Friday, May 14, 2010

General Announcements:

• 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:

Grades 7 & 8
• Due Mon., 5/17: MM 3.8, work for * problems shown on lined paper, N/A problems from 3.7 completed on work shown paper.
• Wed., 5/19: MM Term 3 Test

Social Studies:

• Continue working on newspaper items, according to your assignment, protocol handed out today and your group's calendar.

Moment of Zen:

Disaster Tourism in China

This is slightly old news, but after the May 12, 2008 earthquake that shook the Chinese province of Sichuan, the Chinese government decided to turn the now-dilapidated region into a government-sponsored tourist attraction. Click the picture to read more. No news on a possible tourist spin to the current oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico, of which relief workers have been unable to stem the flow, and which scientists now suggest, could gush for years." Click the quote to read more about current efforts to stop or slow the 5,000 barrel per day flow and possible long term environmental implications of such a spill.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

General Announcements:

• 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.

Social Studies:

• Continue working on newspaper items, according to your assignment, protocol handed out today and your group's calendar.

Moment of Zen:

The Kjell Henriksen Observatory

Located on the island of Svalbard at 78°N latitude, the Kjell Henriksen Observatory is one of the most notable research sites for gathering information about the aurora borealis or Northern Lights. It also looks like something out of a sci-fi novel with its individual instrument domes.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

General Announcements:

• MCAS continues through Thursday. (Testing Schedule)
• 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.

Social Studies:

• Continue working on newspaper items, according to your assignment and your group's calendar.

Moment of Zen:

The Flowered Nest of the Loner Bee

Bees are commonly though of as the epitome of social animals—our idea of the "hive mind," indicating individuals working as separate bodies following a shared consciousness, borrows from bee terminology. Social hive bees account for the larger population of bees in the world and in popular understanding. But did you know that 75% of the over 20,000 identified bee species are solitary? This means that individual female bees build and provision nests for their eggs and larvae on their own, with no intervention from a collective hive. Seen above are a few of the nests of one of these species, Osmia avosetta, found in the Middle East. This species' nests, described in a recently released article, are largely constructed underground, of colorful flower petals and a thin mortar of mud. Each of the delicately constructed chambers seen above is built to house and feed a single bee larva.

• Osmia avosetta flower-nest gallery at National Geographic

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

General Announcements:

• MCAS continues through Thursday. (Testing Schedule)
• 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.

Science:

• 8th Grade: Continue studying MCAS review questions, including those handed out today.

Moment of Zen:

The Greek Protest Dog

Greece has had its share of political unrest in the last few years, including the recent protests around "austerity measures" passed by the Greek parliament in response to the country's debt. Both police and news photographers began to notice a surprising trend in their protest shots here and over the last few yers: a tawny-colored dog, turning up over and over.The dog has been photographed regularly at protests over the last several years - lying down in front of of protest lines, at the sides of protestors being tear-gassed, facing off in front of flaming scenery. There is some debate as to whether the protest dog pictured is one dog or several - some say that the original protest dog died in 2008 and is buried at an Athens university. Some identify him as Kanellos ("cinnamon"), others as Louk, short for Loukanikos, a kind of Greek sausage. Regardless, the riot dog(s) of Athens have been adopted as a much loved symbol of solidarity by Greek protestors.

• Kanellos slideshow at The Guardian
• Loukanikos gallery

Monday, May 10, 2010

General Announcements:

• MCAS continues through Thursday.
• 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.

Science:

• 8th Grade: Review open response questions related to flight and thrust in preparation for Science MCAS later this week.

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 5/11: Correct editing homework assignment using the answer key provided and following the directions on that key. Staple sheets together to turn in.

Moment of Zen:

Back Up The Sushi Truck

"Fundamental to our artwork is the incorporation of toys we used to play with, and the picturesque sceneries we imagined in childhood. We enjoy combining scraps such as broken pieces of wood or screws left in factories with daily necessities or the toys that we played with as kids. In combining these two different types of materials and building art objects from them, we noticed a huge imaginary leap. Some of the objects lost their original scale and began to look like huge objects; others showed funny discrepancies in the juxtapositions of heterogeneous objects. These combinations became models which we simply want to see in real scale. For this particular series of artwork, "tommy sushi / tommy ca", we cannot forget our excitement when the plastic food model fit perfectly onto the toy truck's loading platform."

-Japanese art duo Paramodel, describing their toy-sushi on a truck sculptures. Click the picture to see more in this series.