Jan 12

English Literature
Monday Poem

Whenever Richard Cory went downtown
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim,

And he was always quietly arrayed.
And he was always human when he talked,
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good morning," and he glittered when he walked

And he was rich-- yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grade:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1897)

Answer the questions, each of you separately, in today's email:

1. What kind of person is Richard Cory? How do other people feel about him?

2. What do you think the point of the poem is? What is the poet trying to say?

________________

2. US History

SEBASTIAN: this week we are working on the Bill of Rights (what is the Bill of Rights?)

Carefully read the Wiki Entry on the Bill of Rights. Write a paragraph and email to me explaining why a Bill of Rights was adopted.

SHERIDAN:
1. Continue reading the Oregon Trail book

3. Taiwan History

SEBASTIAN & SHERIDAN
Today we are going to look at Indigo in Taiwan's history.

Read this article discussing it: (article)(and this one from Jeff's blog)
See if you can find the Indigo dyeing center from the first website. Maybe we can visit it this week.

4. Math practice books
no big math books.

Chinese & Art (ask mom)

Tomorrow: Writing, big math books, Macbeth!

Week of Jan 5

Almost like Whale 2 chaps a day this week

Dan-dan diary of Oregon Trail

Zeb first amendment cases

http://www.anarchytv.com/speech/cases.html

Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_First_Amendment_case_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_v._Des_Moines_Independent_Community_School_District
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engel_v._Vitale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Jonge_v._Oregon

January 5, 2009

2009 already!

Science
Dan-dan and Zeb. Read Almost like a whale: intro chaps 1 & 2

(3 + 3 articles)

History:
Zeb we're continuing with the Constitution. Read Articles 5,6, and 7

Dan-dan: This week and next week we are looking at the US in the period between the Revolution and the Civil War. Four main trends here: expansion westward, conflicts with native americans, rapid economic growth, and the problem of slavery.

Dan-dan in A Nation of Nations
SKIM (read lightly, as you please) through pages 219-240
READ 240-243 on the doubling of the national size
SKIM 244-247
READ 247-252 on the Second War for independence

MATH
big books, math practice books

CHINESE -- both of you!

ENGLISH
Do your writing practice books.

This week we are going to look at the Shakespeare Play MacBeth. It is about a noble in Scotland who meets three witches that foretell his future. He then kills the king and takes over the throne, as the witches foretold. In the Macbeth book on the table, read Act 1, Scene 1 (it is very short). Read it out loud. Then watch it on Youtube.

Ask mom to find MACBETH, any version, on Yahoo.com. Particularly good is the 1971 Polanski version, but any will do.

Michael