A Ton of Crap Read online

  SPANISH

  Making Spanish Official Early standard Spanish was the direct result of Alfonso X the Learned, king of Castile and Leon. Though Latin was partly abandoned by the previous king, Alfonso X became the first king to establish Castilian, a form of Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, as the official language to be used in the churches, courts, official documents, and books, instead of Latin.

  LESSON 2C

  XIA DYNASTY

  The Political Systems Yu the Great chose to set up the Xia Dynasty under an abdication system, which meant choosing a leader based on ability. Following his death, his son, Qi, made himself emperor, officially ending the abdication system and creating a hereditary system. Fifteen offspring of Qi succeeded him, forming the first imperial dynasty in China.

  PHONICS

  Analytical Phonics Analytical phonics relies on looking at word forms. In particular, analytical phonics looks at word groupings or patterns that are common. For example, if a child knows the words moat, boat, and goat, then they should know the word coat even if they have never seen that word before. Analytical phonics looks at two parts: the onset and the rime. The onset is the first consonant part of a word, and the rime is the second part of the word that begins with a vowel.

  ZERO

  The First Use of Zero In a.d. 825, Persian scientist Khwarizmi used the zero for the first time as a number in an arithmetic book that combined Greek and Hindu mathematics. Also included in the book was an explanation on how to use zero properly, where Khwarizmi explained it was to be used as a placeholder.

  CELLS

  Plant Cells Though structurally similar, there are some major differences between the cells found in plants and those found in animals. Plant cells have very rigid walls made of cellulose and contain chloroplasts. Chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll, utilize the sun’s light and enable the process of photosynthesis. They are also responsible for the green color found in plants. Plant cells have a larger central vacuole and contain, within their cell walls, linking pores that connect to transmit the information.

  SPANISH

  Spanish Spreads When Christopher Columbus, backed by the Spanish Empire, came to the New World in 1492, he opened the door for the Spanish conquest of what is now known as Central America. Four hundred years of colonization of this new land by the Spanish Empire followed, which included bringing over their culture, religion, and language. The Spanish would come to control Central America, much of North America, Mexico, and much of South America.

  LESSON 2D

  XIA DYNASTY

  Decline of the Xia Dynasty The Shang Dynasty followed the Xia Dynasty. The last leader of the Xia Dynasty, Jie, was an oppressive and tyrannical emperor who killed many of his people. Eventually, the people of the Xia Dynasty began to revolt and followed the leadership of Shang Tang, chief of the Shang tribe. The successful uprising led to the demise of the Xia Dynasty and the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, which would hold power from 1766 b.c. to 1122 b.c.

  PHONICS

  Vowel Patterns Short vowels are the sounds that a, e, i, o, and u create in words like cat, pet, hit, hot, and cup. They are called short because they aren’t diphthongs. Long vowels sound like the names of the letters themselves. Examples of long vowels can be found in words like cake or meter. Schwa is another sound single vowels produce, and it is an indistinct sound in an unstressed syllable. For example, the sound the o makes in the word lesson is a schwa.

  ZERO

  The Origins of the Symbol Originally, the Babylonians put a space between numbers and didn’t have a symbol representing zero. (For instance, 303 would have been 3 3.) By 300 b.c., the notion of the placeholder was represented by two slanted wedges. In a.d. 130, Greek astronomer Ptolemy represented the zero placeholder as a circle with a long overbar.

  CELLS

  Animal Cells Animal cells are much smaller than plant cells and do not have the rigid cell walls that plant cells have. This allows animal cells to take on various shapes. While plants have the ability to make their own food with chloroplasts and sunlight, in animal cells, it is the role of the mitochondria to get energy from food that is consumed.

  SPANISH

  Framing a Sentence Unlike English, in Spanish the object of your sentence can come before the verb, and the subject is part of the verb. For example, in English, we would say, “I see you.” The word “you” being the object, it is at the end of the sentence. “I see you” in Spanish translates as “Te veo.” The object is “te,” and “veo” is actually a combination of “I” and “see.”

  LESSON 2E

  XIA DYNASTY

  Controversies Today In the 1920s, Gu Jiegang created a school of scholars in China called the Skeptical School. It was the first group of people to question whether the Xia Dynasty actually existed or whether it was just a legend; they cited the lack of archaeological findings corresponding to the historical texts. Today, scholar Sarah Allan argues that the Zhou Dynasty created Xia to justify their conquest of the dynasty that followed Xia, the Shang Dynasty.

  PHONICS

  Consonant Patterns Consonant digraphs are letter combinations that represent consonant phonemes. Examples of these include ch, ph, sh, th, and wh. Consonant patterns with a short vowel appear in words that have two possible spellings based on how they sound. They can be ck or k, tch or ch, and dge or ge. To determine the spelling in these cases, one must look at the vowel that precedes the sound. If there is not a short vowel, the latter forms are used. For example, in the word “pick,” there is a short vowel, so ck is used, while in the word “took,” a k is used because there is no short vowel present.

  ZERO

  The Rules of Brahmagupta Rules governing how the zero should be used as a value and not a placeholder first appeared in a book written by the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta in a.d. 628. Though he states some things that modern science disagrees with, he also laid down much of the groundwork for how zero is applied in mathematics. Such examples are:

  The sum of a positive number and zero is the positive number.

  The sum of a negative number and zero is the negative number.

  The sum of zero with zero equals zero.

  The sum of a positive number and a negative number equals their difference, and if their absolute values are equal, then the result is zero.

  CELLS

  Structure of a Cell The plasma membrane is the outer lining of a eukaryote cell. It protects the cell from the surrounding environment and is composed of lipids and proteins. The nucleus inside of the cell is surrounded by a membrane that separates it from the cytoplasm. Two kinds of genetic material, DNA and RNA, exist inside the cell. The cell’s chromosomes are in the nucleus, which is also the location for RNA synthesis and DNA replication.

  SPANISH

  Spanish Today Today, Spanish is the native language of 332 million people, and it is the second most popular language in the world. It is the official language of numerous countries including Spain, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica. By the 1990s, the number of people in the United States who spoke Spanish as their primary language at home was more than 17 million.

  LESSON 2F

  XIA DYNASTY

  Archaeological Findings In 1959, a site was excavated in the city of Yanshi. The site included large palaces, and archaeologists at the time believed that this could be the capital of the Xia Dynasty. Over the next twenty years, many sites were uncovered, revealing tombs, urban sites, and bronze implements. These were discovered in areas where the ancient texts claimed the Xia Dynasty to be, and radiocarbon dating places the site to be from around 2100 to 1800 b.c. The debate as to whether this is the Xia Dynasty, or whether the Xia Dynasty even existed at all, continues to this day.

  PHONICS

  Alphabetic Principle In English, spelling is based on the alphabetic principle, in which letters are used to represent sounds, or phonemes, and then combined to create words. However, English is much more complicated than j
ust following the alphabetic principle because the same sound can be spelled different ways and the same letters can have different sounds. This is because the language has absorbed several other languages into it, and traces of Classical Latin, Old English, Old Norse, Greek, and Norman can be found in English. For example, even though the words though and enough both end in gh, the words do not follow the same pronunciation rules.

  ZERO

  Other Rules of Zero When using zero in math there are several basic rules beyond those mentioned in the Brahmagupta section. When a number is multiplied by zero, the answer will always be zero. A number cannot be divided by zero; this makes the solution undefined. When discussing exponents, x0 equals one, unless the quality of x is zero. In that case, the answer is zero.

  CELLS

  The Nucleus The nucleus is responsible for regulating all activity in eukaryotic cells. It contains the hereditary information (DNA and RNA) and controls growth and reproduction. The most prominent structure in the nucleus is called the nucleolus. The nucleolus produces ribosomes, which play a critical role in protein synthesis. These proteins are used for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, structural support and as enzymes to catalyze a reaction.

  SPANISH

  Useful Phrases There are several basic things one should know how to say when traveling in a Spanish-speaking country.

  Hello! ¡Hóla!

  Good day. Buenos diás.

  Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.

  Good night. Buenos noches.

  Goodbye. Adiós.

  Where is the bathroom? ¿Dónde está el baño?

  Can you help me? ¿Me podría ayudar?

  How much does that cost? ¿Cuánto cuesta?

  Can I get on the internet? ¿Puedo conectarme con el internet?

  LESSON 2 QUIZ

  What is Yu the Great most known for?

  Teaching methods on how to control flood water

  Questioning whether the Xia Dynasty existed

  Leading a revolt against Shang Tang

  Excavating the city of Yanshi

  Yu the Great’s son, Qi, ended the abdication system and created:

  A hierarchical system

  A serfdom

  A hereditary system

  The Shang Dynasty

  Ch, sh, th, and ph are

  examples of:

  The alphabetic principle

  Vowel patterns

  Analytical phonics

  Consonant digraphs

  What is synthetic phonics?

  Words having two possible spellings based on how they sound

  An indistinct sound that single vowels produce in an unstressed syllable

  A method of teaching children unfamiliar words through translating the sounds of each letter and blending or synthesizing them together

  A combination of Classical Latin, Old English, Old Norse, Greek, and Norman

  Which of the following is NOT one of the rules of Brahmagupta?

  The sum of a positive number and zero is the positive number.

  The sum of a positive number and a positive number is zero.

  The sum of zero with zero equals zero.

  The sum of a negative number and zero is the negative number.

  In his book of a.d. 825, Persian scientist Khwarizmi stated that:

  Zero was to be expressed as a circle with a long overbar.

  A number cannot be divided by zero.

  Zero was to be used as a placeholder.

  When a number is multiplied by zero, the answer will always be zero.

  What is the difference between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells?

  Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus, prokaryotic do not.

  Prokaryotic cells have a nucleus, eukaryotic do not.

  Eukaryotic cells have a true nucleus and prokaryotic have a fake nucleus.

  Prokaryotic cells have a true nucleus and eukaryotic have a fake nucleus.

  Which of the following is true?

  Animal cells are larger than plant cells.

  Only animal cells have DNA.

  Animal cells get their energy from sunlight.

  Animal cells do not have the rigid cell walls that plant cells have, allowing them to take on various shapes.

  Who was the first to establish Castilian, a form of Spanish, as an official language instead of Latin?

  Charlemagne

  The Hittites

  Alfonso X, The Learned

  The Sumerians

  How do you say “Where is the bathroom?” in Spanish?

  ¿Me podría ayudar?

  ¿Cuánto cuesta?

  ¿Puedo conectarme con el internet?

  ¿Dónde está el baño?

  ANSWER KEY: a, c, d, c, b, c, a, d, c, d

  Lesson 3

  HISTORY: Ancient Egypt

  Predynastic Egypt, Early Dynastic Egypt, The Old Kingdom, The Middle Kingdom, The New Kingdom, The Late Period

  LANGUAGE ARTS: Composition

  Parts of Speech, Basic Parts of a Sentence, Modifiers, Prepositional Phrases, Adjective Clauses, Participle Phrases

  MATH: Inca Mathematics

  A Language Found in Math, The Quipu, How the Quipu Works, The Color-Coding of the Quipu, Local Statisticians, The Yupana

  SCIENCE: The Nervous System

  What Is the Nervous System?, Neurons, The Central Nervous System, The Peripheral Nervous System, The Somatic Nervous System, The Autonomic Nervous System

  FOREIGN LANGUAGE: French

  The Origins, French Consonants, French Vowels, Articles, French Today, Useful Phrases

  LESSON 3A

  ANCIENT EGYPT

  Predynastic Egypt Egypt’s history began similarly to that of Mesopotamia. Civilizations congregated around the Nile River around 5500 b.c. The largest civilization, the Badari, inhabited the northern part of Egypt, and was most known for high-quality stone tools, ceramics, and pottery and their use of copper. In the southern part of Egypt, the Naqada civilization arose. Over the course of 1,000 years, the Naqada controlled the tribes along the Nile, and created a full system of hieroglyphics for writing.

  COMPOSITION

  Parts of Speech Knowledge of parts of speech, or word classes, is critical in understanding how composition works. Parts of speech are nouns, such as people, places, or things; pronouns (words like he, she, and it that can replace nouns); adjectives (words that describe nouns); verbs (actions); adverbs (words that modify adjectives, verbs, or nouns by expressing place, manner, time, etc.); conjunctions (words used to connect phrases or sentences); articles (the word that is before the noun); prepositions (words that link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other parts of the sentence); and interjections (words that show emotion and are not linked to the rest of the sentence).

  INCA MATHEMATICS

  A Language Found in Math The Inca Empire — which in 1532 was extremely large, spanning from present-day Argentina to Ecuador — consisted of many diverse ethnic groups of people. As a result, more than twenty different languages were spoken. With so many different languages and ethnicities, the Incas turned to mathematics to unite their people and to act as a common language among everyone. Their mathematical system was developed before their written language.

  THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

  What Is the Nervous System? The nervous system is a complex system that is responsible for sending every electrical impulse and signal throughout your body. These signals are what cause any and all actions, reactions, and thoughts you have, as well as anything you feel. The nervous system is made up of two systems: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

  FRENCH

  The Origins The roots of the French language date back to 154–125 b.c. when Gaul was conquered by the Romans. With the Romanization, Latin became the spoken language, causing the Gaulish language to be looked down upon and only used in more rustic areas. Eventually, the north would split from the south, leading to the creation of many distinct dialects. Over time, and due to the politi
cal prestige of the area, the dialect spoken in Paris would become the national language.

  LESSON 3B

  ANCIENT EGYPT

  Early Dynastic Egypt Around 3100 b.c., Upper and Lower Egypt united under the pharaoh Menes. Memphis, a part of Lower Egypt, was established as the capital of the land and became critical in trade and agriculture. It also provided a work force. Notable from this time period were the mastaba tombs, which were large rectangular, flat-roofed structures made of stone and mud-bricks that were built to celebrate pharaohs who had died.

  COMPOSITION

  Basic Parts of a Sentence There are three main parts found in a sentence; the subject; the verb; and, often, the object. The subject is usually the noun, and it is who or what the sentence is about. The verb then follows the subject, indicating what action takes place. Lastly, the object follows the verb and is what receives the action. In the sentence “Tom threw the ball to Sally,” Tom is the subject because the sentence is about him. The throwing of the ball is the verb, and Sally is the object. She receives the ball that the subject threw toward her.