What's new this week

Here is a quick reminder of this week's upcoming events:

On Tuesday, Wordly Wise is due as are Spelling definitions. There is the weekly Spelling test on Tuesday as well.



All Science Fair Projects are due in class on Wednesdays. The actual Science Fair day is on Thursday.



On Wednesday evening, February 27th, at 7:00 p.m. there will be the important meeting in the multi-purpose room for parents to learn more about the next steps in the middle school development process and to find out how you and your family can be involved.



On Thursday evening there will be the Science Fair for parents to view the Seabury students' projects.



Friday is pizza and popcorn Friday.

The Dawn of a New Day for Seabury

This morning the Seabury community received very exciting news from Seabury's Director, Mrs. Wollum. An excerpt of her e-mail is listed below. It is as follows:

"...Last night, the board met to review and discuss the feasibility study findings. After thoughtful consideration, the board passed a motion expressing unanimous support for moving forward with planning for a Seabury middle school, with the intent of opening in the fall of 2009. Parents are encouraged to attend a meeting next Wednesday, February 27,at 7 p.m. to learn more about the next steps in the middle school development process, and to find out how you and your family can be involved.Parents of current Explorers students should check Thursday packets today for an overview of the initial plans for serving 6th and 7th grade students on the lower school campus next year. It is important to us that 6th and7th grade students who are enrolled next year prior to the opening of a separate middle school facility are provided with a middle school experience next year. The information in your folder today outlines plans that have been made thus far."

Please try to attend the Wednesday, February 27th meeting at 7:00. It will be most informative.

Homework: Mrs. Gellert's math class: p. 43, Great Shot math sheet.

There is not any Social Studies homework tonight for Explorers and Navigators.

Total Eclipse of the Moon tonight at 7:05 !

Tonight's the night!

Please go outside at 7:05 to see the last lunar eclipse until December 2010. That's part of the Explorer's homework tonight. Other homework includes their Science from Mr. G. My Math class is to do their Golf Math page called "Par-fect" Fractions. Both the work page and their graph paper scratch piece of paper are due tomorrow.
NOW on to the lunar eclipse!

The following information is from both NASAand also King 5 News . I hope you find this interesting and informative:

Eclipses occur only at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are in a perfect line. Because the moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly aligned with the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every full moon. The moon will enter Earth's umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 5:43 p.m. Pacific tonight. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon. Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. Pacific time.. Look for the moon to possibly turn red during the total portion of the eclipse. "The exact color that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere," according to a NASA statement. "If there are extra particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red." The redness occurs because while the moon is in total shadow, some light from the sun passes through Earth's atmosphere and is bent toward the moon. The effect is to cast all the planets' sunrises and sunsets on the moon.

King 5 News:
Wednesday night could be an interesting one in the skies over the Northwest. A total eclipse of the moon - the last one until 2010 - will be visible, and the U.S. military is planning to shoot down a damaged spy satellite.

An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light.
"Shortly after the moon rises you will see a bite taken out of it as the shadow of the earth starts to slide over the man in the moon," said Marriott.
The full eclipse, known as "totality," will begin at 7:01 p.m. Seattle time and last about 50 minutes.
"The moon will be totally within the earth's shadow and will either look dark, or possibly coppery," said Marriott.
The coppery color is created when the sun's light goes through the earth's atmosphere.
NASA says viewers may also see some turquoise, which is caused when light passes through the ozone layer.
Eclipse researcher Dr. Richard Keen of the University of Colorado says the best time to see the turquoise is during the first and last minutes of totality.
Saturn and Regulus will also be visible on either side of the moon. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo.
Skywatchers viewing through a telescope will have the added treat of seeing Saturn's rings.
Mariott says the best place for viewing is some place that has a clear view of the eastern horizon.
"The shadow will start to slide off the moon at 7:48," he said.
Wednesday's event will be the last total lunar eclipse until Dec. 20, 2010. Last year there were two.



Also tonight, the Air Force plans to shoot down the damaged spy satellite known by its military designation, US 193.
The Bush administration and U.S. military officials have said the bus-sized satellite is carrying a fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits the ground.
The military has said it hopes to smash the satellite just before it enters Earth's atmosphere, with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.
According to SpaceWeather.com, an air traffic advisory warns pilots to avoid a patch of ocean near Maui from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Seattle time). The Web site says this would center the missile strike on the darkness of Wednesday's eclipse, and possibly make debris visible from the west coast of North America.
Marriott says the debris would look like a lot of meteors.
US 193 was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward.

Christopher Columbus famously used a blood red- eclipse in 1504 to frighten natives on Jamaica into feeding his crew.
The planet Saturn and the bright star Regulus will form a broad triangle with the moon's ruddy disk, according to Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist.
You don't need any special equipment to watch a lunar eclipse. A telescope will bring out interesting details of the lunar surface, and even a small telescope will reveal Saturn's stunning rings.

Here's a YouTube video if you are unable to see tonight's lunar eclipse. It's the total Lunar Eclipse August 28, 2007 Hawaii . It is definitely worth viewing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dk--lPAi04&feature=related.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Welcome Back!

We had a very busy day full of hard work.

Tonight's homework for the Navigators is to complete their Week 12 Geography packet.

Explorers' spelling tests were administered today and nearly everyone made 90% or better. Great work! Remember for those who make 100% there are yummy big brownies coming your way! New spelling words for each student's individualized spelling program were given out today.

Tonight's homework for Explorers is to begin working on their spelling definitions.

Due Tuesday, February 26th, for Explorers:

Spelling Test, Spelling definitions and Wordly Wise.

Federal holiday today to honor our past presidents

There was not any school this past Thursday and Friday due to Teacher In-service days, which incidentally were lengthy, exhausting, but extremely productive, so your Explorer has had a very long weekend. I trust that you have taken some time today to observe the federal holiday of Presidents' Day. Here's a little history on this holiday.

Until 1971, both February 12 and February 22 were observed as two separate federal holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and George Washington (Feb. 22) respectively.

In 1971 President Richard Nixon proclaimed one single federal holiday, the Presidents' Day, to be observed on the third Monday of February, honoring all past presidents of the United States of America.
Please Note: The Federal statute designates this day as Washington's Birthday, President Nixon issued a proclamation declaring the holiday as "Presidents' Day" in 1971. President Nixon erroneously believed that a Presidential proclamation on the matter carried the same weight as an Executive Order. Since that change in 1971, the common term has been "Presidents' Day".

As the official title of the federal holiday,Washington's Birthday ,was originally implemented by the federal government of the United States in 1880 in the District of Columbia and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices.

As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington's actual birthday, February 22. On January 1, 1971 the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. A draft of the Uniform Holidays Bill of 1968 would have renamed the holiday to Presidents' Day to honor both Washington and Lincoln, but this proposal failed in committee and the bill as voted on and signed into law on June 28, 1968 simply moved Washington's Birthday.

In the late 1980s, with a push from advertisers to open stores on the federal holiday and to promote sales, the term Presidents Day began its public appearance in businesses. The theme has expanded the focus of the holiday to honor another President born in February, Abraham Lincoln, and often other Presidents of the United States. Although Lincoln's birthday, February 12th, was never a federal holiday, approximately a dozen state governments have officially renamed their Washington's Birthday observances as "Presidents Day", "Washington and Lincoln Day", or other such designations.

It is also interesting to note that "Presidents Day" is not always an all-inclusive term. In Massachusetts, while the state officially celebrates "Washington's Birthday," state law also prescribes that the governor issue an annual Presidents Day proclamation honoring the presidents who have come from Massachusetts: John Adams, John Quincy Adams,Calvin Coolidge, and John F.Kennedy. (Coolidge, the only one born outside of Massachusetts, spent his entire political career before the vice presidency there. George H. W. Bush, on the other hand, was born in Massachusetts, but has spent most of his life elsewhere.) Alabama uniquely observes the day as "Washington and Jefferson Day", even though Jefferson's birthday was in April. In Connecticut, while Presidents Day is a federal holiday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday is still a state holiday, falling on February 12 regardless of the day of the week.

Here are a few interesting facts about George Washington courtesy of Marilyn vos Savant.

Did George Washington really have false teeth made of wood?

No, but they weren't the envy of friends, either. At least one set contained animal teeth, a tooth made of hippopotamus ivory, lead, springs and bolts. Fortunately, folks seldom smiled in portraits of that era. Imagine how our $1.00 bill would look!

February 14th

Have you ever wondered about the History of Valentine's Day? Well, if so, I have a great deal of information about it below. So, sit back and enjoy reading about this special day.

European Valentine
A young Frenchman, Charles, Duke of Orleans, was one of the earliest creators of valentines, called "poetical or amorous addresses." From his confinement in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, he sent several poems or rhymed love letters or "valentines" to his wife in France.
During the fifteenth century, one valentine showed a drawing of a knight and a lady, with Cupid in the act of sending an arrow to pierce the knight's heart.
During the seventeenth century people made their own valentines using original verse or poems copied from booklets with appropriate verse.
The English attitude toward St. Valentine's Day in the middle of the eighteenth century is summed up in this verse printed in Poor Robin's Almanac in 1757:
This month bright Phoebus enters Pisces,
The maids will have good store of kisses,
For always when the fun comes there,Valentine's Day is drawing near,
And both the men and maids incline
To chuse them each a Valentine;
And if a man gets one he loves,
He gives her first a pair of gloves;
And, by the way, remember this,
To seal the favour with a kiss.
This kiss begets more love, and then
That love begets a kiss again,
Until this trade the man doth catch,
And then he doth propose the match,
The woman's willing, tho' she's shy,
She gives the man this soft reply,
"I'll not resolve one thing or other,
Until I first consult my mother."
When she says so, 'tis half a grant,
And may be taken for consent.


It was thought that Turtle Doves and Love Birds chose their mate for the year on February 14. Doves and pigeons mate for life and therefore were used as a symbol of "fidelity."

The first commercial valentine appeared circa 1800 and were rather simplistic. But by the 1830's and 1840's Valentines contained delicate and artistic messages. Valentines made of fine papers and decorated with satin, ribbon, or lace commanded high prices. They had pictures of turtledoves, lovers' knots in gold or silver, bow and arrows, cupids, and bleeding hearts. All of these symbols have become associated with love and lovers.

In the 1840's the first mechanical valentines were introduced. By pulling a tab, a figure or object on the card could be made to move. Some had elaborate honeycomb pop-outs or various other three-dimensional features.
In the 1840's messages on early valentines included:
"Love"
"I fondly, truly love thee."
"Love protects"
"My orb of day departs with thee."

American Valentines
Valentine Writers. After 1723, American valentines began to grow with the import from England of valentine "writers." A writer was a booklet containing a vast array of verses and messages which could be copied onto gilt-edged letter paper or other decorative sheets. One popular writer contained not only "be my valentine" type verses for men to send, but also acceptance or "answers" which women could return.

From then on, Valentines became less artistic and overornamented. During the 1890's they were adorned with garish spun glass, mother-of-pearl, imitation jewels, or silk fringe. Proof of the less attractive, cheap-looking valentine is seen in the "vinegar valentine." John McLaughlin, a New York printer, created these comic valentines that were printed on cheap paper in crude colors. His messages made fun of old maids, teachers, and others. Comic designs done in 1870 by the American cartoonist Charles Howard were called "penny dreadfuls"--a perfect name for them because they sold for a penny and the designs were dreadful.

The first U.S. made valentines were crafted by a Mount Holyoke College student, Miss Esther Howland. Her father, a stationer in Worcester, MA, imported valentines every year from England. Esther, however, decided to create her own valentine messages. Around 1830 she began importing lace, fine papers, and other supplies for her valentines. She employed several assistants and her brothers helped market her "Worcester" valentines. As one of our first successful U.S. career women her sales amounted to about a hundred thousand dollars annually--not bad for the 1830's.

In our century we've seen a change from the heavy sentimentality of earlier days to what can best be described as a light touch. Nowadays a valentine usually accompanies a more elaborate gift of candy, flowers, perfume, etc.

American school children usually celebrate St. Valentine's Day with a party at school. Prior to the party the children make a decorated box with a slot in the top. During the party the children distribute valentines to their classmates' Valentine's Box.

Valentine cards are manufactured on an enormous scale today that range from the sentimental to sophisticated to humous valentines. There is a valentine for everyone--sweetheart, spouse, children, parents, teacher and even your pet! In terms of the number of greeting cards sent, Valentine's Day ranks second only to Christmas.

Other Valentine Customs
A young girl was supposed to marry, eventually, the first eligible male she met on this day. If a girl was curious and brave enough she could conjure up the appearance of her future spouse by going to the graveyard on St. Valentine's Eve at midnight. She would then sing a prescribed chant and run around the church twelve times.
In England, little children went about singing of St. Valentine and collecting small gifts. It was also customary to place valentines on their friends' doorsteps.

Hope you had a very wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love from your family.

February 13th

FBI Issues Valentine's Day Email Warning
Feb 12, 2008
Internet Alert: St. Valentine's Day E-Card Carries Storm Worm Virus
If you unexpectedly receive a Valentine's Day e-card, be careful. It may not be from a secret admirer, but instead might contain the Storm Worm virus.
With the holiday approaching, be on the lookout for spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software (malware). The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to retrieve the electronic greeting card (e-card).
Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet-connected device and causes it to become infected and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.
The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail. Valentine's Day has been identified as the next target.
Be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited e-mail and do not click on any links provided.