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This past week you worked on your Civil War packet and power point project. While the project allows you to study one aspect of the War in depth, the packet provides you with an overview of the four year conflict. The first two worksheets were collected on Friday and your quiz was based on your text entitled “The First Two Years of the War.”

Before emailing your power point to Mr. Fontaine check your final product against the rubric. Do you have an open ended question for your title slide? Do you have a majority of visual slides? Do you have a slide focusing on how you used primary sources? Do you have an annotated bibliography slide? Your product should be emailed to Mr. Fontaine by close of school on Monday. The projects are due Tuesday and a copy of your slides must be handed in that day. You may hand in your note cards and journal after your presentation. I am really looking forward to seeing what you have discovered about your topic. If you have any last minute questions, please feel free to email me at asullivan@mpsri.net.

Interterm Grades

Interterm reports are due on Wednesday and your score will be based on your comparison chart of the North and South prior to the War, the map of the Union and the Confederacy, the Uncle Tom’s Cabin quiz and the copy of the power point slides. If you do not have a printer at home, make sure you take the time to print your slides at the school library or the public library before class on Tuesday.

May 10, 1869

On this date in history, the golden spike was hammered into the last rail line completing the transcontinental railroad. The celebratory event took place at Promontory Summit in Utah. The completion of the railroad was a major transportation accomplishment and allowed travelers to cross the country in one week as opposed to four months.

Happy Mother’s Day

Julia Ward Howe, best know for writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, is often credited with supporting the efforts to set aside one day a year to honor mothers. Last year a column by the Reverend Amy Bowden Freedman in The Newport Daily News reminded us that Howe spent many summers on Aquidneck Island. The article went on to speak of her upbringing and the significant role she played in the Civil War as an advocate for abolition and an organizer on the home front.

Mother’s Day received national recognition in 1914 when President Wilson signed a joint Congressional Resolution observing the second Sunday in May as a time to celebrate our mothers.

Mothers have played an important role in our history. They are often credited as pushing our government to act in a more humane and generous spirit. Many historians credit the mobilization of Mothers against the Vietnam War as a turning point in that long and bloody conflict. Today, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has proven to be a highly effective advocate for measures that reduce the number of lives lost to drivers impaired by alcohol.

Every day, mothers and others who provide mothering skills take on a wide range of responsibilities, from caretakers of the home to leaders in many professional fields. They devote long hours, and years, to the care and upbringing of all of us. So take a moment today, and every day, to say a word of thanks. Your Mother will hear you no matter where she may be tomorrow.