Friday, October 28, 2011

Before Hip Hop was Hip Hop

We will use some of these resources for our lesson on "Before Hip Hop Was Hip Hop" --

Songs of the Early 1980's before Hip Hop was born:

Early Influential Hip Hop songs:
An Online Self-Test on the Reading Assignment:

http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?wcprefix=epa&wcsuffix=6301&area=view&x=13&y=11

HOMEWORK due Tuesday, November 1:
Post a reply below to these questions: What is YOUR definition of Hip Hop Music? After listening to the songs above, put a link to one of your favorites of your own.

Vocabulary:

Vocabulary FOR "Before Hip Hop..."

1) palpable  - able to be touched, felt, handled -- tangible



2) E N T R E N C H E D - rooted, firmly established, unmovable



3) lexicon  - the language used in a particular subject area


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Chess Club Rolling at LSH

Our school's new chess club, advised by Mr. Plaster, has gotten off to a great start! The club meets each Tuesday and Thursday in Room 15 from 3:35 to 4:35, with time for learning and for game play. The club is open to all grades and all experience levels, with members from beginner all the way to students who have competed in regional tournaments.

Prompted by Principal Taylor, the club has also begun hosting chess games during all three lunches. Mr. Plaster tracks the games and they will be calculated into individual player rankings. Mr. Plaster spent the summer collecting a variety of interesting chess sets for his players, including Renaissance knights, Chinese warriors, Tahitian natives, and even a hand-carved set from Africa.

The LSH chess team will travel to regional tournaments, including the state chess championship in the Spring, and also host a school-wide chess tournament later this year.

Even with competing schedules, students are encouraged to attend whenever possible. For athletes playing a fall sport, they can begin attending when the season is over.

This club is an opportunity for students to have a challenging outlet to expand their intellectual abilities without being focused solely on book knowledge, although players will study the game and increase their skills as far as possible through rigor, competition, and FUN.

For more information, students should inquire with Mr. Plaster in Room 15.


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Chess Club By-Laws

Chess Club Meetings - Tuesday & Thursday

The Chess Club will have regular meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays immediately after school in Room 15 until 4:30 (in time for the late bus).

We will begin Thursday, September 8.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

New CHESS Club at LSHS

To respond to the student interest in this area, I'm starting a Chess Club this year at LSHS. Last year during 5th period, Ms. Poole and I coordinated a chess tournament with 16 students participating. All eight of my students just so happened to be male, and her eight students were all female, coincidentally. Freshman Joel Navarrette was the ultimate winner.

I will be taking applications for chess club membership during the first few weeks of school. Tentatively, we will meet two times per week after school, the first for training and the second for game play. If you want to come to game day, you have to come to training day. That's fair, isn't it?

For more details, check the Chess Club page.