Jaydn continued to read, analyze, and discuss Where the Crawdads Sing. She then wrote on the following topic: Who is the protagonist in the novel and why? Who is the main antagonist and why? How are interactions between these two characters responsible for conflict in the novel? How does the protagonist handle the conflicts caused by the antagonist?

At the end of WWII, the "Big Three," the U.S., Britain & the USSR wanted to make sure Germany would not have the capability to wage another war. The Big Three met at the Yalta conference to discuss post-war plans for Germany. This resulted in an Allied occupied West Germany and a Soviet occupied East Germany. To stop the people of East Germany from escaping to West Germany, the USSR built the Berlin Wall. The Soviets blockaded West Germany, but the Allies responded to save West Germany. Known as the Berlin Airlift, the Allies flew in food and supplies. It took 45 years for the Berlin Wall to be torn down and the two Germanys were reunited (in 1990). We also covered the Nuremberg Trials between 1945-1949. The trials prosecuted many prominent members of the political, military, judicial, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, who planned, carried out and participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany, (Hitler's favored location for large Nazi rallies) and their international tribunal of judges' decisions marked a turning point in international law - legally acknowledging the horrors of "crimes against humanity."

What is containment? In the immediate post-war era, containment became a leading foreign policy for the U.S. & other nations. Developed primarily by Secretary of State George F. Kennan, containment policy sought to contain the spread of communism, but not actively combat it. At first (but not for long) containment was enacted on the international stage through proclamations, plans and ideas like the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine and the domino theory. NATO was also formed during this time, as well as its Soviet counterpart, the Warsaw Pact. Domestically, Americans faced the Red Scare during the later 40s and early 50s. The interstate highway system we know today was established during this time under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Civil rights also begins to figure heavily into post-war politics. A new era called the Cold War began in the aftermath of WWII and it dominated world politics for over 40 years.

We missed Jaydn in school today! Fortunately, we were able to arrange for Jaydn to remotely attend the Black History Month celebration during our 4th period class.

I worked with Jaydn on a few problems on the length of arcs of circles. After we finished those problems, I worked with her on a general review of areas of different geometric figures including triangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, and kites. I reviewed the formulas and showed her how to apply them. There was no assignment.

Today we began to study the present progressive. We watched grammar videos and completed some exercises from Study.com.

We spent the period completing Jaydn's work on her presentation of Maya Angelou for school's celebration of Black History Month tomorrow. Jaydn put together a power point presentation that highlights a bit about her childhood, her most famous book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," her recitation of the her poem, "On the Pulse of the Morning" at President Clinton's inauguration in 1993 and President Obama bestowing her with the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" in 2010. At the end of class, Jaydn emailed her slide show presentation to Mr. Marcus.

Jaydn continued with the reading, analyzing, and discussing of the novel Where the Crawdads Sing. She created a time line for the court scenes and then made predictions for the outcome of the case based on the text in her time line. She then continued with the study of SAT vocabulary.

I resumed working with Jaydn on finding the area of sectors of circles and the arc lengths of portions of the circumferences of circles. I also demonstrated how to find the areas of figures made from squares with circular areas subtracted. There was no assignment.

Jaydn continued reading, discussing, and analyzing Where the Crawdads Sing. She analyzed the symbolism of the cat Sunday Justice and its effect on the protagonist, Kya. Jaydn discussed the court scene she read today and made predictions based on text the fate of the protagonist. She concluded the session with a review of SAT vocabulary being studied.