What's up in class this week at TGA

In Calculus I we will continue to look at basic differentiation rules including the quotient rule and the product rule. Note students will actually continue to prove most of these rules! Therefore they are not just given a tool, but they have to actually justify its existence! These newly acquired tools will allow us to look at applications of the derivative, and how “change” in general can be modeled with mathematics.

In Calculus II we will continue to explore various integration techniques, including partial fractional decomposition. Students will complete a Maple lab related to these integration techniques. We will also look at approximating integrals when no analytic solution can be found. Thus we will look at the Trapezoidal, Midpoint, and Simpson’s Rules.

English III: We will be starting “at the beginning” this week. We will be working with Puritans. We will discuss "The Crucible" for the next three days and discuss the significance of the work on the American character/American history.

Physics C is working on 1-D motion, including gravity. Critical thinking skills will be required!

Physics A is doing Vectors and 2-D motion. Trigonometry meets the real world!

Pre-Calculus: Just letting you know a heads up, today we will finish up about parametric equations, we will be looking at ellipses and conic figures that can be derived from parametric equations and we will be using the Pythagorean property to reduce these equations in a simpler form.
Thursday we will have a test review, the students will have a test this Friday. We will rework over some problems that the students did bad on or ask questions sections. For the last 45 minutes of class we will cover a new chapter 5, this material will cover applications to using sinusoidal functions, which may include looking at summation, subtraction, of combinations of periodic functions. For an exploratory exercise we will look at how these add together....
Friday is a big day, yes that’s right it test time at TGA!!! Pre-Calculus students will have their test. I am estimating that with the study session that we will have on Thursday for a review, these students should do well.

Mandarin I - This week we will review the grammar, vocab and Chinese characters for Lesson 1 dialogue 2, and starting on Lesson 2, Dialogue one - Family.

Mandarin II - We will finish Lesson 12 dialogue 2 this week by reviewing the grammar, vocabulary, and Chinese characters. The students will do a mini-presentation on two imaginary dishes.

This week in Government class, we are studying U.S. Supreme Court cases on Civil Liberties; also, students just turned in a reflection paper on the following topic:
Using what you have learned thus far about good government and good political leadership, choose a current political leader and determine if you think that leader exhibits qualities of good government and good political leadership as expressed by Plato, Dante, Machiavelli, the Enlightenment thinkers, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Students will be serving as re-enactors at Blount Mansion's Constitution Day program on Friday, September 11, 11:30-1:30; guests may purchase a box lunch by calling Blount Mansion and reserving a lunch.
Unit II exam will be on Monday, September 14.