Week of October 6

• Homework (Henricksen & Seabury only):

Week 6 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, October 9 in class.

Week of September 29

NO Social Studies Homework this week!

Week of September 22

Map Skills Lesson

Latitude & Longitude Practice

Treasure Hunt!  Latitude & Longitude Game

Latitude & Longitude Lesson

• Homework:

Week 5 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, September 25 in class.

Week of September 15

• ASSESSMENT:

• Homework:

Week 4 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, September 18 in class.

Week of September 8

• Homework:

  Week 3 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, September 11 in class.
  Download week_3.pdf


• Latitude & Longitude Practice
  Download lat-long-europe.pdf

Week of September 2

• Homework:

  Week 2 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, September 4 in class.
  Download week_2.pdf

Week of September 2

• Homework:

  Week 1 Studies Weekly Reading and Worksheet.  DUE: Thursday, August 28 in class.
  Download week_1.pdf

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(2013 - 2014)

Friday, February 28

Economics

1. Click here to go to BrainPop
2. Click Login  (username: cwitch12   password: edcmj181)
3. watch video, "Money"
4. after the video, click "ACTIVITIES" below the video window
5. make sure your are in the "Question & Answer" window and that the "T" button at the bottom of the screen is dark red
6. type to fill in your answer to each of the 5 questions on the page
7. print your completed worksheet

In Honor of Black History Month

• A selection of people worth knowing:
• Tuesday, February 11: Claude Harvard, inventor

• Monday, February 3: Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. 

                    

Tuesday, December 10

• Today, we began discussing the Mississippians, an ancient native culture indigenous to the eastern United States.
  Download Mississippians.pdf

Wednesday, November 19

• Maya, Aztec, Inca Multi-Tier Timeline
  Download Maya-Aztec-Inca-Timeline.pdf

Friday, November 15

• Latitude and Longitude Review
  Download Latitude_Longitude_KIDS_DISCOVER.pdf

Tuesday, November 12

• Learn more about the Maya
  Download Maya_Packet-map.pdf

Wednesday, November 6

• The chart we are using in class to compare & contrast Mesoamerican civilizations:
  Download ComparisonChart.pdf
• Maya worksheet packet:
  Download Maya_packet.pdf

• A 15-minute video from a longer documentary on the Mayan Civilization:

Wednesday, October 9

• Today, Mr. Ben McCowan visited our classroom and shared his passion for maps.  He is a cartographer (map maker) with the Franklin County Engineer's Office.  Mr. McCowan shared lots of fascinating information and maps, and even gave maps and atlases to every student.  Many thanks to him for spending his day at Mark Twain!

  

Thursday, September 26

• "Message in a Bottle" Latitude-Longitude Practice Game

Wednesday, September 25

• Map Skills Practice
• Treasure Hunt (Latitude & Longitude)
• Find the River (U.S. rivers)
• Learn the Lakes of the U.S.
• Take a Geography Quiz! (it's OK to not know all the answers.  But, you should use this as a learning tool!)
• Map Practice (place ALL items on map, then PRESS and HOLD the "CHECK" button to see if you placed everything correctly.)
• Try Another Quiz!

Friday, September 20

• Latitude Longitude Song

Thursday, September 19

• Latitude & Longitude Practice
  Download Lat_Long.pdf

• Latitude and Longitude

  Latitude and longitude refers to a system of imaginary east–west and north–south lines. These lines crisscross the Earth. By naming one line of latitude and one line of longitude, one may locate any point on the surface of the Earth.

  You would probably have little use for latitude or longitude while trying to find a place in a town or city. You would find it more convenient to use a map that showed local streets and avenues. But you might need latitude and longitude to locate yourself in a place such as an ocean or a desert. At such places, you would not see streets or avenues.

  Latitude

  Latitude is a measurement of distance north or south of the equator. The equator is an imaginary east–west line. It circles the Earth halfway between the North and South poles. And it divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere.

  Other imaginary east–west lines circle the Earth. They are parallel to the equator. And they are north and south of it.

  Because these lines are parallel to the equator, they are called parallels. Each parallel marks off a fixed distance north or south of the equator. This distance is called latitude. All points in the Northern Hemisphere have north latitude. All points in the Southern Hemisphere have south latitude.

  Latitude Units

  Latitude is expressed in degrees (°). Each degree is ^1/360 of the 360 degrees of a full circle. By definition, latitude is 0° at the equator. The distance from the equator to the North Pole or to the South Pole is one-fourth of a circle around the Earth. And one-fourth of a circle's 360° is equal to 90°. Thus the North Pole has a latitude of 90° N. The South Pole has a latitude of 90° S. These are the highest latitudes north or south of the equator.

  A point midway between the equator and the poles has a latitude of 45°. (Depending on the direction from the equator, the point may have a latitude of 45° N or 45° S.) A latitude of 30° is one-third of the way from equator to pole, and so forth.

  Latitude and Miles

  Even though latitude is always measured and expressed in degrees, it is easily converted into miles. The distance from the equator to either pole is 6,222 statute miles, or standard miles (10,013 kilometers). Divided by 90° from equator to pole, this equals about 69 statute miles (111 kilometers) for each degree of latitude.

  The distance per degree of latitude varies slightly from the equator to the poles. It varies because the Earth is not perfectly round. For example, the Earth is flattest at the poles. A degree of latitude is almost a mile longer there than at the equator.

  If you know the latitude of a place, you can thus estimate its distance from the equator. For example, Montreal, Canada, is located at about 45° N latitude. By multiplying 45 by 69, you find that Montreal is about 3,105 statute miles north of the equator. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is located at about 40° N. Montreal is thus about 345 statute miles farther north than Philadelphia. (One multiplies the 5 degrees difference by 69 miles).

  Degrees are too large for determining the precise locations of places. Therefore degrees are subdivided into minutes and seconds. Each degree has 60 minutes (60′). And each minute has 60 seconds (60″). One minute is equal to about 1 1/6 statute miles, or about 6,000 feet. One second is equal to about 100 feet. Latitude may thus be given more precisely in degrees, minutes, and seconds. The latitude of Montreal, for example, is 45° 31′ N.

  Longitude

  Latitude by itself tells only how far a place is from the equator. It locates the place somewhere on an east–west parallel thousands of miles long extending around the Earth. It is possible to pinpoint a place on any parallel by using a series of imaginary north–south lines that intersect the parallels at right angles.

  The north–south lines that run perpendicular to the parallels are called meridians. Each meridian is a circle that runs north and south around the Earth through the North and South poles. Parallels indicate distances in a north–south direction. Meridians indicate distances in an east–west direction.

  With parallels, there is a natural midway line between the North and South poles. This is the equator. With meridians, there is no natural midway line on the Earth from east to west. The world's nations, however, have agreed on a starting line. This is the meridian that runs through Greenwich Observatory near London, England. This meridian is called the prime meridian. Its longitude is 0°. Every other meridian indicates a distance east or west of the prime meridian. This distance is called longitude.

  Longitude Units

  Longitude, like latitude, is measured in degrees. The half of the Earth east of the prime meridian has longitude up to 180° E. The half west of the prime meridian has longitude up to 180° W. The 180th meridian lies directly opposite the prime meridian. The 180th meridian is the same for both east and west longitude. It is therefore not referred to as 180° E or 180° W, but simply 180°. Midway between the prime meridian and the 180th meridian is 90° W or 90° E, depending on the direction from the prime meridian. One-fourth of the distance is 45°, and so on.

  Longitude and Miles

  At the equator, 1° of longitude is about the same distance as 1° of latitude. Unlike parallels, however, meridians do not stay the same distance apart at all places on Earth. As meridians move away from the equator they come closer and closer together until they finally meet at the poles. This means that the number of miles in 1° of longitude is different for each latitude. The poles have no longitude because all meridians meet there. Longitude degrees are also subdivided into minutes and seconds to locate places more precisely.

  Using Latitude and Longitude

  The location of places on the Earth can be pinpointed by using both latitude and longitude. For example, St. Louis, Missouri has a latitude of 39° N and a longitude of 90° W. It is located where the 39° N parallel intersects the 90° W meridian. Places can be located even more precisely by expressing latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds.

  Samuel N. Namowitz
  Author
  Earth Science

  Namowitz, S. N. (2012). Latitude and Longitude. The New Book of Knowledge. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from Grolier Online              http://nbk.grolier.com/ncpage?tn=/encyc/article.html&id=a2016710-h&type=0ta

Tuesday, September 17

• Computer Lab: Geography Skills
• GeoGames
• Adventure Island
• World Geography (you choose the level of difficulty!)
• Practice Learning the States
• More Practice Learning the States

Wednesday, September 11

• September 11 Discussion and BrainPop Video
• Multi-Tier Timeline Assignment (Homework, due Thursday, September 12)
• Students are to complete the left-hand side of the vertical time by adding events, with the corresponding years, from their own lives.  As homework, students are to interview an older member of their household, and add dates and events to the right-hand side of the timeline worksheet.
  Download multi-tier_timeline_worksheet.pdf

Monday, August 26th:

• We are working to understand multi-tier timelines, their use and function.

• A presentation that explains multi-tier timelines:

• http://goo.gl/Vj1ctY

• In-class practice: