Vocabulary quiz tomorrow!!!!

Students should have attached the vocabulary sheet for this section in their notebooks on pages 40 and 41.  In case they didn't, the sheet they should be looking for contains words related to space including: orbit, revolution, rotation, equinox, solstice, axis, rover, satellite, probe and others.

Homework tonight.

Today and yesterday we did an activity where the students put a series of 15 events about space exploration on a timeline. Homework for tonight is to respond to the following questions that were on the board afterward. Students were instructed to write the questions down if they did not get them completed in class.

Here is what was on my smartboard:

Fold your timeline in half and respond to the following 3 questions on the back.
1. Other than guessing, explain how your group made predictions for the order of the events.
2. If you had to choose a place in space to explore, what would it be? Explain why you chose this place.
3. Which event do you feel was the most important in space exploration? Why do you think this?

Students should write complete sentences that state their opinion and give facts that back up their opinion.

Quiz tomorrow.

This will be an open note quiz, so the most important preparation students can do for this quiz is to have their notebooks in order. There will be two types of questions on this quiz. Half the questions will be based on the information from p. 30 up to page 39. The other half of the questions will be based on notebook preparedness such as, "What is the Teaching Point on p. 38?" and "What is the answer to question 11 on p. 31?"

Tonight's Homework

Today in class we did a reading on Tides. The first two sections of the handout were done in class. Students should do the last part "section quiz" for their homework tonight.

Ask an Astronomer: Why isn't Pluto a Planet anymore?

Phases of the Moon and Eclipses

We spent Thursday, Friday, and today looking at eclipses.  The web lesson we looked at can be viewed here: http://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/#/  The QL number is 947 and the student user name is nwtitans.  There is no password.

In addition I found a clip from NASA that gives a brief explanation of eclipses.

Today in class we started looking at phases of the moon. We used a lamp in the middle of the room to represent the sun, our heads to represent the Earth, and a styrofoam ball on a stick to represent the moon.  We drew pictures to show the locations of Earth, sun, and Moon as well as to show where the light and shadows were on the moon.

This animation shows the locations of all three bodies as well as the appearance of the moon from earth.

Homework over next couple of days

Today we worked on our vocabulay for the beginning of this unit. Many students completed this work in class, however some may need to finish the description and dawing at home.

Gravity and Orbits

This will download a file to your computer.  Please ask a parent before using!

both of these simulations come from http://phet.colorado.edu.  They have many more.  Ask the adult who owns the computer, then go check them out!

Click to Run

My Solar System

Homework tonight

Tonight's home work is a review of the first quarter of study.  Students should respond to each of the following points on page 1 of their notebooks.  One response goes in each corner of the page.

1.  Summarize the structure of the earth, including layers and composition.
2.  Explain what crustal plates are, how they move, and the results of those motions.
3.  Explain how the formation of soil is related to the parent rock type.
4.  Why is soil important and how can it be protected?

Students may use their notebooks to complete this assignment.

Slake and Infiltration

Soil Stories

Agenda Calendars

I have found that this week I am making many marks in calendars.   We usually write what the offense that caused the student's calendar to be marked: homework not being turned in, talking at inappropriate times, and going to lockers after class has started seem to be the most common.

Please check your student's calendars in their agendas.

Rock Cycle Stories/Cartoons are due tomorrow!

Rock Cycle

On Monday, we did an activity that simulated students going through the rock cycle. Students moved from station to station based on a random chance roll of a die. As the students moved, they recorded their movements and what type of rock they changed into (igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary) or if they became sediment or lava.

As a concluding assessment about the rock cycle (which we have been studying the past week), students are to either write a creative story or draw a cartoon that tells of their journey through the rock cycle. The students will need to use the data they collected as they moved from station to station. The students were given a sample with blanks, but they are NOT to follow this word for word. This is just a guide of phrases that might be used for the story. The cartoons need to clearly show what is happening at each step. Words may be used, but do not have to be present as long as it is clear what is happening.

Tonight's homework for periods 1 and 2 (tomorrow's homework for 3rd)

Do the last question on the review and reflect. Compare your journey.  We took a couple of minutes at the end of the period to talk to others about their rock cycle journeys.  How were they different, but did the same thing?

Earthquakes

Today (and Friday) students compared and contrasted two earthquakes. Some students needed extra time and may finish it for homework.

Earthquakes

Returned quizzes

Today I returned the quizzes students took on Thursday.  Students will be allowed to take another quiz on Thursday (not exactly a retake, because it is a different quiz).  I will count the higher of the two scores they receive.  However, in the future, any retakes on vocabulary quizzes will be averaged with their score on the first quiz.

We finished the reading on volcanoes today, but I noticed several students lagging behind.  Students can reread the material on the text book website if they are feeling a bit lost.  It is chapter 6 lesson 1.

Vocabulary quiz tomorrow.

Students need to review vocabulary on p. 2-7 in their notebooks.

Homework

Students should respond to the Teaching Point for the last couple of days: What are tectonic plates and how do they interact with one another? They can simply write out what they understand, draw pictures, create a poem or use rhyming to help them remember.

Plate Tectonics

The past two days we have used the Dynamic Earth website (http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/index.html) to guide us.  The fill-in notes we took all came directly from this site, including color coding some of the boundaries on our map by type: convergent boundary, divergent boundary, or transform boundary.

In addition, we will be having a quiz over the vocabulary on p. 2-7 of the notebooks.  I haven't quite finalized which day it will be, but it is coming.  Students should review each night.



http://www.youtube.com/user/barcroftscience?feature=mhee

Today we began our discussion about Pangaea and tectonic plates.  Students were given a copy of the modified brace map below and are to complete it to help them study for their quiz tomorrow. It should be attached to page 8 when they have completed it. The quiz covers ONLY material about layers of the earth on pages 8,9, and 9A.  9B will be where we put our quiz when it is returned.

Layers of the Earth

After this week's work, students should be able to fill in the following tree map.

And there will be a quiz on Tuesday. 

What a week!

It has been a busy week for science!  On Monday, we started a new unit about "What's inside the Earth?" We began by using 6 pages to identify and illustrate some key vocabulary terms: inner core, outer core, mantle, composition, crust, plate tectonics,convergent boundary, divergent boundary, transform boundary, fault, crustal plates, and ocean basin.  Students finished that up on Tuesday in class.  If they did not, they were to complete it for homework.

Wednesday we did a difficult group activity to identify the layers of the earth and create a scale model with cubes.  Overall, the students worked hard at it.

Thursday, of course, was the agricultural field trip.  Many students got to milk a cow, try muscadine grapes, and learn about some interesting plants.  At the end of the day, the students wrote letters to show their gratitude for the experience.

Tomorrow we will pick up with our study of the layers of the earth.  Tomorrow and next week, we will be using this website http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/index.html as a class to learn more about the layers of Earth.

Lab Conclusions

Today we finished writing our conclusions in class.  Some students have been absent or felt rushed to keep up they asked that I put what we did on the blog.  The portions written in blue color may need to be modified based on the student's lab results.

Conclusion

         The distance the rubber band is stretched affects the distance it flies when it is launched.  When we stretched the rubber band 9cm, it went an average of _____ cm.  As we stretched the rubber band further, the average increased until we got to a ______cm average at a 13 cm stretch.  Therefore, stretching the rubber band further makes it launch further.

        The data did support my prediction because I thought the rubber band would fly further the more it was stretched. (Some students may need to change this statement based on the prediction they made, however this should apply to most students).  Some of my data was inconsistent because...student discusses unusually high or low numbers s/he got for example (a rubber band at ______cm stretch rolled to (a very large number)cm and caused the average to be off.)

        I wonder if ...student writes questions that came up during the experiment. For example, "I wonder if our results would change if we used a thicker rubber band."

Welcome to Science Class!!!

Here is a brief rundown of last week:

Monday

• basic rules of the classroom, procedures, and grading information

Tuesday & Wednesday--Teaching Point: How do interactive notebooks help us in science class? (p. 4)

• We discussed the interactive notebooks we will be using for the year in science class (handout on p.5)
• We learned how we use the left and right sides of the book differently--right side is for teacher input (notes, readings, discussions) and the left side is for students to synthesize what they have learned that day.  
• Homework in the note book will be frequent 2-4 times per week and will be checked 2-3 times per week.
• We created an acrostic poem as a class to help us understand what should go on the right side of their notebook, using the words "RIGHT SIDE"
• HOMEWORK students should create an acrostic poem of their own using the words "LEFT SIDE" to help them remember what activities can be used to synthesize the day's lesson.

Thursday--TP: How do scientists learn about the world around them? (p.6)

• We watched a short video of a young surfer who uses science to catch the perfect wave.
• We discussed the steps our young scientist took to find the answer to his quest.
• We created a foldable that listed and described the steps of the scientific method (to put on p. 7 in their notebooks).
• Homework was for students choice to create a mnemonic device or a bubble map to help them remember the steps of the scientific method. Should be completed on p. 6 of the notebook and is due Tuesday.

Friday

• We learned a warm up we will be doing every Thursday.  It is from a book titled "Skills Workshop: Reading in the Content Area".  
• This will be used as a diagnostic tool for both ELA and Science to help students become aware of what reading skills they need to work on. 
• The remainder of the period was used for students to finish putting science notebooks together.
• In some classes, we watched a short movie on the Scientific Method.

Perseverance and Creativity