Sept 12 - 16
Parents: Thursday, Sept 15, 6 pm, is Back to School Night. Parking will be at a premium; I recommend you arrive at 5:30 pm. Report to the PAC or to my room, C-4.
* Meet the teachers and wave at your fellow parents.
* Sign up and pay dues for Friends of Magnet (PTSA) and other helpful organizations.
* Purchase a CMHS T-shirt or sign.
* Volunteer for committees so you can enjoy and employ the CMHS network.
* Enjoy the ambience at one of Louisiana’s most productive schools. It will wrap at 7:45.
The Big Uneasy
Mon. through Thursday geo classes will read the National Geographic story from October, 04, that literate people are currently discussing. It is called “Gone with the Water” and fluently presents the storm scenario played out with Katrina. But it is not simply an “I told you so” story. It explains the forces that created the catastrophe and explores solutions.
See the story at NatGeoOct04
Activities
a) Read the story for summary notes on the factual material.
b) Derive material that will allow a student to predict the future of South Louisiana’s physical geography.
c) Collect material that assesses the importance of South Louisiana to the nation.
d) Present the story in graphical form, including both graphs and maps.
e) Read about the 1927 Mississippi River flood as described in wikipedia.com’s article at Wikipedia.orgMissFlood1927.
f) Make a list of geographical terms from the article.
g) Create a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz.
h) Use the atlas in mapping the story’s chief geographical points.
NatGeo vocabulary:
Big Easy - NO nickname based on Big Apple
homage - honor
Ash Wed. - day after Mardi Gras; first day of Lent
maelstrom - whirling storm
infirm - ill or incapable
berm - built-up land
Apocalypse - end of world through violent destruction.
dehydration - lack of water
putrid - rotten
sediment - dirt issolved in water.
chinks - gap
global warming - recent climate trend
barrier islands - narrow island close to coast
subsidence - sinking land
deluge - flood
levees - land raised as a barrier to water flow.
brackish - mixed salt water and fresh water.
1/3 US oil production or transportation: Louisiana
1/4 US natural gas: Louisiana
2nd in US fish: Louisiana
La Coastal Area project - attempt to restore lost land.
geomorphologist - studies changing geography
breaching - breaking
spillways - gate in a levee for relieving flood pressure.
diversions - to change, or divert, the course of the water.
culvert - man-made waterway under a road
prototype - initial model
lush - rich
restoration - to rebuild
US Corps of Engineers
$300 million seafood - Louisiana
1st oil well: 1901 - Louisiana
ubiquitous - found everywhere.
deep offshore wells - important source of US oil.
1/3 US domestic oil production - flows through La.
ANWR Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge
Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) - supertankers 18 miles in the Gulf offloading or onloading oil via pipelines.
supertankers - modern international oil carriers.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve - oil reserves set aside for national emergency.
saline formation - salt dome; associated with oil deposits.
induced subsidence - forced sinking of land.
Bayou LaFourche / Bayou Terrebonne - rural land below Baton Rouge.
Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary - bay southwest of New Orleans.
beignet - fried treat.
Cafe du Monde - Cafe of the World (all the people)
torpid - very hot and humid.
licentious - enjoying pleasures of the flesh.
“short-term advantages can be gained by exploiting the environment”
1. Pre-test: Write a 3-sentence summary of the physical elements of Katrina's destruction.
2. Sketch the principal items of New Orleans from a Rand McNally map:
* Vieux Carre, or French Quarter
* Miss. R.
* Lake Pontchartrain
* Pontchartrain Causeway
* Metairie, the biggest suburb
* UNO, SUNO
* Tulane, Loyola, Xavier
* St. Bernard parish
* Plaquemines parish
3. Read "Gone with the water," Nat Geo., Oct 04
4. Take notes on vocabulary and the italicized sections.
5. Create 2 graphs (or a timeline) from the article info to add to your sketch map of NO.
6. Design a New Orleans Problems and Solutions page. Find a way to explain the relationship of the city to the river and gulf both in writing and graphics.
Ex:
Annual floods spread alluvial soil in ancient times, making rich crops.
Growing population of the city calls for flood protection: levees are built.
River unable to flood past levees. Silt flows to the Gulf. City grows.
Silt being borne by the river extends the land of the river delta.
Oil & gas and shipping issues lead to creation of network of canals along coast and river.
Oil & gas drilling causes subsidence. Canal network increases the erosion of the coastline.
Global warming results in higher seas, difficult storms.
Coastal marshes and barrier islands are eroded.
Storms have greater impact on the coast and city.
7. Predict the future of the Louisiana coastline, using the material in the NatGeo article.
8. Summarize the ways in which New Orleans is important to the US. Use colorful graphics as well as statistics.
9. Research and sketch a brief map of the Mississippi Valley and its 5 great tributaries.
Here's my test on decoding the National Geographic story:
National Geographic: “Gone with the Water,” Oct, 04 / Trudeau / Geo test 2
Choose the best answer possible.
1. Louisiana’s coast can expect greater damage from the sea, says a climatologist. One reason: a) barrier islands b) global warming c) marsh sediment d) spring floods.
2. Before the Mississippi levees were built, what factor prevented coastal erosion?
a) floods b) canals c) marshes d) FEMA.
3. Before 1927 the Mississippi Valley sediment frequently flowed into the fields surrounding the river. After 1927 the sediment flowed to the a) wetlands b) brackish marshes c) gulf d) canals.
4. Petroleum exploration and ship traffic have caused salt water to a) penetrate
b) retreat from c) stabilize Louisiana’s brackish marshes (“brackish” means mixed salt water and fresh water).
5. The oil being transported through Louisiana’s wetlands amounts to some a) 30% b) 50% c) 90% of America’s supplies.
6. Commercial fisheries in America are ranked, acc. to NatGeo: a) Florida-Alaska-Louisiana b) Florida-Louisiana-Alaska c) Louisiana-Florida-Alaska d) Alaska-Louisiana.
7. The US Corps of Engineers seems to have made a costly coastal error in constructing a) a channel to serve as a shortcut for freighters b) the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) project c) the Atchafalaya Delta.
8. Breaching the levees with a set of gated spillways, says a coastal geomorphologist, will have this effect on the coastal marsh: a) build up b) increase in erosion c) subsidence.
9. The success story on the Louisiana coastline is a) the Caernavon Diversion
b) Atchafalaya River c) La. Coastal Area (LCA) project.
10. The US Corps of Engineers allows only a third of the Mississippi’s water to flow out via the Atchafalaya channel. The reason? a) dissolving coastal marsh b) build-up of the Atchafalaya Delta c) loss of water supply for Lower Mississippi towns d) stabilization of the shoreline.
11. This article implies that Louisiana’s commercial shrimp fishing industry has almost collapsed. T / F
12. The La Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) enables supertankers to deliver some 15% of America’s oil. This petroleum is categorized as a) domestic b) foreign c) natural gas d) Louisiana muck.
13. Low taxes and high-paying jobs have come to Louisiana via the __ industry.
a) shipping b) fisheries c) tourism d) petroleum.
14. According to NatGeo, regional depressurization, or subsidence, will likely continue due to the high price of a) coastal restoration b) natural gas c) seafood d) flood relief.
15. In one or two sentences . . .
a) explain the engineer’s observation that “short term advantages can be gained by exploiting the environment. But in the long term you’re going to pay for it.” (“exploiting means “taking advantage of”).
Also, b) give an example of the short term vs. long term as presented in this article.
Priorities: grammar, spelling and legibility. (3 pts.)
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