Friday October 11, 2019
Dear Parents,
Time continues to fly by as we head into autumn here at Plato Academy. We will be finishing Angela’s Ashes next week. It will be quite an accomplishment for students to have read a Pulitzer Prize winning novel in its entirety. After completing Angela’s Ashes, we will be revisiting the works of William Shakespeare due to popular demand by delving into Julius Caesar.
In Math we looked into exponents and how they are used in astronomy as a way to understand extremely large numbers. We also played a game in which I asked students if they would rather receive a lump sum of one million dollars or a penny on the first day of the month and having it doubled each day until the 31st. After much hypothesizing and calculating, we were able to determine that if they received a penny on the first day of the month and had the sum doubled each day, we would have accumulated $10,741,514.20 – or nearly 11 million dollars by the end of the month. Moving forward, you might want to be careful when negotiating an allowance with your children. We also learned to use ratios in constructing jellybean art.
On Tuesday, students continued honing their chess skills with Mr. Saad. We also continue to play Chess sometimes at the end of the day when time permits.
Remember that we will be going to Graceland Cemetery as a culminating activity to our unit on Chicago history. Please, either send some cash with your children so that they may purchase something at Burger King at the conclusion of our tour. Students may also bring a bag lunch if they wish. As of now, the forecast for next Friday looks favorable with a predicted high of 62 degrees and partly sunny skies.
This week, we covered the lives of numerous Chicago notables buried at Graceland including:
- Charles Wacker
- William Goodman
- Potter Palmer
- John Altgeld
- Daniel Burnham
- Joseph Medill
- Philip Armour
On Wednesday, we acknowledged the 148th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which took the lives of some 300 people and began on October 8, 1871 by reading a short passage and watching a documentary on the conflagration. We also delved a bit deeper by investigating the Peshtigo Fire which also occurred on October 8, 1871 in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 245 miles north of Chicago in which 1,500 people were killed.
With regard to Science, we continued our experiments with magnets, structural engineering and atoms. We also looked at how wildfires have encouraged plant growth in the town of Lake Elsinore, California. Additionally, we also found out how extended stays aboard the International Space Station affect the human body and even changes DNA.
As always, please send any questions of concerns to: michael.flynn@plato academy.org
Have a great weekend!
Dr. Michael