History - Hitler and his Henchmen

This year in history we are studying the rise and fall of Hitler and the Second World War. We learned that some of the causes leading to the Second World War were the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler's nationalist ideology. Hitler bacame Germany's Fuhrer (leader) in 1933, but he was quite lazy, so he left ordinary work to his subordinates, even because he couldn't have done everything on his own. His three most loyal and obedient followers (henchmen) were: Hermann Goring (1893-1946), Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), and Josef Goebbels (1897-1945). Hermann Goring took control of the economy and, most important, of the German airforce. He was very popular in Germany but his popularity declined after his airforce failed to win the Battle of Britain. Heinrich Himmler had control of the SS and the Gestapo (the Prussian Secret State Police), and he was also the one who organized the Night of Long Knives, when Ernst Rohm, another one of Hitler's henchmen, was killed. Josef Goebbels had control of the media and was in charge of propaganda.

Romanticism

In our Italian class, we are studying the Italian Romantic Age. Romanticism started in Germany with the "Sturm und Drang" (Impeto e Assalto) movement, and it spread in Europe with the magazine called "Atheneaum". In Italy it was introduced by the writer Giovanni Berchet, which complained against the "poems of the dead", that he said were surpassed and still referred to the old Roman style. He encouraged people to inspire themselves to the contemporary German and English poets, that used "poetry of the living". In 1818, Italian romantics founded a magazine, "Il Conciliatore", that explained the difference between these two types of poetry. The two major Italian exponents of this cultural movement are Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni. Giacomo Leopardi is the major exponent of poetry, while Alessandro Manzoni is the major exponent of novels and stories. The most famous of Alessandro Manzoni's creations is "I Promessi Sposi", a novel that tells the story of two peasants, Lucia Mondella e Renzo Tramaglino, that can't marry because a rich noble has fallen in love with Lucia.

Hippolyta (Drama)

In our drama class, we are preparing a representation of a play written by William Shakespeare that is called "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Mr S., our drama and science teacher, gave us the part that he thought fitted us best, and my part is now Hippolyta. Hippolyta is an Amazon and she is in love with Theseus (Patrizio), Athens's king, and they are about to marry. Hippolyta isn't happy about Theseus' decision to not let Hermia (Sophia) marry Lysander (Giulio), her love. At the end of the play, when Theseus finally lets Hermia marry Lysander because Demetrius (Matteo) now loves Helena (Claudia), Hippolyta is very happy. I am also a very important person in the play because Patrizio and I are the narrators, that explain the story in Italian to the poor parents that don't understand English. Before knowing which parts we will get in the play, I had wanted to be Hippolyta and I am really happy that I got that part.

Science

This quarter we have been doing computer group projects for Science at home. My group is: Sofia A., Stefania and me, and our topic is magnets. Magnetism is the attraction of a magnet for another magnet or ferromagnetic material, for example iron, nickel or cobalt. Each magnet has a magnetic pole, its end, where the magnetic force is stronger. Also, every magnet has a magnetic field, the region around it where the magnetic force is exerted. In poor words, the area in which a magnet attracts or repels another object. The magnetic field is mapped by magnetic field lines, that spread out out from the north pole, curve aroumd the magnet and return to the other pole. Did you know that Earth has an immense magnetic field sorrounding it? The problem is, Earth's magnetic North Pole is not the same as the geographic North, so you have to know the magnetic declination (angle between geographic and magnetic North) of where you are to know exactly where North is.

Feud - The Lady Grace Mysteries

By Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler

The novel "Feud" is the sixth book in the Lady Grace Mysteries, that is a series of novels that tell about Lady Grace's investigations on crimes that have happened at Court. Lady Grace is the youngest Maid of Honour of Queen Elizabeth I, and she is also the Queen's Lady Pursuivant (even though almost no one knows about this), which means the Queen lets her solve mysteries for her. In this novel, Lady Grace is trying to figure out why her friend Carmina is sick. She discovers that she has eaten orpiment, which is also contained in yellow paint and in rat baits, so she is trying to discover who is poisoning Carmina. At the end, she discovers that Lady Horsley, a friend of the Queen, is trying to renew a feud with Carmina's family because her son was accidentally killed by Carmina's father in a joust, and when she is discovered, she commits suicide.