Heads up: I will be hosting a halloween costume contest in class. You will get to vote for “Prettiest” “Funniest” “Most Elaborate” “Most Creative” and “They deserve a win but they fit no category” So come in costume!
KNOW
READ first please. This short chapter gives an overview of the space race while the videos focus on the lunar landing. Chapter 35, subsection “The Space Race” in STOW.
And because this year isn’t strictly linear in our timeline you’ll need some understanding of the Cold War (that’s coming next history class) in order to appreciate one of the big reasons WHY the space race was so important to America. Watch this video for a crash course on the Cold War.
Watch this video (guys, I know his voice can be annoying and I’m no swiftie BUT this parody is a great summarization of the space race! Watch it to review what you learned)
Read this innaugaral speech by John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was sworn in as president and this speech is considered one of the greats in modern history. Do you agree with that assessment? Why or why not? MARK and be prepared to share a quote from the speech that you think is based on true principles.
Kennedy was also the president who called for America to be the first to land a man on the moon. He was assasinated in 1963 so he was not alive to see the moon landing take place in 1969. Watch this clip from his speech declaring the US would put a man on the moon.
Here are two riddles where the answer is an invention that changed the world. The invention was created between 1950 and 2000! Bring your guesses to class, good luck:
I am the child of Cold War fears,
Born in the clash of pioneering ideas.
A web of nodes, once sparse and few,
Now billions strong, connecting me to you.From ARPA’s dream to Cerf’s protocol,
I grew from military to universal.
Packets travel through my veins,
Crossing oceans, deserts, and plains.TCP/IP, my lingua franca,
HTTP, my public persona.
Berners-Lee gave me a face,
Now I reach to outer space.I’ve no central brain or heart,
Yet I connect each distant part.
Resilient, I route around,
Censorship can’t keep me down.I’ve shrunk the world to a village size,
Brought revolutions and enterprise.
In my depths, both truth and lies,
Knowledge and chaos, equally thrive.I’m not a thing you can hold or see,
But without me, where would society be?
From @ to .com, I’ve changed the game,
What am I? Can you guess my name?
We’re going to do a second riddle, this one I *think* is more tricky, let’s see how you do:
I am the child of accident and insight,
Born from a quest for tires light.
In cloudy solution, I first appeared,
Confounding those who persevered.Five times stronger than steel, they say,
Yet lighter than a feather’s sway.
From bullets to boats, I guard with might,
In space and sea, I shine so bright.A woman’s mind gave me my start,
In DuPont’s lab, I stole her heart.
No “Eureka!” shouted, but excitement grew,
As my potential slowly came into view.Polymers aligned in crystal dance,
Heat-treated for strength, I took my stance.
Aramid fibers, my true name,
But by another, I found my fame.In vests I save, in cables I bind,
In fashion, protection you’ll find.
From accident to necessity,
I changed the world invisibly.What am I, this accidental wonder?
Whose strength leaves many in awe and wonder?
UNDERSTAND
You get to write a poem that follows a specific rhyme scheme and meter with the theme being all about the space race! (I kept telling everyone that we would be writing a rap for class — rap is often poetry! haha, so if you would like to perform your poem as a rap you absolutely can! But I was mostly teasing about rapping, I hope you are relieved and not too disappointed)
Parameters for Your Poem:
- Theme: The space race. You can focus on one specific aspect such as the moon walk, the competition between the USSR and America, NASA etc!!! There are so many different things you can choose to focus on for your poem! Start by brainstorming a whole bunch of themes and then choose your favorite. This will help if you get stuck and have a hard time rhyming, you can always try one of your other themes that you came up with instead!
- Length: Your poem should be 8 to 12 lines long.
- Rhyme Scheme: Select a rhyme scheme. Here are a few options:
- AABB: Each pair of lines rhymes (e.g., line 1 rhymes with line 2, and line 3 rhymes with line 4).
- ABAB: Alternate lines rhyme (e.g., line 1 rhymes with line 3, and line 2 rhymes with line 4)
- ABBA: The first and last lines rhyme, while the middle two lines rhyme with each other.
- Meter: Your poem should have a consistent meter. Here are two common types:
- Iambic Pentameter: Each line has 10 syllables, following an unstressed-stressed pattern (da-DUM). Example: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
- Trochaic Tetrameter: Each line has 8 syllables, following a stressed-unstressed pattern (DA-dum). Example: “Double, double toil and trouble.”
- ***** I get that this may be your first time writing in meter! Do not be overwhelmed by the stressed-unstressed idea. I will happily accept your poem as long as you follow either the 10-syllable line OR the 8 syllable line.
Steps to Write Your Poem:
- Brainstorm Ideas:
- Think about what you want to express in your poem.
- Jot down words, phrases, or images that relate to your chosen theme.
- Choose Your Rhyme Scheme:
- Decide which rhyme scheme you want to use (AABB, ABAB, or ABBA).
- Write down the letters for each line of your poem based on the chosen scheme.
- Draft Your Lines:
- Start writing your lines according to the chosen meter (iambic pentameter or trochaic tetrameter).
- Focus on the rhythm as you write. Use a dictionary or thesaurus if you need help finding rhyming words, I am asking you to NOT use AI on this assignment! There are plenty of online rhyming resources that won’t be quite as helpful as AI but will still give you the help you need! Integrity matters.
- Check Your Rhyme and Meter:
- Read your poem aloud to ensure that it flows well and adheres to the rhyme scheme.
- Count the syllables in each line to confirm that they match the required meter.
- Final Touches:
- Title your poem and put your name on it.
- Format it neatly and type it up so you can turn it in to me!
YES, we WILL be reading these poems aloud in class! Yes, I fully expect this assignment to stretch and challenge you. I look forward to hearing your work! ALSO, if you manage to rhyme the word Sputnik and the rhyme makes sense (so no made up words or nonsensical rhymes) then you earn $5 vanbucks! This is just a for-fun challenge, not required 🙂
BECOME
This month’s theme is FOCUS — america was so HYPERFOCUSED on putting the first man on the moon during this era. They put tons of money, resources, smart people and support behind this project and they did it! The USA remains the only country to have put a man on the moon (and they did it more than once!).
What do you think you can accomplish with great focus? How much does WHAT you choose to focus on matter? If we’re going to relate this to photography I think we can clearly see how much our focus point matters. If I’m taking a picture of my family but I focus my lens on the trees BEHIND my family then my family is going to be blurry and unclear and the trees will be sharp. I wanted a photo of my family and I got a photo of trees with a blurry blob of people in the foreground. I didn’t choose the correct focus point so I got a picture I didn’t want.
Our focus point is EVERYTHING. It will affect your attitude, your choices, your goals and where you end up in life.
So what would happen if we chose God, His goodness, His kingdom as our focus? The cool thing about hyperfocusing on God is that his light will illuminate and add beauty to our life. His plan for us will help us to see where to go next, what path to take. Focusing on him actually EXPANDS our view.
I want you to find a quote from General Conference about Focus and I want you to design it pretty or color it pretty and bring it to class. We’re going to hang them up in Traci’s basement to finish out the month.
