September 13, 2019
Dear Parents,
We have had a very productive week here at Plato Academy. As the weather has been summer-like we have been able to go outside every day after lunch.
For much of Wednesday, we focused on the 9/11 attacks of 2001. We learned that 19 terrorists from Saudi Arabia and Egypt hijacked 4 jets and used them as weapons with two of them crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, another of them hitting the Pentagon just outside of Washington DC and the final one crashing into a field in Shanksville, PA. We also talked about the ensuing invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and learned that our country still has several thousand troops there. We subsequently explored how the 9/11 attacks led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s government. Additionally, we looked at how air travel changed and what security measures were put into place following the attacks. And, while we may not be happy about the amount of time it takes to board a plane these days, we do understand the necessity of overlapping security at airports here and around the world.
We are continuing our study of Chicago history in preparation for our trip to Graceland Cemetery in October. So far, we have read biographies of Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison, who was assassinated in October of 1893 at the conclusion of the 1893 World’s Fair near the corner of Van Buren and Ashland on the near west side of the city. We also looked into the life of Ernie Banks who was a tremendously gifted baseball player known as “Mr. Cub.”
We stumbled onto the topic of palindromes in the middle of the week. For the uninitiated, palindromes are words or phrases that are spelled the same way both frontward ad backwards. We happened upon the subject after realizing that from September 10, 2019 to September 19, 2019 each of the dates are palindromes when expressed numerically. As an example, Tuesday September 10, 2019 would be expressed as: 9/10/19. In a similar fashion, Thursday September 19, 2019 would be expressed as: 9/19/19. When written backwards, the dates are identical.
Some of the palindrome phrases we explored were:
- Rats live on no evil star
- Taco cat
- Dennis sinned
- Evil olive
- Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog
If you get an opportunity, try to invent some palindromes with your child, perhaps while eating dinner or taking a car ride.
We have read up to page 110 in Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes which the children seem to be enjoying immensely. We have illustrated several scenes from the novel and created crossword puzzles featuring words, phrases and characters from the book. We have also been reinforcing our reading of Angela’s Ashes by watching the accompanying movie.
In Mathematics we played the 24-Game, and continued our work on determining the area and volume of cubes. In reviewing these concepts with your child please keep the following in mind:
Length x Width = Area
Length x Width x Height = Volume
We also used our mathematical prowess to determine how pencils are made after reading an article in Scholastic Math
With regard to Science, we learned about animal free circuses, the jerboa, which has the largest ears of any mammal and how helicopters are able to fly. We will continue with our reading of Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, concerns or wish to just check in feel free to contact me at: michael.flynn@platoacademy.org
Dr. Michael