Ms. Meyer       &      Mrs. Beck
8th Grade World Geography

Welcome to Ms. Meyer & Mrs. Beck's 8th grade World Geography webpage.  Ms. Meyer will be the Trimester 1 teacher and Mrs. Beck will be the Trimester 2 and 3 teacher for this class. This site is to provide both parents and students with helpful information. This forum will be used to share general class procedures, weekly / monthly assignments and vocabulary terms.  I will do my best to keep this site updated, but please remember, things can and do change, so the student agenda is always a great place to look for updates.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or would simply like any further information at:
cmeyer@isd622.org (Trimester 1)
and                                                                                      
nbeck@isd622.org, (Trimesters 2 & 3)

or by phone: 651-748-6385



WEEKLY AGENDA    
*World Locations Quiz # 2 will be on T, Nov 24. This will include Canadian provinces, territories, & their capitals. (study guide given on F, Nov 13.)

Monday, Nov. 16th: Test corrections & North American Map work time

Tuesday, Nov. 17th: Landforms & North American Map work time

Wednesday, Nov. 18th: Geographic features & Regional Canada

Thursday, Nov. 19th: Regional Canada 
**North American Map due

Friday, Nov. 20th: Canada online

Vocabulary- Quizzes every other Friday
(**Quiz #5 Tues, Dec. 2 covering wks 11, 12, & 13**)

*Week 11: Nov. 16th-Nov. 20th
- settlement- a place where people are able to live and work

- urban- found in or living in a city

- province- political divisions of Canada that have their own governments (similar to U.S. states). Canada has 10 provinces.

- territory- areas of Canada that have too few people to have their own governments recognized by Canada. There are 3 territories in Canada ( Nunavut, Yukon Territory, & Northwest Territory)

- plural society- a society in which different cultural groups keep their own identity, beliefs, and traditions


*Week 10: Nov. 9th-Nov. 13th
- No Vocab...Study chpt 2 vocab

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(QUIZ 4)
*Week 9: Nov. 2nd-Nov. 6th
-population density-  tells us the number of people per unit area (how crowded a place is); calculated for a place by dividing the number of people there are in an area by the place's land area.

-land use- the way people use the land they live on to meet their needs

-region- an area with one or more features that set it apart from other areas

-thematic map- presents information related to only one theme or topic (ex. climate, population density, vegetation, etc)

*Week 8: Oct. 26th-Oct. 30th
 -physical features map- this type of map focuses on the natural parts of the Earth's surface such as landforms and bodies of water

-landform- any natural feature of Earth's surface that has a distinct shape (ex. continents, mountains, plains)

-climate zones- zones of the Earth divided by geographers that have a particular pattern of temperature and precipitation.

-economic activity- any action that relates to the making, buying, and selling of goods and services

*Week 7: Oct. 19th-Oct. 22nd
-vegetation- the trees and other plants that will grown in an area based on the climate

-political map- shows the borders of countries, territories, and states and where important cities are located

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(QUIZ 3)
*Week 6: Oct. 12th-Oct. 14th
-demographer- a person who studies human populations including their size, growth, density, and distribution

-literacy rate- the number of people in a country over the age of 15 that can read and write


*Week 5: Oct. 5th-Oct. 9th
-scale- this tells how to read the distance on the map

-hemisphere- halves of the earth divided by the Equator OR the Prime Meridian

-seasons- divisions of the year marked by changes in the weather; result from the Earth's yearly revolution around the sun

-tropical zones-areas between the tropics and the Equator that receive a lot of sunshine and are hot all year round.

-polar zones- areas between the Arctic and Antarctic Circles (66 1/2 degrees N & S) and the North and South poles (90 degrees N & S) that receive little sunshine and are cold most of the year.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(QUIZ 2)
*Week 4: Sept 28th-Oct 2nd 
-relative location- where a place is located in relation to another place

-climate- weather averaged over a long period of time and takes hundreds of years to change

-pangea- all earth or a "super continent"

-physical features- earth's landforms and bodies of water


* Week 3: Sept 21st-Sept 25th
-solstice- the times of the year when the sun is farthest north or south from the equator (Dec 22nd & June 22nd)

-equinox- is when the earth is of equal distance away from the sun and day and night are of equal length (Mar. 22nd & Sept. 22nd)

-latitude- parallel lines that run east and west around the globe but are read north to south  (equator)

-longtitude-  lines on a globe that run from the North Pole to the South Pole but are read east to west (prime meridian)

-absolute location- precise point where a place is located on earth, describe using latitude and longitude.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(QUIZ 1)
* Week 2: Sept 14th-Sept 18th
-cartography- the art & science of making maps

-elements of a map: (TODALS) Title, Orientation, Date, Author, Legend, Scale

-projection- to transfer information from a sphere to a flat surface

-distortion-  change in shape, size, or location of a place when it is shown on a map.


*Week 1: Sept 8th-Sept 11th
-geography- the study of the earth & its people

-mental map- a map that is created from an image in your mind

-observer- someone who looks for details

-recorder- someone who writes down information from field notes

Class Room Business

Country Study Project

Europe's Regions