A Ton of Crap (19 page)

READING

Lexical and Sublexical Reading
Lexical and sublexical processes contribute to how a person learns to read. Sublexical reading involves associating characters with sounds. This is accomplished by learning with the phonics methodology. Lexical reading is acquiring phrases or words without paying attention to the characters those words are made up of. Lexical reading uses a “whole language” approach, which is the opposite of phonics and focuses on the components of sounds found in a language.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Going from Scientific Notation to Decimal Notation
To turn a number from decimal notation to scientific notation, you must work backward. You are starting with a number in decimal form, and want to end with the
x
 × 10
y
equation. When doing this, you want to make
x
as simple a number as you can between 1 and 10.

So for example, 0.003 would be equivalent to 3 × 10-3

And if the number is more complex, just remember to make it between 1 and 10.

For example: .002345 is just 2.345 × 10-3

THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

The Small Intestine
From the stomach, the food enters the small intestine, an organ that, outstretched, is 22 feet long in an adult. The small intestine breaks the food down further and it is where the major amount of absorption of nutrients takes place. The nutrients are then sent to the liver, while what’s left of the food is passed on to the large intestine.

POLISH

Polish Grammar
Grammar in Polish is heavily influenced by the Old Slavic system of grammar. The endings of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change according to function, with seven distinctions (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative). There are also two number classes (singular and plural), and like many Slavic languages, there aren’t any definite or indefinite articles.

THE MAGNA CARTA

The Magna Carta Today
Today, only three of the original sixty-three clauses are still valid in England. The first clause guaranteed the liberties of the English Church. The second clause declared that London and all of the other cities, towns, ports, and boroughs would be allowed to enjoy their ancient customs and liberties. The last clause, and the most well known of the three, states that no free man shall be imprisoned, seized, or stripped of his rights except by a lawful judgment by his equals and that no one will be denied justice.

READING

Rapid Automatized Naming
Rapid Automatized Naming, or RAN, is the time that it takes someone to name symbols, colors, pictures, and objects out loud, and as quickly as they possibly can. This test can be a good predictor of a child’s ability to read later in life, and it is independent from the child’s current verbal IQ, phonological awareness, and reading skills that already exist.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

Order of Magnitude
The order of magnitude is a number rounded to the nearest power of 10. This enables simple comparisons, estimates, and rough calculations to be performed. So, for example, if something is 1.9 and you need to use it in a calculation, that number is closer to 100 than it is 101, so when solving your problem, you would use 100.

THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

The Large Intestine
The large intestine measures five feet long and is fatter than the small intestine. What the small intestine passes on to the large intestine is waste. There is no longer any nutritional value to the substance, so therefore the body can’t use it and it must be taken out. The substance passes through a part of the large intestine called the colon, which is the last chance to absorb any water or minerals. The result is feces, and the large intestine then pushes this solid waste to the rectum.

POLISH

Polish Today
There are 50 million Polish speakers worldwide. Polish is the official language of Poland; however, it is used as a secondary language in some parts of Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. This is a result of migration, resettlements, and border changes from the Yalta Agreement following World War II. Today, Polish is the third most widely spoken Slavic language.

THE MAGNA CARTA