Friday November 8, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have had a very productive week here at Plato Academy!  We have just concluded our reading of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.  Next week, our culminating activity will be a game of Julius Caesar Jeopardy, complete with Roman togas and laurel wreaths for all.  After spending the past month or so in Ancient Rome, we will now begin Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra which deals with the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination and the advent of the Second Triumvirate which included Octavius Caesar, Lepidus and Mark Antony.  Most of the action takes place in Egypt where Mark Antony becomes infatuated with the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra despite the fact that he is married to Octavius’ sister Octavia.   This decision by Antony places him at odds with Octavius and war ensues.

We’ve also continued to work on the Dylan Thomas poem, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night and compared it to Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan who took his stage name from Dylan Thomas – forsaking his original surname of Zimmerman.

Additionally, we previewed the opera Earth to Kenzie which will be presented to us by the Lyric Opera at Schurz High School next Tuesday November 12, 2019.

Furthermore, we’ve been brushing up on our grammar skills, learning how to differentiate between simple and complete subjects as well as simple and complete predicates. –

We have begun our research projects with students looking into the following topics:

  • Why was Hitler evil?
  • D-Day
  • Bosnian history and culture
  • Poland during World War II
  • Thoracic surgery
  • Oxi Day
  • The history of the viola

In Social Studies we’ve been exploring the story of how Silent Night was created and went on to become the most revered of Christmas carols in an Austrian church in 1818.  According to historical accounts, the song was played on a single acoustic guitar because the church organ had been ravaged by mice.

In Science we learned how indoor plumbing has improved the lives of so many people on the planet since the beginning of the 20th century.  We also learned that there are still 2.3 billion people around the world who still do not have indoor plumbing.  Additionally, we investigated how mountains such as Denali in Alaska are now becoming polluted as the result of increasing numbers of climbers leaving behind waste.

Math has been devoted to finishing up our unit on the multiplication of decimals. We will be moving on to dividing decimals next week.  We’ve also had several spirited contests involving the 24 Games.  You will be happy to know that your children are closer than ever to defeating me.

As always, if there are any questions or concerns, please contact me at:

michael.flynn@platoacademy.org

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Dr. Michael

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