Mrs. DiLorenzo- Art Book Review

I recently was able to get some great ideas from the book "Alter This: Radical Ideas for Transforming Books into Art". Finding projects that students relate to is a difficult task at times. This book really gives you some great instruction on how to create projects that are truly unique and interesting to the students. Not only are the directions clear but the book also offers visual aids to help you. While flipping through the pages, I was able to use one of the ideas in the book, and applied it to a line design project I do with 8th grade. The project came out great!

Stefanie DiLorenzo/Art teacher

Mr. Worthington- Decades Assignment

As part of this group assignment students will focus on one of the decades from the lst half of the 20th century. Each group will have 10 minutes to give the class a feel for the decade. The focus should be on political, economic and social aspects of the decade, as well as key cultural and scientific achievements of the era.

Suggested topics but not limited to:

1950's- Civil Rights Movements, Korean War, McCarthyism, etc.
1960's- Malcolm X, Berlin, JFK Assassination, Beatlemania, etc.
1970's- President Nixon, Watergate, Detente, Hostage Crisis (Iran)
1980's- President Reagan, Sandra Day O'Connor, Moral Majority, etc.
1990's- President Bush, Global Warming, NAFTA, Waco, Texas, etc.

See Assignment sheet for additional topics

Students will have time in the Library Information Center to work on the project.

Library Information Center Materials:

General Information on Decades:

• Our American Century- REF 973.923 Tur
• American Decades 1970-1979- REF 973.92 Am
• The 20th Century- REF 909.82 Dow

Specific Topics: Use Search Plus to find individual topics such as Korean War, Global Warming, AIDS, etc.

VRC sites:

• ABC CLIO- American History
• ABC CLIO- World History/Modern
• World Book Online

Information Literacy Standards:

Skills: 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.9, 3.1.2, 3.1.4

Dispositions in Action: 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 2.2.4, 3.2.1, 3.2.2

Responsibilities: 1.3.2, 1.3.4, 2.3.1

Self-Assessment Strategies: 3.4.2, 3.4.3

Mr. Daguerre- Everyday Science Project

For this 4th quarter assignment students must create a poster, PowerPoint presentation, and a 1 page summary about an everyday science topic. Rubric points will be given for research/content, visual presentation, oral presentation and a summary paper. Students must show that they are experts on their topic.

Some possible topics are:

• Physics of Music
• Chemistry of Cosmetics
• Physics of Amusement Parks
• Precious Metals and Gems/Jewelry
• Chemistry of Art (Paints)
• Engineering of Aircraft
• Invasive Species

For the research/content component, students are to gather information from a variety of quality electronic and print sources. Sources should be balanced and relevant. In addition, a work cited page should be included.

The Library Information Center has the following materials available for this assignment:

• The Way Things Work by David Macaulay
• The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
• Cool Stuff 2.0 and how it works by Chris Woodford
• Cool Stuff Exploded: Get Inside Modern Technology by Chris Woodford
• National Graphic Book of Inventions by Ian Harrison

In addition, students are able to utilize Search Plus for print materials on a variety of subjects.

Information Literacy Standards:

Skills: 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.7, 2.1.2, 3.1.1, 3.1.4

Dispositions in Action: 1.2.1, 1.2.2,1.2.6, 2.1.2, 3.2.1

Responsibilities: 1.3.1,1.3.4

Self-Assessment Strategies: 1.4.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.4

VRC Site of the Month- World Book Online

World Book Online: The premier online reference source containing every article from the 22 volume encyclopedia print set plus thousands more.

Ways you can search @ World Book Online:

IMAGES & VIDEOS:
By title
Atlas
CONTENT:
By subject
Alphabetically
Dictionary

The site also includes research tools, access to a Spanish version, a biography center, quizzes & activities, and a featured video of the day.