roadside produce stands, although it could pop up anywhere.

Apostrophes can indicate two things - either that two words are being combined into one contraction or that something is owned by someone or something else.

Let's take a look at the first case - the contraction. A contraction happens when two words are combined into one. The apostrophe substitutes for the missing letters.

For example:

Now let's look at the second case - the possessive. The possessive form is used to indicate that something belongs to someone or something else. In this case, we add "apostrophe s" to the end of the name of the person or the thing that does the possessing.

For example:

This is Sarah's puppy. The yellow toy is the puppy's rubber ducky.

This Week's Online Classroom Sessions

2010-09-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 20, at 12:30 PM: Reading Scientific Images: Climate Change
Instructor: Rick Searle
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/r64531678

Tuesday, September 21, at 12:30 PM: The Elements of Geometry
Instructor: Rick Searle
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/r64531678

Tuesday, September 21, at 7:00 PM: ESOL Conversation Community
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Thursday, September 23, at 2:00 PM: Science: Graphs, Tables, and Charts
Instructor: Rick Searle
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/lbailey

Friday, September 24, at 9:00 AM: ESOL Live Online Classroom
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Reading, Social Studies and Today in History All in One Post!

2010-09-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

On this date, September 20, 1878, Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, MD. Sinclair was was a muckraker, which means he was an investigative journalist who dug beneath the surface to find the story beneath. It wasn't always pretty.

In 1904, Sinclair spent several weeks working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking industry. The result was his novel, The Jungle, which was published in 1906. It exposed the horrendous conditions, not only for the workers, but also of the food that was being produced for the American public. The novel cause such a public outcry that, with a few months of publication, the government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act.

If you have never read The Jungle, pick it up sometime. It will make you appreciate your food and your working conditions!

Sinclair went on to write many other novels. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for Dragon's Teeth. Another of his books, Oil!, was the basis for the 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Upton Sinclair died in 1968, at the age of 90.

September 17, 1862

2010-09-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

On this date in 1862, the Battle of Antietam was fought. This battle, fought during the American Civil War, is known as the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with over 23,000 casualties.

Antietam is the name of a creek near Sharpsville, Maryland, where the battle was fought. In the south, it's known as the Battle of Sharpsville.

At the end of the day, Union Major General McClellen won the battle of Confederate General Lee. Lee's retreat prompted President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery.

Many of the soldiers who fought at Antietam met again less than a year later at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Tip of the Week -- Math

2010-09-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

A mnemonic device is a little trick to help you remember something.

A good mnemonic to remember the Order of Operations is

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

Parentheses

Exponents

Multiplication

Division

Addition

Subtraction

Or you could just remember PEMDAS as a fun nonsense word to help you to remember.

Tip of the Week -- Science

2010-09-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

On this day in history, September 16, 1978, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Tabas, Iran. More than 25, 000 people were killed. The quake was felt up to 400 miles away. The town of Tabas was destroyed. Of the 17, 000 people who lived there, only about 2000 survived. The only buildings left standing were the school and the bank. They were the only buildings that had been constructed with steel frames.

Earthquakes result when energy is suddenly released along faultlines. Think of pushing two cardboard boxes together. Sooner or later, one of them will collapse, causing the other to suddenly move forward, backward, or sideways, depending upon which way the collapsed box fell.

The tectonic plates on our planet move just like those cardboard boxes. They constantly grind against each other until one of them gives up and the other one moves suddenly, releasing energy in the form of an earthquake.

This illustration shows the types of faults and how they work:

Tip of the Week -- Social Studies

2010-09-15T05:20:00.002-07:00

Today, we're combining the social studies tip with an event that happened on this day in history.

On September 15, 1959, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet head-of-state to visit the United States. Khrushchev became the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1954. Stalin was a dictator who ruled the Soviet Union and controlled the Eastern Bloc countries from 1922 until his death.

After WWII, the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in the Cold War, which didn't officially end until 1991. During this time, the Soviets and the Americans were both superpowers with nuclear weapons. They realized that each had the power to destroy the other, so rather than engage in a direct war, they engaged in proxy wars. The wars in Korea and Vietnam are examples of proxy wars. The larger, more powerful countries used the smaller countries as substitutes so that they didn't have to fight each other directly.

During the Cold War, especially in the 1950s, tensions ran high. Americans built bomb shelters in their back yards, and school children had air raid drills, in anticipation of nuclear war.

Americans were surprised when Nikita Khrushchev visited America. They weren't sure what to expect. But Khushchev wanted to soften the tensions caused by the Cold War. He wanted more friendly relations. By visiting us, he took the first step in ending the Cold War.

The Cold War did not officially end, however, until 1991, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was in office.

September 14, 1959

2010-09-14T05:33:00.001-07:00

On this date in 1959, the first man-made object landed on the moon. The Soviet rocket was launched two years after Sputnik, the Soviet satellite that was the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.

Writing Tip of the Day -- Conjunctions

2010-09-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

A conjunction is a connecting word. It connects two thoughts. The easy way to remember the conjunctions is to remember FANBOYS.

For (when it means "because")
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So (when it means "as a result")

September 13, 1814

2010-09-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem. He had witnessed the bombardment of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore by the British during the War of 1812. He was amazed that the American flag was still flying over the fort the next morning. Scott's poem was set to music and became our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, in 1931.

Reading Tip of the Week: Types of Conflict

2010-09-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

Conflict is found in all literature. Every story you will ever read has a problem that needs to be solved. That's conflict.

These are the four types:

Man vs. Self is the only internal type of conflict. This is when a character is torn between two paths or ideas, or must make a difficult decision. An example of Man vs. Self would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by his past, his present, and his future and must amend his ways.

Man vs. Man is the most common type of conflict. This is when the character is in conflict with another character. An example of Man vs Man conflict would be Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. Holmes tracks down the bad guys - often one bad guy: Professor Moriarty.

Man vs. Nature occurs when the character is pitted against a natural event or occurrance. An example of this would be Jack London's To Build a Fire, a man who is lost in the wilds of Alaska struggles not to freeze to death.

Man vs. Society comes into play when a character when a character is out of sync with the society in which he lives. An example of this would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The Monster want desperately to be accepted and to be loved, but he knows that this can never be.

All four types can be found in movies and on television, too. For example:

Man vs. Self: Good Will Hunting shows the character's internal struggle between loyalty to his friends and going on the achieve his full potential. Casablanca shows Rick's internal struggle between saving the woman who broke his heart (and her husband), or saving himself from the Nazis.

Man vs Man: Batman puts the superhero up again bad guy The Joker. The police on Law & Order track down criminals. Any "good guy vs. bad guy" book, movie, or TV show would fall into this category.

Man vs. Nature: Jaws shows characters tracking down a maneating shark. Disaster movies also fall into this category: Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Earthquake, Dante's Peak.

Man vs. Society: Gattaca shows a man trying to fit into a future society in which humans are genetically engineered. The Matrix shows characters rebelling against a society in which reality is an illusion.

Keep in mind that all of the types of conflict can be present in the same book or movie. Titanic is a good example of this. Rose is in love with Jack, but at first feels some loyalty to her family's station (Man vs. Self). Jack is in conflict with Cal for Rose's affections (Man vs. Man). Everyone on the ship is in danger when the ship sinks (Man vs Nature). Jack tries to be polite to Rose's upper class friends and family, but he just doesn't fit in (Man vs. Society).

This Week's Online Classroom Sessions

2010-09-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 14, 7:00 PM: ESOL Conversation Community
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Wednesday, September 15, 9:00 PM
AND
Thursday, September 16, 10:00 AM: Reading Between the Lines
Instructor: Matt Manfred
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/mjmanfred

Friday, September 17, 9:00 AM: ESOL Live Online Classroom
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Math Tip of Week -- Algebra: Why Are There Letters in Math??

2010-09-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the word equation. It has the same root as the word equal. An equation is a situation in which one thing is the same as something else. In math, it means that one number or set of numbers is equal to another number or set of numbers. That's why there is an equal sign (=) in the middle of it.

For example, we know that 2 + 2 is the same thing as 4. We say 2 + 2 = 4. The numbers on both sides of the = mean the same thing.

But what if we only have two numbers in that equation? What if we only have 2 + 2 =
and we don't know what goes on the other side of the =? We substitute the missing information with a letter (usually x, y or z) to represent that we don't know the number yet.

We could write 2 + 2 = x.
To solve for x, we must first isolate x, or get it alone, on one side of the =. In this example, x is already by itself, so we only have to add 2 + 2 to find it.

Simplified, it looks like this: 2 + 2 = x
2 + 2 = 4
x = 4

Let's do another one, and mix it up a little: 2 + x = 4
We need to isolate the x. We know that 2 + something is equal to 4, so 4 - 2 must be equal to that something: 4 - 2 = x. And we have the x right where we want it. Now we just need to solve to find x.

It looks like this: 2 + x = 4
4 - 2 = x
2 = x

Now let's look at a problem like this: 3x = 6
This means that 3 times something is 6 . . . but what is that something?
We follow the same steps: isolate x and solve the problem like this: 3x = 6
x = 6/3
x = 2

Now let's make it a little harder: 3x + 4 = 12
3x = 12 - 4
3x = 9
x = 9/3
x = 3

Science Tip of the Week -- Symbiosis of Plants and Animals

2010-09-09T05:44:00.000-07:00

Plants and animals have a symbiotic relationship. This means that they are different from each other, but they each have something the other needs to survive.

Animals and people breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

Plants also provide food for animals, and animals fertilize the plants in return.

Animals - even carnivores (meat eaters) - would not be able to survive without plants, and plants would not be able to survive without animals.

September 8 is National Literacy Day!

2010-09-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Celebrate by telling others about your favorite book!

Some favorites among the teachers here at the Distance Learning Project include these titles:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Emily's sister!)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

The Great Ship of Knowledge by William Bailey

Here are some of the books we're reading for fun right now:

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

The Art of the Commonplace by Wendall Berry

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Memoirs of an Antihero by Drew Blank

Emma by Jane Austen

Social Studies Tip of the Week -- Labor Day

2010-09-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

We all know that Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. We get a day off. We have picnics. It's the last day before swimming pools and amusement parks close for the season. But do you know the history of Labor Day?

It all started in 1894 in the town of Pullman, Illinois. Pullman was a factory town, and their product was Pullman train cars, which were made at the Pullman Palace Car Company. The company had lost revenue the previous year because demand for railway cars had dropped. Their answer to lost revenue was to cut workers' pay and increase their hours.

The workers were angered by the company's decision, and they held a wildcat strike. A wildcat strike is a strike that is not authorized by union officials. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, was a union of all railway workers. It was a large and powerful union. The ARU supported the Pullman worker's strike by refusing to run trains that included Pullman cars. Soon, all train traffic west of Chicago stopped. This affected both travel and trade.

President Grover Cleveland sent the U.S. military troops and U.S. Marshalls to intervene and get the trains moving again. During the clash, 13 workers were killed. These workers were instrumental in improving workers' rights in America.

As a result of the Pullman Strike in 1894, President Cleveland created Labor Day as a celebration of American Workers and their families.

This Week's Online Classroom Sessions

2010-09-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 7:00 PM: ESOL Conversation Community
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler/

Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 9:00 PM
and
Thursday, Sept. 9 at 10:00 AM: Needed Operations and Multi-Step Math Problems
Instructor: Matt Manfred
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/mjmanfred

Friday, Sept. 10 at 9:00 AM: ESOL Live Online Classroom
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Writing Tip of the Week: Run-On Sentences

2010-09-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

A run-on sentence doesn't know when to stop. It goes on and on, combining two or more ideas with no, or incorrect punctuation.

For example: I had pizza for lunch it was good. This type of run-on is called a fused sentence because there are two complete thoughts here, but no punctuation.

The easiest way to correct this run-on is to add a period and separate the two thoughts into individual sentences: I had pizza for lunch. It was good.

We could also fix it with a comma that separates the thoughts, but does not create a separate sentence. If we do this, we must also use a conjunction, or connecting word. For example, I had pizza for lunch, and it was good.

Remember that 1 comma + 1 conjunction= one period.

Labor Day

2010-09-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

We hope you had a great Labor Day weekend! Because of the holiday, the DLP office was closed yesterday, and your Reading Tip of the Day was posted a day late.

Do you know what Labor Day celebrates? We know that it's a celebration of America's working men and women, but there's more to the story. Check back tomorrow for your Social Studies Tip of the Day!

Reading Tip of the Week: Fact and Opinion

2010-09-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Do you know the difference between a fact and an opinion? In a nutshell, you can't argue with a fact, but you can argue with an opinion.

For example, 2 + 2 = 4. That's a fact. It has always been a fact, and it will always be a fact. No one can change it. It doesn't matter whether you are talk about grains of sand or entire planets. Two somethings plus two somethings equals four somethings. Period. You can't disagree with it, because it's absolutely true. (That's why math facts are called math facts!)

On the other hand, if I say, "Titanic is a great movie," someone - maybe even you - might have hated that movie. That person would disagree with my opinion and have one of his or her own! If you can argue or disagree, it's an opinion.

Think about witnesses in a courtroom. They are only supposed to give facts - what they saw or heard. They are not supposed to give their opinions. They can say, "I saw the defendent take money out of the cash register," because if that's what happened, it's the truth. They can't say, "The defendent is a nice guy," because other people may not agree.

Math Tip of the Day -- Coordinates on a Grid

2010-09-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

The important thing to remember when plotting points on a grid is that the X axis goes east west, and the Y axis goes north and south. When you are writing the coordinates, the X coordinate is always first, just like it comes before Y in the alphabet.

The point where the two axes meet is the center of the graph, and the coordinates are (0,0) because it is at point 0 on both the X and the Y axis.

Another thing that is important to remember is that when we move to the right on the X axis or upward on the Y axis, we are moving in a positive direction. Conversely, when we move to the left on the X axis on downward on the Y axis, we are moving in a negative direction.

The intersection of the two axes creates four quadrants. On one quadrant, all coordinates are positive. In the quadrant that is diagonal to that one, all coordinates are negative.

The other two quadrants contain both positives and negatives. In the lower right quadrant, the first coordinate is positive because the first coordinate is always on the X axis, and we are moving to the right. In the upper left quadrant, the first coordinate is negative because, although we are still on the X axis, we are moving to the left.

Take a look at the grid to the left. We've plotted the coordinates (+3, 0). We've moved three places to the right on the X axis, so our X coordinate is positive. We are still at 0 on the Y axis because we haven't moved upward or downward.

Now take a look at the grid to the right. We've stayed at +3 on the X axis, but we've got downward 2 places on the Y axis. Our coordinates are now (+3, -2)

Science Tip of the Week -- Hurricanes

2010-09-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

I thought this would be a good time to talk about hurricanes, with Earl threatening the east coast and Fiona right behind him!

Hurricanes are a category of tropical cyclone. Tropical cyclones are divided into three types: tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes. Storms fall into these catagories according to the intensity of storm.

A tropical depression is a storm system with winds of up to 38 miles per hour.

A tropical storm is a storm system with winds between 39 and 73 miles per hour.

A hurricane is a storm system with winds above 73 miles per hour. Hurricanes are further divided on a scale from 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest). Hurricanes that you may remember that have reached Category 5 include Hugo (1989), Andrew (1992), Mitch (1998), Ivan (2004), and Katrina (2005). This is only a partial list. You may want to read more about this at the link below.

Tropical cyclones are caused by a combination of warm tropical waters, light winds, and moisture. When those elements come together under the right conditions, they begin to swirl and move across the ocean, bringing strong winds, high waves, and intense thunderstorms, often resulting in heavy wind damage and flooding.

For more information about hurricanes, check out the National Hurricane Center's website:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Social Studies Tip of the Week: American Red Cross

2010-09-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

The Red Cross is a humanitarian non-profit organization that provided emergency assistance for victims of disasters, community services for families in need, support to military personnel and their families, collection and processing of blood for future use, and educational services in the areas

Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was a teacher during the Civil War. She organized a program that helped to locate soldiers who were missing in action. After working tirelessly for many years, her doctors sent her to Europe to rest. Rather than resting, however, she became involved with the International Red Cross in the midst of the Franco-Prussian War.

When she returned to the United States, she was determined to bring the Red Cross with her. The American Red Cross was officially established in 1881, during the presidency of Chester Arthur.

One of the early major disasters for which the American Red Cross provided relief, was right here in Pennsylvania. More than 2,200 people died and thousands were injured and left homless by the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. It is listed as one of the worst natural disasters in American History.

The Red Cross continues respond to disasters to this day: earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, floods, mine disasters, plane crashes. Wherever people are in need, the Red Cross is there, thanks to Clara Barton.

Writing Tip of the Week -- Organized Writing

2010-08-31T07:42:00.001-07:00

Essays are like sandwiches. The main idea is the meat; there should be a little bit in every bite. The supporting ideas are like condiments; they should spice up the essay without overpowering the main idea. The opening and closing paragraphs are the two slices of bread that hold it all together.

Paragraphs are like mini-essays. Again, the main idea is the meat. The supporting details are condiments, and the topic sentences and conclusions are the bread.

Take a look at this opening paragraph:

This Week's Online Classroom Sessions

2010-08-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 31, 7:00-8:00 PM: ESOL Conversation Community
Instuctor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Thursday, September 2, 7:00 PM: Passing the GED Science Test
Instructor: Bethany Lezanic-Smith
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/tcapouillez

Friday, September 3, 9:00-10:30 AM: ESOL Live Online Class
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Friday, September 3, 2:00 PM: DLP Book Club
Instructor: Staci Van Art
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/svanart

Fall 1 Session Begins

2010-08-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, Distance Learners!

The DLP Fall 1 Session begins today and ends Oct. 8. Our mailings were sent out on Thursday, so you should receive your materials by today. If you have not received your Fall 1 materials by tomorrow, please contact us.

Reading Tip of the Week: DLP Online Book Club

2010-08-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

Whether we are reading the latest novel, a newspaper article, or a birthday card, reading is an important part of life. Think about all of the things we read every day: street signs, instructions, recipes, shopping lists, websites, etc.

Reading is not only a practical skill that helps us through our everyday lives; it is also a way to broaden our horizons, to learn about things we may never get to see with our own eyes, and to expand our imaginations.

If you could read about anything you wanted, what would it be? A science fiction novel? A romance? A biography of your favorite singer or an historical figure you wish you could have met? Maybe you're interested in learning more about your ethnic heritage or maybe you'd like to learn more about collecting coins.

Reading is the door to endless possibilities! That's why we've created the DLP Online Book Club. Each session, a new story will be posted. Just read the story and answer the questions. Feel free to read and respond to each other's posts. Discussion is encouraged! In the future, you might even want to recommend stories, books, or articles that you have read that other people might enjoy!

We've moved the book club from it's old site at freeforums.org to the DLP Moodle site. All online students have automatically been registered for the club. Your Moodle user name and password are all you need! Please join me in my online classroom this Friday at 2:00 PM, for a preview of the club and how it works! You will receive a flyer with your Fall 1 materials, that will include more information about both the book club and the webinar.

Math Tip of the Week -- Area and Perimeter

2010-08-26T12:28:00.001-07:00

Think of the perimeter as the fence around the yard, and the area as the part you have to mow.

In this example, the perimeter is represented by the border of trees. We find the perimeter by adding the lengths of all of the sides together. In this example, if our yard is 12 feet long by 12 feet wide, we would do this: 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 = 48 ft.

We find the area, or the part in the middle by multiplying the length by the width. Area is represented in square feet. In our example, our yard is 12 feet long by 12 feet wide, we would do this: 12 x 12 = 144 sq. ft.

Science Tip of the Week -- States of Matter

2010-08-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

All matter has three states: solids, liquids, and gases.

If we take a look at H2O, for example. In its solid form, we call it ice. In its liquid form, it is water. In it's gaseous form, it is steam.

The freezing point of H2O is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the point at which it turns from a liquid (water) to a solid (ice).

The boiling point, or the point at which it turns from a liquid (water) to a gas (steam), is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

H2O is in it's liquid form at between 32 and 212 degrees F.

Think about these things the next time you reach for the ice cubes, drink a glass of water, or boil water on the stove.

Social Studies Tip of the Week - Military Statues

2010-08-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been to a place like Valley Forge, Gettysburg, or Washington, D.C., that have a lot of statues of soldiers on horseback? Did you know that you can read those statues?

If both the horse's front feet are off the ground, it means that the rider was killed in battle.

If the horse has one foot off the ground, it means that the rider died from injuries received in battle.

If all four of the horse's feet are firmly on the ground, it means that the rider lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes.

Writing Tip of the Week -- Journaling

2010-08-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Whether you are learning a new skill or just sharpening the skills you have, practice is important.

A good way to practice writing is to keep a journal. Some people carry a notebook with them and when they have a few minutes, they write. Some people prefer to write for long periods at a time, when they wake up or just before they fall asleep.

A journal can be as plain or as fancy as you want it to be. It's yours, so you can make it any way you like. You can also write about anything you want. It's yours, and only yours. You never have to share it with anyone.

The purpose of journaling is to get your thoughts on paper. It's not about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Rather than just listing what you did today, write about the places you've been and the people you've met, and most importantly, what you think and how you feel about them. Write about yourself and the decisions you've made, or that you will need to make in the future. Write about your childhood and how it has affected you as an adult. Because you never have to share it, allow yourself to be completely honest. And don't think too hard -- just write!

Transition Week

2010-08-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

The DLP Summer Session is over, and the Fall Session will start on Monday, August 30. Students may be taking the week off, but DLP teachers and staff are hard at work enrolling students and preparing materials for the upcoming session.

Because this is Transition Week, there will be no online classrooms this week.

I will make an effort to keep the blog updated this week.

Have a great week off!

Paragraphs

2010-08-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know!! The previous post looks like one long paragraph. I tried several times to separate the paragraphs, but the program automatically changed it back to the form you see.

Apologies!

Reading Tip of the Week: Reading Between the Lines

2010-08-23T08:02:00.001-07:00

When we are reading, we must be detectives.

While it's important to pay attention to what's written on the page, it's just as important to read what's not written on the page!

Consider the following reading:

Jim bundled up in his down jacket and pulled his hat over his ears. As he reach for his dented metal lunchbox, he scratched old Fido behind the ear. He grabbed the keys off the table by the door and headed out to his truck.

As he yanked the truck door open, he hoped the old Chevy would start. He slid the lunchbox across the duct taped seat and climbed in, blowing on his hands to warm them. He shifted to neutral, pushed in the clutch and turned the key. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing.

He sighed heavily. He was not looking forward to walking two miles to the mill in this weather. He'd be late and his pay would be docked. Still, he didn't have much choice. He needed this job. It's expensive to get sick, he thought. He glanced up at the bedroom window, noticing the peeling paint on the shutters. He slammed the truck door and trudged toward the street.

Now think about Jim. How old do you think he is? Where is he going? Why is he going there? What time of year is it? What is the weather like on this day? Where does he work? How old is Jim's truck? What is its condition? Who is sick? Is Jim responsible or irresponsible?

We can gather that it is very cold because Jim is bundled up and not looking forward to walking to work because of the weather. It's probably winter.

His dog is old (old Fido), his lunchbox appears to be old (dented, metal), the truck is old (the seat is duct taped, it's got a manual transmission, and it won't start), and his house is old (peeling paint), so it's a safe bet the Jim is older, too.

He's got his lunchbox, and he's concerned about being late and being docked, so he must be going to work. The passage mentions a mill, and that is usually some kind of factory -- perhaps a steel mill.

We know that Jim has to keep working to pay someone's medical bills. That person is probably his wife. Since he glances up at the bedroom window while he is thinking about this, we can infer that she is probably in bed.

We can conclude that Jim is a responsible person because he is willing to walk two miles in the cold winter weather, even though he will be late and have his pay docked, so that he will be able to pay for his sick wife's medical bills.

Remember to be a detective when you are reading!

Last Day of Summer Session!!

2010-08-20T06:54:00.001-07:00

We made it!! Today is the last day of the DLP Summer Session. Next week, DLP staff will be busy getting ready for the Fall 2 session.

The Fall 1 Session begins August 30.

Math Tip of the Week -- Exponents

2010-08-20T06:14:00.001-07:00

Think about how fast word-of-mouth can travel. Whether it's a viral video or a rumor, telling our friends is one of the fasted ways to send information. Why? Because it spreads exponentially.

Let's say you see a funny YouTube video. You send it to two friends. Each of friends sends it to two of their friends. And each of those people send it two more people, and so on.

It would look like this:

Science Tip of the Week

2010-08-19T06:47:00.001-07:00

Our solar system is fascinating! Did you know that our sun is really a star? It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to Earth?

Here are some more interesting facts about the solar system:

Uranus rolls on its side like a barrel, while the other planets spin upright like a top.

Venus spins in the opposite direction of the other planets.

The most volcanic activity in our Solar System takes place on Io, one of Jupiter's moons.

Pluto lost its planet status in 2006. It is now considered a dwarf planet because the ratio of its mass to that of everything else within its orbit is not big enough.

2010-08-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Distance Learning Instructor Matt Manfred reminded me that the world would be a much bleaker place without The Peanuts Gang and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!

Did you know that Charles Schulz, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were distance learners? It's true!

Charles Schulz learned do draw by taking correspondence courses with Art Instruction Schools. He even became a teacher there after he returned from World War II!

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took a correspondence course in ice cream making from Penn State, and the rest is ice cream history!

Thanks for the reminder, Matt!

Social Studies Tip of the Week

2010-08-18T06:52:00.001-07:00

The Great Depression began in 1929 with the Stock Market Crash, and lasted throughout the 1930s, ending with the beginning of World War II. During the Depression, the United States economy fell so sharply that unemployment reached 25%, and the Gross National Product dropped by 33%. This means that companies did not have money to pay their workers; one out of every four people lost their jobs, and had no money to buy things that were still being produced. Because of this, American factories produced fewer things that we could trade with other countries. The slowdown in trade cause the depression to spread around the world.

If the economic situation wasn't bad enough, there was a drought in the midwest, where most of our food crops are grown. It was so dry that, when heavy winds came along, there were massive dust storms that covered the fields, cars and even houses, like snow. The area, especially Oklahoma and nothern Texas, became known as the Dust Bowl. The drought meant that fewer crops could be produced, which meant less food.

The shortage of food meant that food was more expensive, and people couldn't afford to buy it. Many Dust Bowl farmers packed their families up and headed to California to look for work. They became migrant workers, continuously, following whatever crops were in season.

If you would like to read some novels that are set during the Great Depression, I encourage you to read The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

For a Closer Look at the Graphics on this Blog

2010-08-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

If you are having trouble seeing the details on the charts and pictures on this blog, just click on them to get a better look!

Writing Tip of the Week - Subject-Verb Agreement

2010-08-17T06:44:00.001-07:00

If you have a hard time remembering how to make your subjects and verbs get along with each other, this chart might be useful.

There are 6 types of subjects. Let's look at them.

The left column on the chart shows the singular subects and the column on the right shows the plural subjects.

The rows show first person, second person and third person points-of-view.

Every subject has two parts: point-of-view and singular/plural. For example, the word "I" is first person singular, while the word "they" is third person plural.

Let's take a closer look at the word "you." It's both singular and plural. For example, if I'm talking to one friend, I might say, "You are my friend." If I'm talking to two or more friends, I would still say, "You are my friends."

There are many slang ways to differentiate between the singular and plural "you." In the South, they say "you all" or "y'all." In New York, they say "yous." We Pennsylvanians usually say "you'uns or "y'uns," depending on which said of the state you live! Those are all forms of slang. You should avoid slang when writing, and use "you" whether your subject is singular or plural.

I've conjugated the regular verb "walk" on this chart so that you can see the different forms. Note how they change depending on the subject.

On this chart, I've conjugated the irregular verb "to be." Part of what makes this verb irregular none of the present tense (happening right now) forms of the verb is "be." Again, note how the verb changes with the subject.

And on this chart, I've combined the two verbs to create the infinitive verb "to be walking," so you can see how the verb changes again. The infinitive form just means "a state of being," and usually involves the verb "to be" in one of it's many forms.

Reminder

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We are beginning the last week of the 6-week summer session! The session ends on Friday, August 20.

This Week's Online Classroom Sessions

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Monday, August 16, 7:00 PM -- Spelling
Instructor: Bethany Lezzanic-Smith
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/tcapouillez

Thursday, August 19, 7:00 PM -- Mean, Median and Mode
Instructor: Lisa Bailey
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/lbailey

Every Friday at 9:00 AM -- English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
Instructor: Shannon Mischler
Online Classroom: http://adobeconx.tiu11.org/smischler

Reading Tip of the Week: Main Idea

2010-08-16T05:54:00.001-07:00

The main idea of an essay or a news article is usually found in the first paragraph. On the same note, the main idea of a paragraph is usually in the first sentence. The main idea is what the story is about. It is the important part of the story that you will pass on when you tell someone about the story you read.

Read the following paragraph and find the main idea.

Mary had a little lamb. It's fleece was white as snow. Everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school one day, which was against the rules.

You are right if you thought the main idea was Mary had a little lamb. All of the othe sentences are supporting details that talk about Mary's lamb!