September · Week 1 · Day 3 · School day 3

Day 3: Boasts, Wyrd and a Fair Test

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The day, step by step

1. 10–15 min Morning meeting and current events SL.11-12.1

   1. Question of the day: What is one environmental problem near you that you would like to investigate? Students list one issue and one question they could actually test at home or school.
   2. Current events: one science or weather headline from this week; students say which Earth system it involves.
   3. Today we turn one of those questions into a fair test.

2. 15–20 min Vocabulary and word study L.11-12.4c

   1. Wyrd in Old English meant fate or what happens. By Shakespeare's time the weird sisters were the sisters of fate; only in the 1800s did weird come to mean strange.
   2. Other shifts: nice once meant foolish, silly once meant blessed, and meat once meant any food. Students look up one and write the old and new meaning.
   3. Discuss: why do meanings drift? (new uses, jokes, technology, contact with other languages)
   4. Quick check: use wyrd and weird correctly in one sentence each.

3. 30–40 min Literature and texts RL.11-12.3, RL.11-12.4

   Beowulf (Francis B. Gummere's public-domain translation or any modern translation)

   1. Read about lines 499 to 606: Unferth challenges Beowulf about a swimming contest with Breca; Beowulf answers and boasts that he will defeat Grendel.
   2. The heroic code: loyalty to one's lord, courage, generosity from the king and the pursuit of lasting fame. Mark one line for each.
   3. Boasting in this culture is a public promise, not just bragging. Discuss: what happens to a warrior who boasts and then fails?
   4. Journal entry: rewrite one of Beowulf's claims as a modern pregame interview, then explain how the tone changes.

4. 40–50 min Precalculus HSF-IF.B.5

   1. Domain is the set of allowed inputs; range is the set of outputs. Interval notation uses [ ] to include an endpoint and ( ) to exclude it.
   2. Square roots: f(x) = √(x - 4) needs x - 4 ≥ 0, so the domain is [4, ∞) and the range is [0, ∞).
   3. Fractions: g(x) = 1/(x + 2) cannot have x = -2, so the domain is (-∞, -2) ∪ (-2, ∞).
   4. Try h(x) = √(10 - 2x): 10 - 2x ≥ 0 gives x ≤ 5, so the domain is (-∞, 5]. Range of y = x² + 3 is [3, ∞).
   5. Context: a ride-share costs $3 plus $2 a mile with a 30-mile limit. The domain is 0 ≤ miles ≤ 30 and the range is $3 to $63.

   Math center: write the domain of k(x) = 3/(x - 7) and m(x) = √(x + 1) in interval notation ((-∞, 7) ∪ (7, ∞) and [-1, ∞)).

5. 30–40 min Environmental science HS-ESS2-5

   1. Question: will a 1-inch layer of mulch reduce the water lost from soil? Students write a hypothesis as an if-then-because statement.
   2. Variables: independent (mulch or no mulch), dependent (mass of water lost, in grams), controlled (same cups, same 400 g of soil, same 150 g of water, same sunny windowsill).
   3. Set up: label cup A (bare) and cup B (mulch). Add soil, water both with 150 g of water, let them drain for 10 minutes, add about 30 g of mulch to cup B and record the starting mass of each cup.
   4. Explain why we measure mass: 1 milliliter of water has a mass of about 1 gram, so lost grams tell us lost water. Record the date, time and masses in the log; we weigh again every school day.

6. 25–35 min Writing W.11-12.8

   1. Embedding quotations: never let a quotation stand alone. Use a lead-in such as: Beowulf answers Unferth by claiming that...
   2. MLA line citations: cite a poem by lines, (lines 530-535), the first time, and by numbers alone after that, (540-542).
   3. Students revise yesterday's claim into a paragraph with one embedded, cited quotation from today's reading.

7. 25–35 min Independent practice and projects

   1. Weigh the mulch cups and add the first row of data to the log.
   2. Write the domain and range of three functions from today's set.
   3. List three Old English words whose meanings have changed.
   4. Find one more line where Beowulf follows the heroic code.

   Projects: set up the senior portfolio (reading journal, vocabulary notebook, math warm-up log and writing folder) and start the mulch experiment log.

   Device time (15 min): play Feedback Loops on the Student games page.

   Today’s game: Feedback Loops

8. 5–10 min Closing reflection SL.11-12.1

   1. What is the dependent variable in our mulch test?
   2. Why does √(x - 4) have no outputs below 0?
   3. What is the difference between a boast and a promise?

Short day? Start the mulch cups and do domain and range; read the Unferth exchange aloud tomorrow morning.