Wednesday, October 27, 2010

General Announcements:

• Citrus Online Orders fully functional until Friday, 9AM! Click the grapefruit on the sidebar to visit our sale's site!
• Thurs., 10/28: Field trip to Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls in the AM. Students will arrive at school at the regular time and, hopefully, be back in time for lunch.
• Wed., 10/27: Día de los muertos: Join us for a pot-luck Day of the Dead celebration from 6:30 to 8 PM in the All-School Space.
• We need tissues! Cold season is upon us and we need nice tissues for sore noses. If every Prism family donated one box of tissues, that would almost certainly get us through the worst of tissue season.
• Fridays: Bring sneakers, clothes to run in and water bottle for Frisbee!

Math:

• Grade 7 & 8:
  Due Thurs., 10/28:
  • Complete Math's Mate 1.6 according to usual protocol, highlights of which include:
    • No calculators
    • Show work for * problems on separate paper
    • Complete any N/A problems from 1.5 on attached sheet

Language Arts:

• Due Thurs., 10/28:
  • Read "Hamish McTavish is Eating a Bus" by Gordon Korman in your short story book. Write 3 well-edited quiz questions with answers.
  • Bring in your Literary Parade costume. Check it in with Grace Thursday morning.

Social Studies:

• Ongoing:
  • Continue researching your era of the River.
  • Make sure you have Bibliography card for each resource you use, following these citation formats.

Science:

• Grade 8:
  Due Thurs., 10/28:
  • Answer questions 1-5 on River Logging worksheet.
• Grade 7:
  Due Thurs., 10/28:
  • Answer questions 1-6 on River Logging worksheet.

Spanish:

• Grade 7 & 8:
  • Disfrutar nuestra fiesta para el día de los muertos.

Moment of Zen:

Las guerras de estrella para los muertos

For Day of the Dead, Chicano artist José Pulido has created a set of Star Wars-themed drawings inspired by traditional drawings for the holiday of the partying dead. Click above to see more.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

General Announcements:

• Last Day for Citrus Orders: Tomorrow, 10/27See details, access printable documents HERE
• Citrus Online Orders fully functional until Friday, 9AM! Click the grapefruit on the sidebar to visit our sale's site!
• Thurs., 10/28: Field trip to Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls in the AM. Students will arrive at school at the regular time and, hopefully, be back in time for lunch.
• Call for Drivers Thurs., 10/28 (AM) - We still need 3-4 more parent volunteers to drive 13 students to Turners Falls and back Thursday morning.
• Wed., 10/27: Día de los muertos: Join us for a pot-luck Day of the Dead celebration from 6:30 to 8 PM in the All-School Space.
• We need tissues! Cold season is upon us and we need nice tissues for sore noses. If every Prism family donated one box of tissues, that would almost certainly get us through the worst of tissue season.
• Fridays: Bring sneakers, clothes to run in and water bottle for Frisbee!

Math:

• Grade 7
  • Due Wed., 10/27: Complete 3.1 on p. 37
  • Grade 7A: Finish 2.3 and Follow-Up #2 only
• Grade 8
  • Due Wed., 10/27: Complete the two Order of Operations questions given to you at the end of class today.

Language Arts:

• Due Thurs., 10/28:
  • Read "Hamish McTavish is Eating a Bus" by Gordon Korman in your short story book. Write 3 well-edited quiz questions with answers.
  • Bring in your Literary Parade costume. Check it in with Grace Thursday morning.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 10/27: Turn in 5 new notecards following notecard protocol (incl. Quote, Topic Heading, Source #, Your Name, Page #) and 2 copies of the source for these quotes.
• Ongoing:
  • Continue researching your era of the River.
  • Make sure you have Bibliography card for each resource you use, following these citation formats.

Science:

• Nada

Atelier:

• Due Wed., 10/27: Hard copy of an image (photo, painting, drawing) of the river during your era.

Spanish:

• Grade 7 & 8:
  • Day of the Dead page
  • If you plan to stay after school to help set up for the celebration, you need a note signed by your parents giving you permission to do so. Deena will provide a snack for her willing workers.
  • Due ASAP:
    • Decide what dish you will bring for the pot luck Wed. night. Comment on blog post with what you're bringing. We already have a lot of desserts, so think about dinner foods!
    • Collect boxes you may use for your altar: check home, cardboard dumpster, grocery store.
    • Have completed:
      • arch
      • photograph of your ofrenda subject
      • decorative cloth to cover boxes for altar

Moment of Zen: >

12 oz KING SIZE Soda!

This 1950s soda ad highlights changing ideas about serving size over the last 50-60 years: in many places a small soda is 20-30 oz. Click to read more about it at Sociological Images.

Monday, October 25, 2010

General Announcements:

• Citrus Orders due Tomorrow, 10/26 and Wed., 10/27. See details, access printable documents HERE
• Citrus Online Orders fully functional! Click the grapefruit on the sidebar to visit our sale's site!
• Thurs., 10/28: Field trip to Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls in the AM. Students will arrive at school at the regular time and, hopefully, be back in time for lunch.
• Call for Drivers Thurs., 10/28 (AM) - We still need 3-4 more parent volunteers to drive 13 students to Turners Falls and back Thursday morning.
• Wed., 10/27: Día de los muertos: Join us for a pot-luck Day of the Dead celebration from 6:30 to 8 PM in the All-School Space.
• We need tissues! Cold season is upon us and we need nice tissues for sore noses. If every Prism family donated one box of tissues, that would almost certainly get us through the worst of tissue season.
• Fridays: Bring sneakers, clothes to run in and water bottle for Frisbee!

Math:

• Grade 7
  • Nada
• Grade 8
  • Nada

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 10/26: Make a Venn Diagram—three columns on lined paper—comparing and contrasting the characters of Jamie and Ted in "My Brother's Keeper". There should be 5-6 items in each column.

Social Studies:

• Due Tues., 10/26: Turn in 5 new notecards following notecard protocol (incl. Quote, Topic Heading, Source #, Your Name, Page #) and 2 copies of the source for these quotes.
• Ongoing:
  • Continue researching your era of the River.
  • Make sure you have Bibliography card for each resource you use, following these citation formats.

Science:

• Due Tues., 10/26: We will be in the river Tues. afternoon gathering Benthic organisms. Wear or bring appropriate clothing/footwear (i.e. shorts, water shoes/boots/spare shoes that can get wet) or a change of clothes/shoes.

Atelier:

• Due Wed., 10/27: Hard copy of an image (photo, painting, drawing) of the river during your era.

Spanish:

• Grade 7 & 8:
  • Day of the Dead page
  • Due ASAP:
    • Decide what dish you will bring for the pot luck Wed. night. Comment on blog post with what you're bringing. We already have a lot of desserts, so think about dinner foods!
    • Collect boxes you may use for your altar: check home, cardboard dumpster, grocery store.
    • Have completed:
      • arch
      • photograph of your ofrenda subject
      • decorative cloth to cover boxes for altar

Moment of Zen: A Brief Reflection on Last Week's River Cleanup In addition to finding a few new friends (like Mr. Tiki, above) the Prisms picked up over 500 lbs of garbage from in and around the Mill River last Monday. Many of the larger metal pieces have been donated to a local sculptor to be reimagined and recreated. Thanks to all involved!