Entries by Jamie Gass

A Republic of Laws – Additional Resources

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The Federalist, by Hamilton, Madison, and & Jay, edited by Jacob E. Cooke The Birth Of The Bill Of Rights, 1776-1791, by Robert Allen Rutland Framed for Posterity: The Enduring Philosophy of the Constitution, by Ralph Ketcham A History of the Supreme Court, by Bernard Schwartz John Jay: Founding Father, by Walter Stahr The Great Chief Justice: John Marshall and the Rule of Law, by Charles F. Hobson Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, by Paul Finkelman Marbury v. Madison and Judicial Review, by Robert Lowry Clinton Justice William Johnson, the First Dissenter: The Career and Constitutional Philosophy of a Jeffersonian Judge, by Donald G. Morgan John Marshall: Writings (Library of America Founders Collection), by John Marshall (Author) […]

Additional Resources – “The Road to the Stars” – U.S. Space Exploration – 25 Resources for K-12 Students

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Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, by Brian Floca Who Was Neil Armstrong?, by Roberta Edwards My First Book of Planets: All About the Solar System for Kids, by Bruce Betts PhD Moon! Earth’s Best Friend, by Stacy McAnulty The Faces, Err Phases, of the Moon – Astronomy Book for Kids, by Baby Professor Who Was Sally Ride?, by Megan Stine The Hubble Space Telescope: Our Eye on the Universe, by Terence Dickinson and Tracy Read Space Dictionary for Kids: The Everything Guide for Kids Who Love Space, by Amy Anderson and Brian Anderson The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System, by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen Space!: The Universe as You’ve Never Seen It Before (Knowledge Encyclopedias), […]

Additional Resources – “The Business of America is Business”

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An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, by John Steele Gordon Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith and R. H. Campbell (Editor) Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy, by Thomas K. McCraw Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America, by Eric Jay Dolin John Jacob Astor: America’s First Multimillionaire, by Axel Madsen The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653-2000, by John Steele Gordon Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation, […]

Resources: National Poetry Month

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  Mother Goose Treasury: A Beautiful Collection of Favorite Nursery Rhymes, by Parragon Books and Priscilla Lamont (Illustrator) Paul Revere’s Ride, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Author), Ted Rand (Illustrator) Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings, by Shel Silverstein (Author, Illustrator) Gilgamesh the Hero, by Geraldine McCaughrean (Author/Adaptor) Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes, by David Roessel (Editor) and Arnold Rampersad (Editor) Who Was Edgar Allan Poe?, by Jim Gigliotti Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin (Editor) Who Was Walt Whitman?, by Kirsten Anderson Beowulf, by Michael Morpurgo (Author/Adaptor) Who Was William Shakespeare?, by Celeste Mannis Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, by Michael Morpurgo (Author/Adaptor) Dante’s Divine Comedy: As Told for Young People, by Dante […]

Links

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Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children, by Kath Shackleton   A Picture Book of Anne Frank, by David Adler What Was the Holocaust?, by Gail Herman   Who Was Anne Frank?, by Ann Abramson The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, by Anne Frank  (Author), Otto H. Frank (Editor), Mirjam Pressler (Editor) Night, by Elie Wiesel   The Hell of Treblinka, by Vasily Grossman (Author), Martin Zwinkler (Editor), Olga Reznik (translator) A Promise To My Father, Israel Arbeiter, film Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History, by Steven J. Zipperstein The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, by Martin Gilbert Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: […]

Additional Resources

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  Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man, by Catherine Drinker Bowen The Baconian Method/Scientific Method CloudBiography Video: Sir Francis Bacon Biography Novum Organum, by Francis Bacon Then & Now video: Francis Bacon – Introduction to the Philosophy of Induction The Essays, by Francis Bacon Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon, by Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart Let’s Talk Philosophy video: Sir Francis Bacon The Advancement of Learning, by Francis Bacon Statue of Sir Francis Bacon, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Education tax credits don’t cost taxpayers a cent

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This op-ed has appeared in WGBH News, The Providence Journal, and Worcester Telegram & Gazette. In a republic based on the consent of the governed, there is a strong public interest in having an educated citizenry. Yet in Massachusetts, the cradle of public schooling in America where the state constitution directs us to “cherish” education, we seem to dole out incentives for just about everything except education. Consider the Race Horse Development Fund. Since 2014, the commonwealth has spent nearly $80 million to subsidize a horse racing industry that’s dying from the increasing availability of other forms of gambling. Since most of the fund’s money comes from a tax on Plainridge Park Casino revenue, it amounts to a transfer from gamblers, who tend […]

Additional Resources

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Sources for “The 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower”: Mayflower: The Ship that Started a Nation, by Rebecca Siegel The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katharine Ross The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dalgliesh Squanto’s Journey (The Story of the First Thanksgiving), by Joseph Bruchac What Was the First Thanksgiving?, by Joan Holub William Bradford Pilgrim Boy, by Bradford Smith The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish and the Amazing-but-True Survival Story of Plymouth Colony, by Cheryl Harness American Experience: The Pilgrims, by PBS and Ric Burns, DVD Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1645, Modernized & Abridged, Mayflower Quadricentennial Edition, by William Bradford The Story of the Mayflower Compact, by Norman Richards Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, by Nathaniel Philbrick The Courtship of […]

Additional Resources

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Getting to Know the Native American Indian Tribes – U.S. History for Kids – Children’s American History, By Baby Professor Pocahontas, By Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, By Joseph Bruchac Children of the Longhouse, By Joseph Bruchac Who Was Sacagawea? By Judith Bloom Fradin Who Was Sitting Bull? By Stephanie Spinner The Last of the Mohicans, By James Fenimore Cooper (author), Deanna McFadden (editor), Classic Starts®, (grades 2-4) The Last of the Mohicans, By James Fenimore Cooper (author), By Malvina Vogel (adapter), Great Illustrated Classics, (grades 4-7) 500 Nations: An Illustrated History of North American Indians, By Alvin M. Josephy Jr. 500 Nations (DVD), Produced by Jack Leustig The Patriot Chiefs: A […]

Halloween – Additional Resources

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Halloween Jack-o’-Lantern Pumpkins Trick-or-Treating Witches Ghosts Goblins Salem witch trials “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” “The Tell-Tale Heart” Frankenstein Baba Yaga Dracula Masquerade Ball Mummies Ghost Stories

Medical Inventions – Additional Resources

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  Cotton Mather, Smallpox Inoculation, Boston, MA, 1721 Samuel Adams & John Hancock, First Medical Society, Boston, MA, 1781 Harvard Medical School, Early Medical School, Boston, MA, 1782 Massachusetts General Hospital/Ether Dome, Teaching Hospital, Boston, MA, 1811 William T.G. Morton & Dr. John Warren, First Anesthesia for Surgery, Boston, MA, 1846 Dr. Lydia Folger Fowler, First American Female Medical Doctor, Nantucket, MA, 1850 Rebecca Lee Crumpler, First African-American Female Medical Doctor, Boston, MA, 1864 Clara Barton, Nurse & American Red Cross Founder, North Oxford, MA, 1881 Alfred Bosworth, First Infant Formula, Boston, MA, 1919-20 Philip Drinker & Dr. Louis Agassiz Shaw, First Development & Use of Iron Lung, Boston, MA, 1928 Robert Gross, First Surgery on Congenital Heart Defect, Boston, […]

The Republic of Gadgets – America’s Great Inventors – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

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Understanding the enduring public and private benefit that great inventors and their contraptions have made to our civilization is to better appreciate the connections between human necessity, creativity, and ingenuity. Yet, in American K-12 education very little focus is placed on studying who America’s great inventors were and the central role they’ve played in shaping our republic of gadgets. We’re offering a variety of links on the topic for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to enjoy and better realize authentic innovators.

Additional Resources – The Republic of Gadgets – America’s Great Inventors

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Benjamin Franklin, Kite Experiment, Philadelphia, PA, 1752 The Founding Fathers, the U.S. Constitution and the Experiment in Ordered Liberty, Philadelphia, PA, 1788 to the Present The United States Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C., 1790 to the Present Eli Whitney, the Cotton Gin, Savannah, GA, 1793 Robert Fulton, the Steamboat, Submarine, and Torpedo, NYC, 1807 Samuel Colt, Colt Fire-Arms, Paterson, NJ, 1836 Samuel Morse, Telegraph System and Morse Code, Washington, D.C., 1844 Charles Goodyear, Vulcanized Rubber, Springfield, MA/New York, 1844 Alexander Graham Bell, the Telephone, Boston, MA, 1876 Thomas A. Edison, Light Bulb, Phonograph, Motion Picture Camera, and Research Laboratory, Menlo Park, NJ, 1879 Nikola Tesla, Alternating Current (AC) Induction Motor, NY, 1888 Henry Ford, Model T and Assembly Line, […]

Additional Resources (The Houses of Great American Writers – 25 Resources for K-12 Education)

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  Washington Irving’s House, Sunnyside, Tarrytown, NY James Fenimore Cooper’s House, Otsego Hall, Cooperstown, NY (burned 1852) Edgar Allan Poe’s House, Baltimore, MD Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House, Cambridge, MA The Old Manse, home to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Concord, MA Henry David Thoreau’s Cabin, Walden Pond, Concord, MA Herman Melville’s House, Arrowhead, Pittsfield, MA Emily Dickinson’s House, Amherst, MA Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House, Brunswick, ME Frederick Douglass’s House, Cedar Hill, Washington, D.C. Walt Whitman’s House, Camden, NJ Mark Twain’s House, Hartford, CT Edith Wharton’s House, The Mount, Lenox, MA Scott Fitzgerald’s House, Great Neck, Long Island, NY Ernest Hemingway’s House, Key West, FL John Steinbeck’s House, Monte Sereno, CA Langston Hughes’s House, Harlem, NYC Zora Neale Hurston’s House, […]

A Commonwealth of Art – 20 Resources for K-12 Art Education

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In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, here, here, and here on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Introducing K-12 schoolchildren to great works of art about, from, or in Massachusetts. Great Massachusetts paintings, folk, and fine arts are often not fully explored in the Bay State’s K-12 education system, so we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and schoolchildren.

Additional Information about Art Resources

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“King Philip,” illustration published in The Pictorial History of King Philip’s War, circa. 1851 “The Indian archer weathervane,” in copper by Shem Drowne, circa. 1716, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” painting by William Halsall, 1882, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA “Trial of George Jacobs Accused of Witch Craft, August 19, 1692”, painting by Tompkins H. Matteson, 1855, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” painting by Grant Wood, 1931, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC “Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis),” painting by John Singleton Copley, circa. 1763, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA “George Washington,” bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1786, Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA “Action Between USS Constitution vs Guerriere,” painting by Michel Felice […]

“Architecture is Frozen Music” Great Massachusetts Buildings – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

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Understanding enduring public and private architecture is a key way to learn about art, ideas, and how they harmonize with our democracy. Yet, Massachusetts buildings are often never discussed in K-12 education. We’re offering a variety of links about outstanding houses and architecture across the Bay State for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to enjoy, visit, and better appreciate, including:

More information about historic Massachusetts buildings

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Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, MA   House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA   Historic Deerfield Village, Deerfield, MA   Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA   King’s Chapel, Boston, MA   Old North Church, the North End, Boston   Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters, Boston   Peirce-Nichols House, Salem, MA    Custom House, Salem, MA    Arrowhead, Herman Melville House, Pittsfield, MA    John Avery Parker Mansion, New Bedford, MA (demolished-1902) Hockanum Schoolhouse, Hadley, MA   Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA   Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA   Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston   Ware–Hardwick Covered Bridge, Ware & Hardwick, MA   Chatham Lighthouse, Chatham, MA Naumkeag, MA Field Memorial Library, Conway, MA The Mount Edith Wharton’s House, Lennox, MA Tobacco Sheds, Pioneer Valley, MA   James […]