Monday, March 1, 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:

• 7th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 3/2:
    • Complete 5.2 on p. 49 according to directions. Answer in complete, edited sentences using specific data. Make sure your answers show what the question being answered was. Hint: What do parallelograms and rectangles have in common?
    • Tool Check! Make sure you bring the following to Math class for Mar. 2:
      1. Calculator
      2. Compass
      3. Centimeter ruler
      4. Pencil or erasable pen
      5. Protractor
      6. Glue Stick
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 3/2: Complete 3.1 according to directions on p. 28. Use a ruler to contruct your table. Use measurement units to make columns straight. Leave plenty of space between problems (as always). Leave a one-inch margin on all sides of papers. NB: A conjecture is a statement that describes how given information fits together, but is not yet proven (i.e. Describe the pattern you see in the numbers on your chart. Think about some observations from class today.).

Social Studies:

• None assigned

Science:

• Due Tue., 3/2: Read "Roller Coaster Physics" handout (one sheet, both sides, p. 258-9) and answer questions #1-4 from p. 259. -5 points for no name!

Language Arts:

• Due Tue., 3/2: In your LA Journal, write a well-developed entry in which you address the following in well-developed paragraphs:

  Name a community to which you belong. What does it mean to be a member of this community? How is membership in the community determined?

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:
  • Review vocabulary from class activity today.

• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 3/2: Leer capítulo 4 de Robo en la noche

Moment of Zen:

The Idiotarod

It was deep in the winter when the sickness took them: The snow piled high and no sign of a melt. The only antidote could be found by hitching a team to a sled and heading out into the icy wasteland of...New York City? It draws inspiration - or at least a horrible pun of a name - from the Iditarod, the grueling, thousand mile dogsled race held every year along the route that brought essential medicine to cure a 1925 diptheria outbreak in a snowbound Alaskan town, but instead cures the annual epidemics of winter blues and cabin fever by hitching teams of four costumed people (plus one equally decked out "musher") to a glorified shopping cart and running around the city. Idiotarods have taken place in Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Austin, and Washington, D.C., though the original race was founded in San Francisco in 1994 as the "Urban Iditarod." Prizes are awarded not only for the first team to cross the finish line, but also for the team with the best costumes, best sabotage, best bribery and "Best in Show." Beyond that, the awards change every year at the judges discretion and have included honors for: Best Dance, Best Recruitment of New Members Along the Course, Most Surprising Completion of the Race Despite An Unwieldy Course, and Best Name Change When Pirates Became Against the Rules. Norwegian Curling Pants Update: Norway took the silver medal in Men's Curling Saturday night, losing the medal match to Canada. See story