Classy Talks

Semester 2 Week 1 completed

The Protocol Field Trip is 8:00 AM, April 2nd (Thursday during the Easter Break). Check your e-mails for details. The play is Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. The Field Trip is optional but educational. Semi-formal attire or business-formal outfits are preferable since this is a dressy event and a luncheon. Mrs. Burnham is the contact person for additional information since she is gathering the reservations and $50 ticket payments by the beginning of February (due to space, only parents and Challenge students are invited).

Homework Review – complete before semester 2 week 2 class
Algebra 2	Lessons 60-63. Also, bring one math question from your own math book to put on the board.
Latin	Lessons 19 and exercises, translation lines 23-74 Helvetian Drive to the West (bring Latin Key).
History/Music: Gift of Music Classical Music Essay	We will continue to add composers to our Timeline. Read Chapter 4 on Handel (We will come back to chapter 3 on Bach next week) Read Introduction and Chapters 1-2 (up to page 43 – hopeless romantics) No essay for week 2 (two essays due week 3 for music and literature).
Debate	Write 2 paragraphs in preparation for both an affirmative and a negative construction.
British Literature WAS Essay	Read Chapters 1-16 in Passage to India and start reading questions in WAS. No essay until week 3.
Biology:	Chapter 11 to page 347 (read experiments 11.1, 11.2, and 11.4 this week)
Drama	Start highlighting “Harvey” script. Bring your books for class.

Algebra 2 – This week’s lessons involved solving problems with Ideal Gas Laws, completing the square for math expressions in preparation for working with Quadratic Equations and graphing slopes and functions.

Latin – We covered prefixes for verbs, participles, and began translating “Helvetian Guide to the West.” Students should work on the next 50 lines of translations and bring their homework and Latin Key to class.

History/Music – We finished up Art Presentations from December. We talked about Baroque Period music and the composer Vivaldi. We covered some music styles and the instruments they played (like the Hurdy Gurdy). Baroque musicians introduced a large numbers of operas, concertos, oratorios and some dance music (sarabande, minuet, waltz, and the jig). The era's music was marked by ornamentation, an underlying bass, and constantly changing keys and musical devices. Some of the styles and musical terms we have today originated in the Baroque Era. We’ll listen to specific pieces from each composer in the next few weeks. I’ll also try to bring newer waltz composers like Anthony Hopkins.

André Rieu: And The Waltz Goes On - Anthony Hopkins
http://youtu.be/IMRUf4TtJQ0

Debate - This week we started preparations for the first of two spring debates. Here are the two resolutions:
Vint Hill: New Laws must be established to protect copyright infringement from Internet plagiarism.
Culpeper: Facebook Legislation is necessary to protect its client's basic rights and freedoms.

British Literature – We held our Socratic Circle discussion about “Something Beautiful for God.” In preparation for Passage to India, students should research India’s Caste System and the reasons for Great Britain’s presence in India.

Student-led discussion assignments:

Passage to India – Asher/Mrs. HokeAlice in Wonderland – Michelle/Desiree
Robinson Crusoe – Klay/Mrs. Hoke
Father Brown – John/Justin
A Morbid Taste for Bones – Sarah/Grace
Out of the Silent Planet – Hope/Jordan
The Hobbit – Bethany/Wayne
The Screwtape Letters – Seth/David

Biology – We held a discussion about the two chapters completed over the break. Two of the four Formal Reports for this semester (8.3 and 10.1) can be typed and added to the Lab Journal if students completed them (I realize that it has not been particularly warm enough for success with the radish seed and thermometer experiments). Over the next two weeks we will read chapter 11 and then we start dissections.

Drama – We started discussing “Harvey” script expectations. We’ll work on class “Radio Reads” and discuss the possibility of pulling a play together. A few logistics need worked out for gathering props and for planning a few practices with both Challenge 2 campuses. The place and date for the debate and the play is being considered.

A few picts...and thanks to the Vint Hill Challenge classes for sticking out the school day (even though we had to collect and melt snow to flush toilets when the pipes froze).