Online Edition

New Class Reports!
April 30, 2006

Blue Team Classes
Table of Contents

Algebra I

IGA

Geometry

English 9

Honors English 9

Physical Science 

Honors Physical Science

Spanish I

Spanish II

World Studies


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News and Information about Our Blue Team Classes
Includes Archived Articles from Earlier in the Year


Finishing Out the Year Strong in Algebra by J. Singer (Apr. 2006)

            As many of you know, we on the blue team have begun our IDU (Inner Disciplinary Unit) project.  We will be utilizing skills from all five of our core classes; algebra skills are already playing a large part in our choice of region for marketing.  
          We have found statistics such as percentages of  age groups, total population, and other information that will assist in narrowing down to a specific target audience.  This will help as 

we use graphing technique to show how well our product may sell in a  certain region.  The final products will be presented at the end of May, and by using our math skills we will have created high quality explanations as to why we chose our marketing regions.
          
Although we have this project, we will continue to work on separate items to finish the year right in algebra.  Mr. Reese says,"We're going to build rockets in 

algebra!  It's the coolest thing."  Thats Right! To  wrap up a great year in Algebra I, we will be creating rockets out of bottles (2 liter pop, and water bottles).  This project will include skills in factoring, solving quadratics, and calculating the velocity of the rockets.  Many students are looking forward to the project due to the fact that we will launch them.  
          Mr. Reese claims he is the champion and no one can beat him...well, we'll see about that!

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IGA 1 Graphing the Third Quarter by C. Bowers (Apr. 2006)

           During the third quarter of the 2005-2006 school year, the students in Mr. Reese’s IGA-1 class have learned and grasped many new concepts.  These concepts include: graphing linear data, identifying graphs of linear equations and graphing non-linear equations. 
           Linear data is data, when plotted on a graph forms a straight line.  Next, to determine if a graph has a linear equation a few simple steps have to be taken.  First, one must 

determine the slope of the line (rise over run).  Then one must find where the line crosses the y-axis.  For example, if the slope of a line is 2 and it crosses the y-axis at (0, 2), the equation of the line is y = 2x + 2.  The “2x” represents the slope and the “+ 2” represents where the line crosses the y-axis. 
          As mentioned previously, the students also learned how to graph non-linear equations.  This concept as well as any 

other graphing concept is done by plotting points on  an x, y coordinate plain.  For example, if someone has the points (0, 0), (1, 1), (2, 4), (-1, 1) and (-2, 4), when graphed it would form a curve shape, known as a parabola.
          With these skills, as well as the skills learned previously and still to come, Mr. Reese’s IGA-1 students will be fully equipped with the knowledge they need to be successful in Geometry
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Geometry  by C. Price (Apr. 2006)

Article not yet submitted.

 

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Regular English 9 Studies the Classics by S. Tallon (Apr. 2006)

 O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? (2.2.33-4)

This quote from William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is one of the most famous quotes around the world, and will be performed in upcoming weeks. 
          To begin the study, students will learn to deal with the language in a unique way: they will watch the 1968 film version of the play with the subtitles turned on. As the movie unfolds, Mr. Maite stops the DVD at key points to analyze the plot, 

the language, and answer any questions the students might have.  "It's amazing what a difference 'reading' the play like this has on student comprehension and enjoyment.  Test scores on the play increase 20% and the feel for the language is greatly enhanced," says Mr. Maite, who has been teaching the play for 17 years.
          After encountering the play in this way,
students will work on mastering the plot and language of specific, key  scenes from the play. 

Some of the scenes will  include Mercutio's famous Queen Mab speech, the balcony scene, the play's climax, and of course, the famous death scene.               With a semester of studying classic literature like Night and Of Mice and Men behind us, it only seems appropriate that the literature study end with the greatest writer of all.  That and some intensive grammar to make sure the students' IDU Marketing Plans are top notch will round out a year of great student learning in English 9.

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What's Up in Honors English 9? by J. White (Apr. 2006)

          Over the past few weeks, the Blue Team English students have been studying John Steinbeck’s classic, Of Mice and Men.  Although all students read and analyzed the novel, the Honors English students looked at Steinbeck’s work under a different light.  
         
Not only did the class study the plot, characterization, and conflict of the novel, but they examined the morality as well.  They examined

basic morality through reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s Essay, “Good and Evil Reconsidered”, and Lawrence Kohlberg’s “Levels and Stages of Moral Development”.  This basic understanding of morality was applied in a debate, a character map organizing the characters of the novel based on their morals, and ultimately, a persuasive essay answering whether one character’s decision to kill his friend at the end of the

novel was morally right or wrong. Through this study, students were able to observe and understand the morality of historical figures, Steinbeck’s characters, other students, and even themselves.
              To round out the year, Honors English will turn to the great bard, William Shakespeare and his play, Romeo and Juliet, as well as plenty of grammar to make sure their marketing plans for IDU are top notch.

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Physical Science is Out of this World by S. Hutter (Apr. 2006)

          For the last nine weeks of school science is launching out of Earth and landing in one of the nine planets.  We have one of the biggest projects of the year coming up, and this will make or break your student's grade.  
          As for the past couple of weeks we have been studying all different types of waves, and how objects are reflected, refracted, and diffracted.  In addition, some of our 

IDU grades, particularly those dealing with the design and redesign of our products, have been combined with our science grade to give a grade for the last nine weeks of school.
          Have you ever witnessed a solar or lunar eclipse?  Well the students know all about them after doing countless worksheets about them; also the phases of the moon are stuck on our 

minds.  As you can see, science has gone way past our earth, and onto bigger and farther orbiting spheres.
          Finally, if you have not heard from your kids yet, Ms. Hellickson’s name has been changed due to a recent marriage.  She goes by the name of Mrs. Lucas now, and is a couple months away from having her first baby! So congratulations to Mrs. Lucas as well!

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Honors Physical Science by B. Makley (Apr. 2006)

                These past few months have been a productive time for Mrs. Lucas’s science classes. We’ve uncovered a wealth of new information, and clarified old concepts that might have been vague before. Our past few weeks have been spent learning about light and sound waves and the electromagnetic spectrum. Interesting in-class demonstrations about refraction and the way waves move has made it easy to come in and learn valuable tings while having fun in the process! One of the Honors classes’ 

favorite toys was a giant slinky-like spring, used to demonstrate the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves.
            Having come to the end of that chapter, Mrs. Lucas’s students are now beginning Astronomy. Both regular and honors classes were split into small groups last Wednesday and assigned a planet to research. I’m definitely looking forward to it. The majority of us are, like myself, shouting with joy at this new subject. Others, though, are groaning in frustration. The reason behind the 

varying degrees of  enthusiasm is probably simply that some students enjoy learning about space more than others. There is a ray of hope, however, for those who can’t get excited about alien rocks and atmospheric gasses. We are not the only classes doing this project! It is part of the required science curriculum for the ninth grade, and so every freshman in the school has conveniently begun work on it at the same time. At least help and sympathy can be found amongst our peers! 

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Spanish I by P. Reichard (Apr. 2006)

          Lately in Ms. Deprez's Spanish I class we have been learning about advertisements. We have learned different strategies used to advertise the products. Examples of strategies used are familly fun, star power, and heart strings. We are learning about advertisements and their strategies to help with our IDU projects.
    

 Along with learning about advertising we have been learning about family members such as abuela, which means grandmother and abuelo, which means grandfather. We also learned physical characteristics like short, blonde, and blue eyes. Another thing we are learning in this unit is personality traits along 

with the verb ser, which  means to be. An example of using ser would be, "Ella es bonita." To go along with the chapter everyone is making a family album. It can be of their family, a made up family, or a family from TV or a movie. 
          To conclude, the year should finish up with some great activities and some strong review for exams.

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Spanish II Keeps Moving by E. Thomas (Apr. 2006)

           The fourth grading period in Spanish two kicked off with a summary and closing of chapter five. Similarly, they finished a video project of a soap opera or a game show using words from chapter five. They are now in the third “paso”, section, of chapter six. 
          The students have learned vocabulary from being a tourist in a city and eating in a restaurant and ordering food. They have presented skits 

representing a real-life restaurant situation. They have also reviewed direct object pronouns and new preterite conjugated forms of new verbs. 
         The focus point of this grading period lately has been the IDU (inner-disciplinary unit) of marketing. The Spanish side of the project is to create advertisements for a bilingual market. They have learned advertising strategies and how to figure out who the target customer is.  All of the 

students enjoyed watching  T.V. for their homework, and many will tell you that their parents did not believe them when they told them. Well, now you have proof!
          As the year finishes off, and the students are taking their last vocabulary tests and laughing at their soap operas, but one of the last key things they can learn is how to work together with other subjects to reach a common goal: finish out the year strong! Viva!

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World Studies Moving East by K. Fisher (Apr. 2006) 

          Sadly, the time came when Mrs. Lyon’s student teaching must come to an end, and her classes have once again been picked up by Ms. Prahst.  Students are now transitioning from learning about WWII to the hardships in different

territories in the aftermath of the war.
     Students have just wrapped up learning about apartheid and the struggle in South Africa for equal rights, as well as the fight for independence in the African colonies.  They studied leaders such as 

Nelson Mandela and  Gandhi and many organizations such as the ANC, PAC, and the SAIC.  Now students have moved on to the Middle East and will be learning about the issues facing those in countries such as Israel.  

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