Today we celebrate Women's Day and we did an activity about: Frida Kahlo. We watched a video about her life and then answered some questions about her life and her impact on art and the world.

This morning, Mercer worked on writing a student essay for entrance to a school he wishes to attend next year, Rumsey Hall, in Connecticut. He selected the first option out of the 5 essay prompts provided and he was to respond in a minimum of 250 words. Mercer had to explain an event that impacted his life or way of thinking. He narrated the event for me and began writing it, but I finished the long hand. Mercer chose an incident that occurred when he was eight years old that scarred him not just physically, but emotionally. He was clear in his thought and organization of details and used good word choices and phraseology. I asked him to carefully edit his work to insure it met the parameters outlined and if he wished to include any additional information or insights before submission.

Today, I introduced a new lesson to Mercer. This lesson touches on multiple different lessons we have been through, from value to color theory. It also touches on mediums and topics we haven't explored, such as photography, texture, color and UV light reactions, nature as art, etc. First, we started by exploring ideas for cyanotype printing. We looked at famous print artists and talked about the process of cyanotype printing. We will use the class after he finishes his Color Theory work to walk down to Juno Park and collect items to use for printing. Use any remaining class time to work on Mercer's Color Theory drawing.

We moved very quickly through the next 4 lessons, since there were no new rhythms or notations introduced. We learned how to play and count in 2/4 and 3/4 time.

Work on Mercer's "Painting like Andy" project. Fill in the background of his Primary Colors drawing.Begin to work on Mercer's Secondary Colors drawings (orange, green, and violet). Notice that in the primary color drawing, red and blue, make purple and yellow and blue make green. This is not the case with our Secondary Colors drawing. Contemplate why and review the color wheel. 

Mercer began an exercise from the 6th grade math Envision textbook, capacity: cup, pint, quart, and gallon.

Today's lesson focused on a unit project. Mercer worked on creating his topographical map of Indonesia. He searched for the area he wanted to capture on his map and saved it in 3D. Mercer worked on choosing the best method to identify the many volcanos located in Indonesia to display on his topographical map. Mercer spent the remainder of the class reviewing google maps looking for volcanos in different regions.

Mercer completed an activity using this week's Wordly Wise words in making connections and understanding their meanings. He completed an essay using three words to describe himself. He made notes, organized them in to a cohesive theme, and did an excellent job of expressing his thoughts.

We reviewed Lesson 11 and continued working on solo #5.

This afternoon, we discussed how test questions may ask for figurative language to be interpreted. Mercer read 2 passages and was queried about things that were compared. He first read a newspaper ad and then answered questions about the ad. Mercer’s responses demonstrated his ability to interpret abstract analogies that used metaphors and idioms in the question. He then read a 2nd passage and was tasked similarly. Mercer was a bit quick to respond on this second task. He previewed the answers first, which is an excellent test-taking strategy; however, he failed to read the passage in its entirety and struggled with one of the answers, choosing incorrectly and impulsively. When the sentence was pointed out to him, however, he successfully chose the correct answer, one which used a simile to compare two things. Mercer is a bright and curious student whose potential is actualized when he is engaged and focused on tasks. For the last 10 minutes of class, we discussed the Montgomery Bus boycott, which was triggered when civil rights activist, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white person. Mercer’s curiosity was piqued and he listened intently as I read him an article about the boycott. He subsequently engaged in a discussion with me, answering open-ended questions using information he learned from the article.