Five warm-ups for grades 6–8. Each takes three to five minutes. Answers and teacher notes are in the collapsed box under each prompt.
ELA
Point of view tells you who is telling a story. In first person, the narrator is part of the story and uses words like I, me, and we. In second person, the writer speaks directly to the reader using you. In third person, an outside narrator uses words like he, she, and they. Name the point of view of each sentence. Then rewrite sentence 1 in third person.
- I tightened my laces and wondered whether my legs would last the whole race.
- Maya checked the map, but she still couldn’t find the trail.
- You should stretch for a few minutes before you start running.
- We hurried across the field as the first raindrops began to fall.
- The captain looked at the storm clouds, and his crew waited for him to speak.
Answer and teacher notes
1. First person (I, my).
2. Third person (Maya, she).
3. Second person (you).
4. First person (we).
5. Third person (the captain, his, him).
Rewrite: Sample answer: “She tightened her laces and wondered whether her legs would last the whole race.” Any third-person name or pronoun works.
Common mistake: choosing second person because a sentence gives advice. Look for the pronoun, not the tone. Another: calling sentence 2 first person because the sentence feels close to Maya. Point out that she is a third-person pronoun. Extension: rewrite sentence 5 in first person from the captain’s point of view. What can the reader learn now that a third-person narrator might not share?
Math
On November 2, 2000, the first crew arrived at the International Space Station. According to NASA, the station flies at about 17,500 miles per hour, takes about 90 minutes to circle Earth, and makes about 16 orbits a day. Use those numbers to solve each problem.
- How many years has it been since the first crew arrived?
- About how many miles does the station travel in one orbit? (Hint: how many hours is 90 minutes?)
- About how many orbits does it make in one week?
- About how many miles does it travel in one day?
- About how many miles does it travel in one second? Round to the nearest whole mile.
Answer and teacher notes
1. 2026 − 2000 = 26 years.
2. 90 minutes = 1.5 hours; 17,500 × 1.5 = 26,250 miles.
3. 16 × 7 = 112 orbits.
4. 17,500 × 24 = 420,000 miles. Check another way: 26,250 miles per orbit × 16 orbits = 420,000 miles. ✓
5. One hour has 60 × 60 = 3,600 seconds. 17,500 ÷ 3,600 ≈ 4.86, or about 5 miles per second.
Common mistake on #2: multiplying by 90 instead of 1.5. The speed is in miles per hour, so the time must be in hours. These are rounded values, so the answers are estimates. Extension: about how many orbits has the station made in 26 years? (16 × 365 × 26 = 151,840, ignoring leap days.) Discussion: how long do you think a sunrise lasts when you travel that fast?
Sources: NASA: What Is the International Space Station? (Grades 5–8) (speed, 90-minute orbit, first crew date); NASA: Spot the Station (16 orbits a day)
Science
On November 2, 1947, the huge wooden flying boat known as the Spruce Goose made its only flight, a short hop that covered about one mile. Its wings stretched 319 feet 11 inches, it had eight engines, and it weighed roughly 400,000 pounds at takeoff. Four forces act on any airplane: weight pulls it toward Earth, lift pushes up against weight, thrust moves it forward, and drag is air resistance that pushes against its motion. (a) Which part of the plane produces most of the lift? Which parts produce the thrust? (b) If the plane is flying level, neither rising nor sinking, about how many pounds of lift do the wings need to produce at the 400,000-pound takeoff weight? (c) NASA says a plane speeds up in the direction of the largest force. Which force must be larger than which for the plane to speed up as it races across the water? For it to rise off the water? (d) Draw a simple side view of the plane with one arrow for each force.
Answer and teacher notes
(a) The wings produce most of the lift. The engines and propellers produce the thrust. (b) About 400,000 pounds. In level flight, lift balances weight. (c) Thrust must be greater than drag to speed up. Lift must be greater than weight to rise. (d) Weight points down, lift points up, thrust points forward, and drag points backward. Arrows should be labeled.
When the four forces are balanced, a plane cruises at a steady speed. Unbalanced forces change its motion. Common mistake: thinking a plane in steady flight has no forces on it. Forces are still there, but they cancel. Fun fact: the name is misleading. The museum that displays the plane says nearly all of the airframe is birch, not spruce. Sources differ on some flight details, such as distance and height, which makes a good discussion about checking more than one reference.
Sources: North American Aerospace Museum: The Spruce Goose (date, wingspan, engines, takeoff weight, birch construction); Britannica: On This Day, November 2 (about one mile); NASA Glenn: Four Forces on an Airplane (forces and balance)
Social Studies
On November 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the papers that made North Dakota and South Dakota states on the same day. After he signed, the papers were mixed up, so nobody knows which state came first. Harrison reportedly said, “They were born together.” Today, North Dakota is listed as the 39th state and South Dakota as the 40th, in alphabetical order. (a) How many years ago did the two states join the Union? (b) Why might people in each new state have cared about being first? (c) If the president wanted to avoid taking sides, what did mixing up the papers accomplish? (d) Some details of this story are told as legend. What kind of source from 1889 would help you check what really happened?
Answer and teacher notes
(a) 2026 − 1889 = 137 years. (b) Answers will vary: pride, bragging rights, and a place in history. (c) Answers will vary: because no one could prove which paper was signed first, neither state could claim it had beaten the other, and neither could say the president favored its rival. (d) Answers will vary: a letter or diary from someone in the room, an official record, or a newspaper report from that week.
North Dakota Studies notes that Dakota Territory was expected to become two states from the start, with the dividing line at the 46th parallel. Help students notice the difference between an established fact (both states were admitted that day) and a detail told as legend (one account says Secretary of State James Blaine covered the papers before the signing). Extension: find the 46th parallel on a map. Why might a straight line be an easy way to divide a territory? What problems could it cause?
Sources: North Dakota Studies: Statehood (date, mixed-up papers, numbering, alphabetical order, 46th parallel); Grand Forks Herald: President Harrison Played It Cool (Harrison’s quote and the Blaine legend)
Current Events
The New York City Marathon was held on Sunday, November 1. The 26.2-mile race ran through all five boroughs for the 50th time. Andreas Almgren of Sweden won the men’s race in 2:06:01 (2 hours, 6 minutes, 1 second) in his first marathon, and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women’s race in 2:24:36. About 60,000 runners started this year, nearly half of them women. In 1976, the first year the race went through all five boroughs, there were just over 2,000 runners, including 88 women. (a) How much faster was Almgren’s time than Chepkirui’s? (b) About how many minutes per mile did Almgren average? Round to the nearest tenth. (c) About how many times bigger was this year’s field than the 1976 field? (d) About what percent of the 1976 runners were women? Why do you think that number has changed so much?
Answer and teacher notes
(a) 2:24:36 − 2:06:01 = 18 minutes 35 seconds. (b) 2:06:01 is about 126 minutes. 126 ÷ 26.2 ≈ 4.8 minutes per mile, or about 4 minutes 49 seconds. (c) 60,000 ÷ 2,000 = about 30 times bigger. (d) 88 ÷ 2,000 = 0.044, or about 4.4%. Answers will vary: more opportunities and acceptance for women in distance running, more role models, and more women’s races and sports programs.
The answer to (d) is an estimate because the source says “just over 2,000” runners. Chepkirui won by just 6 seconds, and Almgren won by 13 seconds. Common mistake on (a): subtracting the hours and minutes without lining up each unit. Extension: Almgren won by 13 seconds. At his pace of about 289 seconds per mile, about how many feet ahead was he at the finish? (13 ÷ 289 × 5,280 ≈ 238 feet.) Race times were reported shortly after the finish and may be adjusted slightly in official results.
Sources: Yahoo Sports: 2026 TCS New York City Marathon (winners, debut, 1976 and 2026 fields, 50th five-borough race); World-Track: 2026 New York City Marathon Results (finish times)
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