The document discusses selecting a mascot for E.J. Nelson Elementary School based on a contest. It provides criteria for evaluating mascot proposals and background on the school and local community, which has ties to farming and coal mining. Four potential mascots are presented: an eagle, coal miner, farm animal, and river otter. Students will evaluate each option based on the criteria and community profile to recommend the best mascot

2. CCSS Argument 11-12: Use precise words, phrases
and complex syntax to make explicit the
relationships between claims and reasons, between
reasons and evidence, and between claims and
counterclaims.
Objective #1
Students will understand that
evidence is not always self-
explanatory, and therefore will
develop a model for informal
reasoning.

3. Objective #2
Students need rules for
interpreting data, and the rules
can change from context to
context. As a result, they will
apply criteria to judge the
relative merits of a set of
proposed school mascots and
prepare a written analysis.
(
CCSS Argument 11-12: Use precise words, phrases
and complex syntax to make explicit the
relationships between claims and reasons, between
reasons and evidence, and between claims and
counterclaims.

4. Mascots are a way to identify and
distinguish a school or a community

5. Forks High School from Twilight

6. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Mascot: the Wolf

7. Napoleon Dynamite

8. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Mascot: The Bulldog

9. Scream
Mascot: The Panther

10. American Pie
Mascot: The Trailblazers
Much of the film is based on the writer's days at East
Grand Rapids High School in East Grand Rapids,
Michigan. In the film, the town is called "East Great
Falls", and the high school sports the same school
colors — blue and yellow — along with a similar
mascot — the Trailblazers instead of the Pioneers.

11. The Sunnydale Razorbacks
from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

12. Mascot: The Lions

13. The Laurel Hill Hoboes and the
Chinook Sugar Beeters

14. The Hickman The Coalinga The Richland
Kewpies Horned Toads Bombers

15. Hoopeston Area The Frankfort The Watersmeet
Cornjerkers Hot Dogs Nimrods

16. Do you like the If you were to
mascot? Why? select a different How was the
mascot, what mascot selected?
would it be? Why
would you select
it?

17. Do you think this
University of California Santa Cruz,
Banana Slug
mascot is a good one?
If you like it, what
makes it a good
mascot?
If you don’t, what
makes it a bad mascot?

18. Freeport, Illinois
The Pretzels
Do you think this
mascot is a good one?
If you like it, what
makes it a good
mascot?
If you don’t, what
makes it a bad mascot?

19. Divide into 4 groups
(about 6-7 per group)

20. 5
Propose rules a new school
could use to select a mascot
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

21. REPORT OUT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

22. REPORT OUT
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

23. Imagine that E.J. Nelson Elementary School has
just opened but has not yet selected a mascot

24. Mascot Problem
The E.J. Nelson Elementary School is having a contest to select the school
mascot. The mascot’s image will appear on the gym floor, on school
stationery, on school-spirit clothing, and on school publications. Four
drawings have been selected for final consideration, and you are one of
the judges. Here is what you need to do:
Evaluate each of the drawings, and write an explanation
of why it would or would not be a good mascot, based on
the evaluation criteria that the class developed together.
Keep the evaluation criteria in mind, remember the profile of the school
and community, and study the details and attributes of the proposed
mascots.

25. Profile of E.J. Nelson
Elementary School
E.J. Nelson Elementary School opened two years ago in Floodrock, Illinois.
Floodrock is located in Saline County, which is in the very southern region
of the state. The current enrollment at E.J. Nelson is 315 students.
The surrounding area has two major industries: farming and coal mining.
The area has long been rich in coal mines, and many families in Saline
County have had some connection to the coal mines. Since fewer homes
and businesses depend on coal as an energy source these days, the
activities in the mines have slowed and the coal companies employ few
residents. Nevertheless, the citizens of Floodrock and the rest of Saline
County still associate themselves with the coal industry. The school is
named after E.J. Nelson, who was the president of the United Mine
Workers of America for 40 years.

26. A. B.
C.
D. E.