Smith Period 3 (October 18, 2011)

     Hey Guys! Today we sat down in C11, got our computers out, and listened to the announcements. We were then greeted by the usual "Good Morning Class!" and as usual we responded with "Good Morning Smith!".

     Unlike the past few days we did not have a fishbowl today. However, we visited a website that we haven't been to in a while, Poll Everywhere. We took two poles today. The first one was the statement "censorship is never justified". 33% of the class said yes while 67% of the class said no. The main argument was censorship was justified and that if we did not have censorship then younger kids would be exposed to harmful images/videos. The second poll was the statement "governments should always try to make people happy". 17% of the class said yes and 83% of the class said no. The main arguments were that it is nearly impossible for the government to always make people happy and that if it did then it wouldn't be able to focus on the important things like protecting us.

     Ms. Smith threw a curve ball in class today by "blending chemistry with language arts". We were shown the all to familiar periodic table of elements. She asked us on what things were in the periodic table and we concluded that the name of the elements, atomic number, symbol, and atomic mass were all part of the organization of the table. We were told that we were going to do a similar thing with each group (which could be two people or just one person) would be making their own "symbolic element". We had many topics to pick from (which would become the name of our elements) such as fire, firemen, Faber, and Mechanical Hound. Each element would include a picture that showcased your topic that would be all symbolism (E.X. We saw a symbolic element from a few years ago that had the word "Montag" hidden in the cityscape in the background, the word "kerosene" looking like smoke, and "freedom" and "intelligence" burning in the fire. Keep in mind that you can also use objects for symbolism too.). Also, be sure that the atomic number is 451 and to have a symbol (E.X. Kerosene=KE).  This assignment will probably be due Friday but if we need the weekend to complete it then it will be due on Monday. 

     The list for groups and topics are as follows:

     Allison/Delaney-books
     Amer/Monica-Mechanical Hound
     Jacqueline/Annabelle-Front porch
     Liz/Bekah- Hands
     James/Nick-Salamander
     Grant/Jordan-Clarisse
     Sophia-Kerosene
     Alex B and Alex D-Faber
     Emma/Macy: Firemen
     Ruth-Family  

     Sometime this week we will have a parent come in and talk about movie trailers. It is her job and she is very experienced! 

    

    For homework tonight we have: Read your banned book, 3 questions for Fahrenheit 451, symbol (what I was talking about in the purple paragraph), review SAT 3+4, bring questions for Ms. Friskey (the parent talking about making movie trailers), and that we have an SAT review of the words from chapters 1-6 so remember to study.

     Finally, tomorrow is a late start day so have a great time sleeping in!

          -Alex Dombowsky