Hello kids! My name is Mr. Cartographer but you guys can call me Mr. Map, ok? Great! Let’s get started shall we?
First let’s go over the basics. The lines of longitude and latitude, what are they? Longitude and latitude are lines people like me draw on maps so it is easier to find places. The longitude lines go from north to south and the latitude lines go from east to west. They make a grid over the whole map. When you want to find something on a map you can look at the lines of longitude and latitude and locate the place you are looking for. Each line of longitude and latitude has a number which is called a degree. Let’s say you are looking up longitude 53 degrees and latitude 74degrees. All you have to do is go to the longitude 53 line and the latitude 74 line and follow them till they intersect. And then you have it! You have found a spot on the map by using longitude and latitude.
Now that you know all about longitude and latitude you will be able to quickly understand the idea of hemispheres. Hemispheres mean half spheres. Imagine that you take a ball and cut it in half. Then you have two parts to the ball. Well, if you take the earth and put an imaginary line running from top to bottom you get two sides which are called the west and east hemispheres. This line is called the central meridian. If you put an imaginary line around the middle of the earth, as if it was wearing a belt you get the north and south hemispheres. This middle line is called the equator.
On every map you find a compass. The compass shows you which way is north, south, east and west. You need this compass because it helps you understand how to look at the map. Then you can tell your friend, “Hey look, Vancouver is north of Seattle.” And your friend can say, “No way, Seattle is south of Vancouver” and you can laugh at your funny geography humor. Geography is just so much fun!
If you really want to have fun then you need to know about time zones. There are twenty four time zones just like there are 24 hours in a day. If you travel east you are traveling into the future and you have to turn your clock ahead. If you are traveling west you are going back in time and you need to turn your clock back. Have you ever gone on a plane and traveled west and ended up in your final destination even before you left on your trip? Ha! That’s when time zones are really fun. Try it sometime!
When you talk about scales and maps you are not trying to talk about how much the map weighs. You are really talking about how many centimeters equal how many meters. Let’s say you took a life size photo of yourself and you shrunk it 1000 times so that your picture would fit on a map with everything else that was shrunk 1000 times too. If you looked at that map you would see something that looked like 1:1000 and that would explain how many times you were shrunk. That is how scale works. It shrinks everything and then tells you the ratio.
A map legend is not a story all about how the map comes to exist. It is actually a fun code at the bottom of a map. You can be a detective like Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes and figure out what every little dot and squiggle means on a map. Let’s say that you are home alone on a Saturday night and you have nothing to do, what can you think of that could be better than grabbing your old maps and figuring out all the legends.
Bayle
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Mr. Maps Miraculous Map Moment
Mr. Lee's Website
The Website is: http://www.webspawner.com/users/ericleevtt6/index.html
(this was a response to Marc's post)
Benny tries synchronized swimming!
Most of the time synchronized swimming is absolutely killer, but last
week my crew and I had a practice that was completely appalling.
First our couch, who is always admirable, was in an utterly
horrendous mood. as soon as practice started he had anger etched all
over his face.
Taking all his anger out on us he made the whole squad do five more
underwater pirouette spins than usual, I was so dizzy and almost
puking didn't help and we thought we had seen the worst of it!
Then we had to do our whole routine ten times. we didn't even get to
step on dry land for the longest grueling half an hour of my life.
and when we complained coach made us hold our breath under water for
as long as we could, I almost drowned. It was a close call, to close
of a close call for me to do synchronized swimming again.
-Benny
Homework
6B:
-Use today's notes on mapping skills to write a paragraph that contains the most important points. Purpose: 1. To learn note-taking skills. 2. To be able to write a clear summary from notes (think concentrated orange juice).
6A:
-You will have 45 minutes for your responses tomorrow. You may prepare at home, but do not finish it, or get a lot of help from parents. Feel free to use the blog to discuss poems with your classmates.
If you have time, both Janine and Aleesha are looking for some guidance on poems that they are writing.
-Mr. G.
????
hi guys i was wondering if you could help with this poem because im kind of stuck. Also i was wondering if tou could say if theres anything wrong with it and whats a good title for it.
here it is.
what happens when you have a scary dream,
as real as they might seem.
what happens when you have a scary drem,
so scary you want to scream.
what happens when you have a scary nightmare,
and they take you to there lair.
what happens when you have a scary nightmare,
and what they do is not compelety fair.
thankyou guys
Geography 101 by Sam
Maps of the earth are divided into a whole bunch of lines called longitude and latitude. Longitude is the lines going sideways around the globe. The main line of longitude around the globe is called the equator, also known as the world’s belt. The equator is like a big line that divides the world in half, running west to east. Latitude is the exact opposite of longitude. The main line of latitude around the world is called the prime meridian. The prime meridian is also like a big line that goes around the world, but this one goes north to south not west to east.
Mapmakers measure distance in degrees. The equator is zero degrees longitude, and the prime meridian is zero degrees latitude. On a map there are numbers, just like on a graph, and there is actually a point on the world which is 0,0 degrees. The spot is just under an island called Sao Tome and Principe in Africa. The equator and the prime meridian divide the world into four hemispheres Northern hemisphere, Western hemisphere, Southern hemisphere and the Eastern hemisphere.
On a map, the cardinal points show directions. When drawing a compos on a map, north is always up, south is always down, east is always to the right and west is always to the left. Scale shows distance on a map. The scale could be one centimetre equals one kilometre. On a map scales are usually shown using centimetres or inches.
The earth is divided into twenty four different time zones. On some maps there are lines showing the ranges of each time zone. A very good example of this is, two places in Mexico. One is called Puerto Vallarta and right next to it is a newer city called Nuevo Vallarta. They are right next to each other, but and Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta are one hour apart.
A map legend tells you what the symbols on a map mean. For example, a red line might mean symbolize a highway and a yellow line might symbolize a side road.
Mapping paragraph
On almost every map there is a grid made up of latitude and longitude lines, which measure distance in degrees. Latitude lines run from east to west and longitude lines run from north to south. The equator is 0 degrees latitude and the prime meridian is 0 degrees longitude. The equator and the prime meridian divide the world into four different parts: Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere.
On a map the compass rose shows north, east, south and west,(they sometimes show more directions, it depends on the map your using.) The scale on a map shows the distance of how far things are from each other. The earth is divided into 24 time zones for 24 hours of the day. Each time zone always has a different time than the other ones.
Danny G.
Danny's Bad paragraph
I always have such a blast at soccer practice, but last week our practice was rotten! To start off, our Mr. Cheerful coach turned into the devil himself, and as soon as we got on to the field, it started to pour rain everywhere. Our coach even made us complete five more exhausting laps then regular. My legs felt like jello and it was only twelve minutes into the practice. Just when I thought we would get a water break he made us do sprints and suicides for a ten-minute span I thought would never end. Now I know how it feels like to die!
Poetry Responce On "Execution"
Hey everyone heres my response on execution:
This poem really blew me away with all it's poetic devices. There were smilies like: "He had cancer stenciled into his face like pencil marks from the sun". There were metaphors like: "He had cancer stenciled into his face" and "The board was a spiderweb of options and counters, Blasts and sweeps, a constellation of players shining under his favorite word, execution". I also thought that in the ending when Edward Hirch was writing about how the other team pummeled their team, is a metaphor of how cancer beats you up and has a machine like fury that kills you.
This poem was free verse and had only one stanza. I could not really find cadence in this poem because there were a lot of ideas (but that does not mean it was a bad poem) . I noticed that every line started with a capital letter, at first I thought it was because Edward Hirsh tried to make every line powerful. Then afterwards I asked my teacher why it was like that and he said that most poems start with a capital letter in every line and it does not mean trying to emphasize.
I could not really relate to this poem because no one i know had had cancer. Even though I could not relate to this poem, I can still understand what cancer can do to you. This coach was an amazing coach who taught his team everything he knew. He gave his life to football and despised losing. And then it happened, he was shot by cancer, there was nothing he could do. He would never be the same again because that's what cancer does to you, it has power, with deadly, impersonal authority, machine-like fury, perfect execution.
- ari
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Sam's New and Improved Bad Paragraph
Soccer is usually a blast, but last week we had a practice that made us all miserable, depressed zombies! From the start of the practice everyone could see that our coach, who is almost as nice as Mr. G., was in a fowl mood (so bad that if he had a mood ring on it would explode). The second practice started he put on the most fake smile I have ever seen. We had to run FIVE MORE LAPS THAN USUAL! My legs felt like rubber strings tied to 70 pound weights. The worst part of it all was that was just the beginning of the work out. The second we were done with our laps he had us start on our sprints otherwise known as “suicides”. After the longest ten minutes of my life, he let us stop. I think I get why they call them suicides. After dry heaving four times during my coach’s explanation of a drill, my coach screamed at me to sit down. When I was finally allowed back onto the field, we did some more drills that should have been called “suicides plus”. After half an hour more of those drills, the coach was about to give us the a soccer ball so we could finally play, but our practice time was over. I hobbled home thinking maybe I’d switch to chess.
by Sam
Bad Paragraph didn't know what hit it!
So far so good everyone! You've turned the "bad" into great, and you've done it in your own style. Keep them coming!
6A: Thanks to those of you who have brought in your hardcover books for the display. I need five more, so if you don't mind parting with them for a couple of weeks, please bring them in!
-Mr. G.
Fixed bad paragraph
Typically basketball is extremely pleasurable, sadly at last week’s practice the case was not as usual this left me gnashing my teeth with anger. First, Our Coach, who generally is tremendously pleasant, was in a horrific mood. The very minute basketball practice started coach had this glare where his smile often hung. We had to do triple the amount of laps around the court than regular the team’s legs were throbbing in intense pain this was just the beginning of the excessive training. We had to do left handed layups for thirty solid minutes. I could feel the vomit coming into my mouth and back into my stomach. We didn’t even get to do passing. I don’t have to tell you how many fumes were sizzling out from my body.
By: Arieh Leon Dales 6A
Fix this "bad" paragraph (Due Wed)
Most of the time soccer is really fun, but last week we had a practice that totally made me upset. First, our coach, who is usually super nice, was in a totally bad mood. As soon as practice started he had this, like, really big scowl on his face. We had to run five more laps around the field than usual My legs were completely tired, and the work had just started! We then had to do sprints for ten whole minutes. I thought I was was going to puke! We didn't even get to touch the ball for another half an hour.
I don't have to tell you how completely mad I was.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Coming Next Week- Debate 1:"Battle of the Sources!!"
Dear Students,
Next week we will be embarking on our preparations for our first formal debate. Things are sure to get heated as we battle it out in search of the "best" research source.
Get ready to rumble!
Response from Benny
Love That Cat
Response By Benny Freedman
I can’t directly connect to this poem because I don’t have a cat or other pet. I can relate to the speaker because I share the same kind of passion but for different things such as baseball, basketball, and music.
The depth, to which Stoltz loves the way his cat looks and interacts with him, is the same depth to which I experience a deep emotional connection with sports and music. I love the fast pacing of basketball both in the speed of the sport and the way the points climb up quickly. The sound of the ball bouncing on the gleaming hardwood floors keeps me connected to the game. Baseballs strategic plays keep my attention. For example stealing bases and double plays are very exciting. With music, too, I experience a deep connection on many levels for example the intelligence of the solos and how the riffs and verses are so well thought of.
-Benny F.
6B Homework!
Extra: Write poems, respond with helpful responses to other people's work, book reviews, etc....
