Dear Parents,
We’ve had a very productive week here at Plato Academy! It is a relief to return to in-person learning. We only have a bit left of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and I anticipate completing the novel by the end of next week. After completing In Cold Blood, I thought, given that Black History Month is upon us, we could begin reading Lorraine Hansberry’s autobiographical play A Raisin in the Sun which tells the story of the Youngers – an African-American family living on the southside of Chicago in the late 1950’s. In the play, the patriarch of the family Walter Younger has recently passed away, providing his family with an insurance policy of $10,000. The family decides to use the money to purchase a home in a white area of the city. The story is based on the real-life experiences of Lorraine Hansberrry as a young girl in Chicago. There is an accompanying movie starring Sidney Portier as Walter Younger Jr. which is very good. You need not worry about purchasing the book, as I have enough copies for everyone.
At the beginning of the week, we focused on the life of Martin Luther King. I chose to show students his brief “Mountaintop” speech which was delivered on the evening of April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was for the purpose of supporting a sanitation workers strike.
We then read a piece of mine that was completed last year and is part of a larger compilation, having to do with the events of April 4, 1968 when Dr. King was assassinated through the eyes of a 7 1/2-year-old boy on Chicago’s southside. In the ensuing discussion, we focused on the year 1968 in its totality and viewed several videos having to do with the riots following King’s assassination, the 1968 Democratic convention, the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam. Students then drew pictures of several aspects of the story including:
- Receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday and being told that I am dust
- Trying to make my way back to school after riots broke out on Friday April 5, following the King assassination
- Attempting to awaken my father by pouring a bottle of Pepsi down his throat
- Watching Bozo’s Circus at lunchtime whilst eating a grilled cheese sandwich on the afternoon of April 5, 1968
- Mayor Richard J. Daley instructing police to “shoot to kill” all rioters and arsonists
Later in the year, students will focus on writing their own biographies, complete with illustrations.
Here are some links:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgVrlx68v-0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kWIa8wSC0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVCSnhn8His
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9OJnRnZjU
On Wednesday, we watched President Biden’s Inaugural speech using the following link and discussed what will happen next in American politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqCwKf8QjA0
In Math, we discovered that Wednesday January 20, 2021 marked the beginning of a number of palindrome dates, which are dates that can be read the same forward and backward. For 10 consecutive days, from 1/20/21 to 1/29/21, the dates are mirrored. Wednesday was the first palindrome-number Inauguration Day, with the next one occurring in 1,000 years on January 20, 3021. Later this year, we’ll have even more palindrome dates — beginning with 12/1/21 and going until 12/9/21.
In Scholastic Math, we investigated averages and proportion after reading a piece entitled, “Engineering Chocolate Chips.”
In Science, we learned that there may be more water on the moon than scientists ever thought possible. We also learned about the tardigrade, also known as the “water bear” which is a small, but almost indestructible creature. Additionally, we learned about stone forests in Madagascar that were formed by erosion.
We also received energy-saving kits from Commonwealth Edison that I will be sending home with students next week after we work with them a bit more
As always, please direct any comments or concerns to michaelflynnphd@gmail.com
Take care.
Dr. Michael