Erda

A special thanks goes out to Erda Gardens and especially Amanda for showing my 3rd period class around. Take a look at some of the pictures! We had a wonderful time and are working on our research paper about bio-dynamic farming and CSAs.

Great job Fortune, Linnea, Maria and Casey!

Staying Cool

It's been a busy few weeks here at Eldorado.

Contemporary Issues III students have created some interesting scavenger hunts involving euthanasia, anorexia and questions like "How are Professor X and Magneto connected to the 1606 Charter of the Virginia Company?", and "How is criminal profiling related to peace activists captured in Iraq?" We are now beginning our exploration of CSAs and looking at partnering with Erda Gardens.

Contemporary Issues II students are continuing their quest through the fruitful and at times daunting avenues of Research, History, Problem Solving, and Leadership. Thanks to many of the students this has been a success thus far and new items will soon be available to help them on their journey.

ACE Students are currently mentoring in the following fields: Engineering, Fillm, Video and Television Production, Music Production, Animation, Forensic Psychology, Autism, Disabled Youth, Anthropological Research and Computer Programming,

Happy Ballon Fiesta to all!

Mr. M

Homecoming and More

What's been happening?

Mentorship students have been working hard to make connections, focus on interview skills, creating resumes and working on their college goals.

Contemporary Issues II the students have begun their Leveling Up process and are exploring their interests in history and various research skills.

Contemporary Issues III students have been trying to find connections between the present and the past as well as figuring out ways to document their research and thought processes during that work.

And lastly, congratulations to all of the students participating in Homecoming, Soccer, Track, Swimming, Volleyball and Drama!

You are AMAZING!

Mr. M

Open House

Tonight is Open House! I look forward to meeting the parents of Contemporary Issues and ACE students. So far things have been rolling along quite smoothly. There's been much to discuss in Contemporary Issues, from situation in Syria to many changes in local and state policy to the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington.

In ACE I've been impressed with all of the students work and diligence in assessing their career goals and look for community members to shadow this semester. A special thank you to recent alum of the class of 2013, Aja Watkins, for visiting the ACE classes and Contemporary Issues III to discuss her experience and success last year.

Here's to a great school year!

Mr. M

2013/2014

Welcome Back!

Contemporary Issues and ACE/Mentorship students. Welcome back for the 2013/2014 school year. For those of you who have been in my classes the past couple of years, you know how this site works. For those of you who are new: This is the place to check for class schedules, assignments, due dates, digital copies of handouts and useful/relevant links. My contact info is also on the site.

Parents please utilize this site as needed!

I'm looking forward to the upcoming year and can't wait to get started.

Upcoming: Special Guest Speaker on the 23rd for ACE students.

*** If the navigation bar above is not orange and displaying links: refresh the page. If you are unable to navigate to the Contemporary Issues or ACE/Mentorship page please let me know patrick.mcelwee@aps.edu***

It's been a while...

Too long in fact.

For those of you keeping up, sorry about the delay in updating this page. As many of you know the schedule this semester has been jam packed with testing, days off and field trips. The last few weeks will be no exception. Starting this week we will not be on a "regular" schedule for the rest of the school year. As it stands this is how the following weeks will play out:

April 22-26: Monday: A Tuesday: B Wednesday: A Long Assembly (Advisory) Thursday: B Long Assembly (Advisory) Friday C

April 29 -May 3: Monday: A Tuesday: A Wednesday: B  Thursday: B  Friday C (Senior Finals)

May 6-10: Monday: C (Senior Finals) Tuesday: B Wednesday: A Thursday: B Friday A

May 13-17: Monday: Special Graduation Day Schedule Tuesday: C? Wednesday: B? Thursday: A? (Finals) Friday: C? (Finals)

May 20-22: Monday (Finals) Tuesday (Finals) Wednesday (Final Makeup day and Last Day of School).

More importantly....

THANK YOU to all of the Gifted Mentorship students and to all of our mentors for this year! We had a wonderful 1st Annual Mentorship Appreciation Fair!!!

Gimme A Break!

Okay!

Well done Gifted Mentorship Presenters. I know that the classes you presented to appreciated your time and the information you gave. Next step: Setting up for the Mentorship Appreciation Fair.

Contemporary Issues One, we'll have time this week to finish our Country and Leader Trading Cards. For those of you who haven't yet, please find a book ASAP for the book report project. Details on the Contemporary Issues link above. Remember Essays are due April 11th.

Contemporary Issues II: All about Jimmy Carter this week.


Video for this week: Will 3D Printing Change the World?

Presenting: Presentations

This week the Gifted Mentorship Students will be presenting info about the Mentorship program and their experiences to many of our freshman classes.

Contemporary Issues I students will be giving presentations in their class about the issues they've been researching.

YouTube Channel of the week: CGPGrey

President's Day

Hi Everyone,

Hopefully the 3 day weekend has given everyone enough rest to finish up the next 3 weeks before Spring Break. There's a lot going on. Here are some important things to keep in mind. Check the class pages for more details.

This Wednesday is the End of the 4th 6 Weeks. Any make up work needs to be turned in by then.

This Friday is the Fine Arts Assembly. We will also be attending Shakespearian Scenes acted out by the Drama classes on Wednesday and Thursday.

Those of you in Gifted Mentorship please remember to rehearse your presentation this week, sign up for 2 time slots on the sheet posted on the board for your presentations next week.


We've got a few projects we're in the midst of in Contemporary Issues I. We're exploring various global issues on the ABC Clio website. Each pair is creating a Flipchart to display on the Promethean and educate the rest of the class regarding their chosen issue. As a, hopefully, fun and interesting way of learning about geographic and political facts regarding the countries of the world, students are creating Country Trading Cards. Each student will create 10 cards representing different countries, and 10 cards for those countries' leaders. Lastly, this week I'll hand out the requirements and list for the book report due later in the semester.

Contemporary Issues II has been able to dive into some controversial issues, including Gun Control and Immigration. We'll begin the next 6 weeks by take a look at the 1980s in our Modern History  Unit.  To help with post secondary goals students will work on College and Career Research projects. We are currently on Habit 2 of 7 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people.

Lastly,

A special thanks to all of the students involved in the Gifted Mentorship Program. The reports from your mentors are outstanding! Well done.

Mr. M

ASCL Update

The final confirmed date for the ASCL tournament hosted by Eldorado is THIS WEDNESDAY! We'll meet in the cafeteria at 6:45pm for our last chance to compete against other high schools this year. Hope to see you there.

For those of you in Contemporary Issues Classes: Extra Credit opportunity for watching and reporting (1pg) on the State of the Union Address. Airs prime time this Tuesday.

Continuing reminder for ACE/Gifted Mentorship students. Please check this site/your e-mail/gradebook wizard on a weekly basis to ensure you are informed regarding current assignments. This semester is chock full of unusually weeks. At last count we only have about 8 official class periods left (plus finals).

Thanks and have a great week,

Mr. M

This Week

Our normally scheduled advisory has been cancelled for this week. Registration cards will still be given out. We encourage all Gifted students to sign up for the class of their choice. For ideas Click Here.

Parent Night

Thanks to those of you who showed up for this years EHS 8th Grade Parent Night. It's always wonderful to meet you and answer your questions.

There's a new look for the pages. I hope you find it a bit easier to navigate. Familiar links are on the right and you can change the view by clicking on the top left area of the page.

Chess: Meet at AIMS tonight!

Only 2 Chess Meets Left!

On the 29th the EHS Chess Team will be competing at AIMS. The final chess meet before State Competitions will be on February 13. Location TBA.

Here's some food for thought: 18 Point iPhone Contract.

Electives EXPO

This week we will have advisory on Wednesday and Thursday. Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors will be attending the electives Expo to decide which electives to sign up for next year. These will be short presentations about the classes available to students. I highly encourage all gifted students past, present and future to sign up to attend a session.

During this time seniors will be attending presentations in the PAC.

And for those interested CLICK HERE for a special sneak preview of the new EHS Gifted Department Website.

Spring 2013

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful Winter break. We've got a great deal on schedule for this semester. Contemporary Issues I students from fall are now in POWER. Welcome to those in my advisory who are now in Contemporary Issues. I hope you find this website/blog useful. Remember if your ever absent or have misplaced a handout, this is a good place to check.

Gifted Mentorship students: Excellent job last semester. For those of you transitioning make sure to check in with me this week. We won't have our first official class meeting until 1/18/2013.  We've got a lot of work to do to set up for our Mentor Appreciation Event.

Stay tuned for updates on scheduling, testing and special events.

Those interested in the EHS Chess Club, we will be meeting in library at lunch on Tuesdays.

Sci-Fi: We will continue to meet on Wednesdays and Thursdays.