Friday, December 11, 2009

General Announcements:

• Monday, Dec. 14: School will begin an hour later for a staff meeting. Doors will open at 9:15 and assembly will begin at 9:30.
• Ancient Greece projects are ready to take home.
• 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 & 8th Grade:

• Due Mon., 12/14: Work for 20 min. in grade-level Math League handed out today.

Social Studies:

• Due Mon., 12/14: Typed bibliography listing sources (formatted according to directions on handout) of information and images for your Ancient Greece Project.

Science:

• None assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Mon., 12/14: Write an entry in LA Journal of one page— well-developed ¶ or ¶s— reflecting on "My Experience In The Puppet Show." This should reflect on the writing and rehearsal process as well as the performance itself.

8th Grade Project:

• Due Mon., 12/14
  • Have a Project journal and 1" Project binder.
  • Have a general topic you think you would like to explore through an eighth-grade project.

Moment of Zen: I know you heard about Liu Bolin from John in Science class today, but I've also been wanting to post about him. Liu Bolin is an urban camouflage artist from China who specializes in how not to be seen. Liu spends up to 10 hours setting up for a single shot, blending in with everything from graffiti to policemen to collapsed homes. Both the statement about the Chinese government's repressive treatment of artists (they shut down Liu's studio in 2005) and the effect are breathtaking. Click the picture to see more photos of Liu's work.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

General Announcements:

• Wed., 12/9: Bring black performance wear to school and check it in with Grace before AM assembly. Then store in cubby. If these are still in your cubby from the last performance, you still need to check them in.
• Thurs., 12/10: Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits: 8:30-10:30 AM in 3rd Floor Classroom and Tech Lab (adjoining). Families welcome!
• Thurs., 12/10: The Il Teatro of the gods! 2:00 PM in the all school space.
• 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 & 8th Grade:

• Test this Wednesday, 12/9: Review past homestudy, text and notes to prepare for unit test.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 12/9: Final, edited, mounted text explaining your project (4 questions).
  • Title: 72 pt or larger
  • Section headings: 28 pt. bold
  • Body text: 22 pt, single spaced. Use page breaks for each new section.

Science:

• Due Thurs., 12/10: Sketch the Earth's phases as seen if standing on the moon.

Language Arts:

• Due Wed., 12/9:
  • Read for 20 minutes and complete a Reading Log entry.
  • Make sure lines for il Teatro sketch are memorized.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen: Who knows what this guy is up to? There is something remarkable about what he is, though, as a Nerpa or Baikal Seal. The nerpa, which lives in Siberia's Lake Baikal (Turk. "Rich Lake" — bai - rich; kal - lake), is one of only two species of seal to spend its entire life in freshwater, and the only one to be a distinct species (the others, found in Lake Saimaa, Finland, and Lake Ladoga, Russia are subspecies of Ringed Seals). It also has one of the longest seal lifespans at 50-56 years. No one is really sure how the seals ended up in the lake, hundreds of miles from any ocean or other species of seal. Russia also named a nuclear submarine Nerpa after the seal.

Monday, December 7, 2009

General Announcements:

• Tue., 12/8: Bring black performance wear to school and check it in with Grace before AM assembly. Then store in cubby. If these are still in your cubby from the last performance, you still need to check them in.
• Thurs., 12/10: Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits: 8:30-10:30 AM in 3rd Floor Classroom and Tech Lab (adjoining). Families welcome!
• Thurs., 12/10: The Il Teatro of the gods! 1:30 PM in the all school space.
• 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 & 8th Grade:

• Test this Wednesday, 12/9: Review past homestudy, text and notes to prepare for unit test.

Social Studies:

• Due Tue., 12/8: Project due. Consider orienting page horiztontally.
• Due Wed., 12/9: Final, edited, mounted text explaining your project (4 questions).
  • Title: 72 pt or larger
  • Section headings: 28 pt. bold
  • Body text: 22 pt, single spaced. Use page breaks for each new section.

Science:

• None assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Tue., 12/8:
  • Read for 20 minutes and complete a Reading Log entry.
  • Make sure lines for il Teatro sketch are memorized.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 12/8: Make flashcards for the 10 given vocab words and study.

• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 12/8:
    • Completed wordsearch
    • Completed Ch. 5 questions
    • 10 sentences about what you do on the weekend using the given 1st person plural (we) forms of verbs (ending in -mos)

Moment of Zen: Sure, we all know that the adjective to describe something catlike is feline (from the Latin word for cat, felis - almost the same as the Latin word for luck -felix - which is the possible source of the myths about the luck of cats), and that something doglike is canine (from the Latin canis), but did you ever wonder what adjective you might use to describe something armadillo-like? Or bat-like? Follow the link for an extensive (but by no means exhaustive) list of animal adjectives - almost all of which draw heavily from Latin or Greek roots.