Whine At Me For a Change

So, the Complaints Choir is on! While the question of who will perform it is still up in the air, I will be compiling the complaints and turning them into a song tomorrow night. Deadline is 5:00 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Complaint Submission Guidelines:

• Complaints must be submitted in writing: blog comment, e-mail and notes on my desk are all acceptable
• You may submit as many complaints as you like, and I will try to incorporate all submitted, but some may not work.
• Complaints may be reworded to fit in the song
• Complaints should ideally be petty and childish, but if you want to complain about wanting world peace, just be sure to do it in a suitably whiny manner.
• Complaints may not reference specific people in the school (public figures from outside school okay).
• Whining about very specific things is funny.

Monday, February 1, 2010

General Announcements:

• Friday, Feb. 5: Prisms' Coffeehouse! St. Mary's Church, Haydenville, 6-9 PM — Dinner, dessert & entertainment! Tickets now available for purchase! $5/person, $20/family
• Eighth Grade project documents available here, including Phase 2 calendar (updated 1/22/10).
• 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., 2/2: Study Ch. 1-4 for a check-up test on Tuesday, 2/2. Complete "Additional Practice" on p. T-153 (handout): #2 &3. Also, answer #5-8 on p. 40 of CMP book. Use a cm ruler and find measurements to the nearest tenth of a cm. Show calculations clearly. You will need cm grid paper.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tues., 2/2: Complete 2.3 Follow-up, #1 only, using all line segments from your assignment last night. You need a cm ruler for part (a). Use a calculator for part (b) to turn your answers in &sqrt; form into numbers rounded according to directions. Also, complete #8 on p. 23, #9 on p. 24, and #15 on p. 25. You will need dot paper and your assignment from last night.

Social Studies:

• None Assigned

Science:

• Due Wed., 2/3: "Experiments & Data" - Read Ch. 2.2 in Physical Science textbook (or photocopy of textbook) and answer #1-6 on p. 43.

Language Arts:

• Test Tues., 2/2: Study Grammar Lessons 6 & 7 on helper verbs, past/present participles, and action verb tenses (present, future, simple past) for test on Tuesday. There will be review questions as well on Lessons 1-5.

Atelier:

• Due Tue., 2/2: Complete Golden Spiral collage piece and bring to Atelier by noon.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen:

Axe Cop: Or, What Happens When a Five Year-Old Scripts a Comic

But not just any five year-old. The kid in question, Malachai Nicolle, happens to have an older brother, Ethan, who works as a professional comic artist. While hanging out at Christmas, Malachai, who had been running around with a toy fireman, told Ethan that he was Axe Cop. As Ethan asked more questions about who Axe Cop was and what he did, a story was born (click here for more about the origins of Axe Cop). The result is nutty in a way that threatens to totally fall apart at any moment, which, somehow, only makes the comic more engaging (I'll let you find out how Flute Cop evolves into Uni-Avocado Cop).

Friday, January 29, 2010

General Announcements:

• Friday, Feb. 5: Prisms' Coffeehouse! St. Mary's Church, Haydenville, 6-9 PM — Dinner, dessert & entertainment! Tickets now available for purchase! $5/person, $20/family
• Eighth Grade project documents available here, including Phase 2 calendar (updated 1/22/10).
• 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, 2/1: Study Ch. 1-4 for a check-up test on Monday. Study the assignments you have done through Ch. 4. Read comments. As part of the review, complete "Additional Practice" on p. T-153 (handout): #1, 4, 5.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Mon., 2/1: Complete 2.3 on p. 21 according to directions. Lengths of segments are to be written as whole numbers or as a square root—not as a decimal or fraction. There are 14 possible segments that can be drawn on the paper given. Refer to handout describing how to find area for any square.

Social Studies:

• None Assigned

Science:

• Due Mon., 2/1: Write Experiment Report following format given (typed or handwritten). (See Format for Experiment Summary)

Language Arts:

• Test Mon, 2/1: Study Grammar Lessons 6 & 7 on helper verbs, past/present participles, and action verb tenses (present, future, simple past) for test on Monday. There will be review questions as well on Lessons 1-5.

Atelier:

• Due Tue., 2/2: Complete Golden Spiral collage piece and bring to Atelier by noon.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen:

Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger

CORNISH, NH (The Onion)—In this big dramatic production that didn't do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud. "He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers," said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don't have to look at them for four years. "There will never be another voice like his." Which is exactly the lousy kind of goddamn thing that people say, because really it could mean lots of things, or nothing at all even, and it's just a perfect example of why you should never tell anybody anything.

Format for Experiment Summary

Attach the Standard Heading Title: Purpose: 1) Describe what relationship or question we are interested in. 2) State your hypothesis. Procedure: Describe the steps for the experiment, so that it can be easily reproduced by someone else. Data: Show the Data (the results) you get in organized tables and graphs. Write down any interesting observations of what happened. Do not include explanations of what happened. Analysis and Conclusions: 1) Identify trends in the data. 2) Address whether your hypothesis was correct. 3) What did you learn from this experiment - were there any errors that may have affected the results?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

General Announcements:

• Friday, Feb. 5: Prisms' Coffeehouse! St. Mary's Church, Haydenville, 6-9 PM — Dinner, dessert & entertainment! Tickets now available for purchase! $5/person, $20/family
• Eighth Grade project documents available here, including Phase 2 calendar (updated 1/22/10).
• 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., 1/29: Complete 4.2 according to directions. Also, do #1-3 on p. 38. Write in complete, edited sentences. Back up with data and show how you got your answers.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Fri., 1/29: Do. #4 only on T-ed p. 138, "More Practice." Staple photocopy of p. 138 to dot paper with #4 on it. Use ruler for straight lines.

Social Studies:

• Due Fri., 1/29:
  • Read pgs. 107-112 in packet. Highlight/underline the main idea of each ¶.
  • Final, edited draft of Julius Caesar essay.

Science:

• None Assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Fri., 1/29: Complete Grammar Lesson 7 worksheet.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen:

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

General Announcements:

• If not already done, bring in the rest of your $75 DC Trip share. Refer to the Balance Statement handed out today or check with Grace for amount still due.
• Friday, Feb. 5: Prisms' Coffeehouse! St. Mary's Church, Haydenville, 6-9 PM — Dinner, dessert & entertainment! Tickets now available for purchase! $5/person, $20/family
• Eighth Grade project documents available here, including Phase 2 calendar (updated 1/22/10).
• 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., 1/28: Math's Mates 2.6, work for * problems shown on separate sheet of paper. Corrections for MM 2.5 on a sheet other than original worksheet (can be same as sheet for 2.6 work).

Social Studies:

• Due Fri., 1/29: Final draft of Julius Caesar essay.

Science:

• Due Thurs., 1/28: Give three examples of a direct relationship and three examples of an inverse relationship.
  • In a direct relationship between two variables, when one increases, the other also increases.
  • In an inverse relationship between two variables, when one increases, the other decreases.

Language Arts:

• Due Thurs., 1/28: Memorize helping verbs listed at the top of the grammar Lesson 6 page (10 words). Be ready for a quiz.

Spanish:

• 7th & 8th Grade: Clean out your binder to make room for new book sections (Piratas/Robo en la noche)

Moment of Zen:

What's your caption?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

General Announcements:

• Wednesday, Jan. 27: Final trip contributions due. Turn money in to Grace before 8:30 on Wed. morning. If you're not sure how much you have remaining to fulfill your $75, please check in with Grace at school or by e-mail (grace DOT mrowicki AT gmail). If you have a concern about being able to get all the money together by Wed., 1/27, please see Jane or John.
• Friday, Feb. 5: Prisms' Coffeehouse! St. Mary's Church, Haydenville, 6-9 PM — Dinner, dessert & entertainment! Tickets now available for purchase! $5/person, $20/family
• Eighth Grade project documents available here, including Phase 2 calendar (updated 1/22/10).
• 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., 1/27: 4.1 on p. 36 & Follow-up (you will need ½ cm grid paper). Write responses in full, edited sentences with math data backing up responses.
• 8th Grade:
  • Due Wed., 1/27: Complete 2.2 on p.18 and 2.2 Follow-up #1-3. Answer questions in complete sentences restating the question in the answer. There are 8 possible squares, inlcuding given examples.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 1/27: Rough draft of essay on Caesar as a leader due (use Connections sheet completed today to help you develop points and organize, and for reference to format and length). Draft should be typed and saved in .rtf format.

Science:

• Due Wed., 1/27 (Gp.1): Read text, pp. 27-31. Answer #1-3 (p. 36) on lined paper. (Gp. 2 folks - this was due today for you!)

Language Arts:

• Due Wed., 1/27: Memorize the list of subject, object and possessive pronouns on the form provided. There will be a quiz on Wednesday, 1/27 covering these pronouns and their function.

Spanish:

• 7th & 8th Grade: Clean out your binder to make room for new book sections (Piratas/Robo en la noche)

Moment of Zen:

Boiled Dry Leaves, and Yet, So Much More

Although we're having a nice little January thaw reprieve from the severe cold, it is still solidly hot tea season. Here are some creative ways folks have come up with to infuse your day with a little warmth.