Themes for May Classroom Activities

Themes for May Classroom Activities Here is a list of May themes, events, and holidays with correlating activities to go with them. Use these ideas for inspiration to create your own lesson plans and activities, or use the ideas provided. Get Caught Reading Month   The Association of American Publishers nationally launched Get Caught Reading Month to remind people how much fun it is to read. Celebrate this month by having students see how many books they can read in the month of May. The winner of the contest can receive a free book! National Physical Fitness and Sports Month Celebrate by getting active, learning about nutrition, and creating sports crafts. American Bike Month Celebrate American Bike month by having students ride their bikes to school on May 8th and learning the rules of the road and how to be safe. Childrens Book Week   Childrens Book Week often occurs at the beginning of May, but youll need to check the dates each year. Since 1919, National Childrens Book Week has been dedicated to  encouraging  young readers to enjoy books. Celebrate this day by providing  activities  that will encourage your students to love reading. Teacher Appreciation Week Teacher Appreciate Week occurs in May, but the dates can vary. During this week, schools across the nation celebrate the hard work and dedication of teachers. Try a few of  these teacher appreciation activities  with your students. National Postcard Week   During the first full week of May, celebrate National Postcard Week by creating postcards and sending them to other students across the country. National Pet Week During the first full week of May, celebrate Pet Week by having students bring in a photograph of their pet to share with the class. National Police Week   National police week occurs the calendar week during which May 15th falls. Invite a local policeman to your school, or plan a field trip to your local police station to honor this week-long celebration. National Transportation Week National Transportation Week usually occurs during the third week of May. Celebrate the community of transportation professionals by having students explore possible jobs in the transportation field. Have students research and fill out an application for a job opening in the field of their choice. Mothers Day Mothers  day  is observed on the second Sunday of May every year. Celebrate with  Mothers Day activities, or try these last-minute lesson plans. You can also use this word list to help you create a Mothers Day poem. Memorial Day Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May each year. This is a time to celebrate and honor the soldiers that sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Honor this day by providing students with a few  fun activities, and teach students the value of honoring the memory of those who came before us with a  Memorial Day lesson plan. May 1: May Day   Celebrate May Day with crafts and activities. May 1:  Mother Goose Day Explore the truth about Mother Goose by reading the Real Mother Goose. May 1: Hawaiian Lei Day In 1927 Don Blanding came up with having a Hawaiian holiday that everyone can celebrate. Honor his wishes by partaking in Hawaiian traditions and learning about the culture. May 2: Holocaust Remembrance Day   Learn about the history of the Holocaust, and read age-appropriate stories such as The Diary of Anne Frank and One Candle by Eve Bunting. May 3: Space Day   The ultimate goal of Space Day is to promote math, science, and technology, and inspire children about the wonders of the universe. Celebrate this day by having your students partake in a few fun space-related activities to help nurture their curiosity of the universe. May 4: Star Wars Day   This is a day to celebrate the Star Wars culture and honor the films. A fun way to celebrate this day is by having students bring in their action figures. You can use these figures as inspiration to create a writing piece. May 5: Cinco De Mayo   Celebrate this Mexican holiday by having a party, making a pinata, and making a sombrero. May 6: No Homework Day   Your students work hard each day, celebrate this day by giving your students a No Homework Pass for the day. May 7: National Teachers Day   Finally, a day to honor and celebrate all of the hard work teachers do! Show your appreciation for our fellow teachers by having students write a letter of appreciation to each of their teachers (art, music, physical education, etc). May 8: National School Nurses Day   Honor your school nurse by having students create a special gift of appreciation. May 8: No Socks Day To celebrate this wacky and fun day have students create crafts out of socks, learn the history, and wear fun colored socks to school for the day. May 9: Peter Pan Day On May 9, 1960, James Barrie (the creator of Peter Pan) was born. Celebrate this day by learning about the creator James Barrie, watching the movie, reading the story, and learning the quotes. After reading his quotes have students try and come up with their own. May 14: The Start of the Lewis and Clark Expedition   This is a great day to teach your students about Thomas Jefferson and his role in the Lewis and Clark expedition. Learn the history of the expedition, and read students the book Who Was Thomas Jefferson by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Nancy Harrison, and visit the Monticello website for photos and additional resources. May 15: National Chocolate Chip Day Whats a better way to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Day than to bake some cookies with your students! For some added fun, try this chocolate bar math lesson. May 16: Wear Purple for Peace Day   Help make the world a better place by having all students wear purple for peace day. May 18: Armed Forces Day   Pay tribute to the men and women who serve the United States armed forces by having students write a thank you letter to someone in your local armed forces. May 20: Weights and Measures Day On May 20, 1875, an International treaty was signed to establish an international branch of weights and measures. Celebrate this day with your students by measuring objects, learning about volume, and exploring  non-standard measures. May 23: Lucky Penny Day   Lucky Penny Day is celebrated to reinforce the theory that if you find a penny and pick it up, you will have good luck. Celebrate this fun day with your students by creating a penny craft, counting and sorting pennies, or using pennies to graph Another fun idea is to give students the writing prompt, Once I found a lucky penny and when I picked it up... May 24: Morse Code Day   On May 24, 1844, the first Morse code message was sent. Celebrate this day by teaching your students Morse Code. The students will love the secretiveness of it all. May 29: Paper Clip Day   In 1899 Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor invented the paper clip. Honor this amazing little wire by having students come up with a new way to use it. May 29: John F. Kennedys Birthday   John F. Kennedy was one of the most beloved United States Presidents of our time. Honor this remarkable man and all of his accomplishments by having students create a KWL Chart, then read your students his biography, called Who Was John F. Kennedy? by Yona Zeldis McDonough. May 31:  World No Tobacco Day   World No Tobacco Day is a day to reinforce and highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use. Take time out on this day to stress the importance of why students should not smoke.

How To Get Way More Instagram Followers With 20 Easy Tactics

How To Get Way More Instagram Followers With 20 Easy Tactics Instagram is one of the most popular social networks for brands. But, that means theres a ton of competition. In fact, 25 million businesses are on the network. So, if youre going to compete, youll need to work strategically to build your followers. Not just any followers, though. A tribe of the right people who care about your brand and what you have to offer them. Thats easier said than done, of course. So, its a good thing youre here. This post will share 20 different tactics you can use to get tons more Instagram followers. How To Get Way More Instagram Followers With 20 Easy TacticsDownload Your Free Instagram Follower Bundle Weve got some free resources here to help apply the information in this post. Download them all free here. ... And Manage Instagram Marketing With You might know is an all-in-one marketing management platform that helps teams get organized. But, did you know it can schedule Instagram posts alongside all your  other social media? Stop forgetting to post to Instagram already, and instead do it with just a couple clicks. Go from spontaneous to strategic with 's Instagram scheduling. Here's a quick look at how it works:Try it now for free! Or, schedule a free, customized demo with a expert. As we welcome the  Instagram scheduling feature, we want to help you grow your Instagram following.  There's no reason with hard work and these tools, why you can't stand out amidst the  500 million active users on Instagram. Yes, that's quite the challenge, but we believe in you and have 20 easy ways to get there. 20 Tactics To Grow Your Instagram Following Alright, now let's get down to business. 1. Complete Your Instagram  Profile First impressions are everything. According to Forbes, you have just seven seconds before making an impression. The very first thing you can do to make a good impression with your Instagram account for new followers, is to complete your profile information. There are four key areas to complete: Your profile image Name Bio URL First, make sure your image represents you or your business well and clearly. This  thumbnail can be very small, so utilize your space well so that followers can instantly identify with your image. Next, make sure your name and bio are straight forward. The bio can often be changed to sometimes include a call-to-action or something you want to highlight for a time being, but otherwise it should be nice and descriptive. Lastly, make sure to include a link to your website. This is the only area an Instagram user can directly click to find out more about your business or product so use it wisely! Here is an example of our Instagram profile with each of these elements included: TIP: Change up the link area when you want to highlight different new or announcements. 2. Follow Suggested Users Suggested users are chosen by Instagram that are based on people you follow, your contact list, or based off previous posts you've liked. This can be a great way to get new followers because you often already have something in common, helping you easier find your specific audience and niche. There are two ways to find suggested users: Discover People: Click on the icon in the top right of your app with the person with a plus sign. This will take you to "Discover People" where a list of suggested users lives. Profiles: Go to a  profile that you enjoy. Right next to the "Following" button you'll find a carrot icon. Click on the carrot and a list of suggested users will appear below for you to scroll through. This seems to give more of a variety of users, and can be fun to explore. Both of these ways will open up your following to a whole new world of accounts, and thus will let you connect with others that are looking to follow content just like yours. 3. Connect Your Contact List What better way to grow your following than to reach out to those you've already connected with? Use your Facebook followers to find Instagram followers.You can connect several users from both Facebook and your Contact List using the settings icon in your app. This option is both available to personal and business Instagram accounts so take advantage of your current circle. When you follow them, they'll receive a notification alerting them of your account, hopefully leading to a follow. 4. Create Awesome Visual Content Instagram is arguably the most visual of all popular social platforms, which means there's absolutely no way around creating and sharing good visual content. The primary focus  of your imagery should be telling a story that's focused around your brand, and then use creation tools to ensure it looks good visually. Here's a list of some of my favorite tools, 34 to be exact, that can help you with whatever type of post you want  from beginning to end. If you do have access do a designer, let them focus on telling your story with a consistent theme from colors and imagery, to the filters they choose to use. TIP: Develop your Instagram strategy first, and then create content from there so you meet your goals from the start. 5. Know How Often To Post Once you have a completed Instagram profile, found some great accounts to follow, and have created some awesome content, you're ready to post. And to post often! But how much is too much? Our own  Nathan Ellering  analyzed 10 different studies, and found that 3 posts per day should be the max amount of daily posting, while 1-2 daily posts is the recommended amount. In addition,  if you post two times day make sure to mix them up so its not too repeated and thus boring or annoying for your followers. Followers always want interesting, fresh content so don't feel too burdened to post multiple times per day. Rather, focus on quality, and then increase your sharing from there while always remembering to not be spammy. 6.  Post At The Best Time Where should you start? Well, analyzed  the top 20 studies and found that 2am, 8-9am, and 5pm are the best times to post to Instagram. Whether people are going to bed, just getting to work, or checking out to return home for the day, they're checking their Instagram waiting for awesome  posts. What are the best times to post on Instagram to build followers?That's where you come in. What days you ask? Monday and Thursdays have shown to be the most popular; however, some recommend sharing on Sundays as there's a less volume of posts that day. Plan ahead to post at these times to be more seen, and watch your following grow. TIP: Let auto-magically choose the best time for your Instagram posts! Recommended Reading: How To Increase Visibility With Social Media Optimization 7. Tag Other Relevant Accounts In Your Posts A perfect way to get your name out there, while also helping others expand their reach, can be found in tagging. In fact,  Simply Measured found that  posts that tag  other users in the caption average 37 percent higher engagement! When you're creating your Instagram post, anyone that should receive credit or a mention should get tagged in the final editing screen. This can be both people or brands. For example, at we recently updated our swag packages with Scout Books. Thus, we tagged them in our post, and not only did they comment back, but they, then reposted our image! View this post on Instagram Special shout out to Scout Books for sending us some awesome, well designed post cards! 👠 Oh! Did I mention weve made new swag? Yep. Were welcoming these new Scout Books to our collection! #vscocam #vsco #bismarck #photography #styling #design #creatives #content #calendar #contentmarketing #socialmedia #team #culture #content #celebrate #notebook #motivation #friday #hustle #workhard A post shared by (@) on Sep 30, 2016 at 9:00am PDT Now the account is visible to not just our users, but to Scout Book's as well with a simple tag. View this post on Instagram We know you hustled hard this week. Heres to a few days of kicking back! Great 📠· from @of their stylish new Scout Books. ðŸ‘Å' #tgif #friday #friyay #hustle A post shared by Scout Books (@scoutbooks) on Sep 30, 2016 at 3:11pm PDT Always use tagging when possible, and watch it do its magic. 8.  Geotag Your Location Another form of tagging comes in the form of geotagging. If you've given permission to have your location on, then you can tag all of your Instagram posts by the location related to that post. This is especially great to those known in certain areas, as Instagram users can search solely by location! Geotag your posts whether your traveling or at home in your office to give users just one more way to find you. 9. Know How To Use Hashtags Effectively Hashtags are a great tool for finding and connecting with new audience members. Hashtags serve as a categorizing feature so you can find others, and more importantly, they can find you. Hashtags often include the  topic, location, and words related to that specific post or benefits of your product. For example, the account always uses #calendar,  #content, and  #scheduling as that's our business core. View this post on Instagram Lets be honest... social media can be pretty annoying sometimes, but thats where ReQueue comes in! Get more mileage out of your social messages while customizing your settings to send out the perfect amount at the best time. 👉P.S. We have a live demo of ReQueue today at 1pm Central time. See you there! Link in profile. #vsco #vscocam #bismarck #requeue #getyourtimeback #social #socialautomation #socialmedia #content #calendar #besttime #annoying #strategic #dustinstout #warfareplugins #feature #new #product #launch #startup #startuplife #scheduling A post shared by (@) on Nov 10, 2016 at 9:07am PST How many hashtags should I use? That’s a great question. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags for each post, but its best practice to use 5-10 hashtags. While more hashtags often is better, is always important to remember to avoid being  spammy. Avoid being spammy with Instagram hashtags.You can find the perfect amount of hashtags to use by doing two things: Look at what other hashtags the influencers in your industry are using and how many. Test your own Instagram posts with a variety of hashtag amounts, and see what works best. Where can you find popular hashtags?  An easy way to find what hashtags are currently trending is to use Top-Hashtags.com.  They provide a nice, clear list with the highest rated hashtags and how many posts currently have that hashtag. It also lets you click on the hashtag to see examples of how others are using it! Lastly, you can also created a branded hashtag that you or your users can use whenever they post related content.  Yet another way for users to find you! uses and #cochat as two primary hashtags, but some other popular ones are #justdoit from Nike, #ShareTheForce from StarWars, and  #WellTravelled from Herschel Supply. Find a value you love or a catchy slogan, create a hashtag, and use it to grow your audience. View this post on Instagram Daylight savings is explained as we get set to enjoy shorter days and festive nights. Link in bio #WellTravelled A post shared by Herschel Supply (@herschelsupply) on Nov 5, 2016 at 10:55pm PDT Recommended Reading: How To Use Hashtags Effectively Without Being Annoying 10. Stick To A Consistent Posting Schedule Nobody likes change (well most of the time), and everyone finds a natural comfort in consistency. Let your audience find home in your consistent visuals, message, posting schedule, and overall tone of voice. Of course you may need to experiment when you're just starting out to find what your audience enjoys most, but once you find that magic spot, stick with it. Suddenly your audience will keep coming back, growing  new followers organically. Recommended Reading: This Is The Social Media Posting Schedule That Will Boost Your Traffic By 192% 11. Use Banners A creative way to make your content immediately noticeable amidst all the noise of other accounts, is to create banners that use multiple Instagram posts for one overall image. As you can see in these examples, they creatively stitched together multiple posts to either announce or feature a specific event so the very second someone  looks at their profile, they know something awesome is underway. There's apps out there to help with this, such as this one  or this one.   Let's get creative! 12. Make Your Account Visible Everywhere Now, its time to think outside of Instagram. To grow your following, make sure your Instagram social icon is on all of your digital presences such as your website, blog, email, you name it. Depending on the platform,  you can even embed your Instagram account within so your outside audiences see your account before even entering the app itself. For example, we've embedded some of our Instagram posts directly into this blog, giving you a first hand look at our account! Lastly, don't be shy to share your account on other platforms! When we really got started with Instagram, we announced it to our User Group on Facebook as well as scheduled a Twitter Campaign to reach our current audience on a whole new level.  Your  biggest fans want every piece of content you produce, so why not let them love you even more? 13. Ask An Influencer To Tag You In Their Posts For the same reasons tagging worked in the Scout Book example above, actively reaching out to major influencers in your industry for a tag is also a great way to grow your following. This will expose you to a completely new audience, and hopefully one that's already in love with the type of content you've created. Before reaching out, make sure you're willing to reciprocate the help. This might be by providing them with the graphic to post, or by sharing one of their posts in return. Either way, make sure its a win-win for both parties, and then you'll be perfectly set up to reach a prime new audience. Recommended Reading: How To Write A Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Posts Accepted 14. Invite A Guest To Post On Your Account Another great way to grow your following is by letting a special guest post on your behalf. By allowing someone else to share, your audience gets a new viewpoint, tone of voice, and visual presence that only adds even more interest to your account. Your special guest could be a big influencer, someone speaking at an event your hosting, or even someone in your local area that has value to give. Whomever you might choose, make sure to have a quick conversation about your content so that you're both on the same page, and then let them do their thing.  The easiest way to do this, is by giving your feature guest  the login credentials so it might be worth changing them for your guests, and then updating your login info after they're done posting  in order to be safe and protect your account. For example, this past spring I was a participant of an event called OTA. They asked me and the other participants to take over their Instagram account for a day to show "the day in the life" of all of our passions. They did this during the weeks leading up to the event to gain traction and build their followers. View this post on Instagram Its been a great day - honored to show you what Ive been working on 😊 Big things to come! Goodnight all! -@ashtonwirrenga #vscocam #vsco #nodak #handmade #bismarck #goodnight #create #sweetdreams #marker #handlettering #typography #otabuilders #takeover A post shared by OTA (@weareota) on Dec 28, 2015 at 9:05pm PST 15. Promote Your Instagram Profile To Your Email Subscribers Why not utilize all of your hard work of collecting email addresses? Add your Instagram account information in your email newsletters, email reminders, or maybe even an independent campaign to announce that you're not only on Instagram, but that you're excited to have them join you. Your biggest fans are those that subscribe to your content, so share the invite and watch them follow. Here's an example from Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk's weekly email newsletter: 16. Promote With Physical Materials Are you attending any events coming up? Add your Instagram information to your business card, presentation slides, or any other handouts you might use. Make it even more fun with designed stickers and buttons! Everyone loves some fun swag, so take advantage of the situation and include your social media presence on those materials. Here's a wonderful example from the North Collective: Put your Instagram account handle on your physical marketing materials.17. Cross-Promote On Other Instagram Accounts Not only can you share content with others and have guests post on your behalf, but you can also cross promote some of your greatest campaigns. If you have a new, exciting announcement, a feature release, a podcast coming out, you name it, find the people involved and agree to cross-promote it on each other's accounts. This shows your following a new, great connection but then you also receive the benefits of a new audience coming to you!

Development Appraisal, Project Cost Control Assignment

Development Appraisal, Project Cost Control - Assignment Example The building and construction sector includes contractors who build buildings for residential, industrial and commercial purposes. SECTION-A Question 1 This is a case whereby companies operating in the construction industry need to develop, differentiate,  defend and communicate the development  contribution  they  make to their host country   in just the same way as they manage the value they delivered to customers. Taking a case of buildings:   There are various aspects that defines these statement ‘‘Development value’’ in a more scientific way. ... 2. Four methods of valuation and their illustration using appropriate examples These methods include; DCF valuation LBO valuation Comparable companies’ valuation Precedent transaction valuation A DCF (Discounted cash flow) valuation is a valuation method where future cash flows are discounted to present value. The valuation approach is widely used within the investment banking and private equity industry. In a DCF valuation, one has tom obtain data which includes; historical financial information, working capital, make future projections and calculate unlevered cash free flow, determine capital structure, WACC, present value of free cash flow, enterprise value and finally come up with a DCF sensitivity analysis which now shows the valuation changes with different assumptions and changes in input (Notman, 1998). A LBO (Leveraged Buyout Analysis), valuation is the acquisition of another company using a significant amount  of borrowed money (bonds or loans) to meet the cost of an acquisition. It is used to determine an implied valuation range for a given target in a potential LBO sale based on achieving acceptable returns (O'Sullivan & Sheffrin, 2003). In this kind of valuation the following is taken into account; deal value, historical financials, forecast period, results and output. A comparable company’s analysis is always used in company valuations and is a relative valuation method (Notman, 1998). The method indicates the value of similar companies in relation to different key ratios that is later compared to your business. Common key ratios are: EV/EBITDA and EV/SALES. For this to be successful, one needs to select the multiples of companies, locate the necessary financial information, and spread key statistics ratios and trading multiples benchmark

Gilded Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gilded Age - Essay Example Workers believed improvement of their working conditions would lead to improvement of their health and living standards. The trade unions during the gilded age were not able to deliver workers expectations to the full. The National Labor Union, which was an American Trade Union founded in 1866, had been formed to represent both skilled and unskilled workers. The party would not fight for the rights of the Black women because they were not allowed to join the union. The union main aim was to fight for less working hours, increased wage rate and better working conditions. The union had those as its goals but had to deal with the great depression together with immigrant workers who were not members of the union. The immigrants did replace workers within the manufacturing industries who did strike and were laid off (Zinn and Arnove 102). The employers took advantage of this situation not to bind with the demand of the trade union. The depression was a serious blow to the National Labor U nion and its members, where workers had to take any job without choosing the pay, working hours or the conditions. Some employers did even reduce the average wage they gave to their workers during the depression without fear of the trade union. Withdrawal of members from the Union and leadership wrangles led to death of the union. Strikes led by the trade unions mostly did not yield good working conditions but led to loss of properties, death of workers and innocent citizens. The great rail road strike during the gilded age is a good example of how trade union and strikes did not gain anything in resolution of disputes. The strike was caused by the railway company cutting the wages of its employers by 10 percent. The cut in the wage was followed by a second cut which triggered a strike by railway workers. The government used federal army to quell the strike while the National Guard was out done by the striking workers. After the suppression of the striking workers by the soldiers, w ork had to resume with the reduced wage rate in the organization. This situation shows how government dealt ruthlessly with any striking workers leading to workers resuming job without their demands being met. Trade unions that organized mass action were sometime disbanded by government. Members were branded as either terrorist or gangs carrying out organized crimes. The jailing of workers is a sign of how trade union led to fall of some of their member who had to spend time serving jail terms. The knight trade union had its members blamed for the bombing of the Hay Market in Chicago. The Knight mass came to get under in 1890 after a number of unsuccessful strikes for the eight hour working conditions (Schlup and Ryan 271). The period saw miners working under deplorable conditions leading to death of 556 and 1565 miners within the Anthracite fields (Schlup and Ryan 271). All this happened during the gilded period when trade union was supposed to be protecting miners from such inhuma n treatment. Trade union formed to solve issues on improving salary of miners on a sliding basis failed. In 1874 workers wages were reduced with the existence of the trade unions. The miner took the opportunity of the strike to destroy properties belonging to the mining companies like the Gowen mines. Any worker who tried to get back to work was threatened with death from other miners leading to deplorable living condition among the workers. The

Chain of Command Essay Example for Free

Chain of Command Essay The main focus of Article II of the United States Constitution is the executive branch and the role that it plays in the government. By definition an executive is â€Å"a person or group of persons having administrative or supervisory authority in an organization.† The President, who is elected, is the head of the executive branch and the US government’s chain of command. Second in command is the Vice President who must also be elected. Article II is broken down into four sections in the Constitution and outlines who the qualifications to run, the term that a President can hold office, as well as the duties, responsibilities and powers that he has and the grounds for impeachment. Section 1 Section one of Article II outlines the executive power in 7 clauses. Clause 1 and Clause 2 support each other. Clause 1 states that the President of the United States shall hold office for a term of four years with a Vice President who must be elected for the same term and that executive power shall be vested in the President. Clause 2 describes the appointment and qualifications for presidential electors. In Clause 2, it says that each state shall appoint a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representative to which the state may be entitled in the congress but no senator or representative that hold office under the United States can be appointed as an elector. This means that each state chooses electors equal to the number of representatives, representing them in congress, but no senators, representatives or federal officers can become an elector. It then goes on to describe the original method of electing the president and vice president. Originally, an elector would cast two votes for the president, one at least one vote had to be from a state different than the elector’s and who ever had the majority of votes became the president and the vice president would be the runner up. If there was no person who received the majority of votes the House of Representatives could have chosen one of the five with the greatest number of votes. If there was a tie, the House of Representatives could have chosen one of the candidates. When the House would vote, each state representative would cast one vote, and a quorum of two-thirds applied in both houses. One member from two thirds of the States, and a member from two thirds of the states and a majority of all the states were necessary to choose a President. If two or more candidates tied, the senate broke the tie. This was superseded by the twelfth amendment which made some significant changes. Now, electors cast one vote for president and one for vice president rather than two votes for president. If there is a case where no presidential candidate receives the majority, the house chooses from the top three instead of the top five. In addition, the amendment requires the senate to choose the vice president from the candidates with the two highest figures if no vice president candidate receives the majority of electoral votes. The twelfth amendment also specifies that to be vice president, a candidate must also qualify to be President. Clause 3 states that congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day for casting their votes. Clause 4 states the qualifications for the office of the president. According to the clause, the president and vice president must be at least 35 years old, both must be a natural born citizen of the United States, and both must have been a U.S. resident for 14 years. The twelfth amendment required the vice president to meet all the qualifications of an eligible president and the twenty-second amendment prevents a president from being elected more than twice. The 5th clause states that in the case of removal of the president from office, or his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of office, the vice president shall assume his duties. In the case that both the president and vice president were removed, resigned, deceased, on unable, then congress, by law would declare which officer would act as president until the removal, death, resignation, inability were to occur or a president was elected. This caused much controversy when President William Harrison died in office. A debate occurred on whether vice president John Tyler would become president, or just be the acting president. Tyler felt like he had a right to become president, and eventually took the Oath of Office, while set the precedent for vice presidents, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson to ascend to the presidency. Because of this, the Presidential Succession Act was adopted in 1947 which established the line of succession of the office of the presidency in the event that the President or Vice President becomes unable to fill the vacancy. The Presidential Succession Act makes clear that only someone serving as Vice President can ever succeed to the title â€Å"President of the United States† and anyone who takes office under its provisions can only act as President† even if they have to act for 4 years. Clause 6 of Article II states that the President shall be compensated, at stated times for his services. This compensation shall never be increased or diminished during the period he is elected and also during that period, he also shall not receive any other compensation from the United States meaning federal and local government. The Presidents salary is currently $400,000 a year. Clause 7 states that before he enters office, the president shall take the following oath or affirmation: â€Å"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.† Section 2 Section 2 of Article II outlines the President’s powers while in office. Clause 1 of Section 2 states that the President shall be commander in chief of the army and the navy of the United States. Although he is the commander in chief, Article One gives Congress the right to declare war, not the President. The President may require the principal officer in each of the executive departments to give their advice in writing. Additionally, the President may grant pardons or reprieves for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. Clause 2 of Section 2 is also known as the advice and consent clause. The President exercises the powers in the clause with the advice and consent of the senate. The President can enter the U.S. into treaties but they aren’t effective until they are ratified by a two thirds vote in the senate. The President may also appoint judges, ambassadors, consuls, ministers and other officers with the advice and consent of the Senate. However, by law Congress may allow the President, heads of executive departments, or the courts to appoint inferior officials as they see fit. Clause 3 of Section 2 gives the President the power to fill vacancies that may occur during the recess of the senate by granting commission that expire at the end of their next session. Section 3 Section 3 of Article II outlines the Presidents responsibilities while in office. While in office, the President must â€Å"from time to time† give congress information on the State of the Union and recommend to congress’s consideration measures that he judges as â€Å"necessary and expedient.† The President may, in â€Å"extraordinary occasions† call one or both houses into session. If both houses disagree on the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them at a time he thinks is fitting. The President receives all ambassadors and other public ministers. Most importantly, â€Å"he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.† The President commissions all officers including military and foreign service and although the President has discretion in how and when to enforce laws, he cannot refuse to enforce constitutional law. Section 4 Section 4 of Article II allows impeachment. Section 4 states â€Å"The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from the office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. â€Å" The President, Vice President, executive officers as well as judges can all be impeached by the House of Representatives and tried in the Senate. If an official is convicted by impeachment, he is immediately removed from office and remains liable to trial and punishment in court for civil or criminal charges. The trial, if any is separate from the impeachment itself. There have been two U.S. presidents that have been impeached by the House of Representatives, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton but they were acquitted at trials that the senate held. The House Judiciary Committee voted on Articles of Impeachment for President Nixon, but he resigned before the full House of Representatives could vote, therefore he was never impeached. Why is Article II important? Article II is important because it establishes the office of the President and the Vice-President, and sets their terms to be four years. It defines the job that the President has to do and the rules that he has to follow. In a sense, it’s his job description and prevents him from overstepping his boundaries. Not only does Article II make the President Commander in Chief, it allows cabinet to aid him, and make treaties with other nations as he sees fit to protect us. It commands him to keep the Union informed about the status of country through the State of the Union address and to most importantly to enforce all laws.

Da Vincis The Mona Lisa Essay -- Visual Arts Paintings Art Da Vinci J

Da Vinci's The Mona Lisa When I first look at the ‘Mona Lisa’, I notice the intriguing look that is on her face. The expression is one that reminds me of a lady that is neither happy nor sad, smiling nor frowning. Her skin is very smooth and she has no blemishes, but also she has no eyebrows, which makes her look quite strange. At different times the expression on Mona Lisa changes. Sometimes she is giving a cheeky smile and others she looks puzzled. This is very strange and almost magical. Also, when looking at the Mona Lisa, I notice that her face is bathed in light. This light is almost heavenly and gives the impression that she is angelic. But on the contrary, another thing I notice is the dark clothing and gloomy mysterious background setting. The dark clothing and the veil covering her hair give the impression that she has been to a funeral or is in mourning. The background setting is very mysterious. The winding roads, ravenous mountains and the gloomy fog all add to the mystery. It is as if the background is right out of a fantasy story. Another weird thing that the background does is makes the beholder unsure on which time of day it is in the picture. The painting is Oil on a poplar wood panel. This was Da Vinci’s main style. It may have helped to create the Sfumato technique. The size of the painting is 77cm x 53cm, this is quite a small size for such a great painting. Da Vinci may have done this to make it look more lifelike so the beh...

Semiotics of a Magazine

Studying semiotics: When we are looking at the study of semiotics it means we are to analyze the use of signs and symbols that the magazine cover uses. When studying a picture, advertisement or magazine cover you can take almost anything as a sign or symbol, anything can represent anything at the discretion of the writer or editor. It is for us to interpret what each sign or symbol is representing to the best of our knowledge. Semiotics are important in a work as they give us a better insight into the content, the ideology and what to expect within the magazine.After a close analysis of the semiotics of a magazine we can find out more about what it is about and can understand it more. By reading the signs and symbols it gives us a better sense of the type of magazine. â€Å"In Barthian visual semiotics, the key idea is the layering of meaning. The first layer is the layer of denotation, of what, or who, is being depicted here? The second layer is the layer of connotation, of what id eas and values are expressed through what is represented, and through the way in which it is represented? † (Van Leeuwen, 2001) The first step of the semiotic deconstruction of the cover is to â€Å"identify relevant signs and their dominant aspects† (Van Zoonen, 1994, p. 78) From a first glance at the magazine cover we can see that the masthead is in big and bold capitals as to stand out to the audience. People will look at the masthead and automatically recognize the magazine from the colours and font. The tone of orange and pink they use are colours that are represented as stereotypically girly colours. The sell lines on the left and right of the magazine are used to tell the audience what’s included in the magazine or who is in it.It will also give an insight to the genre of the magazine by showing what kind of articles are included and what kind of artists or people they interview or talk about. They include words such as â€Å"World exclusive† to mak e the audience believe they are getting something that nobody else has and that it is a must have. The header on this magazine reads â€Å"Britain’s No. 1 Women’s magazine†. This is to attract attention to the magazine on the shelf for other women to buy it other the understanding that if it is popular with everyone else then you should enjoy it too.The use of the white on the pink also stands out as the top is normally what you will see first on a magazine on the shelf in a shop. The main image used in this magazine is a picture of Angelina Jolie, who Is a popular actor and fashion icon. The image takes up nearly the whole background and is obviously being used as a big selling point of this magazine. She is not wearing any clothes from our view of the image and has her makeup done perfectly. This image is very sexualized by her facial expression and the amount of skin shown.The use of a pull quote with â€Å"I went from Nanny to Prostitute in 24 hours† , is used to draw the audience in to the magazine are want to read why this happened and gain their interest and attention . It shows that the magazine has these kind of gossip stories that some women have great interest in reading. Having isolated the major signs and aspects of the magazine we then must â€Å"continue to examine the paradigmusicatic of signs by asking what their absent opposites are and how they relate to each other syntagmatically†. This is to say that we need to find the assumptions made by a first look at the cover and to see if they have any opposites.The main image used in the cover is of a white western woman. This is the iconography of the western world as she is someone who would be famous throughout. If they had a darker woman of less significance on the page then you would feel that the magazine would not sell as many copies. Her hair is down and her facial expression and lack of clothing is very sexualized whereas if you were to have her uptight w ith hair tied up and in a formal outfit then you may think that people would not buy it as she doesn’t seem as open and laid back and less likely to be giving all her gossip in the interview.You feel that there is a kind of ethnocentrism related to magazines such as these as they often are associated with people associated with your own western culture and not from anywhere else. We can then being to denotate what is on the magazine cover. The colour scheme used is that of pink, orange and white. This is to associate the magazine directly to women as these are stereotypical female colours. The font used is a basic one and is often in bold; it is easy to read and stands out on the page.The cover lines feature â€Å"3 sex secrets that will change everything†, various lines about the celebrities included in the magazine and also â€Å"How to get rid of cellulite or at least hide it†, all the coverlines are related to either sex, image or celebrity lives. On a conno tation level we can see that the connotations gathered by analysis of this cover they are predominantly about femininity and sexuality. Even thought his is a magazine for women we see that the main image used is a picture of, what we are made to believe, Angelina Jolie naked. She has her makeup done up and has a sexualized look in her eyes staring at the camera.This is a confusing decision in these magazines as you would feel that if you are to judge by how male magazines are made, with semi naked pictures of women also, then you would think that they would have a semi naked man on the cover to their magazine. The 21st century has shown a change back to when women have been used as objects in magazines like this in western civilization but is just taken to be the normality in this part of the world. â€Å"The re-sexualisation of women’s bodies, often displayed in public space and in near-soft porn forms, goes comparatively unremarked – except by those from other, less ‘liberated’ cultures†. Branston, 2010) The media has a huge control on how we represent women and men in a western civilisation. From what is read and seen in magazine we get the perceptions of this is how normal people should be and act and that is completely controllable and interchangeable by what the media chooses to do. This is a high power that we should try and move away from as it will control the world and people will always be aiming to be like the celebrities and people shown in these magazines and in the media. Research on media representations of gender has focused on how women are objectified and exploited in a media context and on the gap between social reality and media constructions of femininity and masculinity†( Devereux, 2003) The idea that celebrities mean so much in our society influences on people to be like them. Celebrities are just normal people that have perhaps a talent or a different look, but once the media throws them into the spotlight then it is our turn to idolize them. Magazines such as this one are filled with advertising and fake stories and the cover shows this by showing hidden advertising for a â€Å"? 5 dress that flatters everyone†. This kind of advertising draws people in to read ‘stories’ that are actually just ads for different products. â€Å"The point of publicity and promotion is to turn advertising into news†(Turner, 2004) References: Branston, G. , & Stafford, R. (2010). The media student's book  (5th  ed. ). London: Routledge. Devereux, E. (2003). Understanding the Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Turner, G. (2004). Understanding Celebrity. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Van, L. T. , ; Jewitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London: SAGE. Zoonen, L. (1994). Feminist media studies. London: Sage.