Monday, December 20, 2010

General Announcements:

• If you ever notice something missing or wrong on the blog, comment to let me know about it - I don't always have the whole picture. -Grace
• Thursday, 12/23: All HCCPS family are invited to attend the annual Winter Solstice celebration, featuring the fabulous Mummers' Play, as presented by the Prisms. Celebration begins at 11 AM!
• Thursday, 12/23: Will be the last day of school before the break. It will also be a half day, with dismissal at 12:30.

Math:

• All: Due Tues., 12/21:
  • Make a thank you card for Deanna for her presentation on searching databases when doing research. Use printer paper folded into card shape. Have spelling edited by an adult before adding color to it.

Language Arts:

• Test Tues., 12/21: On topics in all of The Gift of Sarah Barker.
• Due Tues., 12/21: Read Chs. 23-26 and Epilogue of ...Sarah Barker. There will be a test Tuesday—open response questions with paragraph answers. Be sure to have your ...Sarah Barker book with you

Social Studies:

• Due Tues., 12/21: Drawing of the Middle Way, contrasting prince and ascetic.

Atelier:

• Continue working on your project as needed. You know what needs doing.

Science:

• Due Wed., 12/22 Finish reading 13.2 on Evolution. Answer questions 2-7 on p. 265 using complete sentences on separate paper.

Spanish:

• All:
  • Study "Verb III" sheet; know for Monday.
  • Finish & study verb wheel using the following sites:
    • www.conjugation.org
    • www.verbix.com/languages/spanish.shtml
• Grade 7: Due Tues., 12/21: Make sentences out of the 5 verbs you picked from the list today.
• Grade 8:

Moment of Zen:

Another Good Reason to Look Up

For the first time in 372 years, the Winter Solstice, a full moon and a total lunar eclipse will occur together on Dec. 21st. In addition, the Ursid meteor shower, normally unremarkable, could put on a bit of a show while the eclipse darkens the night sky.

Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years for NASA. ”Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec 21, 1638. The next one will be on Dec 21, 2094.”

“It’s perfectly placed so that all of North America can see it,” said eclipse expert Fred Espenak of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The entire show, which is expected to last 3 1/2 hours if skies are clear, begins at 11:41 p.m. PST Monday.

(Source: NPR)