Wednesday's Assignment, August 10, 2016

Wednesday's Assignment

Welcome back! Did you comment on your classmates' Voki messages yesterday? If not, please do that now.

Today, we continue learning about the environment, a global issue. What do you think the following cartoons are saying? 

Here are your tasks:
1. Select your 10 hardest words from this Vocabulary List
Drainage Basin: An area drained by a river system. A drainage basin acts like a funnel collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into a waterway. An example is the Great Lakes drainage basin. 

Estuary: A wide body of water formed where a large river meets the sea. Estuaries experience tidal flows and their water is a changing mixture of fresh and salt water.

Ecology: The study of the relationships between living organisms (plants, animals) and their environment. 

Fertilizer: Any substance, such as manure or a mixture of chemicals, added to soil to increase its productivity.

Habitat: A place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism.

Invasive Species: A non-native species that is so reproductively successful and aggressive that it can dominate an area often to the point of becoming a monoculture. It interferes with the natural functioning and diversity of the ecosystem where it becomes established.

Pesticide: A chemical preparation used for destroying plant, fungal, or animal pests.

Phosphate: A major nutrient required for good crop nutrition and plant growth; it is highly reactive and quickly binds to other elements. It is also found in commonly used soaps. A large buildup of phosphates can remove the oxygen from natural bodies of water.

Predator: An organism that kills and consumes another organism (prey); includes animals eating other animals, and animals eating plants.

Threatened Species: A species of animal or plant that are likely to be endangered if factors threatening it are not changed or removed.

2. Create a crossword puzzle using those words.

3. Read this article, highlighting sentences using your vocabulary words.

Crossword puzzle answer: 
1. Habitat, 2. Invasive Species, 3. Fertilizer, 4. Ecology, 5. Phosphate, 6. Drainage Basin, 7. Estuary, 8. Threatened Species, 9. Predator, 10. Pesticide.