Oliver would have continued to write his first draft of his historical essay. He will develop a hook for the introductory paragraph to catch the reader's attention. He will read in "Legend." Oliver should review spelling words for a quiz on Thursday.

The activity focused on determining the zeros of quadratic equations. Oliver focused on solving by factoring. We than discussed the difficulty when factoring when a is not 1. Then we talked about a new method of factoring when a is not 1. The method is called cast out. We finished class talking about the quadratic formula and its purpose.

Today Oliver and I spent time speaking with his FLVS teacher on the phone to complete his welcome call. Mr. Swails walked us through the online program, lessons, etc.

We printed the pacing guides and syllabus for the course and began working through it today as Oliver took the Pre-Assessment to check for background knowledge on the content.

Oliver determined if a word is being used as an adjective or adverb by analyzing what the word is modifying and what question is being answered. ex.: writes daily.. Here daily is an adverb because it modifies writes and tells when. daily record... Here daily is an adjective because it modifies record and tells what kind. Oliver read two chapters in "Legend." While reading he looked for foreshadowing to help him predict the action/re-actions of the character. He continued to write his first draft of his historical essay. Oliver should review spelling words for homework.

Oliver completed two activities, one on multiplying and simplifying polynomials and the other one on factoring trinomials and GCF.

Oliver received a new list of spelling words. He wrote them down and we discussed definition, synonyms, and antonyms. He used each in a sentence. He also edited a paragraph and completed a page in his grammar workbook about adverbs. He logged on to readtheory.org, read two stories and answered comprehension questions. Afterwards, he read silently from "Legend."

Oliver completed two activities, one on radicals and one on basic rules of exponents.

Quiz on Lesson 1: The Structure of the Solar System
Lesson 2: The Inner Planets – Venus: We learned about Venus, the second planet from the Sun. It rotates more slowly than it revolves so a day on Venus is longer than a year on Earth. Venus is the only planet that rotates from east to west. The atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide. Venus is covered by a thick layer of clouds made of acid. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system due to the greenhouse effect. The atmosphere traps solar energy increasing surface temperature. Most of the surface is covered by solidified lava.
Lesson 2: The Inner Planets – Earth and Mars: We learned about the third planet from the Sun which is Earth. Earth’s atmosphere is made up of water vapor and a mixture of gases. The atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect that increases Earth’s average surface temperature. Life is supported on Earth because of its atmosphere, large bodies of liquid water, and moderate temperature range. Earth has a solid inner core and a liquid outer core surrounded by a mantle. Earth’s crust is broken into large sliding plates made mostly of oxygen and silicon. We learned about Mars which is the fourth planet from the Sun. Mars has two small moons. Many probes have examined the surface of Mars to look for signs of water. The atmosphere contains mostly carbon dioxide. The surface appears to be red because the soil contains iron oxide. Ice caps on Mars are made up of ice and frozen carbon dioxide. The surface features include craters, lava flows, canyons, and the largest known mountain in the solar system.
Discussion Question:
What features do the inner planets share?
The inner planets are made from rocks and metals and have a solid surface. They are the planets that are closest to the Sun.

Oliver completed a spelling quiz. He read a chapter in "Legend." While reading he looked for instances of foreshadowing to help him predict the next action of the characters. He continued the writing process by writing the first draft of his historical essay. He is including topic sentences. Oliver should read the next chapter in "Legend" for homework.

Lesson 1: The Structure of the Solar System - The Motion of the Planets: We learned that one way an object in the solar system moves is by orbiting, or revolving, around another object. The amount of time it takes an object to revolve once around the Sun is its period of revolution. Then we learned that objects in the solar system also spin or rotate. The time it takes an object to rotate once is its period of rotation. Next we learned that the shape of a planet’s orbit is an ellipse which is a stretched-out circle. The Sun is at one of the foci of the ellipse so the distance between a planet and the Sun changes as the planet moves. A planet moves faster when it is closer to the Sun than when it is farther away.
Discussion Question:
If an asteroid is a sphere, could it be a planet? Explain your answer.
The asteroid would be spherical, and it orbits the Sun. However, its mass would not be much larger than the mass of objects around it, so it could not be a planet.
Lesson 2: The Inner Planets – Mercury: We learned that the inner planets made of rock which are the closest to the Sun, are also called terrestrial planets. Then we learned that the inner planets are made of rock and metallic materials. The outer layers of the inner planets are in the solid-state. Then we looked at Mercury which is the closest planet to the Sun. Due to its small mass, Mercury’s gravity is not strong enough to hold gases close to its surface so it has no atmosphere. Mercury has no wind to move energy from place to place so the temperatures on the side facing the Sun are always extremely high. The surface is covered with impact craters, smooth planes, and high cliffs. Mercury’s core is made of iron and nickel. Its mantle is made of oxygen and silicon.