Friday, September 30, 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

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

Humanities:
  • Due Mon., 10/3: Finish "Notes on Primary Sources" sheet.
  • Due Tue., 10/4: First draft of position letter to the editor.
  • Due Wed., 10/5: Final draft of your constitution, edited using the rubric.

Math:
    All
  • Due Mon., 10/3: Math's Mate 1.4, including any attached N/A problems, according to usual protocol.

Science:
  • Ничего

Moment of Zen:

Hopscotch Typing?


Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

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

Humanities:
  • Due Thurs., 9/29: If not completed, finish paragraph about why people were angry after the Revolutionary War.
  • Due Fri., 9/30: Start writing rough draft of constitution, based on your "Writing Your Own Constitution" worksheet. Be sure to address all six categories from "Comparing Constitutions" worksheet.
  • Due Mon., 10/3: Finish "Notes on Primary Sources" sheet.

Math:
    Gr. 8
  • Nada
  • .
    Gr. 7
    • Quiz Thurs., 9/29: On statistics topics covered so far, including:
      • Measures of Center: Mean, median, mode
      • Range
      • Scatter Plots
      • Stem & Leaf Plots
    • .
    • Recommended Review Problems: In Data About Us, on p. 48 finish #2 (about data on photocopy of p. 47), and #3 (about graph on p. 49)

Science:
  • Ничего

Moment of Zen:

Milk Carton Boat Race


From Oddity Central: Every year, at the end of August, Latvians celebrate Milk, Bread and Honey Festival with a special race between boats made from thousands of empty milk cartons.

The milk carton boat regatta has become a very popular tradition since it first took place nine years ago. The wacky event always take place on the Lielupe River, in the Latvian town of Jelgava, and means to offer local audience a good time and popularize a healthy lifestyle through the consumption of organic dairy foods made in Latvia. Teams of locals eager of a good time, as well as some representing dairy processors and food producers enter the competition every year and fight for various titles, including the fastest boat, funniest crew and most original boat.

This year a record number of participants registered milk carton boat race – 36 teams showed up on the Lielupe River, on August 27, to prove their seafaring skills. There were only a few rules teams had to obey for this event: boats had to be made excursively of empty milk cartons and had to be guided to the finish line by human power alone. The size of the boat and number of rowers was not limited, provided the carton vessel remained afloat. The course was only 50 meters long, the shortest so far, but teams struggled to finish as they had to paddle against a strong wind. Some team members even jumped into the river to push their boats across the finish.

Building a milk carton boat is apparently not as easy as it looks, as participants have to take into consideration that each carton can only keep about 800 grams afloat, so if a boat is just a few cartons short it will go down faster than the Titanic. This year the prize for the fastest boat went to the “Small galley”, while the title of funniest crew went to the “Swimming pool”. The 36 teams used around 45,000 empty milk cartons to build their wacky floating creations.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

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

Humanities:
  • Due Thurs., 9/29: If not completed, finish paragraph about why people were angry after the Revolutionary War.
  • Due Fri., 9/30: Start writing rough draft of constitution, based on your "Writing Your Own Constitution" worksheet. Be sure to address all six categories from "Comparing Constitutions" worksheet.

Math:
    Gr. 8
  • Quiz Thurs., 9/29: On statistics topics covered so far, including:
    • Measures of Center: Mean, median, mode
    • Range
    • Scatter Plots
    • Stem & Leaf Plots
    • 5-number summary, box and whisker plots, and outliers (according to Tukey's definition)
  • .
  • Recommended Review Problems: In Samples and Populations "Mathematical Reflections" on p. 23, and on pp. 32-33, #10 and 11.

  • Gr. 7
    • Nada

Science:
  • Due Thurs., 9/29: If not completed, make a thank you card for Anne Griffin for showing us her beehive.

Moment of Zen:

Dinosaur Feathers


Paleontologists in Canada have discovered what may be the first examples of dinosaur feathers, preserved in amber in the Late Cretaceous period. While fossil evidence increasingly supports the theory that some dinosaurs, especially later species, had feathers, or at least early versions of them, this is the first preserved example. Aside from providing information about dinosaurs, it strengthens the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds, and complicates some of the distinctions between birds and reptiles. Click the picture above to see more amber-preserved specimens and read more about the findings in Canada.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

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

Humanities:
  • Due Wed., 9/28:Finish "Write Your Own Constitution" worksheet
  • Due Fri., 9/30: Start writing rough draft of constitution. Be sure to address all six categories from "Comparing Constitutions" worksheet.

Math:
    Gr. 8
  • Due Wed. 9/28: Finish 2.1 and follow up, do 2.2 and follow up on p. 26-27 of Samples and Populations.

  • Gr. 7
  • Due Wed., 9/28: Do 4.1 and follow up on p. 44 of Data About Us.

Science:
  • Due Wed., 9/28: If not completed, make a thank you card for Anne Griffin for showing us her beehive.
  • Nada

Atelier:
  • Due Wed., 9/28: If you brought it home to work on, bring your Symbolic Self Portrait into class.

Moment of Zen:

Song Pictograms


Designer Viktor Hertz has been designing road-sign style pictograms representing song titles. Above pictured is the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA." Click the picture to visit Hertz's Flickr gallery. Be on the look out for title pictograms for songs by the Beatles, Radiohead, and The Supremes. He is also taking suggestions/requests.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

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

Humanities:
  • Due Wed., 9/28:Finish "Write Your Own Constitution" worksheet
  • Due Fri., 9/30: Start writing rough draft of constitution. Be sure to address all six categories from "Comparing Constitutions" worksheet.

Math:
    Gr. 8
  • Due Tues., 9/27: On p. 378 (photocopy), do #15-19, and #30 on p. 379. Find IQR and determine if there are any outliers!

  • Gr. 7
  • Nothing...for now

Science:
  • Due Tues., 9/27: Make a thank you card for Anne Griffin for showing us her beehive.
  • Due Tues., 9/27: Finish histogram of das 12 data for your group's plants.

Tech:
  • Due Tues., 9/27: Pick a simple room (no crazy angles!), sketch its floorplan, and measure and label length of all sides in imperial measurments (feet, inches). We will be using this data in class to model the room in SketchUp.

Moment of Zen:

The Arctic Hothouse


From National Geographic:
"Inuit Johnny Issaluk holds a recent photo of a South Carolina swamp. That’s what his home, near the Arctic Circle on Baffin Island, would have looked like 56 million years ago, when summer water temperatures at the North Pole hit 74°F."