Monday, January 11, 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., 1/12: Read introdution to Inv. 2 on p. 19. Then complete Application #1 on p. 21 (handout copied from book) according to directions. Estimate means to use a strategy that is visible to the reader and can result in a very accurate count. Use the string handed out today to help you.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 1/12: Erase any stray pencil marks in Moving Straight Ahead so that it is ready to be used again and bring the book to return in class.

Social Studies:

• Due Tue., 1/12: Read pgs. 95-99 in handout from class today and underline or highlight important or interesting parts of the reading.

Science:

• Due Wed., 1/13: Review notes and today's preassessment as preparation for Wednesday postassessment.

Language Arts:

• Due Wed., 1/13: Complete Grammar Sheet 3 (about Subject and Object pronouns). Read the information at the top of the page carefully.
• Due Tue., 1/12 (Group 1 only): Bring in items to share with elders at Overlook and materials for making cards.
  Materials Needed (borrow if necessary):
  • colored pencils
  • scissors
  • glue or glue stick
  Item Suggestions:
  • Photos of your family (a few or a small album)
  • Photos of a hobby of yours (e.g. sports team, animals, music, travel, art)
  • Items associated with a hobby (e.g. ball, puck, musical instrument (acoustic only), art or craft piece)

Spanish:

• 7th Grade: Nada

• 8th Grade: Reread Ch. 10 in Piratas

Moment of Zen: Secret Faces are everywhere. Several Flickr groups are dedicated to catching everyday objects in the act of looking like faces.

• Found Faces
• Faces in Places
• Faces in Everyday Objects

Thursday, January 7, 2010

General Announcements:

• Friday, 1/8: 6-7-8 Dance, 8-11 PM!
  • Decoration committee meets 3-4 and must arrange own pickup at 4
  • Food committee meets at 7:45 in All-School space.
  Last day to comment with music 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., 1/8: Complete #10 and #11 of p. 15 of CMP book. Be sure to answer the questions — or do explanations — by restating the question in the answer. You will need graph paper and your cut-out tiles to model the designs.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Fri., 1/8: Connections Problems on pgs. 74-75: Finish # 28 and do #29. You will need graph paper.

Social Studies:

• None assigned

Science:

• Due Fri., 1/8: Read in Physical Science textbook:
  1. pgs. 327-329 (Chap. 15)
  2. pgs. 356-362 (Chap. 17)

Language Arts:

• Due Fri., 1/8: Complete Lesson 2 in Grammar (singular, plural and collective nouns).

Moment of Zen:

The Ferrari of Toilets?

A friend of mine who studied in Japan for a year of college came back talking about the remarkable high-end toilet showrooms in the country. The toilets came with such features as seat heaters, water sounds and deodorizing misters, to name a few. This article from the excellent urban design blog Design Linguist, describes further and puts in context the supertoilets of Japan.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

General Announcements:

• Friday, 1/8: 6-7-8 Dance, 8-11 PM! Decoration committee meets 3-4 and must arrange own pickup at 4, Food committee meets at 7:45 in All-School space. Comment with music 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., 1/7: Continue working on Math League from class today for 20 min. beyond what was completed in class. Show all work on separate paper. Do not skip any problems - you must attempt each, and show some work towards that attempt.

Social Studies:

• None assigned

Science:

• Due Fri., 1/8: Read in Physical Science textbook:
  1. pgs. 327-329 (Chap. 15)
  2. pgs. 356-362 (Chap. 17)

Language Arts:

• Due Thurs., 1/7: Complete Lesson 1: Common nouns and proper nouns according to directions.

Moment of Zen: Bears Go Bald at Zoo; Experts Stumped (from National Geographic)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Note: today's homework blog post may be incomplete. Please check with someone in the class if you are unclear. - Grace

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.
• Wed., 1/6: Next installment of Field Trip Money due ($20)
• Friday, 1/8: 6-7-8 Dance, 8-11 PM! Decoration committee meets 3-4 and must arrange own pickup at 4, Food committee meets at 7:45 in All-School space. Comment with music requests!

Math:

• 7th Grade:
  • Due Wed., 1/6:Complete 1.3 and Follow-Up on pp.10-11 of CMP book. Use a ruler to create an eye-pleasing table into which you will record your data.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Wed., 1/6: Complete #24, 25, 26, and 27 beginning on p.73. Be certain to organize your work so it is clear to the reader. Be certain to provide complete explanations for how you arrived at your answers.

Social Studies: Science:

• Due Wed., 1/6: In Physical Science textbook, read pgs. 317-324. Quiz on vocab/Inner Planets this Wed., 1/6.
  • Group 2 has books tonight (Tues. 1/5).

Language Arts:

• Due :

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen: The noble leukocyte (or white blood cell), as immortalized by the folks at Giant Microbes. They also have adorable plushies of many disease-causing microorganisms, but this is the little guy who fights them back. The site also has a cute animation of the fightin' leukocyte. See you tomorrow, folks.

Monday, January 4, 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.
• Wed., 1/6: Next installment of Field Trip Money due ($20)
• Friday, 1/8: 6-7-8 Dance, 8-11 PM! Decoration committee meets 3-4 and must arrange own pickup at 4, Food committee meets at 7:45 in All-School space. Comment with music requests!

Math:

• 7th & 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 1/5: Math's Mates 2.3, begun in class today, with work for * problems shown on a separate piece of paper and corrections for 2.2 on same piece of paper.

Social Studies:

• Due Tues., 1/5:
  • Sort all notes and assignments by date, least recent on top.
  • 3-hole punch all papers not punched and fasten in folder. If your folder has a pocket, you may put your test in the pocket instead of hole-punching and fastening in.
  • Glue stick cover to folder.

Science:

• Due Wed., 1/6: In Physical Science textbook, read pgs. 317-324. Quiz on vocab/Inner Planets this Wed., 1/6.
  • Group 1 has books tonight (Mon. 1/4).
  • Group 2 has books tomorrow night (Tues. 1/5).

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 1/5: In LA journal, write a five-sentence paragraph in which you describe the Prism lunchroom today. Try to create the atmosphere/mood of the lunchroom by using some of the writer tools we discussed in class today (e.g. dialogue, imagery, details). Refer to the definition of mood in your LA journal.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen: The Flaming Lips have been balancing playfully on the edge of ultracool and insane, pop and noise since forming in 1983, with a penchant for turning the absurd into something matter of fact (see 2002's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" suite and 1999's "Waiting for Superman") and the everyday into the sublime ("Suddenly, Everything Has Changed"), and for unique reinventions of form (see the experimental 1997 album Zaireeka, comprised of four CDs meant to be played simultaneously at the listener's discrection). Following from their whimsical take on reality comes one of lead singer Wayne Coyne's most recent creations, pictured above, a double-necked guitar where one of the necks is a Guitar Hero controller, linked to a type of synthesizer on the body of the instrument. Click the picture for more info on this unique hybrid instrument.

Monday, December 22, 2009

General Announcements:

• Copies of Eighth-Grade Project documents for phase one available for download here.
• Take home pokeberry pouches from display board.
• 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 Tues., 12/22:
    • Complete 1.1 on p. 7 of new CMP book (Covering and Surrounding) about designing layouts for a bumper car ride given specific requests and materials, as begun in class today. For parts A, B and C, you should have three possible sketches that fit the criteria for each - no half-tiles.
    • Read through 1.1 Follow-Up (you may want to do this before doing the main part of 1.1) and complete 1.1 Follow-Up, questions 1 & 2.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tues., 12/22: Complete #14-20 in handout packet according to directions (more practice with determining slope & y-intercept and writing equations to describe a linear relationship using the form y=mx + b, given data points that lie on that line). Each line must be graphed on a separate set of axes, but each page may have more than one set of axes. Show how you got your answers and explain where necessary.

Social Studies:

• None assigned

Science:

• Due Tues., 12/22: Challenge assignment from handout (copy of p. 320 from science book), begun in Study with Grace
  1. Graph average distance from the sun and surface temperature for each planet based on table on the other side (p. 317, using temperatures in gray box on p. 320 for inner four planets). All parts of graph must be properly labeled (Title, axes (with units!), planets).
  2. Answer questions a, b, c in gray box on p. 320 either on the back of your graph or on separate paper.
• Due Tues., 12/22: Write one ¶ about two things you found interesting on our field trip Friday. Use supplied paper.

Language Arts:

• None assigned.

Spanish:

• Nada ¡Que tengan buenas vacaciones!

Moment of Zen: The work of Lego sculptor Nathan Sawaya. Click the picture to visit his website.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

General Announcements:

• Friday, Dec. 18: Field trip to Amherst College (Bassett Planetarium & Amherst Natural History Museum) still needs a few more drivers. We will leave Hilltown right after All-School (~9:30 a.m.) and be returning about 2:30 p.m.
  • All students must bring their own lunch, even if you usually get pizza or a lunch from Blue House on Fridays.
  • Please dress warmly, as some parts of the field trip will not be heated. Dressing in layers is recommended.
• Copies of Eighth-Grade Project documents for phase one available for download here.
• 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:

• Note: All assignments should be turned in to Grace first thing, before 8:30
• 7th Grade:
  • Due Fri., 12/18: Make-up work only
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Fri., 12/18: #1, 2, 3 on p.166 of Additional Practice (photocopy from Teacher's Edition, handed out in class today) — more practice with determining slope and y-intercept for linear equations in the form y=mx+b

Social Studies:

• None assigned:

Science:

• None assigned :

Language Arts:

• Note: All assignments should be turned in to Grace first thing, before 8:30
• Due Fri., 12/18: On separate paper, typed or neatly handwritten, write a one-¶ response to your beginning experience with Shakespeare's play. Be certain the paragraph is edited and has a main idea sentence as its first sentence.

Moment of Zen: For those of you who have been folding pieces to make a 12-piece spiky ball ("stellated octahedron" in geometry-speak), there's a lot more to do with them besides. The pieces are called Sonobe units, named for their creator, Mitsonobu Sonobe, and there are many websites out there with other ideas of 3D figures to make with them and plenty of pictures of these sometimes-boggling constructions. Click the picture above (featuring a 30-piece spiky ball or stellated icosahedron) to visit one of these sites.