The Vox Lycii newsletter is published three times during the school year by the faculty and staff of the Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted. Copies are distributed free of charge to all attending students. Inside this issue: •The Seawant Shopping 1 Network •Word Power! 2-3 Derivatives •GATEWAY Photo Gallery 4-5 •History in Motion 6 •Feudalism 7 •Gifted Opportunities 8 CALLING FOR OLD & DISCARDED CELL PHONES! Please bring any old and discarded cell phones to the Lab School. They will be refurbished and distributed throughout the community for special needs people. Edition Editors: Karen S. Arnett Shelly Montanez Laboratory School Coordinator: Dr. Sam Leary Supervisor of Gifted Education: Dr. Linda Harkins The Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted Newsletter THE VOICE OF THE SCHOOL Volume 7 Issue 3 Spring 2006 The Seawant Shopping Network Recently in Mrs. Ingram’s and Mrs. Arnett’s classes, the students had firsthand experiences in bartering. First they created their “seawant,” the Native American word for individual beads, from Model Magic®. After setting up their seawant shops and applying manufacturer’s suggested retail prices to their beads, the students bartered with one another to obtain the seawant beads that would complete their “wampumpeage,” the Native American word for strung beads. The students were asked to reflect upon the activity. Bartering seawant connects to our concept of Change because it generates change throughout the room. Sometimes I would find that the person with whom I traded, traded my beads with someone else! Zane tried to trade me back a bead I had in the first place! It was very funny. It also generated negative and positive changes. I traded with some beads I didn’t really like. Also connecting with Change, I can take a paperclip and put a hole through a different place on the bead to get a whole new image of the bead that I want. The seawant will also change by becoming wampumpeage when we string them together. Seawant and wampumpeage don’t just have different looks, the word changes as well. This activity made me realize how often change happens. I thought change just happened every once in a while, but this activity proved me wrong. I learned so much today! By Alexandra Hafer Change may be perceived as orderly or random. I think that this particular activity connects to the concept of Change because one bead may sell for a lot and get a bunch of offers, while another one may get just one offer or none at all. No one said that this one will sell first, second, third, and so on, but they sold in a random pattern, not orderly. By Jessica Cotton This activity connected to Change because change generates additional change. When I sold seawant to someone, they sold it to someone else. It changed because it had different owners. By Connor Hatfield (Please see Seawant, page 2) Page 2 Volume 7, Issue 3 Seawant, continued from page 1 This activity connected to Change in many ways. Like the change was positive if I got an interesting bead for a really cheap price, or the change could be negative if nobody bar- tered with me, and I had all my original beads. I learned a lot from the change in this ac- tivity. For instance, I loved one bead, and I had to trade my favorite one for it, and the situation ended up that I didn’t even keep that bead for which I had traded my favorite one. And I really had to change many items’ prices, and I sold even more beads when I did. One way I made one bead not sell (I didn’t want it to sell) was by raising the price of the item so no one could af- ford to buy it. Change connects to additional change in this activity also because every time you barter a great bead, everyone wants to barter it for something better. You might not notice, but the world would collapse if there wasn’t any change. By Riley Cyr My Wampum Shop Come in! My shop sells seeds (They look a bit like wampum beads.) I never sell my wares for money, That is why my shop is funny. By Sage Smiley Change generates additional change re- lates to bartering wampum beads because you have a bead, you trade a bead, and you get a bead. By Devon McClain Bartering relates to the concept of Change because you have to sell/barter your goods (beads) in order to increase your inven- tory, thus giving you the ability to sell and resell, continuously increasing our inventory. This is necessary for creating an increase in your finan- cial business. It can also decrease, depending upon our choices. By Nicholas Valle The Latin Language Arts students have been studying Roman myths from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The students are learning and constantly proving that 60-70% of our English vocabulary derives from the Latin language. Their assignment was to trace 10 English words back to their Latin roots and deduce the meaning of the English words. Once they learned the meaning of the English words, the students proved their understanding by incorporating the derivatives into creative and contextual projects which they presented to their classes. The students processed their derivatives through differentiated methods. Here are a few written examples. A Warning Missive President: Mr. Cheney, I’ve received a missive from Commander Montanez saying that Iraqians are threatening to bomb us. Vice President: They are going to ruin the agricultural terrain, and the farmers in Virginia are expecting a great vegetable crop this year. President: We need to send more troops to circumnavigate Iraq. It will intimidate them and make them too scared to attack, if we surround them. We also must insure that our troops are omniscient of their plans. They have to know what they’re doing. Vice President: This plan sounds good. Bin Laden is malicious when he makes war plans, and the terrorists have an angry bellicose way of acting. But I think this plan will outwit them still! President: Then I will go write a letter to reply to their missive and inform them what to do. By Ebony Goodson & Grace Lewis (Please see Derivatives, page 3) Page 3 Volume 7, Issue 3 A celestial terrain is a heavenly terrain, When someone needs water, I’d give them rain. Agricultural homes would be happy and proud, And pugnacious people would have to act sound. Nothing would be malicious, And bellicose men would not be vicious. I’m omniscient about heaven. I love its terrain, But controlling heaven would be a real pain! By Phillip White A long time ago there were two goddesses, Europa and Demeter, and this is their story. Europa: Why did you have to do that? Demeter: Because I was sad. Europa: That’s no reason to turn the terrain in the world into a frozen desert and kill all of the agriculture! Demeter: How would you feel if your only daughter was taken into the underworld! Europa: I would not like it! Mercury: Hera would like to see you two. Demeter & Europa: Why do we have to go to her? Hera: You two have always been pugnacious with one another. Europa: No, we haven’t. Demeter: Yes, we have. Hera: There you go again being bellicose. Demeter: I’m handling it, just send her off to circumnavigate the world or something. Hera: Stop, you two! Maybe you could work something out. I’ll write a missive to Hades telling him to let your daughter go, if you change the world back to normal. At least for now, she will be free. Demeter: Okay. So, everything went back to normal, and the world became less intimidating. Demeter and Europa became friends. By Kyara Bennett, April Johnson, and Becca Larios Derivatives, continued from page 2 Hephaestus At a party where all gods met, Dionysus was drinking wine; go figure! Demeter was trying to convince Hera that agriculture really was interesting! When Hephaestus walked in, everyone laughed, pointing at him. Hercules walked toward him saying, “Man, you’ve overdone the whole impressing the ladies ’thing’”, he laughed and walked away. Zeus walked over. Even though the gods were supposed to not be afraid of most things, Zeus was terribly intimidating! Zeus said something, but Hephaestus could not hear because the ladies were exclaiming over Aphrodite’s almost celestial look. “What?” Hephaestus asked. “You looked better with the beard,” Zeus boomed, loudly enough for everyone to hear. Hephaestus stormed out of the room. “Stupid parties, what do they know?” he thought. He had tried to clean himself up. He shaved his beard, trimmed his hair, and took a bath, a big sacrifice for a fire god, but everyone had laughed! Hephaestus let his malicious temper rise higher and higher until he couldn’t stand it. He threw a flame at the top of the volcano. He heard a “Boom,” and the volcano erupted; his bellicose attitude always resulted in some way similar to this, but this time he would regret it forever! Hopefully, the villagers would act in a pugnacious manner, protecting the village. Two weeks later, Hephaestus was sent a missive saying he was to be shunned for seven years! Most of the gods were mad—so mad that they never talked to him again! Aphrodite took it especially badly, since she loved her people: she made sure he was shunned an extra year! By Kelly Cosgriff Page 4 Volume 7, Issue 3 The Great Penny Hauler Inventions In March, the fifth graders went on field trips to Old Dominion University to tour the Engineering Department under the guidance of Dr. Zahorian. While there, the students became the “engineers” as they devised innovative ways to haul the greatest number of pennies the longest distance along a string. If you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again. Teamwork, budgeting for materials, and creative problem solving were necessary for successful penny haulers. I have an idea! Newton’s Laws of Motion are tested. Page 5 Volume 7, Issue 3 Each team of “GATE Engineers” had an opportunity to demonstrate their unique penny hauler to a gallery of their peers. The students soon discovered that things don’t always work the way they had planned. Back to the drawing board! The students enjoyed manipulating an autonomous vehicle which was created by an ODU undergraduate. Page 6 Volume 7, Issue 3 History in Motion By Robin Puryear Over the course of this academic year, the students have learned about many athletes who not only are sports champions, but also champions for a cause. Many of these athletes have utilized their abilities to effect change as well as to change history! According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, “The rare athlete is a true hero…By taking on the burdens of others, a champion becomes the people’s representative, their spokesperson, their beacon of hope [because]... these extraordinary men and women change attitudes and conditions, and strengthen their communities. They are more than sports champions: they are champions for a cause.” Morgan McDaniel, a student at Butts Road Intermediate wrote, “Tom Dempsey is a person who made a huge difference in history. Tom Dempsey was born with a stub for a hand and half of a right foot. The reason he made a difference in history is that he was on a college football team and found that he could kick, and he was good at it.” After college, Dempsey played for the Saints, and kicked a record of 63 yards in a single game. He has inspired disabled and handicapped students by showing them that they are able to accomplish many of their goals. Thurgood Marshall student Darell Smith found that he really admires Jackie Robinson. According to Darell, the reason Jackie Robinson made a difference through sports is because he broke the color barrier and went on to become one of the nation’s best baseball players. Kenzie Perry, a student at Butts Road Intermediate, was quite impressed with Jackie Mitchell, a female athlete who signed on with the Chattanooga Lookout in 1931. Even though she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game, Jackie Mitchell never had the opportunity to play in an actual game. Kenzie learned that the baseball commissioner felt that the game was too strenuous for a woman, and, consequently, never gave Jackie Mitchell that chance. Throughout the year, most students have found that they agree with Ellen Roney Hughes, the curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Hughes has commented that the “greatest champions stand for more than the records they break. They stand for the barriers they shatter — physical, social, psychological, racial, cultural —– and change the way we think about our world.” Page 7 Volume 7, Issue 3 MANY, MANY, MANY people or peasants working for them. Back then the philosophy was power = land + wealth. Because of that, Europe evolved into the continent it is today. By Clare Rigney The people who benefited from feudalism were the nobility and kings. Kings were part of the Four Alls and did rule all. Kings were the highest ranking people that controlled land and those who worked it. But, the king was only as powerful as the lords that supported him. The king and the lords exchanged land for loyalty and military service because power = land + wealth. At the bottom were peasants, who had no social importance at all and were hidden away, almost forgotten. There were some peasants who had a small piece of land to grow crops and build a shack. Then there were other peasants who were tied to the land no matter who the owner was and had nothing. These were referred to as "slaves." The peasants could not read or write and didn't know much about life outside of the land they worked. You can tell right off the bat that the people at the top, meaning the king, had the better end of the deal. They had power and wealth. Today, a lot of people are wealthy, but not many are both powerful and wealthy. I would definitely want to be a king (or queen) because I want to be wealthy, powerful, and live in a castle. By Siobhan McFarlane The kings were at the top. What they got out of feudalism was power = land + wealth. Kings were also only as strong as the lords who supported them. The people at the bottom were the peasants. Feudalism affected them because they worked very hard, but they received very little. Some were slaves and owned no land. Others worked in exchange for a small piece of land to grow food and support their families. Kings got the better end of the deal because they had a lot of power. Kings were kind of at the top of the food chain. By Jalen Mullen Feudalism created a society of specific roles and expectations. How did Feudalism benefit the people at the top? How did Feudalism affect the people at the bottom of importance? Who got the better end of the deal? Why? Feudalism benefited the people at the top, being the lords and the king, because without moving a muscle, by simply being born into the right family, they had power over people, land, plus money. Simply by sheer dumb luck, they lived the good life. Peasants, on the other hand, simply because of the family they were born into, once again had almost nothing, and, in some cases, nothing at all. By no fault of their own, they were impoverished, the lowest of low because they were born into a certain family. This system benefited the people of higher importance much more in many ways because they had more land, more power, plus more money. By Alyssa Glace The king controlled everybody and could tax anybody when he wanted, and he had many peasants to work for him. Other than when he declared war, a king’s life at the top was great! On the other hand, life at the bottom was not a walk in the park like in the king’s position. There are two kinds of peasants. The first group is villein. Villein peasants got land from the lords in exchange for work. Serf peasants are more like slaves and got no land. Since they were so poor, 80% to 90% of all people in the kingdom couldn’t read or write. Out of the peasants and the lords, I’d say the lords got the better part of the deal. It’s because they got a lot of land from the king. They gave a little bit of land to the peasants and in the end, the lords had lots of land, TONS of money, and The Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted Indian River Middle School Annex 605 Providence Rd. Chesapeake, VA 23325 Phone: 757-578-7023 Fax: 757-578-7025 Email: gatepagemaster@cps.k12.va.us 2006 - 2007 Concept: EXPLORATION Key Generalizations Exploration is necessary for growth. Exploration requires recognizing purpose and responding to it. Exploration confronts the unknown. Exploration may result in new findings or the confirmation of old findings. Exploration encompasses an element of risk. The mission of the Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted is to provide a differentiated instructional program for identified fourth and fifth grade students. Our program will foster the unique abili- ties and talents of the students so that they are able to realize their maximum po- tential and become productive leaders and citizens of the community. This will be accomplished by emphasizing higher order thinking skills, problem solving, communication, research skills, creativity, self-awareness, and peer interaction. WE’RE ON THE WEB! http://www.cpschools.com/Schools/home.php?school=GATE William & Mary Center for Gifted Education Saturday/Summer Enrichment Program for more information: http://www.cfge.wm.edu/sep.php Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth for more information: http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/ctysummer/ The Chesapeake Public School System is an equal educational opportunity school system. The School Board of the City of Chesapeake also adheres to the principles of equal opportunity in employment and, therefore, prohibits discrimination in terms and conditions of employment on the basis of race, sex, national origin, color, religion, age or disability. Thank you to Horace Mann, Murphy Fencing, and LA Nails for being partners in education with the Laboratory School for the Academically Gifted. Their continued support of the Lab School’s academic endeavors is greatly appreciated.