Friday, December 11, 2009

General Announcements:

• Monday, Dec. 14: School will begin an hour later for a staff meeting. Doors will open at 9:15 and assembly will begin at 9:30.
• Ancient Greece projects are ready to take home.
• 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 Mon., 12/14: Work for 20 min. in grade-level Math League handed out today.

Social Studies:

• Due Mon., 12/14: Typed bibliography listing sources (formatted according to directions on handout) of information and images for your Ancient Greece Project.

Science:

• None assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Mon., 12/14: Write an entry in LA Journal of one page— well-developed ¶ or ¶s— reflecting on "My Experience In The Puppet Show." This should reflect on the writing and rehearsal process as well as the performance itself.

8th Grade Project:

• Due Mon., 12/14
  • Have a Project journal and 1" Project binder.
  • Have a general topic you think you would like to explore through an eighth-grade project.

Moment of Zen: I know you heard about Liu Bolin from John in Science class today, but I've also been wanting to post about him. Liu Bolin is an urban camouflage artist from China who specializes in how not to be seen. Liu spends up to 10 hours setting up for a single shot, blending in with everything from graffiti to policemen to collapsed homes. Both the statement about the Chinese government's repressive treatment of artists (they shut down Liu's studio in 2005) and the effect are breathtaking. Click the picture to see more photos of Liu's work.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

General Announcements:

• Wed., 12/9: Bring black performance wear to school and check it in with Grace before AM assembly. Then store in cubby. If these are still in your cubby from the last performance, you still need to check them in.
• Thurs., 12/10: Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits: 8:30-10:30 AM in 3rd Floor Classroom and Tech Lab (adjoining). Families welcome!
• Thurs., 12/10: The Il Teatro of the gods! 2:00 PM in the all school space.
• 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:

• Test this Wednesday, 12/9: Review past homestudy, text and notes to prepare for unit test.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 12/9: Final, edited, mounted text explaining your project (4 questions).
  • Title: 72 pt or larger
  • Section headings: 28 pt. bold
  • Body text: 22 pt, single spaced. Use page breaks for each new section.

Science:

• Due Thurs., 12/10: Sketch the Earth's phases as seen if standing on the moon.

Language Arts:

• Due Wed., 12/9:
  • Read for 20 minutes and complete a Reading Log entry.
  • Make sure lines for il Teatro sketch are memorized.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:

• 8th Grade:

Moment of Zen: Who knows what this guy is up to? There is something remarkable about what he is, though, as a Nerpa or Baikal Seal. The nerpa, which lives in Siberia's Lake Baikal (Turk. "Rich Lake" — bai - rich; kal - lake), is one of only two species of seal to spend its entire life in freshwater, and the only one to be a distinct species (the others, found in Lake Saimaa, Finland, and Lake Ladoga, Russia are subspecies of Ringed Seals). It also has one of the longest seal lifespans at 50-56 years. No one is really sure how the seals ended up in the lake, hundreds of miles from any ocean or other species of seal. Russia also named a nuclear submarine Nerpa after the seal.

Monday, December 7, 2009

General Announcements:

• Tue., 12/8: Bring black performance wear to school and check it in with Grace before AM assembly. Then store in cubby. If these are still in your cubby from the last performance, you still need to check them in.
• Thurs., 12/10: Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits: 8:30-10:30 AM in 3rd Floor Classroom and Tech Lab (adjoining). Families welcome!
• Thurs., 12/10: The Il Teatro of the gods! 1:30 PM in the all school space.
• 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:

• Test this Wednesday, 12/9: Review past homestudy, text and notes to prepare for unit test.

Social Studies:

• Due Tue., 12/8: Project due. Consider orienting page horiztontally.
• Due Wed., 12/9: Final, edited, mounted text explaining your project (4 questions).
  • Title: 72 pt or larger
  • Section headings: 28 pt. bold
  • Body text: 22 pt, single spaced. Use page breaks for each new section.

Science:

• None assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Tue., 12/8:
  • Read for 20 minutes and complete a Reading Log entry.
  • Make sure lines for il Teatro sketch are memorized.

Spanish:

• 7th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 12/8: Make flashcards for the 10 given vocab words and study.

• 8th Grade:
  • Due Tue., 12/8:
    • Completed wordsearch
    • Completed Ch. 5 questions
    • 10 sentences about what you do on the weekend using the given 1st person plural (we) forms of verbs (ending in -mos)

Moment of Zen: Sure, we all know that the adjective to describe something catlike is feline (from the Latin word for cat, felis - almost the same as the Latin word for luck -felix - which is the possible source of the myths about the luck of cats), and that something doglike is canine (from the Latin canis), but did you ever wonder what adjective you might use to describe something armadillo-like? Or bat-like? Follow the link for an extensive (but by no means exhaustive) list of animal adjectives - almost all of which draw heavily from Latin or Greek roots.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

General Announcements:

• Sat., Dec. 5 Winter Fair!
• Tues., Dec. 8: Black performance wear must return to school to be ready for Thurs. performance.
• Thurs., Dec. 10: God/Goddess Puppet show (1:30 PM) and Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits (AM)
• 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., 12/4: Complete 5.1 Follow-up on p. 62-63 of CMP book. Be sure to show how you got your answers and explain.

8th Grade:

• Due Fri., 12/4: Do #4-6 on p. 54 of CMP book. Use the symbolic method to solve and show all steps. Do not use a graphing calculator.

Social Studies:

• Fri., 12/4 will be a work period, so please bring in some part of your project that you can work on at school for about 45 minutes.
• Complete list of Museum Exhibit Project due dates leading up to Dec. 8

Science:

• Due :

Language Arts:

• Due Fri., 12/4:
  • Bring in any props, music, etc. needed for your Il Teatro act.
  • Finish script for puppet show if not already finished.

Moment of Zen: People Who Have Named Months After Themselves in the Past 10 YearsSaparmurat "Turkmenbashi" Niyazov headed up the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan from 1985 (as head of the Turkmen SSR) to 2006. However, after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 and Turkmenistan's independence, Niyazov's leadership approach became increasingly absurd. As if to fill the void left with the end of the cult of personality held in the images of former Soviet leaders like Lenin and Stalin, Niyazov was suddenly everywhere: towering gold statues, all of the money (which had to be recalled and reissued when he dyed his hair). He was "democratically elected with 100% of the vote" as president for life. He started going simply by "Turkmenbashi" which translates as "Head of the Turkmen." He wrote a book, called Ruhnama (Persian for The Guide) which he intended to be treated on par with the Bible and Qur'an, awarded himself a prize for poetry and started sponsoring Ruhnama-memorizing competitions. In 2002, he renamed the months of the year after himself, his family and other Central Asian historical figures. He renamed bread after his mother. He also was trying to build an ice palace in the Karakum Desert, which would include a penguin exhibit, but was unsuccessful in completing this before his death in 2006.

• List of Turkmenbashi's "acheivements" — with pictures
• Interview with a Turkmen journalist from the New Yorker, which describes the press under Turkmenbashi

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

General Announcements:

• Wed., Dec., 2: Parent Meeting in Prisms 3rd Floor Classroom 6:30-8:00 PM. Topics will include Coffee House organization, 8th Grade Project, and Graduation Responsibilities of 7th Grade parents.
• Sat., Dec. 5 Winter Fair!
• Tues., Dec. 8: Black performance wear must return to school to be ready for Thurs. performance.
• Thurs., Dec. 10: God/Goddess Puppet show (1:30 PM) and Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits (AM)
• 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 Thurs., 12/3: Do #11 on p. 58 of CMP book (more with writing equations from given information). Staple this assignment to last night's (#7, p. 55).

8th Grade:

• Due Thurs., 12/3: Do #1-3 on p. 59 of CMP book (more practice with using symbolic method of solving equations). Be sure to show all steps in the symbolic method applied to solving these problems. Refer to your notes and to p. 55 example.

Social Studies:

• Due Thurs., 12/3Submit a photo of your project so far.
• Complete list of Due Dates leading up to Dec. 8

Science:

• Due Thurs., 12/3: Read p. 157-163 of handout about eclipses. On one side of a sheet of plain paper, draw a careful diagram (use straightedge) of how a solar eclipse occurs. On the other side of the paper, draw an equally careful diagram of a lunar eclipse. Label both diagrams carefully as in the handout.

Language Arts:

• Group 1 only: Make significant progress on your knit/crochet project for Buddies meeting this Thursday.

Spanish:

• Due Thurs., 12/3: Complete Pobre Ana worksheet, part B only.

Moment of Zen: A drawing from David Macaulay's book The Motel of the Mysteries which presents a humorous perspective on both modern American culture and how we interpret the past based on artifacts. In the book, archaeologists a thousand years from now uncover a motel which had been buried in junk mail in the late 1980s. The researchers assume their find to be a sacred tomb and interpret everything inside to be religiously important. The book also parallels and, by that token, mocks Carter's discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

General Announcements:

• If you have not done so already, sign up for a shift at the Winter Fair this Saturday, December 5. Do not sign up for 12:20 or 1:00 shifts, as it conflicts with our performance. You may sign up with two Prisms on a line if there is only one slot available for the shift. If you have a serious scheduling conflict which prevents you from coming to the Winter Fair, have a parent write a note about this and bring it in. The schedule will be checked on Wed., Dec. 2. If you have not signed up or brought a note by this point, you will get an orange sheet.
• Wed. Dec. 2: IOWA testing for both 7th & 8th grades (AM)
• Wed., Dec., 2: Parent Meeting in Prisms building 6:30-8:00 PM. Topics will include Coffee House organization, 8th Grade Project, and Graduation Responsibilities of 7th Grade parents.
• Tues., Dec. 8: Black performance wear must return to school to be ready for Thurs. performance.
• Thurs., Dec. 10: God/Goddess Puppet show (1:30 PM) and Ancient Greece Museum Exhibits (AM)
• Every 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., 12/2: Get a good night's sleep and eat before testing. Bring independent reading book to math in case you finish early.
• Due Thurs., 12/3: Do #11 on p. 58 of CMP book (more with writing equations from given information). Staple this assignment to last night's (#7, p. 55).

8th Grade:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Get a good night's sleep and eat before testing. Bring independent reading book to math in case you finish early.
• Due Thurs., 12/3: Do #1-3 on p. 59 of CMP book (more practice with using symbolic method of solving equations). Be sure to show all steps in the symbolic method applied to solving these problems. Refer to your notes and to p. 55 example.

Social Studies:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Final drafts of answers to questions due. These need to be typed, 12 pt font, double spaced (1.5 space is okay)
• Due Thurs., 12/3Submit a photo of your project so far.
• Complete list of Due Dates leading up to Dec. 8

Science:

• Due Wed., 12/2: Read p. 157-163 of handout about eclipses. On one side of a sheet of plain paper, draw a careful diagram (use straightedge) of how a solar eclipse occurs. On the other side of the paper, draw an equally careful diagram of a lunar eclipse. Label both diagrams caarfeully as in the handout.

Language Arts:

• Group 1 only: Make significant progress on your knit/crochet project for Buddies meeting this Thursday.

Spanish:

• Due Thurs., 12/3: Complete Pobre Ana worksheet, part B only.

Moment of Zen: One of the few classical operas written in English, Purcell's Dido & Aeneas adapts a story from the Aeneid of Aeneas's visit to Carthage (on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa), falling in love with the widowed queen Dido (cf. historical "Elissa"), and leaving to settle in Italy, which caused her such grief that she killed herself. The shot above is from a recent production of the opera in Amsterdam, which included choreography in water. Also look up its most famous aria "When I Am Laid In Earth" also called Dido's Lament.

Monday, November 30, 2009

• If you have not done so already, sign up for a shift at the Winter Fair this Saturday, December 5. Do not sign up for 12:20 or 1:00 shifts, as it conflicts with our performance. You may sign up with two Prisms on a line if there is only one slot available for the shift. If you have a serious scheduling conflict which prevents you from coming to the Winter Fair, have a parent write a note about this and bring it in. The schedule will be checked on Wed., Dec. 2. If you have not signed up or brought a note by this point, you will get an orange sheet.
• 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., 12/1: Do #7 on p. 55 of CMP book (writing an equation for total lunch cost and using it to find the cost of lunch given different numbers of people). Show how you got your answer, including showing all operations you did with a calculator (copy the table given on your homestudy paper). See your notes for expecations and conventions about what your equation should include, and make sure to write a statement defining each of your variables (i.e. "Let M=the total number of bananas in bunches").

8th Grade:

• Due Tue., Dec. 1: Do 23-26 on page 49 of CMP book (about solving equations using symbolic method practiced in class today). #25 & 26 are to the right of #24. Explain how you got your answers and use math vocabulary (Refer to your glossary).

Social Studies:

• Due Tue., 12/1: Submit a list of steps with time allotment showing how you will complete the project by the following Tuesday, 12/8. Make sure it includes all the information on the template handed out today (with Dec. calendar at the top).
• Due Wed., 12/2: Final drafts of answers to questions due.
• Due Thurs., 12/3Submit a photo of your project so far.
• Complete list of Due Dates leading up to Dec. 8

Science:

• None assigned

Language Arts:

• Due Tue., 12/1: Read for 20 min in your independent reading book and complete the next entry in your reading log.
• Group 1 only: Make significant progress on your knit/crochet project for Buddies meeting this Thursday.

Spanish:

• Grade 7
  • Due Thurs., 12/3: Complete Pobre Ana worksheet, part B only.

Moment of Zen: Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo has recreated her installation "Melting Men" in several different very public locations around the world since 2005. Azevedo creates and sets up 1,000 small human figurines made of ice, which melt over the course of a few hours. Although Azevedo's intent was to comment on the role of monuments in public space, most installations have been sponsored by environmental groups to draw attention to global warming. The picture above is from the most recent installation of the piece which took place this September in Berlin, Germany on the steps of central Gendarmenmarkt square. Temperatures were about 75 degrees Fahrenheit on the day of installation.