Our house really is being built!



From this... an old feed lot...



...to this... staking the hole out...

...to this... a big hole!...

...to these...us standing in our future bedrooms...

It's really happening!!

End of the year party for Commonwealth

Friday night we had an end of the year(semester) party for our commonwealth classes, my class (Sword of Freedom) was able to have a "Reunification Ball" to 'celebrate' the end of the civil war(what the class was about) so we all got to dress up for the night and we performed two dances, the waltz and the polka for the parent program. here are some pictures of the evening: the pictures are pretty blury, sorry!



Jared giving his "blurb" about something he learned



Me giving my "blurb" about something I learned

Me in my dress, this one is really blurry!

me getting my sword( the prize for completing the class)

Jared and his Key of Liberty class ( Revolutionary war class) with their mentors

Part of one of the dances we did



Me and my sword of freedom class ( civil war class) some of the boys are too short to be seen!



Part of a dance

Part of a dance

It was a rather long day in Twin but we had a great time and learned a lot of new things! After the parent program was over all of us girls went outside on the grass to spin with our dresses on, it was pretty fun! thanks for a great year guys...

Capstone Pics

me in the governor's office

all of the 'new students'

I finally copied the pictures from capstone here ya go...

Debating

The no child left behind act has done more harm than good. Debate topic arguments, for Speech and Debate Class by Charity Johns of the MVCS

Written by Olivia Sutter

April 12, 2012

Positive arguments:

Is a one size fits all type of program

No one size can help all children; this program is trying to make every child the same, basically clones of each other. This program is not effective, and by making children all perform on the same level you are playing God, this may sound harsh, but you are interfering with the natural law of winners and losers.

Interferes with IDEA

IDEA is a law helping and protecting challenged students that are handicapped. This act says that these students have rights to ‘free appropriate public education’ These students cannot physically graduate from high school in four years like the NCLB is saying they must. That is where the discrepancy is. The IDEA provides every child with individualized education according to his/her needs whereas NCLB is a ‘one size fits all’ approach and it provides for education for these students but not in a way that they can comprehend and understand.

Hasn’t been making very much difference

In a study conducted by the Pew research center in Washington D.C. they deducted that only 30% said that their child’s school was better, 17% said it was worse and 40% said it had no impact. Let me repeat that I case you didn’t hear, 40% said it had NO IMPACT!!!!! So the federal government is millions of dollars into this program, the individualized schools are straining to afford it, taxes are going up because of it and a just under half of the parents in America say that it has had no impact on their child.

Requires too much testing all the teacher is teaching is the test, that’s it.

The pew research center discovered that 64 % of college graduates say that the NCLB has too much testing and only 10% say it is too little with 21% saying it is the right amount and 5% say they don’t know. Whereas they found out that only 44% of people who have only had some college but are not graduates think that there is too much testing involved with 18% saying that there is not enough testing and 31% say it is the right amount with 7% that don’t know, now, let me take it down another level, 32% of high school graduates say that there is too much testing, 25% of them say that there is not enough and 32% say that it is the right amount with 11% saying that they don’t know.

We often refer to college graduates as the ‘smart ones’ in our society, well, since college graduates usually have more knowledge than the average high school graduate thy have realized that there is negative effects of testing and they recognize that there is too much involved in our classrooms today, thanks to the no child left behind act act.

There is so much testing going on that there is no time for the children to be taught anything besides the tests. They are being taught that you’re only a good kid if you pass the test. This places additional stress on the child to pass the ISATS or whatever testing is done, so that they can go bowling with the rest of the class afterwards.

Standards are being lowered to that every child is at the same level as the other children in his class and the brighter children are ignored as a result

By not allowing the brighter portion of children to succeed you are holding them back, and breeding out the desire to want to do something good, to do the hard stuff, to be able to really study what they want and to learn all that they can. Yet, you do this so that the slower children can succeed at the same rate of the rest of the class. This ultimately is lowering the standards everywhere, just so that 10% of our children can keep up with the rest of the class.

Negative Arguments:

Every child gets equal opportunities

No one child is ‘special’ and gets to have a higher education than others. All children are able to have the same teaching and effort go into them rather than teachers spending all of their time on the brighter students and all but forgetting about the slower children.

Children are able to go to different school if their school is failing.

If a school is not meeting the requirements that they are required to meet, shown through test scores, children are able to transfer to another school with free transportation offered through the original school. Children are also able to transfer if their school is deemed ‘unsafe’ however children cannot transfer without parental consent.

A child that is behind is not behind for long

If a child is behind and is not up to par, he is not there for long because the teacher is there to make sure everyone in the class is on the same level, therefore, she would spend some extra time with that student and he would soon be on the same level as the class.

Your school gets more benefits if you are succeeding

Because of NCLB the better your test scores are the more funding and/or benefits your schools receives. You are able to have more programs and teach a greater variety of things. You are able to have more freedom in teaching and are able to hire better teachers and keep them. Because of this you have a greater incentive to succeed and to do your best, students are trained that good things come out of doing your best.

Challenges for ELL (English language learners) students

NCLB allows ELL students the ability to catch up with the class because they are teaching at a level that all of the students can understand.

Schools can hire better teachers

Because of NCLB Schools are able to hire Better more qualified teachers if they are performing well, also, teachers naturally prefer to go to the better schools and so they will almost always be found in the succeeding schools, and those same teachers often are excited for a change and will often switch schools, they will be more than happy most likely to come to your school if it is succeeding.

What do you think? I have to debate this tomorrow, but I don't know which side so I have to prepare to argue either, I sure hope I'm positive! I don't have very good facts/statistics for my neg!

General Thomas Kane

 My Sword of Freedom Hero Report: Thomas Leiper Kane

By Olivia Sutter

4/11/12

 General Thomas Leiper Cane was a man of integrity and though small in stature he was mighty in character and in the will to do good. A friend to the Mormon’s, he gave everyone a chance, even, when it was not popular.

John Kintzing Kane and Jane Duval Leiper were blessed with a son on January, 27, 1822 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Thomas Leiper Kane.  Thomas grew up and quickly learned many things, his family was wealthy and, as a result, he received a classical American education.  After he had finished his studies in America he was privileged to go to other places to study, which included not only Great Britain but also France, where he was able to learn a great deal. He became quite excellent at speaking French. In fact, he submitted articles into several different French magazines. And while there, he became a staunch abolitionist.

After returning home, Kane, decided to study law. He was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1846. However, Kane was very upset over the fugitive slave law of 1850 and immediately resigned from his post in the courts because he could not in any way help the blacks by following what the act said. It was against his conscious to do that because of his abolitionist beliefs. His father, who was a U.S. District Judge,  unlawfully ordered him put in jail because he felt that it was a direct insult to law and to the bar. However, luckily for him the supreme court said that it was unconstitutional and that he must be released.

After he was released he joined the underground railroad and he enjoyed serving therein. He met and wrote to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Horace Greeley. He enjoyed the ‘discussions’ he had with them by mail. He also became quite active in writing for different magazines on matters of abolitionists and other social issues.

Kane was married to his English born cousin Elisabeth Dennistown Wood on April 21, 1853. They were blessed with three sons: Elisha, Evan and William (or Thomas Kane Jr.) and one daughter, Harriet. Elizabeth was a doctor and three of the four children became physicians in their later life, and Elisha became a civil engineer.

Kane first knew the Mormons because of their anti-slavery stance. He offered advice to them in matters regarding the government and helped them escape from trouble. He helped them get permits so that they could encamp along the Omaha Indian lands on the Missouri. 

Kane even received a patriarchal blessing by the third patriarch of the church, John Smith, on September 8, 1845 in Iowa. Part of it read “He hath given his angels charge over thee, to guard thee in times of danger, to deliver thee out of all of thy troubles to defend thee from all thine enemies; not a hair of thy head shall ever fall by the hands of an enemy for thou art called to do a great work on the earth and thou shalt be blessed in all thine understanding.”  These words were of great comfort to him later in his life.

On July 17,1846 Kane met with several of the leaders of the Church and helped them organize the Mormon battalion. Kane became quite popular with many of the LDS Pioneers.

While he was there he became very ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. This sickness left his body crippled and weak for the rest of his life, with his already having been a sickly child.

When people were discussing making Utah a state in 1850 he delivered a powerful speech to the Philadelphia Historical Society that stated all the reasons why Mormons were good people. He also described their heartaches and troubles, how they had recently been driven out of Nauvoo and he talked about how harsh their westward trek had been.

This lecture was very popular and 1000 copies ended up being printed with other notes and resources and congress used it as a guide. Eventually it was even published in the LDS Newspapers, the Frontier Guardian on August 7, 1850 and the Millennial Star on April 15 through July 15.

When Utah became a territorial government Millard Fillmore asked him be the first Governor of it, however, he politely refused and requested that Brigham Young be made governor.

Kane was very influential in the Utah War by making the 3000 mile journey from the east coast to Utah in the middle of winter. He was able to stop the shedding of much blood in doing so.

Kane was always a personal  friend to Brigham Young and he continued a close relationship with him for many years, even after he was not needed to protect the church.

Kane served faithfully in the civil war by enlisting others and creating the 42^nd Pennsylvania Infantry. He recruited mostly men who he knew could shoot accurately and quickly. The regiment was often called the ‘bucktails’ because of an experience they had. Charles Biddle was named the colonel and Kane was the lieutenant colonel. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and while there Colonel Biddle resigned his post to join congress, so Kane became first in command of the regiment. Later in the Battle of Dranesville he was shot on the right side of his face, and injured and lost several teeth and part of his vision.

In the spring of 1862 after he was only partially healed from his injury he returned to his regiment that was fighting in the Shenandoah Valley against Stonewall Jackson’s armies. But he was injured there again. On June 6 a bullet split the bone right below his right knee.  He went into shock from loss of blood and was thought dead and left on the field. Several hours later he tried to rise but an enemy soldier saw him and commenced in breaking his breastbone with a harsh blow. He was knocked unconscious and was captured.

He later was exchanged in August of 1862 and was promoted to Brigadier General and made the head of the 12^th corps brigade. While leading that brigade he never saw any action. He was switched to a different brigade in March of 1863.He led them into the battle of Chancellorsville. While preparing for the battle his brigade was crossing the Rapidan River when his horse stumbled and he was thrown into the water. He later developed pleurisy from it. After the battle it worsened and turned into pneumonia, has was unwillingly forced to leave the army.

As he started hearing rumors about how Gettysburg was forming up he took up his sickbed in Philadelphia and took the hard journey to the battlefield. He was almost captured by Stuart’s men but he wasn’t because he disguised himself like a regular civilian.

He arrived at the battlefield around 6 AM on July 2. He tried to lead his brigade who were in the reserves behind cemetery hill.  But after only a couple of minutes he had to give it back to who had been leading the brigade because it was just too demanding. They were moved to Culp’s Hill that morning, then later the next day they got into the fighting for just a few hours. They lost very few men thankfully.

However, during all the excitement of the battle he fell seriously ill, his brigade however was successful. Kane was never well again and he suffered many more illnesses.

He was honored for his service by being promoted to Brevet Major General on March 13, 1865.

 Kane and his wife and children spent the winter of 1872 in Brigham Young’s private winter home in St. George, Utah. Part of the reason they did this was to help Kane’s increasingly failing health.

After he returned home he started and helped organize the town of Kane, Pennsylvania. He and his wife moved there and he loved it there. Originally it was called Kane Summit, but it was later shortened to “Kane.”

He later died on December 26, 1883, still plagued by illness. His Patriarchal blessing said “for thou art called to do a great work on earth” and he certainly did it.

Bibliography:

Users-penn.com

Lds.org

Wikipedia.org

Rocembra.com

This is one of the last things I had to do for a class I'm taking what do you think? Now I just have to write a 5 minute presentation on slavery for tomorrow! And I will be DONE!!!