Thursday, May 25, 2006

Social Studies Test Question Bank

Here are the possible questions for the Social Studies test on Friday, June 2nd. On the test, there will be three of these questions plus one more question that is not listed here.

1. What accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans affect our world today?
2. Why were the 1600's and 1700's called the Age of Revolution?
3. Why was feudalism an important part of people's lives during the Middle Ages in Europe?
4. How did the Industrial Revolution change life for people in Europe?
5. How did the Russian serfs' living conditions lead to opposition to the czars?
6. Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

Students are encouraged to leave comments in order to create a student study guide for the questions. Leave a comment and give your answer to or ask a question about one of the questions.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Social Studies Exam Review Center

For those of you keen to get a headstart in the review department, here are all of the online quizzes for Social Studies:Asia
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Chapter 4
(we didn't cover all the sections, so you might not be able to answer some questions)
Chapter 5

Chapter 6
(we only covered one section, so you won't be able to answer many of the questions

Europe and Russia
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Now wasn't that FUN?

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Practice Error Correction Sentences

Here are the sentences we did in class - with the errors but without corrections, for you to use to practice.

  1. I writeing a report called The orphan trains of New York.
  2. My friend Les and I can learn you about this trains.
  3. In 1853, the children’s aid society of new York seed thousands of homeless children.
  4. Charles L Brace the founder maked a unusual proposel.
  5. The Childrens Aid Society shipped thousands of childs to the midwest and west.
  6. Yes Charles Brace though that raiseing them children in gooder environments was important.
  7. An ad appeared in the daily record our newspaper, before the orphan train’s arrival.
  8. In dowagiac Michigan forty seven children found new homes in a single week.
  9. Les said “Some of the children led normal, pleasant lifes with their new families.
  10. Other children however were mistreated: some were overworked, and others were even beaten.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Essay Advice

Keep the focus of your essay in mind when writing your body paragraphs – Humans are their own worst enemy. The focus is to identify the problem, not to give solutions – the place for solutions is in the final thought. Your body paragraphs should focus on the problems that harm us and make us our worst enemy.

No "I think", "In this essay I will"; no "I", ever. Just leave it out – make "I think that humans aare their most dangerous enemy", "Humans are their most dangerous enemy".

Use questions only in the attention grabber or as a final though. Do not use them to introduce your thesis or in body paragraphs.

You thesis needs to be independent – in other words it needs to give your opinion all by itself. Not "I agree with this" or "This statement is correct", but "Humans are their most dangerous enemy".

Be specific or say nothing. Don't end lists with "etc.", "and many others", "something else". Put all the important items in the list and then end it.

Put the reasons in the same order in the introduction as they appear in the body paragraphs.

State your reasons in the affirmative (is, can, does). Refrain from using the negative (is not, can't, don't).

Refrain from using most, biggest, worst in the body paragraphs. It doesn't matter if pollution is the biggest, or just a big problem, it still makes us a danger to ourselves. You are only inviting people to argue that there is a bigger problem than pollution and get distracted from your main idea.

Avoid unnecessary words such as "very" and "actually". They don't add any meaning to your essay. Most scholars agree that "Pollution is a serious problem" and "Pollution is a very serious problem" have the same effect on the reader.

Choose a title that conveys your opinion, not just your topic. "Blame" only gives the topic, but "Blame is Power" communicates what the essay says about blame.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Brochure Templates for Word

If you want to use a computer to make your brochure for the Social Studies project, here is a link to a page of brochure templates from Microsoft. (templates are files that are already organized like a brochure that you can add your writing and pictures to) All of the templates are for Word for those of you who don't have Publisher on your computers.

Not all of the files that you see on the page are brochures, but many of them are - there are. There are three and four panel brochures, as well as brochures that fit on legal size paper (the long paper). Any of these formats is acceptable for this assignment.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Friday and the tests

For athletes who would like to use part of the weekend to catch up with the work they missed on Friday, you should write the next two paragraphs about your reasons why you agree or disagree that humans are their own most dangerous enemy. On Wednesday, we wrote a paragraph about one of the three reasons in the first paragraph you wrote. Now you need to write another two paragraphs - one for each of the other two reasons.

The tests will cover the following topics:
English - The Cremation of Sam McGee, paraphrasing, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and the vocabulary from Sam McGee and Maple Street.
Social Studies - Chapter One - Physical Geography of Europe and Russia. You will only be allowed to use the notes that you have already handed in. Here is the online pre-test.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Body Mass Index Calculator

Here is a tool to see how your height and weight correspond.

This one uses cm's and kg's
http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmi-m.htm

This one uses feet and pounds
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Calculator.aspx