Tuck Everlasting
About the author Natalie Babbitt
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Graphing lifespans: The life span in the wild of the American common toad is about 10-12 years. In 1900, the average human lifespan was 50 years; by 1940 it was 65 years. Today the average human lifespan is approaching 80 years of age. What is the life cycle of humans in today's world? What is the age gap between generations? What was the gap 30 years ago? How long is each stage in life today: infancy, childhood, working age, retirement age, total life span? |
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Ratio & proportion: One American common toad can eat up to 1,000 insects every day. Unlike most toads who wait for prey to come along and pounce on it, American common toads can shoot out their tongues to catch prey. |
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Time:
how many seconds has Jesse been alive? How many seconds have you been alive? What assumptions do you have to make to even answer this problem? Find a formula to find the seconds lived for any given age. |
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Rates: If you filled magic water bottles at a rate of ________ , how long would it take? Explore by filling water bottles and finding the fastest rate feasible for each size of bottle. |
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Oldest human being: On August 4th 1997, Madame Jeanne Calment died in Arles, Provence, at the age of 122 years. She is in the record books as the oldest living human whose age has been verified by birth certificate. |
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Exponential growth: think about living forever as exponentially. What would happen if this year's sixth graders were to live forever? What would the population of the world be in twenty years; forty years; eighty years? If they stayed as sixth graders, they probably would not have children. But if they stayed at their own ideal age forever, what would that do to world cultures and problems? |