We reviewed the text from last week, then watched the CNN Student News, which included the volcano eruption in Japan, India's successful Mars spacecraft, and brain tissue research.
Students read the first section of Chapter 4, then answered questions #1 & #2 on page 111. I questioned randomly selected students on their answers. California is experiencing a severe drought. We read pages 112-113 about water shortages in various regions of the world, then watched a CA government video about our drought. Students jotted down information they learned from the video. I asked the students if they know of any measures being enacted in their town to conserve water and we shared those. Students have a research assignment to find out what is happening in their town and in the state (see the assignments page). We ended class with an exit quiz on the paper they had used in class.
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Students took a test over Chapters 1-3 and the 50 world countries they are learning to identify. They spent the first 10 minutes of class reviewing for the test with a partner, then I helped them prepare for some of the questions.
After taking the test, students read a recent issue of the New York Times Upfront magazine. We watched the CNN Student News at the end of class. The tests are all graded and the scores are in We watched the CNN Student News from around the world. Students then answered questions on page 105, #1-4 and page 106, #15. If you didn't complete this assignment during class, you may turn it in on Wednesday.
We identified European countries and capitals as a followup to our European class last Friday. Please complete and turn in on Wednesday. We enjoyed watching the One Pound Fish video featuring the Pakistani immigrant who sold fish in a London market recently. Prepare for the test Today we took a European vacation. Since we don't spend much time studying Europe in this class, today was a relaxing day to check our knowledge of European countries and capitals, and take a video tour of London.
Our students were able to generate a list of 35 European countries, as well as about 15 capitals (out of 46 countries). We played an online geography game to practice naming countries, then watched the first part of a video tour of the capital of the U.K. Have a relaxing weekend. See you next Monday. We had a short quiz over Chapter 3 terms at the beginning of class.
Students used a website, World Factbook, to find statistics about the country they randomly drew today in class. These included population, life expectancy (m & f), infant mortality, literacy (m & c), largest religious group, and GDP per capita. Students are going to find the type of government and head of government, add these to their country statistics, and turn in the assignment on September 22. We discussed the types of government in Chapter 3, and added "republic." We watched the CNN Student News, which included the CA wildfires and drought and the vote on Scottish independence on September 18. To help students fix some common mistakes in grammar, spelling, word choice and capitalization, we rewrote ten sentences, correcting the errors in each, then discussed our results.
Students had twenty minutes to read and study Chapter 3 (the reading assignment for Wednesday). After that, we discussed some of the terms from section 1. This included an explanation of how property values tend to rise with population density. Which partly explains why housing in Redlands is less expensive than in downtown LA or in Manhanttan. We watched a video about population growth over the last two millennia and discussed what we saw. The film projected population growth out to 2030, so I asked students to consider how old they will be that year and what they might be doing. We finished class by learning to read the map of religions on pp. 94-95. Students have an assignment to find the number of followers today of five major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinusim. Wednesday is BYOD. Don't forget Today we had a short class because of the ITBS schedule. Using a list of fifty countries that students will continue learning about in many high school and college classes, students identified and named each country and its capital city. Complete outside of class and turn in on Monday, September 15.
Students began class by anwering the question "What type of precipitation did SoCal experience Sunday; defend your answer." We shared answers and discussed what type it was - convectional, orographic, or frontal.
Students worked with partners again on our map of climate zones. Choosing five capital cities on their map, they used www.WeatherUnderground.com to find temperature and precipitation information for the months of January and July 2014. After putting that information into a chart on the back of their map handout, students have an assignment to write about one city on their map, explaining if the information is consistent with the climate zone of that city. We also finished drawing and labeling currentsWe will turn in the maps and paragraphs on Wednesday. To begin class this morning, we played a game, Where In the World: Countries. Students were shown two photographs of locations in the same country, 10 countries in all. They made educated guesses of the identity of each country. The high scores were 5/10 correct.
We then talked about the differences between weather and climate, discussed the importance of the oceans in driving climate around the world, and the role of ocean currents. Students then worked on a map assignment. Working in groups of two, they identified the climate regions of their part of the world, then the ocean currents around their part. On Monday, we will continue with this assignment. Students should bring a device to connect with the internet on Monday. Be sure to use the RAA student account for wireless access - don't spend money on your data plan. |
James WaltersMr. Walters has taught at RAA since 1985. He currently teaches Geography, World History, American History, Government, Economics and Handbell Ensembles. He is Music Director/Organist of Magnolia Presbyterian Church and is an adjunct professor at Concordia University Wisconsin, teaching Handbell Methods and Materials. Archives
August 2017
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