Tip of the Week - Compare and Contrast

You may be asked to write an essay that compares and contrasts two things or ideas. Remember this:

Compare = Similarities

Contrast = Differences

When you are asked to write a "compare & contrast" essay, you should discuss the ways in which two things are the same and different. The easiest way to organize your ideas for this type of essay is by using a Venn Diagram. Just make two overlapping circles. Label each circle with one of the things you're comparing and contrasting. For example, in this diagram, we're comparing and contrasting dogs and cats. In the "dog" circle, we've listed some ways that dogs are different from cats; in the "cat" circle, we've listed some ways that cats are different from dogs. In the place where the two circles overlap, we've listed some things that apply to both dogs and cats.

Now we have our ideas all set up for three paragraphs for the body of our essay. In one paragraph, we'll talk about dogs. In the next paragraph, we'll talk about cats. In the third paragraph, we'll talk about both of them. Of course, we'll still need opening and closing paragraphs, too! Use this Venn diagram to practice writing a "compare & contrast" essay, or make one of your own!

Tip of the Week - Reading

We're once again combining the Reading Tip of the Week with Today in History! Author Terry McMillan was born October 18, 1951. McMillan was born and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. She was a single mother living in New York in the 1980s when she attended a writer's workshop in Harlem. She went on to write several novels including Mama and Disappearing Acts. Two of her novels, Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, have been made into movies. If you haven't read anything by Terry McMillan, check out one or more of her books!

Tip of the Week -- Fractions

A lot of folks are afraid of fractions, but the truth is that we use fractions every day. Every time we use money, measure something, or tell time, we are using fractions.

A fraction is simply this: a part of a whole. The top number is the part and the bottom number is the whole.

A penny is 1/100 of a dollar, because 1 dollar and 100 pennies are the same thing. A quarter is 1/4 of a dollar, because 1 dollar and 4 quarters are the same thing.

And inch is 1/12 of a foot, because 1 foot and 12 inches are the same thing. A foot is 1/3 yard because 1 yard and 3 feet are the same thing.

A minute is 1/60 of an hour, because 1 hour and 60 minutes are the same thing. 15 minutes is 1/4 of an hour because there are four sets of 15 minutes in an hour.

The most common way that fractions are taught is with pizza. Most pizzas are cut into 8 slices, so if we have 8 slices, we have one pizza. Therefore, a slice is 1/8 of a pizza. If two friends share a pizza, and each person eats 4 slices, then each person has eaten 4 slices out of 8, or 4/8, which is the same as 1/2.

Tip of the Week -- Division of Germany

The United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union (The Allied Nations)fought together against Germany, Italy, Japan (the Axis Powers) and during World War II. Both factions included many smaller countries, as well.

When the war was over, much of Europe was in ruins. Germany was a broken country, with it's infrastructure destroyed and its people unable to help themselves. The Allied countries, with the exception of the Soviet Union, wanted to rebuilt Germany so that she could become self-sufficient again, under the Marshall Plan. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Germany as an Eastern Bloc country, so the she would be under Soviet Rule.

As a result of this disagreement, Germany was divided into two countries, East Germany and West Germany. East Germany became a socialist Eastern Bloc country under the Soviet Union, and it's official name was the German Democratic Republic or GDR. West Germany's official name was the Federal Republic of Germany, or FRG. American, British and French troops remained in West Germany throughout the rebuilding, and in 1955, the country was declared "fully sovereign," or operating on its own, with it's own government. West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Allied troops maintain bases there until this day, under NATO.

Throught the 1950s, many people attempted to defect from East to West Germany. The easiest place to do this at the time was in Berlin. Although the entire city was in East Germany, half of the city was controlled by the US, Great Britain and France.

In 1961, the Soviets built the Berlin Wall on the border of East and West Berlin. They said it was to protect East German citizens, but it was most likely to keep them from defecting to the West. The Wall became the symbol of the Iron Curtain, the border between the East and the West. In 1990, Germany was officially reunified, and the Berlin Wall was taken down.

Writing Tip of the Day - Spelling

This Saturday, October 9, is International English Spelling Day!

Look around for misspelled words on signs, in newspapers and magazines, and other print materials. Play spelling and word games alone or with your friends. Read a dictionary - seriously!

Check out this website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spday.htm for more information. The site includes games, spelling tests, and interesting information about why we spell words the way we do. One article talks about what writing was like before we had dictionaries, and people spelled any way they wanted.

I encourage you to check it out!

Reading Tip of the Week: Tone

Just as we have a "tone" when we speak, writers and their characters have a "tone."

When you read, think about the characters. Tone can be detected from their words, from the way the words are delivered, and from context. For example:

Jane said, "I'm going to Joe's house."

This sentence is flat. We have no idea why Jane is going to Joe's house, or how she feels about it.

Jane exclaimed, "I'm going to Joe's house!!"

Jane's tone has changed. She's excited or happy now.

Jane rolled her eyes and sneered, "I'm going to Joe's house."

Her tone has changed again. Now she's sarcastic.

A character's tone can change throughout the story, just as a real person's tone can change, depending on the situation.

If we think of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is a character in the story. His tone starts out calm and calculating, and slowly builds to guilt, and finally to terror and madness.

Sometimes, though, a character will have the same demeanor throughout. Let's look at Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula. The Count behaves differently with different people, just as we all do. He is a charming gentleman to Mina, a controlling monster to Renfield, and a dangerous adversary to Van Helsing, but he is always secretive, cryptic, and mysterious.

Tip of the Week -- Science

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity. She did not actually discover radioactivity, but she did give it the name, and she created the theory of radioactivity. She also developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and she discovered two elements, polonium and radium.

Marie was the first scientist to explore oncology. Today, when we hear of people undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, we can thank Marie Curie. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, grew out of the Radium Institute, which Marie founded in 1932.

Although Marie was Polish, she was the first female professor at the University of Paris. Her husband, Pierre, was also a professor and a scientist. Together, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Their daughter, Irene, carried on the family tradition, winning a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. Irene's children are prominent scientists as well.

Marie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Goose Day

Today is September 29 - Goose Day!

The Medieval Period is also known as The Middle Ages. It lasted for 1,000 years, from the 5th century until the 15th century (the 400s until the 1400s). During this time, people celebrated Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael, as a religious festival.

Michaelmas also happened to be the time of year when peasants paid their rent to the landowners. A peasant would come to the landlord's castle or manor house with rent, which could be paid in currency or, more often, a portion of the crops from the fall harvest. The peasant would also bring a stubble goose (a nice, fat goose), for the landlord's table, to ensure that the lease would be renewed for the coming year.

When the British began to colonize the United States in the 1600s, they brought the tradition with them. The only place in the US where it is still celebrated is in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, where there is a large population of people with British and Scots-Irish heritage.

In modern times, Michaelmas is called Goose Day, for the traditional goose dinner Mifflin Countians have on this day. Many restaurants in the area have a "goose day special." Eating goose on September 29 is said to bring good luck in the coming year. Other festivities include a 5K run and a "Wild Goose Chase," which is a county-wide scavenger hunt in which teams of people pile into cars and head out in search of clues. Another tradition is that a police officer will pull over a random car with out-of-state license plates, tell the occupants of the car that they will need to be "taken in," and then treat them to a surprise goose dinner at a local restaurant.

Tip of the Week -- Singular and Plural Possessives

Last week, we talked about apostrophes in contractions and possessives. This week I wanted to take a closer look at possessives. Possessive apostrophes can be confusing, but we'll try to make it clear.

Singulars are easy! Just add "apostrophe s". For example, Jim's car.

But what if Jim uses his real name, James? Is it James' car? James's car? James car? Well, James is one person, so he's singular. Use the same rule! James's car is correct.

Now let's look a plural example. The Smiths live next door. Notice that we just add an s to show that there is more than one Smith living next door. If they have a cat, we would say the Smiths' cat. The apostrophe after the s shows that Smith is plural, that is, a number of Smiths own the cat. If Mrs. Smith lives alone and has a cat, it would be Mrs. Smith's cat.

Here's an easy way to remember: If there is one Smith (singular), then the singular word Smith appears before the apostrophe. If there is more than one Smith (plural), then the plural word Smiths comes before the apostrophe.

Let's look at one more example. What if the James family lives next door? We say, "The Jameses live next door. If Mr. James (singular) has a truck, we would say Mr. James's truck. If the James family (plural) has a dog, we would say the Jameses' dog.

Math Tip of the Week -- Subtracting Time

Subtracting time is no different than subtracting other numbers. We know that if all of the digits on the top are bigger than all of the numbers on the bottom, we just subtract straight down. The same goes for time.



But what happens if we have to borrow? When subtracting time, we don't so much borrow as we convert. If we borrow from the hours column, we must add the number of minutes (the equivalent to the hours we borrowed) to the minutes column. It looks like this:

We would use the same process for subtracting units of measure, too. But we would use the equivalent numbers for the measures we're working with. For example, 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 pound = 16 ounces, etc.

Today in Science History

On September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle, a German astronomer at the Berlin Obervatory. Galle discovered the planet, not by directly observing it, but through mathematical calculations based on variations in gravity on its neighboring planet, Uranus. Italian astronomer Galileo observed Neptune as early as 1612, but he thought it was a star.

Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman god of the sea, because of its blue color. It is 4 times bigger than Earth. Neptune rotates on its axis faster then Earth does; a day on Neptune is 16 hours long, whereas a day on Earth is 24 hours long. Neptune takes longer to orbit the sun than Earth does, though, so a year on Neptune is the same as 165 Earth years. Neptune has eight known moons, while Earth only has one.

Neptune is a gas giant, meaning that it is made up mostly of gases, as opposed to rock and other solid matter. Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane.

Social Studies Tip of the Week -- Nathan Hale

On this date, September 22, 1776, US patriot Nathan Hale was executed by the British for spying.

Hale joined the Continental Army, serving in a Connecticut regiment. He was involved in the overthrow of the British in occupied Boston in 1775.

In September 1776, he went behind enemy lines on Long Island, NY, to gather information about British troop movements. While he was there, the British took control of Manhattan. Hale was captured September 21, while trying to cross Long Island Sound to get back to American-controlled territory.

Nathan Hale was hanged the morning of September 22, 1776. According to legend, while standing on the gallows awaiting his execution, he uttered the famous words, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." He was 21 years old.

Writing Tip of the Day - Apostrophes

Have you ever seen a sign like this at a store or along a road:

Did you notice that unnecessary apostrophe? This is called a "grocer's apostrophe" because it is commonly seen in grocery stores and roadside produce stands, although it could pop up anywhere.

Apostrophes can indicate two things - either that two words are being combined into one contraction or that something is owned by someone or something else.

Let's take a look at the first case - the contraction. A contraction happens when two words are combined into one. The apostrophe substitutes for the missing letters.

For example:

Now let's look at the second case - the possessive. The possessive form is used to indicate that something belongs to someone or something else. In this case, we add "apostrophe s" to the end of the name of the person or the thing that does the possessing.

For example:

This is Sarah's puppy. The yellow toy is the puppy's rubber ducky.

Tip of the Week -- Math

A mnemonic device is a little trick to help you remember something.



A good mnemonic to remember the Order of Operations is



Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally



Parentheses

Exponents

Multiplication

Division

Addition

Subtraction



Or you could just remember PEMDAS as a fun nonsense word to help you to remember.

Tip of the Week -- Science

On this day in history, September 16, 1978, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Tabas, Iran. More than 25, 000 people were killed. The quake was felt up to 400 miles away. The town of Tabas was destroyed. Of the 17, 000 people who lived there, only about 2000 survived. The only buildings left standing were the school and the bank. They were the only buildings that had been constructed with steel frames.

Earthquakes result when energy is suddenly released along faultlines. Think of pushing two cardboard boxes together. Sooner or later, one of them will collapse, causing the other to suddenly move forward, backward, or sideways, depending upon which way the collapsed box fell.

The tectonic plates on our planet move just like those cardboard boxes. They constantly grind against each other until one of them gives up and the other one moves suddenly, releasing energy in the form of an earthquake.

This illustration shows the types of faults and how they work:

Writing Tip of the Day -- Conjunctions

A conjunction is a connecting word. It connects two thoughts. The easy way to remember the conjunctions is to remember FANBOYS.

For (when it means "because")
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So (when it means "as a result")

Reading Tip of the Week: Types of Conflict

Conflict is found in all literature. Every story you will ever read has a problem that needs to be solved. That's conflict.

These are the four types:

Man vs. Self is the only internal type of conflict. This is when a character is torn between two paths or ideas, or must make a difficult decision. An example of Man vs. Self would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by his past, his present, and his future and must amend his ways.

Man vs. Man is the most common type of conflict. This is when the character is in conflict with another character. An example of Man vs Man conflict would be Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. Holmes tracks down the bad guys - often one bad guy: Professor Moriarty.

Man vs. Nature occurs when the character is pitted against a natural event or occurrance. An example of this would be Jack London's To Build a Fire, a man who is lost in the wilds of Alaska struggles not to freeze to death.

Man vs. Society comes into play when a character when a character is out of sync with the society in which he lives. An example of this would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The Monster want desperately to be accepted and to be loved, but he knows that this can never be.

All four types can be found in movies and on television, too. For example:

Man vs. Self: Good Will Hunting shows the character's internal struggle between loyalty to his friends and going on the achieve his full potential. Casablanca shows Rick's internal struggle between saving the woman who broke his heart (and her husband), or saving himself from the Nazis.

Man vs Man: Batman puts the superhero up again bad guy The Joker. The police on Law & Order track down criminals. Any "good guy vs. bad guy" book, movie, or TV show would fall into this category.

Man vs. Nature: Jaws shows characters tracking down a maneating shark. Disaster movies also fall into this category: Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Earthquake, Dante's Peak.

Man vs. Society: Gattaca shows a man trying to fit into a future society in which humans are genetically engineered. The Matrix shows characters rebelling against a society in which reality is an illusion.

Keep in mind that all of the types of conflict can be present in the same book or movie. Titanic is a good example of this. Rose is in love with Jack, but at first feels some loyalty to her family's station (Man vs. Self). Jack is in conflict with Cal for Rose's affections (Man vs. Man). Everyone on the ship is in danger when the ship sinks (Man vs Nature). Jack tries to be polite to Rose's upper class friends and family, but he just doesn't fit in (Man vs. Society).

Math Tip of Week -- Algebra: Why Are There Letters in Math??

Take a look at the word equation. It has the same root as the word equal. An equation is a situation in which one thing is the same as something else. In math, it means that one number or set of numbers is equal to another number or set of numbers. That's why there is an equal sign (=) in the middle of it.

For example, we know that 2 + 2 is the same thing as 4. We say 2 + 2 = 4. The numbers on both sides of the = mean the same thing.

But what if we only have two numbers in that equation? What if we only have 2 + 2 =
and we don't know what goes on the other side of the =? We substitute the missing information with a letter (usually x, y or z) to represent that we don't know the number yet.

We could write 2 + 2 = x.
To solve for x, we must first isolate x, or get it alone, on one side of the =. In this example, x is already by itself, so we only have to add 2 + 2 to find it.

Simplified, it looks like this: 2 + 2 = x
2 + 2 = 4
x = 4

Let's do another one, and mix it up a little: 2 + x = 4
We need to isolate the x. We know that 2 + something is equal to 4, so 4 - 2 must be equal to that something: 4 - 2 = x. And we have the x right where we want it. Now we just need to solve to find x.

It looks like this: 2 + x = 4
4 - 2 = x
2 = x

Now let's look at a problem like this: 3x = 6
This means that 3 times something is 6 . . . but what is that something?
We follow the same steps: isolate x and solve the problem like this: 3x = 6
x = 6/3
x = 2

Now let's make it a little harder: 3x + 4 = 12
3x = 12 - 4
3x = 9
x = 9/3
x = 3

Science Tip of the Week -- Symbiosis of Plants and Animals

Plants and animals have a symbiotic relationship. This means that they are different from each other, but they each have something the other needs to survive.

Animals and people breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

Plants also provide food for animals, and animals fertilize the plants in return.

Animals - even carnivores (meat eaters) - would not be able to survive without plants, and plants would not be able to survive without animals.

Social Studies Tip of the Week -- Labor Day

We all know that Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. We get a day off. We have picnics. It's the last day before swimming pools and amusement parks close for the season. But do you know the history of Labor Day?

It all started in 1894 in the town of Pullman, Illinois. Pullman was a factory town, and their product was Pullman train cars, which were made at the Pullman Palace Car Company. The company had lost revenue the previous year because demand for railway cars had dropped. Their answer to lost revenue was to cut workers' pay and increase their hours.

The workers were angered by the company's decision, and they held a wildcat strike. A wildcat strike is a strike that is not authorized by union officials. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, was a union of all railway workers. It was a large and powerful union. The ARU supported the Pullman worker's strike by refusing to run trains that included Pullman cars. Soon, all train traffic west of Chicago stopped. This affected both travel and trade.

President Grover Cleveland sent the U.S. military troops and U.S. Marshalls to intervene and get the trains moving again. During the clash, 13 workers were killed. These workers were instrumental in improving workers' rights in America.

As a result of the Pullman Strike in 1894, President Cleveland created Labor Day as a celebration of American Workers and their families.