homework - Tupac Shakur

Read the poem. Look at the picture. Answer the question.

POEM:
If I Fail

If in my quest to achieve my goals
I Stumble or crumble and lose my soul
Those that knew me would easily co-sign
There was never a life as hard as mine
No father - No money - No chance and No guide
I only follow my voice inside
If it guides me wrong and I do not win
I'll learn from my mistakes and try 2 achieve again

- Tupac Shakur

QUESTION:

1) What does this poem mean? What is Tupac trying to say?

Due Wed 4/1/09

homework - Maya Angelou

"Living a life is like constructing a building: if you start wrong, you'll end wrong" - Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is a really famous poet. What do you think she meant by the above quote? One paragraph.

Due 4/1 (Wed)

Read the info. Answer the questions.

The west is the largest part of the United States so it is often broken down into regions. Arizona and New Mexico are always considered to be in the Southwest while portions of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah are sometimes considered part of the Southwest. Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming can be considered part of the Northwest.

Questions:

1) What is the largest part of the United Sates?

2) What states make up the Northwest?

Due Mon 3/30

Homework - Hilary Clinton

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

Hilary Clinton was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 - 2001 when her husband, Bill Clinton, was the President. She went on to become a New York state senator from 2001 - 2009. Her job title now is the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is the most powerful diplomat in the United States.

Questions:

1) When was Hilary Clinton the First Lady?

2) When was she a New York state senator?

3) What is her job title now?

Due Fri 3/27

Homework - What's a diplomat?

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

The above picture is of the United Nations headquarters in New York City! It is the largest diplomatic organization in the world. 

Diplomats are people who represent their countries. For example, if America wants to buy oil from the Middle East, our diplomats will talk to their diplomats and sign a fair contract with each other. 

The most powerful diplomat in the United States is the Secretary of State.

Questions:

1) What is the name of the largest diplomatic organization in the world?

2) What are diplomats?

3) What is the most powerful diplomat in the United States?

Due Thurs 3/26

Homework - Condoleezza Rice

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

Info:

In honor of Women's history month, we will be learning about all three of our female Secretaries of State. The above picture is of Condoleezza Rice who was our first female African-American Secretary of State. She was made secretary of state by President Bush. She was Secretary of State from 2005 - 2009.

Questions:

1) Who was the first female African-American secretary of state? 

2) Who made her secretary of state?

3) When was she secretary of state?

Due Wed 3/25/09

(Pic and info taken from Wikipedia)

homework - Secretary of state

Read the Info. Answer the questions.

Info:

The US Secretary of state is the person who is responsible for our foreign policy. Foreign policy is how we deal with the other countries in the world. The secretary of state is super important and is always traveling around the world representing the United States. There have only been 3 female Secretaries of State: Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hilary Clinton.  

Questions:

1) What is a Secretary of State?

2) What is foreign policy?

3) Name the 3 female Secretaries of State.

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

Info: 

A podcast is audio or video that you download into your computer or your ipod. People who make these podcasts are known as podcasters. The word podcast is a mixture of the words ipod and broadcast. The above picture is the symbol that apple uses for podcasts.

Questions:

1) What is a podcast?

2) People who make podcasts are called ________ .

3) The word podcast is a mixture of which two words?

Due Mon 3/23

Homework - Water heaters

Read the info. Answer the question:

Info:

If you buy a solar water heater, it will pay for itself in two years. That means you will save the money you normally spend on heating your water in two years!  

Question:

1) Would you buy a solar water heater? Why? 

Homework - The Southwest

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

Info:

The Southwest is made up of six states. The states are Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. The Southwest has a lot of desert land which means that the southwest is a good place to get solar energy. 

Questions:

1) How many states are in the southwest?

2) Name 4  Southwestern states.

Homework - esolar

Look at the picture. Read the info. Answer the questions.

Info:

A company called esolar is building concentrated power plants (CSP's) like this one all over southwestern states like Arizona and New Mexico. The states have a lot of desert land. Deserts are great for solar plants because they are empty, dry, and get a LOT of sunlight. Google recently invested 10 million dollars into esolar. 

Questions:

1) What is the name of the company that is building CSP's in the Southwest?

2) Why are deserts great for solar plants?

3) How much money did google invest in esolar?

Due 3/18/09 - wednesday

pic/info = Solveclimate.com

Homework - Air Pollution

Read the information. Look at the picture. Answer the question/s. 

Air pollution is nasty stuff in the air that harms us when we breathe it in. There are a lot of different types of pollution. One type is called "black carbon" pollution. 

"Black carbon" pollution is made of tiny, tiny pieces of black material, like the stuff that comes out of coal power plants or out of cars.

Questions:

1) What is air pollution?

2) What is "black carbon" pollution?

Due Mon 3/16

Homework - New Filter

Read the info. Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

There are over 50,000 coal power plants in the world. They put over 1 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide into the air every single year. Now, scientists have invented  a filter that removes 90% of the Carbon Dioxide.

 (Info = Science Daily)

Question:

1) Should the coal power plants have to install these new filters? Why or why not? 

Due Fri 3/13

Homework - CSP's

Read the info. Look at the pictures. Answer the questions.

Question:

1) Why is the Concentrated Solar Energy plant better that the regular power plant?

homework - coal mining

Read the info. Look at the pictures. Answer the questions.

Surface mining is used to produce most of the coal in the U.S. because it is less expensive than underground mining. Surface mining can be used when the coal is buried less than 200 feet underground.

Underground mining, sometimes called deep mining, is used when the coal is buried several hundred feet below the surface. Some underground mines are 1,000 feet deep.

Questions:

1) What is less expensive, surface mining or underground mining?

2) ___________ is used when the coal is buried several hundred underground.

3) Underground mining is sometimes called __________ .

Due wed 3/11/09

Homework - oil

Read the Info. Look at the map. Answer the questions:

 The top crude oil-producing states are:

1) Texas
2) Alaska
3) California
4) Louisiana
5) Oklahoma

Questions:

1) What state produces the most oil?

2) What state produces the least oil?

Due HW 3/9/09

Homework - Traffic Lights

Read the Info. Answer the questions.

Did you know that each year U.S. traffic lights use nearly 3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity? To make that much electricity you need about 1.4 million tons of coal.

Questions:

1) How much electricity do traffic lights use every year?

2) How much coal do you need to make all that electricity?

Due Mon 3/9

Homework - Blackout of 2003

Read the info. Answer the question.

The Blackout of 2003!

On August 14, 2003, NYC suddenly lost power. Many cities were without electricity for several days. Subways came to a stop and people had to take the stairs instead of the elevators.

Question:

1) What else would change in your life if the power went out?

Homework - light bulbs

This picture = good bulbs

Read the info. Answer the questions:

Bulbs with the blue Energy Star® sign on the package use 2/3 less energy than regular bulbs and last about 10 times as long!  

Questions:

1) How much less energy do the blue star bulbs use?

2) Blue star bulbs last ____ as long as regular bulbs.

Due thurs 3/5/09