Bell Ringers for Grades 6–8: Monday, October 26, 2026

1. It started to rain, so we moved the picnic inside. (result)
2. Maya studied for an hour, but (or yet) she still felt nervous about the quiz. (contrast)
3. You can walk to the library, or you can ride your bike there. (choice)
4. The puppy was tired, for it had played all afternoon. (reason; for means “because”)
5. The store was out of apples, but it had plenty of oranges. (contrast)

Common mistakes: leaving out the comma, or joining two sentences with only a comma (“It started to rain, we moved the picnic inside”), which is a comma splice. Quick check: cover the conjunction and everything before it. If what’s left can stand alone as a sentence, and so can the first part, you need the comma. For sounds formal today, so most students will pick because for item 4. That works too, but because is not a FANBOYS word and doesn’t need a comma. Extension: rewrite item 2 with although at the start.

1. 9/24 = 3/8.
2. 24 − 4 = 20 non-mints. 20/24 = 5/6. (Or 1 − 4/24 = 1 − 1/6 = 5/6.)
3. 3/8 × 3/8 = 9/64, about 14%. The pulls are independent because the treat goes back in.
4. P(gummy) = 5/24. 120 × 5/24 = 25 gummies. Check: 120 ÷ 24 = 5, and 5 × 5 = 25. ✓

Check that the counts add up first: 9 + 6 + 5 + 4 = 24. ✓ For question 4, stress that 25 is what we expect; a real experiment might give 22 or 28. Extension: if you eat the first chocolate instead of putting it back, what is the chance the second pull is also a chocolate? (8/23, because there are now 8 chocolates out of 23 treats.)

(a) At full moon, Earth is roughly between the Sun and the Moon, so the Moon is on the opposite side of our sky from the Sun. As the Sun sets in the west, the Moon rises in the east, and we see its whole sunlit side. (b) October 26 + about 29.5 days ≈ November 24. (c) 368,872 ÷ 300,000 ≈ 1.2 seconds. You see the Moon as it looked a little over a second ago.

(d) No. This is the Moon illusion: the Moon is the same size in the sky near the horizon and high overhead; our brains just judge it as bigger next to trees and buildings. Test: hold a pencil eraser or a hole punch at arm’s length and compare it to the Moon at moonrise and again a few hours later, or take two photos with the same zoom. The orange color near the horizon comes from the atmosphere scattering away blue light (the same reason sunsets are red). The name “Hunter’s Moon” is traditional: it comes after the harvest, when its light was said to help hunters in the fields. The 29.5-day figure is an average, so the exact time of the next full moon may differ by several hours.

Sources: Space.com: October full moon 2026, the Hunter’s Moon; TheSkyLive: Full Moon of October 2026 (distance)

(a) 1825 − 1817 = 8 years. 363 ÷ 8 ≈ 45 miles per year. (b) $7,000,000 ÷ 363 ≈ $19,300 per mile. (c) One-tenth of $100 = $10. (The $100 is a made-up example to show the size of the change.) Today is the canal’s 201st anniversary (2026 − 1825).

(d) Answers will vary. Strong ideas: the Hudson River flows to New York City, so farm goods from the Midwest could float all the way to its port and be shipped overseas; settlers and manufactured goods could travel west the same way; cheaper shipping meant more trade, jobs, and people. The canal paid for itself in tolls within about nine years. A lock is a chamber with gates that fills or drains to raise or lower a boat, like a water elevator. Extension: name one way goods cross the country today that replaced canals (railroads, highways, airplanes).

Sources: Britannica: Erie Canal; History.com: Erie Canal opens

(a) 1 m/s = 3.6 km/h, so 3.69 × 3.6 ≈ 13.3 km/h (about 8 miles per hour). Work: 3.69 m × 3,600 s ÷ 1,000 = 13.284 km per hour. (b) 3.69 ÷ 4 ≈ 0.92 m/s. (This is an estimate from the “about four times” comparison, not a measured number.)

(c) A steady head keeps the eyes and senses pointed where the snake is going, so it can see and steer instead of getting “dizzy” or lost. The researchers suggest it helps the snakes stay in control during fast escapes. (d) Answers will vary: rolling is much faster than slithering, the sudden spinning movement may confuse a predator, and staying on a narrow path shows the snake is steering, not just tumbling. Connection: a wheel spins around an axle, but these snakes have no axle; different parts of the body take on different jobs. Extension: name another animal that escapes in an unusual way (pangolins and armadillos roll into a ball; some spiders cartwheel down sand dunes).

Source: ScienceDaily: These Tiny Snakes Roll Four Times Faster Than They Slither (Toho University; Current Biology)