Mar 31, 1995: Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends

 

 Click the picture to watch reaction to the 1994 Major League Baseball strike.

Major League Baseball players are sent back to work after the longest strike in baseball history ends on this day in 1995. Because of the strike, the 1994 World Series was cancelled; it was the first time baseball did not crown a champion in 89 years.

During the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, tensions between owners and players had arisen over the owners’ desire to institute a cap on player salaries. Claiming financial hardship, owners argued that player salaries, which had risen exponentially since the 1970s, had become unsustainable and, if not contained, would bankrupt the teams. The players, led by union head Donald Fehr, refused to agree to a cap; they pointed out that they had been underpaid for most of the sport’s history and called salary caps just the latest form of exploitation by owners.

Today in Social Studies:

7th- Continued to research social issues from Asia & the Pacific Island nations.  Each group has 9-12 countries to research.
6th- Each student read an article dealing with AIDS and wrote a summary about the effects of AIDS in each instance.  Also, they were given an edmodo assignment AIDS Facts Part #1.
8th- Each group wrote & turned in 2 quiz questions for Ch4 Section 4.  Students then took the quiz and turned them in.  Also partially graded Ch4 Section 4 Study Guide.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 30, 1981: President Reagan shot

President Reagan seconds before being shot.

Watch the attempted assassination of President Reagan 

The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and quipped to his wife, Nancy, ''Honey, I forgot to duck,'' and to his surgeons, "Please tell me you're Republicans." Reagan's surgery lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition afterward.

Today in social studies:
7th- Assigned groups to work on Social Issues Project that deals with Social Issues that the countries of Asia and the Pacific are dealing with today.
6th- Concluded watching video over Africa today, discussed how AIDS is impacting African culture.
8th- Student led discussion over Ch4 Section 4 "The Spread of New Ideas".  Kids were in 4 groups and each group presented their main ideas/topics to the class.  Then each group had a q & a session.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 29, 1982: Tar Heels win NCAA basketball championship

On March 29, 1982, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels win the NCAA men’s basketball championship with a 63-62 defeat of the Georgetown University Hoyas. It was the first title for Carolina coach Dean Smith, who would retire in 1997 as the most successful coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history with 879 career wins. (Bobby Knight broke the record in 2006.)

Watch This Day in History 

Today in Social Studies-

7th grade- Finished watching video over Japan, discussed issues that they are dealing with.
6th grade- Watched a video discussing social issues in Africa, including Education, Health care and AIDS.
8th grade- Finished discussing Ch4 Section 3 "Slavery in the Colonies" with note taking help.  Also took a quiz on that material.  Assigned Ch4 Section 4 "The Spread of New Ideas" for Wednesday.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 28, 1979: Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island

At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat.

Watch today's episode of This Day in History 

Today in Social Studies:

7th- Students received new books for Asia & the Pacific and started viewing a video of Asia's people and many concerns that their people face in the future.

6th- Students received new books for Africa and viewed a short video on the African peoples way of life.

Also watched the 8th graders volcano project that they created in Science class.

8th- Reviewed Ch4 Section 3 "Slavery in the Colonies" and discussed it in class.  Will finish section tomorrow & quiz over material before moving on.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City

In one of the darkest moments of America's industrial history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burns down, killing 145 workers, on this day in 1911. The tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of factory workers.

The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, was located in the top three floors of the 10-story Asch Building in downtown Manhattan. It was a sweatshop in every sense of the word: a cramped space lined with work stations and packed with poor immigrant workers, mostly teenaged women who did not speak English. At the time of the fire, there were four elevators with access to the factory floors, but only one was fully operational and it could hold only 12 people at a time. There were two stairways down to the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent theft by the workers and the other opened inward only. The fire escape, as all would come to see, was shoddily constructed, and could not support the weight of more than a few women at a time.

Watch This Day in History 

Today in Social Studies-

All 6, 7, 8th graders took their final Iowa Test of Basic Skills in my room today.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 24, 1958: Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army

When Elvis Presley turned 18 on January 8, 1953, he fulfilled his patriotic duty and legal obligation to register his name with the Selective Service System, thereby making himself eligible for the draft. The Korean War was still underway at the time, but as a student in good standing at L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, Elvis received a student deferment that kept him from facing conscription during that conflict's final months. Elvis would receive another deferment four years later when his draft number finally came up, but this time for a very different reason: to complete the filming of his third Hollywood movie, King Creole. With that obligation fulfilled, Uncle Sam would wait no longer. On March 24, 1958, Elvis Presley was finally inducted, starting his day as the King of Rock and Roll, but ending it as a lowly buck private in the United States Army.

Watch This Day in History 

Today in Social Studies:

7th grade- Finished our Canadian Provinces/Territories charts, put that information into a Google Map to share.

6th grade- Finished our European charts, put that information into a Google Map to share.

8th grade- Finished Chapter 4 Section 2 "Colonial Society" with a quiz.  Then previewed Chapter 4 Section 3 "Slavery in the Colonies" and a short video clip.  We will discuss this on Monday as we have ITBS on Friday.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 23, 1775: Patrick Henry voices American opposition to British policy

During a speech before the second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry responds to the increasingly oppressive British rule over the American colonies by declaring, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Following the signing of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Patrick Henry was appointed governor of Virginia by the Continental Congress.  

Watch today's episode of This Day in History

Today in Social Studies-

7th grade- watched & discussed CNN Student News podcast, started researching information for Canadian Province Google Maps project.

6th grade- watched & discussed CNN Student News podcast, started researching information for European Countries Google Maps project.

8th grade- watched & discussed CNN Student News podcast, finished class discussion over "Colonial Society", roles of men, women, children and the class system of colonial times.

 Mr. Johnson

Mar 22, 1933: FDR legalizes sale of beer and wine

On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. This law levies a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages to raise revenue for the federal government and gives individual states the option to further regulate the sale and distribution of beer and wine.

With the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act in 1919, temperance advocates in the U.S. finally achieved their long sought-after goal of prohibiting the sale of alcohol or "spirits." Together, the new laws prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of liquor and ushered in the era known as "Prohibition," defining an alcoholic beverage as anything containing over 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. President Woodrow Wilson had unsuccessfully tried to veto the Volstead Act, which set harsh punishments for violating the 18th Amendment and endowed the Internal Revenue Service with unprecedented regulatory and enforcement powers. In the end, Prohibition proved difficult and expensive to enforce and actually increased illegal trafficking without cutting down on consumption. In one of his first addresses to Congress as president, FDR announced his intention to modify the Volstead Act with the Beer and Wine Revenue Act.

No fan of temperance himself, FDR had developed a taste for alcohol when he attended New York cocktail parties as a budding politician. (While president, FDR refused to fire his favorite personal valet for repeated drunkenness on the job.) FDR considered the new law "of the highest importance" for its potential to generate much-needed federal funds and included it in a sweeping set of New Deal policies designed to vault the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression.
The Beer and Wine Revenue act was followed, in December 1933, by the passage of the 21st Amendment, which officially ended Prohibition.

Watch This Day in History 

Today we are taking our Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in all of my social studies classes.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 21, 1980: Carter tells U.S. athletes of Olympic boycott

President Jimmy Carter informs a group of U.S. athletes that, in response to the December 1979 Soviet incursion into Afghanistan, the United States will boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. It marked the first and only time that the United States has boycotted the Olympics.

Watch today's episode of This Day in History 

Today in Social Studies:

7th- prepared for ITBS which start Tuesday, also viewed & discussed a video that covered the geography of Canada.

6th- prepared for ITBS which start Tuesday, also viewed & discussed a video over Moscow: From Marx to Mc Donalds.

8th- prepared for ITBS which start Tuesday, previewed Chapter 4, Section 2 "Colonial Society" in our online textbook.  Students had time to read in class and will be able to discuss it Wednesday in class.

Mr. Johnson

March 15, 1965 : Johnson calls for equal voting rights

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of legislation guaranteeing voting rights for all.

Using the phrase "we shall overcome," borrowed from African-American leaders struggling for equal rights, Johnson declared that "every American citizen must have an equal right to vote." Johnson reminded the nation that the Fifteenth Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War, gave all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. But states had defied the Constitution and erected barriers. Discrimination had taken the form of literacy, knowledge or character tests administered solely to African-Americans to keep them from registering to vote. 

Watch Today in History 

Today in Social Studies:

7th Grade- Discussed the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, took a quiz over that info and also used Photo Booth to put the students in a picture of their choice from Ontario.

6th Grade- Discussed Bosnia-Herzegovina, also used Photo Booth to put the students in a picture of their choice from those countries.

8th Grade- Finished discussing Ch 4 "Life in the Colonies", which included Freedom of the Press, libel and Regulation of Trade.

Wednesday March 16, the Middle School students will be participating in "Flashlight Day".  We are trying to save electricity by using as few electronic devices as possible.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 14, 1879: Albert Einstein born

On March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein is born, the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. Einstein's theories of special and general relativity drastically altered man's view of the universe, and his work in particle and energy theory helped make possible quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb.

Watch Today in History March 14, 2011 

Today in all Social Studies classes we watched a CNN Student News podcast dealing with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  The students will be organizing a garage sale and other special days to  raise funds to send to Japan through the American Red Cross.  Also as a way to simulate the loss of power in Japan, the middle school students will be participating in "Flashlight Day" here at South Winneshiek on Wednesday March 16.  We are going to conserve as much electricity as possible on that day.

 Watch today's episode of CNN Student News

Mr. Johnson

Mar 10, 1876: Speech transmitted by telephone

 

 Watch This Day in History

On this day, the first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." Bell had received a comprehensive telephone patent just three days before.

Today in Social Studies:

7th grade:  We discussed our locating cities partner project and handed them in.  Also watched the National History Day iMovie from the South Winneshiek competition.  Students have 2 worksheets on Making Inferences that are due when they come to school Friday am.

6th grade:  We discussed our egg decoration projects.  We are currently studying Poland and we designed Easter eggs in class.  Students have 2 worksheets on Making Inferences that are due when they come to school Friday am.

8th grade:  Discussed our comparisons of the English Bill of Rights to the American Bill of Rights.  Watched today's episode of CNN Student News and discussed the issue of the US Government setting the laws for when teenagers can receive their learners permit and their actual drivers license.  Students also have 2 comparison worksheets that are due when they come to school Friday 3/11/11.

Mr. Johnson

Mar 9, 1959: Barbie makes her debut

On this day in 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City.
Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future.

Watch This Day In History

NO SCHOOL AT SOUTH WINNESHIEK TODAY!!!

Remember to check your Edmodo for assignments that are due.

Mr. Johnson