Friday, March 4, 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
• March 16 (PM only) & 17 (all day) - Spring parent/student/teacher conferences. Conference sign-ups will be available Mon., 3/7 in the River Classroom.
• March 16, 17 & 18 - Wed., 3/16 will be an early dismissal day (No Homework Club), and on Thurs., 3/17 and Fri., 3/18, there will be no school for students.
• Tuesdays: Hip-Hop Dance - The Prisms' next PE unit will be hip-hop dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Students need to wear or bring comfortable clothes and shoes for class.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

Grade 7 & 8
• Due Mon., 3/7: Complete MM 2.7 according to usual protocol, showing all work for problems marked with a * on separate paper.

Language Arts:

• Due Mon., 3/7: Read for 60 min. in resource. Mark pages on which you have found valuable information. Return with resource to class.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Nada:

Spanish:

Moment of Zen:

Just Ask Your Folks First, OK?

This is Charlie Kratzer's basement. Twenty or so years ago, he decided that he wanted to fill his home with Impressionist art, realizing then that to be able to feasibly do that, he would have to make it himself. Ten dollars worth of Sharpie later, Kratzer's basement features black-line, Sharpie-fied versions of several Picassos, Seurat's Sunday Afternooon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and the portraits of such distinguished figures from literature as Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and R2D2.

Thursday, March 3, 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
• March 16 (PM only) & 17 (all day) - Spring parent/student/teacher conferences. Conference sign-ups will be available Mon., 3/7 in the River Classroom.
• March 16, 17 & 18 - Wed., 3/16 will be an early dismissal day (No Homework Club), and on Thurs., 3/17 and Fri., 3/18, there will be no school for students.
• Tuesdays: Hip-Hop Dance - The Prisms' next PE unit will be hip-hop dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Students need to wear or bring comfortable clothes and shoes for class.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

Grade 7
• Due Fri., 3/4: Compelte #3, 4, 8, 12, 13 on pp. 48-52

Grade 8
• Due Thurs., 3/3:: Complete #3, 4, 5, 6, 7 on pp. 39-40

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 3/1, Wed., 3/2 and Thurs., 3/3: Read for 20+20+20 min in resource book for research project. Mark the pages to which you want to return to take notes. Be sure to bring in the resource book on Thursday.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Nada:

Spanish:

Moment of Zen:

Sculpture as Animation

I got to mention this museum to at least one class; the recently renovated and reopened Museum of the Moving Image in New York is quite something. As a whole, it provides a comprehensive, engaging overview of film, television and video game history, particularly the technology behind it. That said, I probably could have spent most of a day just on the animation floor. Its exhibits look at some of the earliest moving image technology from the zoetrope to the mutoscope, but follow through the computer animation area (they have a great computer-based stop motion interactive exhibt). One of my favorite exhibits, however, is the sculpture pictured above. Containing slight variations of the same images and rotating on a carousel, it looks interesting but not all that impressive until a strobe light is turned on, when it transforms into a 3D animation which bears resemblance to M.C. Escher's Metamorphosis. A little off the usual path in Queens, this one is well worth the extra side trip.

Wednesday, March 2, 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
• March 16 (PM only) & 17 (all day) - Spring parent/student/teacher conferences. Conference sign-ups will be available Mon., 3/7 in the River Classroom.
• March 16, 17 & 18 - Wed., 3/16 will be an early dismissal day (No Homework Club), and on Thurs., 3/17 and Fri., 3/18, there will be no school for students.
• Tuesdays: Hip-Hop Dance - The Prisms' next PE unit will be hip-hop dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Students need to wear or bring comfortable clothes and shoes for class.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

Grade 7
• Due Thurs, 3/3: Complete #1, 2, 3, 7 and 10 on pp. 47-51.

Grade 8
• Due Thurs., 3/3:: Complete 3.2 on p. 34

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 3/1, Wed., 3/2 and Thurs., 3/3: Read for 20+20+20 min in resource book for research project. Mark the pages to which you want to return to take notes. Be sure to bring in the resource book on Thursday.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Due Thurs., 3/3: Complete any of the assignment for Chapter 4.1 (read 73-80, complete questions 1-3, 5-9 and challenge on p. 81) in the Focus on Physical Science textbook that we worked on in class today. Check p. 138 for help describing physical properties of a stubstance.

Spanish:

• Due

Moment of Zen:

Caption This!

Comment with your suggestions for a funny caption to this photo. It can be a description or dialogue.

Tuesday, March 1, 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
• Fri., 2/18 - No school for students. Enjoy your vacation!
• Tuesdays: Hip-Hop Dance - The Prisms' next PE unit will be hip-hop dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Students need to wear or bring comfortable clothes and shoes for class.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

Grade 7
• Due Tues, 3/1: Do #3b on p. 174 and #4 on p. 175 (photocopy handed out today).

Grade 8
• Due Tues., 3/1:: Complete #1 and 2 on 38-39. Do not do part d of #2.

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 3/1, Wed., 3/2 and Thurs., 3/3: Read for 20+20+20 min in resource book for research project. Mark the pages to which you want to return to take notes. Be sure to bring in the resource book on Thursday.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Due

Spanish:

• Due

Moment of Zen:

What Bibliography?

It isn't enough that Matej Krén's installation The Scanner is literally a tower made out of stacked books. Beyond that, it also has a mirror-lined entrance which creates the illusion of an infinite amount of books. The Scanner is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna, Italy.

Monday, February 28, 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
• Fri., 2/18 - No school for students. Enjoy your vacation!
• Tuesdays: Hip-Hop Dance - The Prisms' next PE unit will be hip-hop dance class on Tuesday afternoons. Students need to wear or bring comfortable clothes and shoes for class.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

Grade 7
• Due Tues, 3/1: Do #20 on p. 39. Submit copies of figures also.

Grade 8
• Due Tues., 3/1:: Read pp. 31-32. Complete 3.1 on p. 32 (Do only A, B for 10 years and D).

Language Arts:

• Due Tues., 3/1, Wed., 3/2 and Thurs., 3/3: Read for 20+20+20 min in resource book for research project. Mark the pages to which you want to return to take notes. Be sure to bring in the resource book on Thursday.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Due

Spanish:

• Due

Moment of Zen:

This picture may be from Iceland, but this looks like how it felt this morning.

(Also, this picture was taken in June.)
Photo: Andrei Elfarsson

Wednesday, February 16, 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
• Fri., 2/18 - No school for students. Enjoy your vacation!
• Yoga Thursday - Our last yoga session will happen this Thursday morning during Spanish. Bring comfortable clothes and a mat if you have one.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math/LA:

Grade 7 & 8:
• Due Thurs. 2/17: Using best thinking and English writing skills, complete "Charting the Course..." and "Self-Evalvuiation of Work Habits."
• Be certain to have your research resources with you if not already in classroom.

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Due Thurs., 2/17: Complete the two open response questions handed out today on lined paper. Choose one of them for John to assess according to the rubric attached and mark it with a star.

Spanish:

• Due Thurs., 2/17 Completa la página de ejercicios que se empezó hoy en clase. Escriba 10 frases con los verbos ser y estar - 5 frases con cada palabra. Usa varias formas y situaciones. (Finish the worksheet we started in class today. Write 10 sentences with the verbs ser and estar - 5 with each. Use a variety of forms and situations)

Moment of Zen:

Dr. Seuss Does Star Wars

Dr. Seuss never got to release any storybook reflections on the landmark Star Wars series, but the Comic Alliance, possibly inspired by the good doctor and Yoda's mutual inclination towards awkward syntax, has come up with some suggestions for what might have come if Dr. Seuss did Star Wars.

Tuesday, February 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
• Fri., 2/18 - No school for students. Enjoy your vacation!
• Yoga Thursday - Our last yoga session will happen this Thursday morning during Spanish. Bring comfortable clothes and a mat if you have one.
• Eighth Grade Project resource page updated 1/24, including project deadlines through the end of February and downloadable documents. Page will be updated as I get new information.

Math:

• Grade 7 & 8: Nada

Language Arts:

• Nada

Social Studies:

• Nada

Science:

• Due Wed., 2/16: Come up with an experiment that you think will prove the hypothesis you came up with today to explain the bubbles when adding salt to water and corn oil.

Spanish:

• Nada

Moment of Zen:

The Elephant in the Room

Originally a street artist, Banksy continues to push a social message even when invited inside the gallery. The piece pictured above, "An Elephant in the Room" which featured a live elephant, covered in facepaint to match the wallpaper, was accompanied by cards with facts about world poverty, playing on the idea of poverty as an issue which is like an "elephant in the room" which no one wants to talk about.