Blog for September 12 - 16

          Welcome Space Travelers!

What a week... the first week of school, now come on you have to admit it was a lot of fun, right? Oh the highlight I am sure was reading the handbook in every single class... oh WOW! This week we get into real school, so fasten that seatbelt and pull down your helmet visor cause we are blasting off!

Today as I write this, it is 5:15 p.m., September 11th. Ten years ago at this time of the day there were no airplanes flying over the United States of America, people were in shock, trying to figure out what had just happened. Fear gripped the country and President Bush tried to calm a country that had just experienced a horrific event. Thinking back to 10 years ago, there still, to me seems to be no answer for something that was so destructive, lives have never been the same since that day and as I start this blog... I could not go into the plans for our week without mentioning something about 9/11. I hope for you and some day your childrens lives that no one will ever have to experience such an event as our country did on 9/11.

So... this week... we will get to know numbers.. Yep... what they are like, how they talk to us and where they live! It won’t be as bad as it sounds.. Actually you might even remember some of what we talk about and do... either way... as we begin our journey ... this is our first step!

               SPACE FACT: CONSTELLATIONS

The constellations are totally imaginary things that poets, farmers and astronomers have made up over the past 6,000 years (and probably even more!). The real purpose for the constellations is to help us tell which stars are which, nothing more. On a really dark night, you can see about 1000 to 1500 stars. Trying to tell which is which is hard. The constellations help by breaking up the sky into more manageable bits. They are used as mnemonics, or memory aids. For example, if you spot three bright stars in a row in the winter evening, you might realize, "Oh! That's part of Orion!" Suddenly, the rest of the constellation falls into place and you can declare: "There's Betelgeuse in Orion's left shoulder and Rigel is his foot." And once you recognize Orion, you can remember that Orion's Hunting Dogs are always nearby.

Constellations can be a useful way to help identify positions of stars in the sky. Constellations have imaginary boundaries formed by "connecting the dots" and all the stars within those boundaries are labeled with the name of that constellation. However, keep in mind that constellations are not real objects; they are just patterns as seen from our observation point on Earth. The patterns we see are for the most part just by chance. The individual stars in a constellation may appear to be very close to each other, but in fact they can be separated by huge distances in space and have no real connection to each other at all.

BLOG QUESTIONS: SEE SPACE FACT: CONSTELLATIONS


1) In the word CONSTELLATION how many letters are vowels______? Then how many letters are there in the word Constellation________?


2) Write out the number of stars you can see on a dark night in both word form and also standard form________________________________.


3) Go to this site
Star Chart
and count how many stars are in each of the below constellations
- Orion ___________
- Usra Major_______
-Ursa Minor_______
-Leo_____

GONZAGA MENS BASKETBALL

Oh the season is getting closer!!!.. Here is the Zags schedule! Feel the excitement!
Fri, Oct 28 Carroll College (exhib.) Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Fri, Nov 11 Eastern Washington Spokane, Wash. TBA
Mon, Nov 14 Washington State Spokane, Wash. 9 p.m.
Sat, Nov 26 Western Michigan (Ronald McDonald House Charities) Spokane, Wash. (Spokane Arena) 1 p.m.
Wed, Nov 30 Notre Dame Spokane, Wash. 8:15 p.m.
Sat, Dec 03 Illinois Champaign, Ill. 12:15 p.m.
Sat, Dec 10 Michigan State Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Thu, Dec 15 Oral Roberts Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Sat, Dec 17 Arizona (Battle In Seattle) Seattle, Wash. (KeyArena) 1 p.m.
Tue, Dec 20 Butler Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Thu, Dec 22 Air Force Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Wed, Dec 28 Portland * Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Sat, Dec 31 Xavier Cincinnati, Ohio 5 p.m.
Thu, Jan 05 Pepperdine * Spokane, Wash. 6 p.m.
Sat, Jan 07 Santa Clara * Spokane, Wash. 5 p.m.
Thu, Jan 12 Saint Mary's * Moraga, Calif. 8 p.m.
Sat, Jan 14 Loyola Marymount * Los Angeles, Calif. TBA
Thu, Jan 19 San Francisco * Spokane, Wash. TBA
Sat, Jan 21 San Diego * Spokane, Wash. 5 p.m.
Thu, Jan 26 Portland * Portland, Ore. 8 p.m.
Thu, Feb 02 BYU * Provo, Utah 7 p.m.
Sat, Feb 04 Pepperdine * Malibu, Calif. TBA
Thu, Feb 09 Saint Mary's * Spokane, Wash. 8 p.m. Sat, Feb 11 Loyola Marymount * Spokane, Wash. 5 p.m.
Thu, Feb 16 Santa Clara * Santa Clara, Calif. 8 p.m.
Sat, Feb 18 San Francisco * San Francisco, Calif. TBA
Thu, Feb 23 BYU * Spokane, Wash. 8 p.m.
Sat, Feb 25 San Diego * San Diego, Calif. TBA


Remember MATH is OUT OF THIS WORLD!
As always, you are amazing, incredible people with the whole world waiting to be changed by YOU!

Mr. Rott