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Worlds Largest Cruise Ship Sets Sail on December 5

Subjects

Arts & Humanities
--Language Arts
Mathematics
--Applied Math
--Arithmetic
--Measurement
Social Studies
--Current Events
--Economics
--Geography

Grades

Grades 2-up

News Content

Oasis of the Seas is scheduled to set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on December 5.

Anticipation Guide

Ask students if they have ever traveled on a cruise ship. Let them share when and where they went as well as their thoughts about the experience of sailing on a large ship. What was it like? In what kinds of activities did they participate? What kinds of things did they see or do that they hadnt anticipated being able to see or do on a ship?

News Words

Next, introduce these words that appear in the News Word Box on the students printable page: neighborhood, spa, unique, tailored, guest, and entertainment. Discuss the meanings of any of those words that might be unfamiliar. Then ask students to use one of those words to complete each of these sentences:

  • At the nursing home, a special diet was _____ to meet the needs of its senior residents. (tailored)
  • Relaxing in the whirlpool was the favorite part of Sandras day at the _____. (spa)
  • The aye-aye, one of Earths most _____ creatures, can only be found on the island of Madagascar. (unique)
  • Miniature golf is Geoffreys favorite forms of _____. (entertainment)
  • The _____ where my grandmother grew up has changed a lot over the years. (neighborhood)
  • When you are a _____ in someones home, you should pay special attention to using your best manners. (guest)
  • Read the News

    Click for a printable version of this weeks news story Worlds Largest Cruise Ship Sets Sail on December 5.

    More Facts to Share

    Life Aboard Oasis of the Seas
    If you have eight minutes, share this video that presents some of the most unique features of Oasis of the Seas, the worlds largest cruise ship.

    You might share these additional facts with students after they have read this weeks news story.

  • After nearly six years in the making, Royal Caribbean International proudly took delivery of its newest and most revolutionary cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, on October 28. Built by STX Europe in Turku, Finland, the ship departed its construction birthplace on October 30, 2009, for its home port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is scheduled to arrive in Fort. Lauderdale on November 11. Many people are following its voyage via Twitter (see @OasisandAllure).
  • It cost $1.4 billion to build Oasis of the Seas.
  • With the debut of Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean introduces unique industry firsts including a neighborhood concept -- seven themed areas that provide guests with the opportunity to seek out experiences based on their personal preferences or moods. The seven neighborhoods are Central Park; Boardwalk; the Royal Promenade (shopping and restaurant district); Pool and Sports Zone; Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center; Entertainment Place; and Youth Zone.
  • Special features aboard the new ship include the first park at sea, a thrilling zip line that races diagonally nine-decks above an open-air atrium, an original handcrafted carousel, 28 multilevel urban-style loft guest suites with floor-to-ceiling windows, and an aquatic amphitheater -- called the AquaTheater -- that serves as a pool by day and an ocean-front entertainment theater by night.
  • It's in the DNA of our company, about every 10 years, to take more or less a fresh sheet of paper and create the greatest cruise ship in the world, Adam Goldstein, CEO of Royal Caribbean International, told Forbes.com (read the article).
  • ABC's Good Morning America will be in Fort Lauderdale to welcome Oasis of the Seas and to give viewers an exclusive first glimpse of the ship during a special live broadcast on Friday, November 20.
  • Bookings are still available for Oasis of the Seas' inaugural sailing, which departs on December 5. The inaugural sailing will include exclusive entertainment, including singer Rhianna. Guests will receive gifts that commemorate the special occasion.

  • Reading the News

    You might use a variety of approaches to reading the news:

    Read aloud the news story to students as they follow along.

    Students might first read the news story to themselves; then you might call on individual students to read sections of the news aloud for the class.

    Photocopy the news story onto a transparency and project it onto a screen. (Or use your classroom computer's projector to project the story.) Read the story aloud as a class, or ask students to take turns reading it.

    Arrange students into small groups. Each student in the group will read a paragraph of the story. As that student reads, others might underline important information or write notes in the margin of the story. After each student finishes reading, others in the group might say something -- a comment, a question, a clarification -- about the text.

    More Facts to Share

  • Oasis of the Seas has a cruising speed of 22.6 knots (26 miles per hour).
  • The ship contains 16 passenger decks 24 passenger elevators.
  • The ships crew comes from more than 65 countries.
  • The ship includes 46 wheelchair-accessible staterooms.
  • The pools and Jacuzzis aboard Oasis of the Seas contain 2,300 tons of water.
  • The ships icemakers can make 50 tons of ice cubes each day.
  • The AquaTheater pool is 17.9 feet deep; it is the largest pool at sea.
  • The Central Park Neighborhood is the first-ever living park at sea.
  • Use the News

    Print out this weeks Use the News printable activity page for students. Or use the questions on that page to check student comprehension.

    Use the News: Answer Key
    Comprehension Check. 1.h, 2.b, 3.d, 4.c, 5.g, 6.e, 7.f, 8.j, 9.a, 10.i
    Main Idea: Oasis of the Seas is a most unique ship in many ways.
    Vocabulary Builder: 1.b, 2.c, 3.d, 4.a.

    Follow-Up Activities

    Think About the News. The Think About the News question on the student news-story page asks students

    The company that built Oasis of the Seas says it took 8,000 people-work-years to build this ship. Can you figure out about how many hours that might be?
    You might group students to work together to solve this problem, you might assign them the problem as homework they can do with their parents, or you can let each student present his/her individual plan for solving the problem.
  • If you teach students in the primary grades, you might solve the problem together. You might offer a solution such as this one:
  • The average worker works 40 hours per week.
    If the average worker works 40 hours per week, s/he will work about 2,080 hours a year (40 hours x 52 weeks = 2,080 hours per year).
    Eight thousand (8,000) people-work-years would be the equivalent of about 16,640,000 hours of labor (2,080 hours per year per person x 8,000 people = 16,640,000 hours)
  • If you teach students in grades 4-6, you might suggest they use a 40-hour work week as the basis for solving the problem and let them go from there on their own.
  • If you teach older students, you might let them come up with their own thoughts about the variables in this problem.
  • Accept all well-reasoned responses to the question. Some students might even come up with a plan that figures in variables such as vacation time, sick time, or overtime as they solve the problem.

    Research and math. One statement in the News for You story reads as follows:

    Oasis of the Seas is 1,187 feet long, which is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall.
    Invite students to research the height of the Empire State Building and to figure the difference between its height and the length of the Oasis of the Seas. Depending on their information source, students might come up with different responses. For example, if the research reveals that the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall, the difference is 63 feet:
    1,250 feet (height of the Empire State Building)
    - 1,187 feet (length of the Oasis of the Seas)
    63 feet

    Assessment

    Use the Use the News printable page as an assessment. Or have students work on their own (in their journals) or in their small groups to respond to the Think About the News question on the news story page.

    Lesson Plan Source

    Education World

    National Standards

    LANGUAGE ARTS: English
    GRADES K - 12
    NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading for Perspective
    NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
    NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge
    NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data
    NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills
    NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

    MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
    GRADES Pre-K - 2
    NM-NUM.PK-2.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    NM-NUM.PK-2.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
    GRADES 3 - 5
    NM-NUM.3-5.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    NM-NUM.3-5.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
    GRADES 6 - 8
    NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    NM-NUM.6-8.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
    GRADES 9 - 12
    NM-NUM.9-12.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    NM-NUM.9-12.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates

    MATHEMATICS: Measurement
    GRADES Pre-K - 2
    NM-MEA.PK-2.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
    GRADES 3 - 5
    NM-MEA.3-5.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
    GRADES 6 - 8
    NM-MEA.6-8.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
    GRADES 9 - 12
    NM-MEA.9-12.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements

    See recent news stories in Education Worlds News Story of the Week Archive.
    Article by Gary Hopkins
    Education World®
    Copyright © 2009 Education World

    11/05/2009