NEXUS: “There is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

http://susantempleneumannfineart.com/blog

I'm spring cleaning in my classroom, and oh the stuff I've accumulated over the years! Weird stuff, funny stuff, useless stuff, out-dated stuff, unidentifiable stuff... which leads me to the topic of, well, STUFF!

"There’s lots of stuff in the world. We give all this stuff names.

The stuff has colour, shape and size. Everything has a word, so we can compare and contrast stuff.

The stuff does stuff; it moves and changes, in different ways and at different times. All that stuff has words, too.

Sometimes, the stuff does stuff to other stuff, so we need to know some more stuff about the stuff so we can explain to each other what we know and think about the stuff.

Knowing enough stuff can be tough; there seems to be so much more stuff to learn.

Thinking about and remembering stuff can be hard if other stuff comes along to think about.

The world’s a big place and there’s just so much stuff.

There’s a need to make sense of the stuff, so that life makes sense.

The way you see and understand stuff may be different from the way I see and understand stuff.

So I have to share stuff using the names, colours, sizes and shapes, and the movement words and the words that show how stuff does stuff to other stuff.

You have to be able to share the stuff you know with me, then I know when to introduce other stuff.

Because, with the world being so big and stuff being discovered all the time, neither of us will ever really know enough stuff, or all the stuff. . ."

~Chris Chivers

So anyway. . .

As the weather warms and the end of the school year approaches, you've got lots of stuff to do, and I've got lots of stuff to do. WE'VE got lots of stuff (good stuff) left to do, too. You don't stop learning stuff just because of all that other stuff. Everybody's got stuff!

So, how are we going to get through the rest of the year, hmm?

FYI:

Here is Willow Wheelock's schedule (in lieu of regular guidance lessons):

Monday, May 2nd- 5th/6th grade 9:30-10:30

Wednesday, May 4th~~-5th/6th grade~~ ~~9:30-10:30~~ (cancelled)

Monday, May 9th- 5th/6th grade 9:30-10:30

Wednesday, May 11th-5th/6th grade 9:30-10:30

Wednesday, May 18th- 5th/6th grade 9:30-10:30

Monday, May 23rd- 5th/6th grade 9:30-10:30

ASSIGNMENTS FOR

THE WEEK OF

2nd - 6th

SOCIAL STUDIES

We're Talking Comparisons

Monday & Tuesday:

PART 1: Entertainment

The Greek

Amphitheater
(Information HERE,  HERE,
and HERE.
THE GREATEST THEATER
video &  theater design video
vs:

The Roman Colosseum
(Information HERE, HERE,
and HERE) History of the Roman Colosseum video
& The Colosseum's
Elevator video

HA! You've GOT to read this:
You Wouldn't Want to be a Roman Gladiator!

If you enjoyed that book, here are a few more:
You Wouldn't Want to be an Egyptian Mummy!
You Wouldn'tWant to be a Polar Explorer
You Wouldn't Want to Sail on a 19th Century Sailing Ship!

Wednesday & Thursday: PART 2: GREEK & ROMAN BATHS

GREEK BATHS
Information can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE.
I have a handout, too. that I will share.
Ancient Greek Health Spa video (first one)
Archimedes, considered to be the greatest mathematicians of all time, discovered the principal of displacement while visiting a Greek bath. ("Eureka" translates to "I've got it!" NOT "I dropped my rubber ducky.")

vs:

ROMAN BATHS

Complete Roman Bath Interactive and accompanying worksheet. More information HERE and HERE. Also, check out Roman Bathing -- and Roman Bath Culture video

FRIDAY: PART 3: ROMAN ROADS

ROMAN ROADS information can be found HERE, HERE , and HERE

Facts About Roman Roads

Roman Roads video

Music and Creativity in Ancient Greece

- Tim Hansen

A Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome
- Ray Laurence

For Fun!

“Fling the Teacher” — Interactive Game
(Don't get any ideas. . .)

SCIENCE

This week, Lesson 8:
The Immensity of the Universe
(Student Notes)
“Our home is called Earth. It is but a tiny dot in the black empty void of space, a speck of dust in a sunbeam, and no more than that, in the infinite vastness of time and the ever-expanding universe.” -Carl Sagan

Did you ever wonder what it would look like if our moon was the size of a planet? You need a whole lot of imagination, but here's an inkling of what you might see:

MOON

MARS
bigger, redder...

VENUS: It would be amazingly bright. Why? It reflects 6 times more light than the Moon and covers an area 16 times larger. The night sky would look very different!

NEPTUNE: Impressive! Neptune's 14 times larger than the moon. This giant blue balloon would dominate the sky at night--and during the day, for that matter. As big as this guy is, the earth would descend into darkness for over 1 1/2 hours during a solar eclipse.

(Because they're close in size, Uranus would look very similar.)

SATURN: This bad boy is 35 times larger than the moon, so its rings would stretch nearly from horizon to horizon. Truth be told, if we were this close to Saturn, we'd likely be circling around it rather than the other way around!

JUPITER: Whoa, baby -- it's 40 times the size of the moon! In fact, it’s so big, you wouldn’t even be able to see the north and south poles. That wouldn't be a problem, though; its immense radiation field would make life on our planet impossible.

MORE PICTURES THAT SHOW

THE IMMENSITY OF IT ALL!

This is what North America would look like on Jupiter.

Comparing the size of Earth to the Sun

You can fit all the planets in our Solar System
in between the Earth and the Moon.

THIS IS AMAZING!

NASA Releases the Highest Resolution
Photo Ever Taken (3:29)

The ANDROMEDA galaxy is 2.5 million light years away and contains one trillion (that's 1,000,000,000,000) stars. NASA's Hubble telescope managed to capture one section of it in what is the largest composite picture ever taken.

The picture contains 1.5 billion pixels and is made up of 411 images, taken over a three year period, that scour hundreds of millions of stars and focus on individual ones (like focusing on one grain of sand when taking a picture of an entire beach).

Makes you feel small, hun? And remember, this is just one of among 100 billion galaxies in our universe.
Information found HERE.

Is the Universe Infinite? (23:53)

How Large is the Universe? (25:03)

Journey to the "Edge" of the Universe (1:30:35)

GRRRRREAT resource for learning more can be found HERE.

The Universe -- learn something new! (There's fun stuff here, too.)

Language Arts

Little bits of me that escape to my page. . .

Last week we prepared for and participated in a great Poetry Slam, which moved our assignments around some. It's all good! Let's get back on track.

Monday: Did you find your poem to analyze? Type and illustrate it. Using the template I provide, write your [brief] analysis of this poem. It will all become page 2 in your book.

Don't forget--you will need to find a poem to recite to the class. Choose wisely and practice, practice, practice. You will be assessed on your presentation.

Tuesday: Complete poetry analysis and turn in.

Wednesday: Vocabulary due today

Thursday: If you haven't turned in your "Foul Shot" poem, please do so. Then, continue

Friday: First poem! TBA