Hendricks High School Happenings
March 13-31
English
Hello! In English, we are in the process of reading some amazing novels about the American experience. Each grade has their own flavor.
11/12 grade is just starting The Jungle, a classic piece of muckraker literature. Set in the early 1900’s, the protagonists come to terms with a harsh life in a meat packing plant.
9/10 grade continues to explore The Autobiography of Malcolm X. This novel gives students a wonderful look at a new/different side of the civil rights movement in the 60’s.
7/8 grade has begun reading The Red Badge of Courage. This novel is an excellent example of American realism. Set in the American Civil War, the reader follows a young soldier who wonders if he has what it takes to be a soldier.
Social Studies
Scott Thoresen
Science
The Physical Science students have just wrapped up a unit on energy: they not only learned how to calculate work, power, and energy, but they can also identify different forms of energy! We bungee jumped Barbies to show a change in kinetic and potential energy in a bungee jump, and we recently created skits to show how energy can go from an electric source to heat, light, and sound.
The 6th grade students learned from watching the Physical Science energy skits, and they are now beginning a unit on energy themselves - with a survival training theme! We asked them, "if you were stuck in the middle of nowhere with only your knowledge of energy, will you survive?" By the end of this unit, the answer should be YES!
The Earth Science students have had a blast learning about glaciers that once swept through our area thousands of years ago. In fact, we are gearing up to take a field trip next week to see some nearby geological sites that were shaped by the very glaciers they have studied for the last few weeks. Stay tuned - the next field trip will be out to the Badlands later this spring!
In 5th grade, we are learning all about plants! What are the important parts of plants, how do they grow, and what factors affect plant growth are all questions we have answered and will be answering in the next couple of weeks. To augment this, the 5th graders have planted vegetable seeds so they can grow their own vegetable gardens with the information they learned here. Be on the lookout for these when your 5th grader brings home an array of seedlings!
Lastly, Chemistry is embarking on one of the scariest of the scary in chemistry: stoichiometry! This is just a fancy word for math in science. They are rocking at it and mastering Avogadro's crazy number and how it fits into everything chemistry. What kind of music to chemistry students like the best? Rock and MOLE!!!
Math
The Algebra I class has been talking systems of equations and the different methods on how to solve them. Some of the methods we have discussed are graphing, substitution, and elimination. We have also discussed some word problems that utilize system of equations. Along with how irrelevant some of the examples I used were; what can I say, the old movie rental places that shut down will forever hold a special place in my heart. Here is an example:
Video club A charges $10 for membership and $3 per movie rental. Video club B charges $15 for membership fee and $2 per movie rental. For how many movie rentals will the cost be the same at both clubs? What is the cost? See the picture below for an example!
Thanks,
Mr. Peters