Thursday, September 17, 2009

Test- European Environment and Population

Test- European Environment and Population

SS6G9

SS6G10


1. What is one environmental problem in Europe?



2. What is another environmental problem in Europe?



3. What is another environmental problem in Europe?



4. Which of these is NOT a main cause of pollution in Europe?


a. cars and trucks c. burning trees


b. factories d. generating electricity



5. Which of these does NOT pollute?


a. burning coal c. hydroelectricity


b. burning petroleum d. cars and trucks



6. How much does nuclear power usually pollute?


a. a lot c. a little


b. a medium amount d. not any



7. Which country had the nuclear power accident at Chernobyl?


a. U.K. c. Poland


b. Ukraine d. France



8. Which of these things is true about the accident at Chernobyl?


a. wind carried the pollution to many parts of Europe.


b. the pollution was bad, but it all stayed around Chernobyl


c. little radiation pollution was released


d. the accident only affected a few people



9. Why do people put up with the problems caused by energy resources and factories?



____________________________________________________________________



_____________________________________________________________________



10. What is one thing people can do to pollute less?



_____________________________________________________________________



11. What is a type of energy production that does not pollute? ______________________







12. What does population density mean? ______________________________________



_____________________________________________________________________



13. How is population density different than population? __________________________



_____________________________________________________________________



14. What is one reason that a place might have a high population density?



_____________________________________________________________________



15. Which European country has a low population density, especially in the north?



____________________________________________________



16. Why does that country have a low population density, especially in the North?



____________________________________________________________

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Comparing Russia and the U.K.

SS6G10a

Essential Questions: 

How are Russia and the U.K the same and different?

How do their differences affect where people live and how they trade?

 

1. Location and physical features:  

Which continent is the U.K. in? ______________________

 

Which continents is Russia in? _______________________

 

Which country has more land to the North? ____________

 

Which country is an island? __________________________

 

Which country has rivers that run into the Arctic Ocean?

 

___________________________

 

2. Size: 

Which country is small? _________________________________

 

Which country is one of the biggest in the world? ____________

 

3. Resources:

Which country has the most coal? ______________________

 

Which country has the most oil? ________________________

 

Which country has the most natural gas? _________________ 


Which country has more hydroelectricity? _________________

 

Which country has the most iron? ________________________

 

Are more of Russia's resources located in the East or West of Russia?

 

Are more of Russia's resources located in the North or South of Russia?

 

Effects of size, location, physical features, and resources.

1. Where people live:

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. How the countries trade:

 

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Quiz Tomorrow

We've got a quiz tomorrow over European countries. Students need to know the locations of Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. We'll also be reviewing environmental problems in those countries, and continuing to work on how the climate of those countries affects people's lives, including the decision about where to live.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

After introducing some of the history of Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and France last week, we're back to doing more geography this week, though the history is still connected to it. We're working on several related environmental issues.

We've learned about 5 different kinds energy resources. We've mapped their locations, created a table that summarized the resources of the Spain, Portugal, France, the U.K., and Germany, discussed which were used first, and emphasized why they've been used. We've evaluated the good and bad points of using these resources. Today we did some reading and completed some guided notes as a review, and then did some new reading and had a discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power, using the accident at Chernobyl as a case study. The review is located here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfszq998_46drwggzhf

Tomorrow we'll look at a brief video about Chernobyl after a demonstration of how pollution travels from one place to another. Students will then do some writing about the benefits and drawbacks of different energy resources. If we have time, we'll begin working on the effects of acid rain, which is kind of difficult for the children to understand.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Lots to do next week


Why is most of this world map covered up? Your child should be able to tell you. The history I'll be teaching isn't about memorizing names and dates-instead, its about understanding causes and consequences. One of the challenges for students is that the material they are expected to learn isn't organized in a textbook.

The old vocabulary words important for understanding these causes are Africa, Europe, Asia, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Iberian Peninsula. The new vocabulary words are impact, exploration, regions, Spain, Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator, navigation, boats/ships, colonization, land, wealth, natural resources, market, goods, gold/silver, spices, slavery, trade, trade routes, religion, missionaries, Christianity, competition and honor. That's a lot of vocab., especially when the goal is not to memorize definitions, but to understand relationships between vocabulary words.

We started this unit by looking at why and how Europeans explored. Your child should be able to tell you why boats/ships (instead of other methods) were used by Europeans for exploration, which requires them to understand where the continents are, the basic shape of Europe, how much technology has changed in the past 600 years, and the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of transportation. Today we
1. drew a map, or wrote sentences describing, what Europeans knew about the world in 1400,
2. talked about how people make money by buying and selling things,
3. looked at different trade routes from Europe to Asia,
4. began looking at how Prince Henry wanted to find a route to Asia from the
Iberian Peninsula.
On Monday we'll
1. Review Europeans' knowledge of the world in 1400,
2. Review the reason boats/ships were used by Europeans,
3. Review how people can make money buying and selling things, introducing the words
goods and market,
4. Introduce the goods Europeans wanted to get and sell, such as spices,
5. See if the students can figure out why a country would want to colonize another
region,
6. Continue looking at Prince Henry's specific contributions, working on the concept
of navigation and and what exactly
Europeans hoped to get from Asia.
7. Begin predicting the impact of exploration on relationships between European
countries.

There's a lot to learn, and I'm looking forward to it.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Quiz tomorrow + next assignment

We have a quiz tomorrow on European physical features. We took a pre-test today so the students would know exactly how prepared they were and what they needed to study.
If your child says she already knows all of the required physical features and why they are important, please ask her how she did today on the practice quiz. Some of the games at http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/European_Geography.htm do a good job of letting students practice for the water features they need to know, plus additional features for those of you who'd like your child to learn information beyond the standards.

After the quiz tomorrow we'll begin learning about European history. Georgia has decided that our focus is on modern Europe, so we won't be teaching much about Europe before the 1400s. We'll begin with how Europe in 1450 was somewhat isolated geographically, where Europeans wanted to go, why they wanted to go there, and how they planned to get there. As we learn the history we'll also begin learning the countries of Europe.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

2nd assignment and grade report

Our second assignment is a bit more challenging than the first. The first assignment required students to learn the locations of continents, including Europe. The second requires them to learn the locations of 11 European physical features: the Rhine river, Danube river, English Channel, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Alps mountains, Pyrenees mountains, Ural mountains, European Plain, Iberian Peninsula, and Scandinavian Peninsula. In this second assignment students are also expected to begin understanding why these physical features are important-rivers are used for trade, the European Plain is used for farming, the English Channel somewhat isolates the British islands, the Ural mountains are one dividing line between Europe and Asia, etc... We'll have a grade on this in the middle of this week.

If your child has not shown you her graded continents assignment, please ask about it. I've graded all of them, and returned all those except a few without names and one or two others.
The average grade on this first assignment was very high-almost 100-because the students worked very hard. Don't forget that your child can re-do most assignments, including this one, if he makes a low grade.

Rhine map image from