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
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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
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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
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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
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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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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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’
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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
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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)
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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