Tuesday, April 27, 2010

General Announcements:

• Share Your DC Pictures!: Pick up to 20 of your best shots from DC to upload to the group account at Photobucket. Sort photos into the albums for Monuments/Memorials, Museums, People, and Other. Email Grace if you need the login information or if you have trouble logging in. The account is private, but I have a separate guest password to pass along to parents, grandparents, etc. which grants view-only access.
• Due Friday, 4/30: Come to school dressed in a black T-shirt and dark pants/skirt. You will be wearing what you wore for other Prism productions at All-School for Earth Day. Bring a change of clothes with you if you wish to wear something different the rest of the day.
• 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 Wed., 4/28:
    • Finish MCAS Review packet. Answer for revised open response #9 on separate paper.
    • Do #1-6 on mixed number multiplication worksheet. Show work for each problem on a separate sheet of paper, which should be stapled to the worksheet.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Wed., 4/28:
    • Finish MCAS Review packet. Answers for final open-response question should be well-explained on separate paper.
    • Do #1-10 on mixed number multiplication worksheet. Show work for each problem on separate sheet of paper, which should be stapled to the worksheet.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 4/28: Read handout about Ratification of the Constitution (p. 40-42) and answer the following questions on p. 43: 1a-c, 2a-c, 3a+b.

Science:

• Due Wed., 4/28:
  • Read excerpt "The Forgotten Pollinators."
  • List 3 things you found interesting in the reading
  • Pick one of those topics and write a more detailed reflection on it

Language Arts:

• Due Wed., 4/28: Type a final, edited copy of the "gallery placard" that will be placed next to you monument design. It should be in a type font and size that can be read easily by a viewer in our hall (ex. Times New Roman, 16 pt, bold). Have you name at the bottom as "monument designer." Begin looking for an independent reading book to have in all classes at all times.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen:

A Fingerprint on the Snowglobe?

It looks a little like the densely lined arch of a fingerprint, maybe some abstract stick-figure rainbow if it weren't on a photo. What you see is a solargraph, taken by a pinhole camera. If photograph is built from the Greek roots photos, "light" and graphos "write," its process as something literally "written in light" emerges. Using a very long exposure time—usually many months—and a very small aperture (opening), solargraphs track the path of the sun, changing in its arc across the sky a little bit each day in relation to the earth's tilt. Not only is it evidence of the particular way out planet travels through space over the course of the year, it looks pretty cool, too. Click the picture above to go to Tarya Trygg's Solargraphy database, which lets you search for solargraphs from around the world (I recommend just continent and city). She also lists a lot of good information about how to make your own solargraphic image using a pinhole camera which can be made for under $10. This site also has good information about how to make a solargraph, plus general information about pinhole photography. Click any of these for a full-size version: