Saturday, October 27, 2007

Rubric for the To Kill a Mockingbird Blog response

8th Grade,

Here is your rubric for the blog writing due on Friday. I will be handing this out on Wednesday as well. If you click on the picture you can enlarge it so you can read it. :-)




ms l






Monday, October 22, 2007

POW Oct 22 - California Wildfires

I had a seasonal POW set and ready to go, however I think the fires in California might be of more importance right now. Here is what I would like from you. I would like you to read up a bit about the fires. Look for some of the math in the web articles, on the news, and in the newspaper. See what kind of mathematical information you can share with us to make this a bit easier to understand. Think back to our 9/11 comparisons. For example I could write and post something like.

300,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as of today. To understand how many people that is we can compare them to the population of Phoenix. Currently there are 1.512,986 people who reside in Phoenix. This would be the same as evacuating 20 percent or 1/5th of Phoenix.


There are many comparisons you can make
Acres burned
Number of houses destroyed
Area of land affected by wildfires
Number of fireman engaged in fighting the fires
Comparisons to the Rodeo Chediski fires

You need to make at least three comparisons and then write a narrative using your comparisons. Adhere to the 6 plus 1 writing traits. I will be grading on math content, impact of the data through your writing, and mathematical support for your comparisons, graphs, tables etc.

Here are some websites to get you started. I will add to the list as I find good ones, however you will need to find some sites as well. Remember to credit any sites you use for your data or information such as maps or statistics. I will be posting a PowerPoint presentation on the 7th grade website tomorrow evening.

Ms. L.

Links to the California Wildfires

InciWeb
http://www.inciweb.org/state/5/6/d/0/

InciWeb Maps
http://www.inciweb.org/maps/0/

Joe Maller – very good site
http://www.joemaller.com/california_wildfires2003.shtml

Battling California Wildfires
http://www.calfires.com/

Friday, October 19, 2007

7th honors POW

Now that you have posted see if this helps clarify. When you looked at the logo you should have seen a series of three different circles.










You then solve for the area of each of the three circles. If you do a bit of subtraction you can find out how much shaded, then white or ‘non-shaded’, and total fabric you needed for this logo.






Happy Friday! Just to let you know I am seeing a vast improvement in the caliber of your writing and your explainations. Please continue to write as if you are explaining the process to someone who does not understand how to proceed with the problem at all.

Here is your problem:

Jocie was decorating her notebook with her High School’s cheer logo. The School logo is shown below. The logo includes two different fabric types. The shaded and un-shaded pieces are made of different materials.

Questions to address:
1 - How much material does she need for the shaded area?

2 - How much material does she need for just the un-shaded area?

3 - Show the steps to your solution; make sure to explain every step as you write it.

(My bad I wrote meters it should be centimeters.)


Ms. L.

Friday, October 12, 2007

7th Grade Friday Blogger Work

Happy Friday ladies and gentlemen,

Today I have provided a list of links for you to explore. I would like you to visit all of the sites listed. Complete the activities and then post a review of each of the sites.

Explain:
Did you liked the site and why?
Who would benefit from the site and why?
What was good about the site and what might the author of the page do to improve the
mathematics on the site.
Make sure to support your argument with examples from the sites.

Be sure to use complete sentences...

Sites:

Play each of the games at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/gameswheel.html
(Just a tip in the past students have been intrigued with Builder Bob.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/maths/

http://www.visualfractions.com/

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/numbercruncher/

http://www.dositey.com/addsub/Mystery11.htm

http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/gn2.cgi?A1=s&A2=10&A3=0&A14=1&A15=1

http://www.learningwave.com/abmath/hotel/index3a.html




Ms. Leckman

Friday, October 05, 2007

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird





Please begin to investigate and address these issues. Be sure you are responsible, reflective, and respectful in your responses. These are to be answered using the 6+1 writing traits. I will be posting a rubric soon. Be thorough and comprehensive in your explanations. Use graphs or tables to support your findings. Be sure you are citing your data sources and supporting your explanation or rational with the statistics and mathematics behind your response. You should assume your reader has no knowledge in these topics. The reader should have enough information to understand and agree or disagree with your viewpoint and your mathematics.

Make sure you explicitly address how the features you choose become apparent in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. How do you see your factors illustrated in the story or how does Harper Lee allow you to feel these factors in, To Kill a Mockingbird? How do these factors impact the characters and their actions in the story?

What were the population ratios of “Whites to Blacks?” in the early 1930’s?


What was the lifestyle of the Southern populations in the early 1930’s?


How much money did each socio-economic group make? For example: Upper, Middle, Lower socio-economic classes?


What was the average cost of living during this time? What did these kind of lifestyles look like? How are they the same or different than today?


What is the ratio of court cases of the defendant’s racial background? (Today compared to the 1930’s)


What were the ratios of Black, Latino or other “minority” attorneys in the 1930’s?


How would that impact the justice system (now and then if different?)


What was the ratio of “professionals” or “educated” “minorities” in the 1930’s?


What impact would these factors have on each classes place in society?

I look forward to your findings! :-) <(^^<) (>'-')>

Ms. L.

What's my line?

What's my line?