Academics - Horseman Times Magazine

During the weeks of November 25 and December 2, Mr. Scrocca’s 7th grade classes did a sailing project.

Every class was divided into four or five groups. Each member of the group took control of one or two jobs, such as wind direction, wind speed, latitude, longitude, water depth, food, and temperature. The job you took control of required you to record the information into a captain's log. The information was shown to you on the computer screen.

This project was computer processed which made it fun. Each group started out at an island called Vesuvia. The object of this game was to sail in any direction you thought would lead you to land. You did this by reading Quinton’s Log, a document that acted as a manual for the game. As soon as you hit land, you had to get gold and bring it back safely to Vesuvia without running into pirates or any other danger.

Mr. Scrocca graded each group by determining if they came in first with the most gold or what place they came in. If they came in with the most gold, no matter what place they came in sailing, then they won.

This project lasted many days, but it gave the students a good opportunity to work in groups and listen to each person’s ideas.

This was a very fun-filled and interesting project and the students, as well as Mr. Scrocca, seemed to enjoy it very much.

I think that I shall never see,

A number as dumb as twenty-three.

It doesn’t get along with any,

Other numbers, one through twenty.

It’s stupid, stuck-up and obnoxious,

I wish that it had chicken-poxes.

For those of us who can’t speak well,

Twenty-three is living hell.

You don’t see groups of twenty-three,

And why you would, would puzzle me.

Twenty-three isn’t better,

Than any number, any letter.

It’s only half of forty-six,

I hate that number, it makes me sick.

Therefore, I can only say,

Twenty-three should be locked away.

It should be thrown out and forgotten,

It is so completely rotten.

It’s of no use, it’s so pathetic,

It might as well be alphabetic.

Would it make a difference to you,

If twenty-four followed twenty-two?

Then evens would have more; odd less,

And that would cause quite a mess.

But then, Maine is the twenty-third,

It can’t be deleted without a word.

Then that would cause quite a fuss,

And none would ever speak to us.

And if we just deleted Maine,

We’d never hear from them again.

And if we gave it twenty-four,

We’d have to move each state back more.

And after all was said and done,

Our states would number fifty-one.

We’d have to reteach everyone,

That forty-two equaled forty-one.

And this would cause a national riot,

There’d never be some peace and quiet.

Because those who’d been taught before,

That twenty-three preceded twenty-four,

Would not want to go back to school,

(That would be unjustly cruel).

And everyone would scream and swear,

That 4.7... was not the square,

Of twenty-three, the number loved,

By all of those who screamed above.

So take no note of what I’ve said.

Don’t let it stay inside your head.

For, even though it makes me sad,

Twenty-three is not that bad.

One career that involves science is a chemist. A chemist works with chemicals and performs different experiments to find new substances.

Scientists and engineers use chemistry to sell different products to people as well as other industries. Chemistry is closely related to the work of physics.

Chemists are concerned with two main questions. One question is, what is the chemical make-up of all the substances in the world? The second one is, how can the make-up of a substance be changed? They are still looking for the answers to that.

I tri not two rite alot in class or anyware else because I tri not two get help.

Christopher Columbus was a great man, because he discovered the Americas. He was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He went to sea at an early age and he learned much about it.

He also was a great geographer and he became popular when he discovered Hispaniola. On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos , Spain. His group included 90 sailors and three small ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

I am doing my science article on minerals. There are a lot of "neat" minerals in the earth. Some minerals found in the earth are really valuable. People use them as jewelry or for decoration. These minerals are called gems.

There are many kinds of minerals like gold, diamonds, sapphire, and quartz, these are some of the valuable ones. Others, like emeralds, rubies, and crystals are also found in the earth. Most of these minerals are really expensive. Diamonds are the hardest. Minerals can be like rocks or they could be soft like a powder.

Since minerals are found in the earth, people have to dig in parts of the earth where that particular mineral is. Mostly when people go looking for gold or diamonds, they would have to go into rocky mines. Then they would have to chip away at the rocks in search of the valuable minerals in the earth.

Paleontology is a very hard scientific field to study, but it is interesting and can and will explain much of the mysteries of the past.

One of the major problems paleontologists face is mass extinction. Even Darwin said it never would happen, and he was wrong. It happened to dinosaurs and it happened several times in the Precambrian Era.

Dr. John Horner says a meteor hit the earth approximately 65 million years ago. A meteor would only have to be a mile wide. It could have kicked up diamond dust, dirt, etc. It also could have clouded the atmosphere blocking out the sun, preventing photosynthesis.

Robert T. Bakker says that dinosaurs died out from a disease that spread throughout the world. It’s possible but seems unlikely!

These paleontologists all have interesting theories but one of the most recent theories is that the world was changing and not all dinosaurs could evolve or adapt fast enough. In the Jurassic period, the atmosphere was made mostly of helium and hydrogen, now it is made mostly of oxygen. Some species survived like the chambed nautilus, horseshoe crab and alligator. Others, like dinosaurs, may have evolved, possibly into birds.

There is more evidence that dinosaurs evolved into modern day birds than reptiles. Dinosaur bones are filled with hollows like a bird and their vertebrae is very similar to a bird’s.

It is impossible for dinosaurs to have evolved into reptiles. A reptile’s heart is not strong enough to pump blood up the 30 foot neck of a suarapod. A dinosaur would not have time to sit in the sun and digest food like a lizard. They would spend the majority of the day eating. Some ate twice their own body weight.

People like science because "we do experiments," said Maria. Rafael enjoys "learning and exploring new things and ideas." "Science is kind of easy and fun," said Calvin, and Gustavo said,"It is really cool to learn!"

"I like working with chemicals," says Mike. "We get to learn how things in our body work," said Erin. Krystle thinks that, "It's fun to learn about the planets."

"We learn about many special events in America’s history. It is very important," said Mariel. "I like to learn about the past and about famous people, like Christopher Columbus," said Ricardo.

Amberly says, "I get a feeling that I’m going back in time. I get to be part of something." "We do a lot of fun projects and I enjoy seeing the films about history," said Fernando.

" Mr. Russell is a cool teacher. He teaches us tricks to do in our Do Nows," says Tony.

"He’s really nice and gives us extra credit if we are good to a sub. The book reports are easy, too," Lee says.

Kurt says, "Mr. Russell helps us master the English language. I like how he teaches. He is one of the best English teachers I’ve ever had."

"I like learning about all the different things in math and the riddles Mr. Thomas teaches us," Ryan says. "It is a subject that will help you a great deal in the future. It is very interesting and not that hard to learn," says Melvin.

Neroliza says, "Math is very exciting. It helps us a lot." "It is the best thing to learn. We need math," says Elina. "You get to do things you haven’t done before," Kelvin says."Everyone needs math for everything they do," Tyrell says.

1. Study before you go to bed. You’re more likely to remember if you sleep after you study.

10. Forget what your parents say about your grade. Just do your best, and please yourself with what you get.

Mathematics is nearly as old as humanity itself. There is evidence proving that cave men had a sense of geometry and an interest in geometric patterns. This has all been found in the designs of prehistoric pottery, textiles, and cave paintings. The earliest records of advanced, organized mathematics dates back to the 3rd millennium B.C. to the ancient Mesopotamian countries of Babylonia and Egypt.

"Mathematics" comes from the Greek word mathemata, which means "things that are learned." For the ancient Greeks, mathematics did not only include the study of numbers and space, but also music and astronomy. Though, nowadays, the scope of mathematics is broader than ever.

Mathematics is the study of relationships among quantities, properties, and magnitudes, as well as logical operations by which unknown quantities, properties, and magnitudes maybe figured out.

- First of all, there is the mathematics of numbers, or quantity. This branch is called arithmetic and deals with particular numbers.

- When we study algebra, we study (not particular numbers) relationships that apply to whole groups of numbers. EX: (a + 2) = a + 4a +4

- Geometry is the study of the properties of different shapes, the relations between them, and how to measure them.

- Plane geometry consists of points, lines, and figures on a two dimensional surface.

- Another branch of mathematics is called calculus. This is based on the study of functions.

- Then, there is statistics. This involves the accumulation of data expressed in quantities and the setting up of the conclusion based on such data.

These are only a few of many subdivisions in mathematics, but as I said before . . . mathematics is a vast field with many branches.

Mathematics also serves the branches of learning. These are called humanities, which include painting and music. Painting is the basis of perspective, in the sense that the artist represents, on a flat surface, persons and objects as they appear . . . in a three - dimensional world. Mathematics also plays an important part in music. The system of scales and the theories of harmony are basically mathematical, so is the analysis of the tonal qualities of different instruments. Mathematics has helped greatly in the design of organs, pianos, flutes, and violins.

Mathematics is deeply rooted in almost every kind of human activity, from our everyday affairs to advanced research done in many fields of science. You might not think so, but everyone is a mathematician in one way or the other. Arithmetic takes a part in our lives each and every day - when we consult a watch or clock to find the time; when we calculate the cost of a purchase and the change that is due to us; even when we keep score in football, baseball, or tennis.

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses a beauty cold and austere, like that of a sculpture, without any appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show." -