Tuesday, December 1, 2009

General Announcements:

• If you have not done so already, sign up for a shift at the Winter Fair this Saturday, December 5. Do not sign up for 12:20 or 1:00 shifts, as it conflicts with our performance. You may sign up with two Prisms on a line if there is only one slot available for the shift. If you have a serious scheduling conflict which prevents you from coming to the Winter Fair, have a parent write a note about this and bring it in. The schedule will be checked on Wed., Dec. 2. If you have not signed up or brought a note by this point, you will get an orange sheet.
• Wed. Dec. 2: IOWA testing for both 7th & 8th grades (AM)
• Wed., Dec., 2: Parent Meeting in Prisms building 6:30-8:00 PM. Topics will include Coffee House organization, 8th Grade Project, and Graduation Responsibilities of 7th Grade parents.
• Tues., Dec. 8: Black performance wear must return to school to be ready for Thurs. performance.
• Thurs., Dec. 10: God/Goddess Puppet show (1:30 PM) and Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits (AM)
• Every day: You must have an independent reading book every day. If you are getting close to the end of one, have the next one at school and ready to go.

Math: 7th Grade:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Get a good night's sleep and eat before testing. Bring independent reading book to math in case you finish early.
• Due Thurs., 12/3: Do #11 on p. 58 of CMP book (more with writing equations from given information). Staple this assignment to last night's (#7, p. 55).

8th Grade:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Get a good night's sleep and eat before testing. Bring independent reading book to math in case you finish early.
• Due Thurs., 12/3: Do #1-3 on p. 59 of CMP book (more practice with using symbolic method of solving equations). Be sure to show all steps in the symbolic method applied to solving these problems. Refer to your notes and to p. 55 example.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Final drafts of answers to questions due. These need to be typed, 12 pt font, double spaced (1.5 space is okay)
• Due Thurs., 12/3Submit a photo of your project so far.
• Complete list of Due Dates leading up to Dec. 8

Science:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Read p. 157-163 of handout about eclipses. On one side of a sheet of plain paper, draw a careful diagram (use straightedge) of how a solar eclipse occurs. On the other side of the paper, draw an equally careful diagram of a lunar eclipse. Label both diagrams caarfeully as in the handout.

Language Arts:

• Group 1 only: Make significant progress on your knit/crochet project for Buddies meeting this Thursday.

Spanish:

• Due Thurs., 12/3: Complete Pobre Ana worksheet, part B only.

Moment of Zen: One of the few classical operas written in English, Purcell's Dido & Aeneas adapts a story from the Aeneid of Aeneas's visit to Carthage (on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa), falling in love with the widowed queen Dido (cf. historical "Elissa"), and leaving to settle in Italy, which caused her such grief that she killed herself. The shot above is from a recent production of the opera in Amsterdam, which included choreography in water. Also look up its most famous aria "When I Am Laid In Earth" also called Dido's Lament.