8th grade SS Lab - 4/27/12

Sometimes you can learn a lot about a story merely by learning something about its author.  Suzanne Collins has authored numerous books and the following link (http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/index.htm) is her homepage.  Click on the link and read about her through WORKS, BIOGRAPHY, and INTERVIEW.  (Tabs in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage).  Then return to the blog and summarize (in your own words) who you think Suzanne Collins is and how her life and ideas have influenced "The Hunger Games."

8th grade SS Lab - 4/26/12

We are half way through our time together and you have been challenged with a lot of knowledge.  Now it is time to test that knowledge.  Click on the following link (http://www.gradesaver.com/the-hunger-games/study-guide/quiz1/) and take the Hunger Games Quiz 1.  Once you have completed the quiz, return to the blog and reflect on the following questions:
1.  What was you score?
2.  What percentage of questions (20%, 50%, etc.) were you able to answer correctly based on lessons from class?
3.  What percentage of questions were you able to answer correctly based on context clues and educated guesses?
4.  If you had to write a quiz question based on the knowledge you have gained so far (Listening Logs, Analysis Activities, Blog Activities), what would your question be? What is the answer?

8th grade SS Lab - 4/24/12

Go to the 8th Grade SS Lab Links and click on the "Hunger Games."  This will take you to two games: Trial by Fire and Tribute Trials.  Play both games and then return to the blog and reflect on the following questions:
1.  In the Trial by Fire, contestants test their abilities and see if they will be able to survive the real thing.  There is only one path to survival.  Did you survive?  Explain.  What decisions would you have changed?  Explain.
2.  Think you could survive a situation like the Hunger Games?  It takes more than just strength, or smarts, or stealth.  Take the Trials to see your likelihood of survival – then try to discover how you might improve your chances.  How did you do?  Explain your results.

8th grade SS Lab - Training in Pictures

Like the Olympics, the Hunger Games are quickly approaching.  As the tributes prepare, their coaches could take some advice from Olympians.

Click on the following slide show (http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/08/training-perfect-athlete-olympics08-forbeslife-cx_avd_0708health_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=undefined), view the pictures and read the captions.  Then, return to the blog and respond to the following questions:

1.  What kind of "time" do you think Katniss and Peeta have "put in" in preparation to the Games?
2.  How have the Career Tributes made training a full-time job?
3.  How has Haymitch "planned it out" for Katniss and Peeta?
4.  What kind of "pain" has Katniss "put up with?"
5.  What kind of "constant feedback" would you give to a tribute during training?
6.  What kind of fuel would you recommend to the tributes to "pump up the calories?"
7.  In your opinion, what do you think tributes see beyond the Hunger Games?  (In other words, what comes after success?)

8th grade SS Lab - Competitve Training

Katniss and Peeta are in the Capital and have begun their training for the Hunger Games.  The training stations include:  Basic Survival Skills (Building a Fire, Building a Shelter, Setting Snares, Tying Knots, Purifying Water), Camouflage (How military camouflage works, Hiding in plain site, Disguise and Decoy), Weather (Surviving a Storm, Survive Falling in Ice, Escape a Fire), Wildlife (Poisonous Snakes, Surviving a Snake Bite, Dangerous Insects/Spiders, Surviving a Animal Attack, Tracker Jackers), and Plants (Edible Plants, Medicinal Plants, Poisonous Plants).

 

Different training stations have been set up by the Game Makers for tributes to train.  Katniss and Peeta work on knots and snares as well as camouflage.  Other tributes work on areas of strength as well as intimidating other tributes.  

 The training the tributes experience is similar to the training practiced by Olympic athletes.  Read the following article (http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/08/training-perfect-athlete-olympics08-forbeslife-cx_avd_0708health.html) and then return to the blog to respond to the following questions:

1.  In your opinion, what are the similarities between tributes and Olympic athletes?  Give examples.
2.  In your opinion, what are the differences between tributes and Olympic athletes?  Give examples.
3.  If you would add a training station for the tributes, what would it be and why?
4.  If you would eliminate a training station, what would it be and why?

8th grade SOS #33

He's a whale of a tale!
Take the Herman Melville quiz (http://www.online-literature.com/quiz.php?quizid=558) and return to the blog to reflect on the following questions:

1.  What was your score?
2.  Did any of the questions/answers surprise you?  Explain.
3.  Based on the quiz, how do you think "Moby Dick" will end?
4.  Based on the quiz, what to you think Melville's inspiration for writing was?  Explain.

7th grade SOS #33

In the 1800s, an Italian patriot named Giuseppe Mazzini said, "A nation is the universality [sum total] of citizens speaking the same language."

Do you agree with Mazzini's definition?  Why or why not?  If you were the edit the definition, what else might it include or exclude?  Explain.

8th grade SOS #32

We read that Horace Mann, MA lawyer (p. 412), lengthen the school year to 6 months, improved the curriculum (what is taught), doubled teachers' salaries, and developed better ways to train teachers.  He said, "If we do not prepare our children to be good citizens, then our republic must go down to destruction, as others have gone before."

'The trouble with schools is they always try to teach the wrong lessons, believe me, I've been kicked out of enough of them to know..'  This line from the musical "Wicked" lends itself to the struggles in education today.  

If Horace Mann could see the path we are on today in education, what do you think he would say?  Explain.