Friday, March 5, 2010

Friday, March 5, 2010

General Announcements:
  • Parents! Teacher Conference Sign-ups for next Friday's (3/12) Conference Day now posted in the front entryway of the Prisms. Sign up soon for best chance at getting your preferred time slot! Parents who don't come to the school regularly can feel free to e-mail Grace for sign up help. Please include preferred range of time and if you would prefer to conference with Jane or John. We will do our best to accommodate your requests.
  • 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 Mon., 3/8: Complete 6.1 and 6.1 Follow-Up on pp. 56-57. Use a compass to construct a perpendicular height if necessary. Show that construction on your paper. Show how you arrived at your answers and/or explain in sentence form as necessary.
  • 8th Grade:
    • Due Mon., 3/8: On Labsheet 3.3 handed out in class, find the distance of all points from A by using the Pythagorean Theorem and symbolic method. Show all work on labsheet and lined paper. Only simplify square roots. Simplifying is not required.
Social Studies:
  • Due Mon., 3/8: Signed "Compilation of Work" form and turn in your folder.
Science:
  • Due :
Language Arts:
  • Due Mon., 3/8: Look up and record definitions for the terms listed. Write the source you used to find them and its publication date.
    • Hannukah
    • Shabbat
    • Kosher
    • Mezuzah
    • Shema Yisrael
Spanish:
  • 7th Grade:
  • 8th Grade:
    Moment of Zen:

    By Request: World's Largest Burrito

    The World's Largest Burrito was constructed on May 8, 1999 in Pasco, Washington. It took just under 2 hours to put together, measured 4,298 feet long (more than 3/4 of a mile) and weighed in at 3.7 tons (over 7,000 lbs!). You can see a breakdown of weight by ingredient here.

    Thursday, March 4, 2010

    Thursday, March 4, 2010

    General Announcements:
    • Parents! Teacher Conference Sign-ups for next Friday's (3/12) Conference Day now posted in the front entryway of the Prisms. Sign up soon for best chance at getting your preferred time slot! Parents who don't come to the school regularly can feel free to e-mail Grace for sign up help. Please include preferred range of time and if you would prefer to conference with Jane or John. We will do our best to accommodate your requests.
    • 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 Fri., 3/5: Complete #8-#11 on p. 52. Show how you got each answer. Include units of measurement and answer questions in complete, edited sentences that show the original question.
    • 8th Grade:
      • Due Fri., 3/5: Complete #8-#11 on p. 35 using the Pythagorean Theorem and symbolic method.
    Social Studies:
    • None assigned
    Science:
    • None assigned
    Language Arts: Spanish:
    • 7th Grade:
        Due Fri., 3/5: Complete 2 activities in Qué Tal magazine
    • 8th Grade:
      • ¡No hay tarea!
    Moment of Zen:

    Happy National Pun Day!

    "The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability."

    ~Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia, 1849

    Why today? Because only on March Fourth can you really March Forth to the beet of your own humor and see how it's taken root. I leave the rest up to you: please comment with your best (I use the term loosely) puns, so we can all share in the punishment.

    Wednesday, March 3, 2010

    Wednesday, March 3, 2010

    General Announcements:
    • Parents! Teacher Conference Sign-ups for next Friday's (3/12) Conference Day now posted in the front entryway of the Prisms. Sign up soon for best chance at getting your preferred time slot! Parents who don't come to the school regularly can feel free to e-mail Grace for sign up help. Please include preferred range of time and if you would prefer to conference with Jane or John. We will do our best to accommodate your requests.
    • 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 & 8th Grade:
      • Due Thurs., 3/14:
        • Please bring work originally due today to Thursday's math class (Gr. 7: 5.3 about parallelograms; Gr. 8: 3.2 about square & triangle puzzles).
        • Math's Mate 3.2 according to new protocol:
          • Do last week's N/A (not attempted) problems and work for * problems on a separate sheet of lined paper.
          • Begin by circling the problem numbers you got wrong on 3.1 on 3.2 and doing those problems first.
          • Incorrect * problems with no work shown and any problems left blank or answered with ? will be considered N/A.
    Social Studies:
    • None assigned
    Science:
    • Due Thurs., 3/4:
      • Plot all data points on your graph
      • Answer: "What is the relationship between the height of ramp and the speed of the ball?"
    Language Arts:
    • Due Thurs., 3/4: On separate lined paper, write a journal entry addressing the following:
      • Look up and copy a dictionary's definition of "racism." List your source and its copyright date.
      • Add your own definition of "racism."
      • Follow the same steps for "anti-Semitism"
    Spanish:
    • 7th Grade: Be ready for a quiz on Thurs., 3/4 on Ch. 4 of Piratas
    • 8th Grade: ¡No hay tarea!
      Moment of Zen:

      Pothole Gardens

      "If we planted one of those in every hole, it would be like a forest in the road." -Pete Dungey, British artist behind a number of tiny gardens in potholes. Wonder if he knows the guy who makes art on snail shells, then lets the snails go.

      Tuesday, March 2, 2010

      Tuesday, March 2, 2010

      General Announcements:
      • Parents! Teacher Conference Sign-ups for next Friday's (3/12) Conference Day now posted in the front entryway of the Prisms. Sign up soon for best chance at getting your preferred time slot! Parents who don't come to the school regularly can feel free to e-mail Grace for sign up help. Please include preferred range of time and if you would prefer to conference with Jane or John. We will do our best to accommodate your requests.
      • 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., 3/3: Do 5.3 on p. 50 of CMP book. Answer questions A-C for both reassembled figures. Glue them onto lined paper where your answers are written. Organize your work clearly for your reader. Answer question in complete sentences restating the question.
      • 8th Grade:
        • Due Wed., 3/3: Complete 3.2 according to modified directions. Instead of one puzzle, you will do two. Do A & B first and glue the pieces together to fit in frames. Staple them on to lined paper. Answer questions for A, C & D once after studying both puzzle sets.
      Social Studies:
      • None assigned
      Science:
      • Due Wed., 3/3:
        • Calculate the speed for the trials we did. Round to the nearest tenth.
        • Calibrate your speed vs. height graph.
      Language Arts:
      • Due Wed., 3/3: In your journal, write a well-developed entry addressing the following:
        1. What does the word "refugee" mean to you?
        2. How is a refugee like an immigrant?
        3. What is the main difference between a refugee and an immigrant?
        Do not use a dictionary for this assigment or ask another person for a definition. Instead, use your current understandings.
      Spanish:
      • 7th Grade: Be ready for a quiz on Thurs., 3/4 on Ch. 4 of Piratas
      • 8th Grade: ¡No hay tarea!
        Moment of Zen:
        Saturday's earthquake near the coast of Chile, which registered a magnitude of 8.8, was actually significantly stronger than the January 12 7.0 magnitude earthquake which devastated Haiti. While damage, casualties and civil unrest are at catastrophic levels in Chile now, the degree to which the destruction affected Haiti more could be measured on the same kind of exponential scale used to measure the magnitude of the earthquakes themselves. It's worth asking why lesser tremors caused so much more damage. Two immediate answers present themselves: poverty and preparedness. Chile's location on the Pacific Rim puts it in a very high risk area for seismic activity like earthquakes. In fact, the strongest earthquake on record, with a magnitude of 9.5, had its epicenter in Valdivia, Chile on May 22, 1960. Additionally, nine out of the ten largest earthquakes on record are along the Pacific Rim (Saturday's quake will take the #5 slot on this list). Because of this historical precedent for large scale seismic events in this region, engineers have focused on planning for events such as these in the way that cities are laid out and in the way buildings are constructed. The Caribbean is not the same hotbed of seismic activity, though there are several significant Caribbean earthquakes noted over the last 500 years, and so earthquake safety isn't as high on the list of building specifications as it is on the Pacific Rim. Even if it was, however, Haiti's history of poverty and political unrest make it difficult to put together and put in action any kind of coherent plan for this. Haiti has a GDP per person (a commonly used measure of a country's financial health) of $1,300, compared with $14,300 in Chile and $46,900 in the US, making it one of the poorest countries in the world (compare it even with the GDP per person of the Dominican Republic (which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and which was relatively unaffected by the January quake) of $8,300). While Chile has had its own share of political unrest, violent turnover has been a recurring feature in Haiti's history, compounding the economic hardship with a lack of consistent government support. When the majority of the population lives in unofficial, improvised shanty towns, even the strictest building code isn't going to protect that largest part of the people. When essential needs like food, water and medical attention are hard to come by even when things are running normally, any upset will make them near impossible. Right now, the death toll from Saturday's earthquake in Chile stands at 723, and is not expected to rise much higher, though the region is still feeling aftershocks of 5+ magnitude. The record-setting 1960 quake claimed about 1,600 lives. Those numbers are tragic, regardless of larger context. However, it's still boggling to think that January's quake in Haiti, which released about 1/500 of the energy of Chile's quake, claimed more than 200,000 lives. Chile's death toll would have to nearly triple to represent 1% of that in Haiti. This mismatch between destructive power and destructive effect further highlights the tragedy of the situation in Haiti, because it suggests that it was the pre-existing desperation of the country's situation more than the event itself that caused the most damage and that the same event elsewhere might have done relatively little damage. In the wake of it all, it provides us with an opportunity to think of the broader reaching effects of poverty around the world, since any of these places is a quick shake away from being Haiti all over again.

        Monday, March 1, 2010

        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