Thursday, September 15, 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
• Wed., 9/21: Field trip to visit Anne Griffin's beehive in Florence and scout examples of Roman architecture along the way. We are leaving around 10:30 am and should be back by 2:30 pm. We will make arrangements for Blue House lunches, but otherwise make sure that you have food that doesn't require heating up.

Humanities:

• Due Fri., 9/16:
  • All: Sign (and have a parent sign) Community Compact and return to school.
  • Lord of the Flies: Read Ch. 5 & 6 and complete reading log.
  • Girl Who Owned a City: Read Ch. 10 and complete reading log.
  • Come prepared to discuss.

Math:

• Due Fri., 9/16:
  Gr. 8:
  • Read pp. 47-48 (handout).
  • Do #3 on p. 48 (3a-f) & Challenge.
  • ⇒ You will need a metric ruler to complete the assignment. You may also need height data from yesterday.
  
  Gr. 7:
  • In Data About Us, p. 16-18, do #3-6, 11-14.
  • Challenge: Also do #17 & 18 on p. 20.

Science:

• None

Español:

Gr. 8

Moment of Zen:

Zen Sunflowers Combat Radiation

Buddhist Monks from Joenji Temple in Japan are leading an effort to plant millions of sunflowers in the areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which melted down in the aftermath of last March's earthquake. Sunflowers, as well as some types of amaranth and mustard, are believed to absorb radiation from the soil, helping quicken the reparation of the soil from the nuclear meltdown. In the months following the disaster, monks from the temple distributed more than 8 million sunflower plants and 200,000 plants of other species. Click above to read more about the monk's efforts, or click below to read more about how sunflowers reduce radiation levels.