SCALING THE PEAK A Web-based project correlated to Everest: The Contest – by Gordon Korman

Designed by McKenzie Laubach – 4^th – 6^th Grade Math Teacher

Intro/Task

In the next couple of weeks, you will be reading the first book in the Everest trilogy, Book One: The Contest. In this book, kids are competing to become the record holder for the youngest person to reach the peak of Mount Everest. You will be learning about other Mount Everest record holders and other mountains similar to it. During this project, you will be asked to research data about Mount Everest and other tall mountains using the Internet, create graphs using Microsoft Excel and make a timeline using Timeliner.

Process

1) Use the Internet resources below to create a handmade bar graph. Your graph must show the heights of some of the different mountains mentioned in the book Everest: Book One: The Contest. Don’t forget a title and labels.

The mountains you must graph are:

o Mount Everest

o K2 (or Kilimanjaro)

o Mount McKinley

o Nanga Parbat

o Annapurna

2) Use a spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel) to create a bar graph of the same information you found for part one. Don’t forget to SAVE your work often. You will only be able to print once, so make sure your graph includes your name, title, labels and any colors you want. When you are sure your graph is exactly how you would like it, you may print and go onto step three.

2) Print the Mt. Everest Worksheet. Use the Internet resources below to complete the worksheet.

3) Open Timeliner on you computer and create a timeline of all the events from your Mt. Everest Worksheet. Don’t forget to SAVE your work often. Make sure your timeline is exactly how you want it (and includes your name) and you may print.

4) Create a PowerPoint presentation with at least 5 slides. It must include your Excel Mountain Heights bar graph and your Timeliner Mt. Everest Timeline. Your presentation should also tell some interesting facts about Mt. Everest and what you learned from this project. Don’t forget to SAVE your work often.

Resources

These links will help you to gather the required information:

Everest Gear

Scholastic Everest Facts

Mt. Everest History and Facts

Climbing Records

Highest Mountains in the World

World’s Tallest Mountains

Evaluation

Your work will be graded based on this rubric:

	0	1	2	3
Bar Graphs	Incomplete	Complete but Lacking	Complete & Satisfactory	Complete & Goes Beyond
Worksheet	Incomplete	Complete but Lacking	Complete & Satisfactory	Complete & Goes Beyond
Timeline	Incomplete	Complete but Lacking	Complete & Satisfactory	Complete & Goes Beyond
PowerPoint	Incomplete	Complete but Lacking	Complete & Satisfactory	Complete & Goes Beyond

Conclusion

You will be presenting your PowerPoint to the class.

During the presentations, you will be recording a fact from each presentation on the Presentation Worksheet.

For the Teacher

To complete this project, you will need:

Computers with Internet access, printers, Timeliner, MS Excel, PowerPoint (or equivalent programs)

Credits

Star-W Grant

Bridget Carvajal & Jeanne Kimball – Technical Assistance

Bernie Dodge – Webquest Format