December 2009
42 posts
Secrecy [18 Dec 2009]
Hopefully everyone enjoyed our holiday festivities. That was a nice way to end the first trimester of the school year. Thanks to Tati and Ruby for organizing.
Humanities: When we return to class in January, you will be reading chapters twenty-six through thirty-one in A Little History of the World. As part of the assignment you will need to take notes (highlighting and marginal notes are fine)...
Seventh Grade Short Stories →
Looking for something to read? The seventh grade students have all posted their short stories online. You can find them using this index. Don’t by shy about leaving a comment.
Jingles
The sixth grade students have all posted the jingles they created as their final Media Literacy project. Here is a list of links to each audio post:
Glo-shoo, Musicpoint, Squegg, Fresh Cool Gum, Miny-Maxy-Mizer, Water Wake, Nano Phone, edipen, and Transpod 321 (coming soon).
Four Or Five Guys Pretty Much Carry Whole... →
As long as I’m at it, here’s another article from The Onion’s Annual Year 2009. It will give you a preview of next trimester’s humanities content. I love this quote:
“Our research indicates that da Vinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, and Galileo basically hoisted the entire intellectual transformation of mankind onto their shoulders while everyone else just sat around...
Rat-Sh*t-Covered Physicians Baffled By Spread Of... →
This is just too timely not to share. After a trimester of Middle Ages content including two projects on diseases, The Onion goes and posts their Annual Year 2009 which includes an article about the Black Death. You probably wouldn’t have found this article that funny just a few months ago.
Warning: If you are not familiar with The Onion, read this.
WatchAlex, Sherif, and Taelon created two videos on Medieval warfare for their Middle Ages project. The first is a factual video (above) in the form of a documentary using images found on the internet. The second video documented their process of recreating some weapons and armor. Unfortunately the files for the second video became corrupted, and they have been unable to share it online.
Improv [17 Dec 2009]
Our holiday celebration will take place during the last forty-five minutes of class before noon dismissal tomorrow. Don’t forget to bring your Secret Santa gift.
Humanities: Finalize your Middle Ages project reflection by including details from your conversation with me. You also need to have it proofread for spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation errors. Then post it to your...
Performing Arts Homework
Please see a live professional performance between now and the end of January. Ideally, this would be a live onstage play or musical. Movies and TV do not count. If you need help figuring out what to see, or have an economic or time restriction that would make this difficult, please communicate with Debra ASAP to discuss your options.
Due January 31, please answer the following questions in...
Gappers? [16 Dec 2009]
Here is a friendly frustration-inducing reminder for you to read the homework post carefully and ask questions if there is something that does not make sense.
Humanities: Many of you still need to make adjustments to your Middle Ages project reflection. You have been given a total of fifteen questions to address. Make sure that you answer them all and that any yes/no questions are followed-up...
Homework Club Update
Starting January 4, 2010, homework club is open to fourth through seventh grade students in the library from 3:15-4:00 PM with Meghan Hanebutt (fifth grade teacher) on Mondays, Rosana Puricelli (Middle years Spanish teacher) on Tuesdays, and Jennifer Brinsky (fourth grade teacher) on Thursdays.
Book recommendations from Robin Sloan →
I just want to point out this post over on tcsnmy7 that mentions Over Sea, Under Stone. If you don’t remember who Robin Sloan is and why his book recommendations might be of interest, start here.
The Barbershop [15 Dec 2009]
The 2009-2010 basketball team has its first games tonight against Pacific Ridge. Go, Comets!
Humanities: Update your Middle Ages project reflection using the input that you received from your teammates and from the other groups. Also answer the two new questions that I have sent to you via email.
Humanities: If you have any Over Sea, Under Stone work (reading, note-taking, and vocabulary...
Virtual Barbershop →
Here’s a link to the audio illusion that we listened to in class today. The topic came up as part of our Over Sea, Under Stone vocabulary chat which included the word monotone. Once we began to dissect the word, we landed on the prefix mono, thus leading us to talk about stereo and mono sound systems.
Horlicks [14 Dec 2009]
Thank you all for the cake, the puzzle-card, the gifts, and the frequent, warm salutations.
Humanities: This assignment is due tomorrow. (a) Read chapters fourteen and the epilogue of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format we have been using...
Menacing [11 Dec 2009]
That was quite a list of words we had on the board this morning! We’ll finish out discussion next week.
Humanities: This assignment is due on Tuesday, but you can get a head start on it over the weekend. (a) Read chapters fourteen and the epilogue of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post...
Gummi worm bread? [10 Dec 2009]
It will be interesting to see the results of this batch of bread.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter thirteen of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format we have been using thus far.
Humanities: If you didn’t finish the first of two peer...
The Cat in the Hood [9 Dec 2009]
Someone needs to write a Seuss-like story about your masked classmate.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter twelve of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format we have been using thus far.
Math: We practiced and discussed two ways of finding the GCF of...
Very short stories
The seventh grade is writing short stories. This is a related post that I just made on their blog. I’m adding it here in case you find it interesting too…
The topic of very short stories came up in class today. This is the full text of Guatemalan (born in Honduras) writer Augusto Monterroso’s story “El Dinosaurio”:
Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba...
WatchFor their Middle Ages project Charmaine, Brianna, and Maxx created a documentary on Medieval Castles using Playmobil.
Barnacles [8 Dec 2009]
It’s Tuesday. The month is December. Yesterday it rained.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter eleven of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format we have been using thus far.
Math: We discussed how to find the prime factors of numbers. The...
Soaking [7 Dec 2009]
Regardless of the inconvenience that it causes, the rain we are receiving is important. Unfortunately I think that it’s still too early to declare that our drought has ended.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter ten of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog...
WatchRuby, Andrew, and Sean created a documentary about Medieval diseases and illnesses as their Middle Ages project.
The Ruins of Pompeii →
I know we’re not studying Ancient Rome this year, but this is too cool not to share. You can now explore the ruins of Pompeii with Google Street View. How awesome is that?
By the way, you can explore something closer to home (and also offlimits to cars) in the same way.
Sim Daltonism →
This afternoon we discussed colorblindness and I mentioned some software that allows you to simulate colorblindness on your Mac. While searching for that one (the one I’ve used in the past), I also found another program that appears to do the same. And if you can’t wait to install the software, there is an online tool that might be good enough to give you an idea of what it would be...
The Book Works Event
The Book Works is hosting the annual PA Holiday Shopping Event from 3:00-7:00 PM this Sunday. 20% of all purchases go to TCS. Thank you, Lisa Stefanacci, for your generosity of time and resources and for making this such a great event.
Mrs. Pork [4 Dec 2009]
As discussed in class today, next week we will spend a lot of time reflecting on the Middle Ages projects that you have just completed.
Humanities: For those of you who would like to get a head start on next week, we’ll be reading OSUS chapters ten through thirteen for homework, one chapter per night, taking notes and posting vocabulary.
Science: Reminder to bring in the supplies needs...
Caravaggio [3 Dec 2009]
I enjoyed the Middle Ages projects that were presented today and look forward to seeing the rest tomorrow. Next week we will reflect on the projects.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter nine of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format we have been...
Media Literacy Call to Action 7
This assignment is from Lisa A. Please see or email her with questions.
Your homework for the next few weeks is to work on your ML final project (due Wednesday, December 16). If you need help or would like some assistance with your jingle or product ad, please contact Lisa A. and Lauren. Project guidelines are posted in your classroom and were handed out in class. The checklist is posted here.
Holy Grail →
Interested in the Holy Grail as mentioned in Over Sea, Under Stone? It’s hard to avoid the topic as it constantly appears in popular culture. You’ve likely seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And I’m pretty sure Andrew has mentioned Monty Python’s take on the topic. You may have even heard mention of the somewhat controversial (an in my opinion overrated) book (and...
Voices from Penzance, Cornwall →
As promised, I’ve done a little research about Cornish accents. Here is what I’ve encountered.
This link points to three voice clips of male choir members from Penzance, one of the towns mentioned in Over Sea, Under Stone. There’s a similar page with clips of some hairdressers in Truro, another town mentioned in the book.
YouTube has many videos which claim to feature a...
Petulant [2 Dec 2009]
Heads up! Tomorrow campus will be abuzz with an open house, a Head of School finalist visit, and another visitor.
Humanities: Middle Ages projects are due tomorrow.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter eight of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog using the format...
WatchI was just enjoying my favorite episode (from last spring) of seventh grader David’s Cool Wall car show which he started and continues to produce as his PLP.
WatchFor those of you working on animation and anyone else who’s interested: Here’s some “making of” video of the new stop-motion animated film adaptation of Roal Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. More information here.
Sociality Is Learning
About a year ago I posted information about a study released by Digital Youth Research. (If you didn’t get a chance to read it then, I recommend taking some time to do so now.) Since then, the full report has also been published as a book by MIT Press.
One of the researchers who contributed to the report is Danah Boyd, Social Media Researcher at Microsoft Research New England. Yesterday...
The Children’s School of La Jolla, California: I... →
Sixth grade students and parents: Since you might not see it otherwise, this is a reblog of a post from over at the seventh grade blog. I think you might find it interesting and informative.
Last night’s (and still today’s) big seventh grade news is that our class blog popped up on the radar of writer Robin Sloan whose work we have been reading. The class had actually already been...
Pendragon [1 Dec 2009]
Don’t forget to look up ‘Pendragon’ as well as the phrases ‘red herring’ and ‘wax and wane’ this evening. Post your findings to your blog.
Humanities: (a) Read chapter seven of Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. (b) Take notes by expanding on the notes that you have already taken for earlier chapters. (c) Post all new vocabulary words to your blog...