Schlessinger Media

Writers, ranging from a sportswriter for a school newspaper to a student working on a research project, demonstrate the processes of developing a focused thesis statement as well as structuring and writing solid introductory, supporting and concluding paragraphs.

This program suggests strategies to help discern the appropriate tone for a piece of writing based on purpose and audience. Student writers, ranging from an avid cyclist on a fundraising campaign for an upcoming school trip to a writer communicating with her fellow club members on the Internet, use formal and informal writing to accomplish their task.

In this program, a young writer must compose a convincing letter to the school news paper to win his classmates' votes for student council, while another writer is challenged to research and write a supporting argument in favor of an issue that she feels strongly against.

Meet Paul Bunyan, a lumberjack taller than the highest Minnesota pines, who is strong enough to fell ten trees with a single swing of his axe and has the ingenuity to conquer a swarm of beesquitoes.

Meet John Henry. Born with a hammer in his hand, he is the greatest steel-drivin' man that ever lived. He's as strong as an ox, as fast as the wind and possesses impeccable aim.

Students will explore how society uses the Earth's resources to meet our most basic needs for food, water and shelter, and how those same resources influence how and where we live. Through our use and misuse of technology, students will see how we impact the world around us and conversely, how the forces of the ever-changing Earth shape our lives as well.

Imagine that someone from another country has asked you to describe the United States in a single sentence -- not an easy task! However, dividing America into regions and comparing and contrasting them can help explain our nation's unique natural, physical and cultural features.

Why do people settle where they do? Why do populations move from one place to another? In Human Systems, students will appreciate the role that the physical characteristics of Earth have played in determining where and how people live, and explore the notion that where and how we live has a huge impact on our planet.

Earth is a vast, diverse and complicated place, but breaking it down into regions allows us to simplify the whole. In Places & Regions, students will understand the physical and human characteristics that combine to form the areas we create to interpret our planet's complexity.

In this program, students will learn about cartography and technologies such as GIS, GPS and databases that geographers use to help us see the regular and recurring patterns in Earth's physical and human systems. These tools not only help us see and understand the world's patterns, but also help to make our planet a more comprehensible and fascinating place.

It's time to dot your i's, and cross your t's and carefully reread what you've written...in other words, it's time to edit and proofread! The conventions of writing, including grammar and mechanics, ensure that what is written accurately conveys what the writer intended to express.

There has always been a struggle to balance the goals of economic development with the need to protect the environment. With world population growing and global climate change threatening to affect us all, never has that balance been more important. Today, the developed world uses much of the world's energy resources and contributes to the majority of global greenhouse gases.