Smisonian

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Advanced – Mastery – DECEMBER 2010
Week 1
* All shook up: When Elvis met Nixon (3pgs)
* Rehabilitating Cleopatra (3pgs)
* The Gift(6pgs)
* Mission Orangutan (6pgs)
Week 2
* Fate of the Cave Bear (2pgs)
* Searching for Budha (4pgs)
* Under the spell of San Miguel de Allende (5pgs)
* Dinosaur’s livingdescendants (5pgs)

GUIDING PROMPTS
Remember: These are not discussion questions. These are just prompts to help guide the reading activity. Discussion Questions are to be prepared by theteacher in advance.

“All shook up: When Elvis met Nixon”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/When-Elvis-Met-Nixon.html
Pay attention to:
1. The reasons why Elvis wanted to meetPresident Nixon
2. Elvis’s attitude during the meeting.
3. The circumstances that made the meeting possible
4. The popularity of the photos from that “secret” meeting
 "Rehabilitating Cleopatra"http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Rehabilitating-Cleopatra.html
Pay attention to:
1. Facts about Cleopatra’s personality
2. The historical background
3. The importance ofActium for history
4. Cleopatra’s role as a woman at that time

“The Gift”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/A-Yuletide-Gift-of-Kindness.html

Pay attention to:
1. The kinds of giftgiven by “B. Virdot”.
2. The reasons to keep “B. Virdot’s” identity secret
3. Characteristics of people’s lives during the Great depression
4. Similarities and differences among the letters sentby different people at that time.
 “Fate of the Cave Bear”
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Fate-of-the-Cave-Bear.html
Pay attention to:
1. The work of Hervé Bocherens withcave bears’ remains
2. Physical characteristics of cave bears.
3. The relationship between cave bears and humans
4. The main reasons for cave bears’ extinction

 “Searching for Budha”...