A YouTube Song for the Christmas Season
Silent night - Sinead O'Connor (audio )
The song, a personal pick of my own, from the list of artists' birthdays of today.
Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 Last Update:
U.S.
Education
On This Day
On This Day: December 8
On Dec. 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On Dec. 8, 1925, Sammy Davis Jr., the American performer famous for his singing, dancing and comedy routines, was born. Following his death on May 16, 1990, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
| 1776 | George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. |
|---|---|
| 1854 | Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception. |
| 1863 | President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South. |
| 1886 | The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio. |
| 1980 | Rock musician John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman. The former Beatle was 40. |
| 1987 | Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began an intefadeh, or uprising. |
| 1987 | President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. |
| 1991 | Russia, Belarus and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forming a new Commonwealth of Independent States. |
| 1991 | Kimberly Bergalis, who had contracted AIDS from her dentist, died in Florida at age 23. |
| 1992 | Americans saw live TV coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia as Operation Restore Hope began. |
| 1993 | President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. |
| 1995 | The Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up after 30 years of making music. The news came four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. |
| 2008 | Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal he would confess to masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks; four other men also abandoned their defenses. |
Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives") turns 47 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Rock singer-musician Gregg Allman (The Allman Brothers) turns 64 years old today.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert| 1930 | Maximilian Schell, Actor, director, turns 81 |
|---|---|
| 1939 | James Galway, Flutist, turns 72 |
| 1953 | Kim Basinger, Actress, turns 58 |
| 1966 | Sinead O'Connor, Rock singer, turns 45 |
| 1968 | Mike Mussina, Baseball player, turns 43 |
| 1976 | Dominic Monaghan, Actor ("Lost"), turns 35 |
Historic Birthdays
Sammy Davis Jr. 12/8/1925 - 5/16/1990 American entertainer. Go to obituary »| 44 | Queen of Scots Mary 12/8/1542 - 2/8/1587 Scottish queen |
|---|---|
| 62 | Queen of Sweden Christina 12/8/1626 - 4/19/1689 Swedish queen |
| 59 | Eli Whitney 12/8/1765 - 1/8/1825 American inventor of the cotton gin |
| 52 | Richard Carlile 12/8/1790 - 2/10/1843 English journalist |
| 82 | Aristide Maillol 12/8/1861 - 9/27/1944 French artist |
| 78 | Camille Claudel 12/8/1864 - 10/19/1943 French sculptor |
| 91 | Jean Sibelius 12/8/1865 - 9/20/1957 Finnish composer |
| 70 | Diego Rivera 12/8/1886 - 11/25/1957 Mexican painter |
| 66 | James Thurber 12/8/1894 - 11/2/1961 American writer and cartoonist |
| 43 | Elzie (Crisler) Segar 12/8/1894 - 10/13/1938 American cartoonist and creator of Popeye |
| 89 | Josephine Bell 12/8/1897 - 4/24/1987 English physician and novelist |
This Week on the Learning Network
Contest
2011 in Rap
Along with a partner, Flocabulary, we invite you to write a rap about some aspect of the top news of 2011.
Contest
Reading Club
Our second installment of “Reading Club” ends 12/8. Write in about the article “Teaching Good Sex.”
Welcome to The Learning Network Blog!
The Learning Network provides teaching and learning materials and ideas based on New York Times content.
Teachers can use or adapt our lessons across subject areas and levels. Students can respond to our Opinion questions, take our News Quizzes, learn the Word of the Day, try our Test Yourself questions, complete a Fill-In or read our Poetry Pairings.
Join the conversation by commenting on any post. We'd love to hear what you think!
Lesson Plans by Category
Comments of the Moment
Blog ArchiveRecent Lesson Plans
- Five Ways to Flip Your Classroom With The New York Times
- On ‘Punched Out’: Looking at Brain Trauma and Other Risks of Violent Sports
- 70 Years Later: Using Historic Times Articles and Social Media to Remember Pearl Harbor
- Occupy Davis, as Covered by High School Journalists
- Student Contest | Celebrate 2011 by Writing Raps About the Year’s News
Recent Posts
December 08
Five Ways to Flip Your Classroom With The New York Times
Suggestions for how to deliver content at home that students can engage with when they come to class.
December 08
(2)
Poetry Pairing | ‘Hope’ Is the Thing With Feathers
This week we pair Emily Dickinson's classic with a series of photos taken by readers for the Lens blog's "A World at 7 Billion" project. All of the photos we feature were tagged with the word "hope."
December 08
(7)
What New Emoticons Does the World Need?
Tell us about the new emoticons, or emoji, you think the world might need, and describe what they might look like.
December 08
(4)
Test Yourself | English, Dec. 8, 2011
Can you choose the verb that correctly completes a sentence?
Other Education Resources at The Times
About Us
Katherine Schulten has worked in education for over 25 years as a teacher, school newspaper adviser, literacy consultant, curriculum writer and editor.
Holly Epstein Ojalvo spent 10 years in the classroom as an award-winning English teacher and student newspaper adviser.
