Three days before the winter break.

Monday--We will be learning about elements

Tuesday and Wednesday--We will be in the computer lab to work on glogsters. Each student will have an element to present. These glogs will all be linked through a glog I create as a periodic glog of elements.

Here is a template of what needs to be on each glog and how it might look.

14 December 2010

Today we read about and discussed how energy is involved with changes in states of matter. For example, a substance changing from a liquid to a solid (aka freezing) or from a gas to a liquid (aka condensing). We also read about how freezing and condensation give up energy and are called exothermic. On the other hand, vaporization (boiling and evaporation), melting, and sublimation are endothermic, or require the substance to gain energy.

Here is another video to help students review the material we covered today: http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=111175&title=States_of_Matter___Part_2&vpkey=&album_id=

In some classes, we discussed how this relates to the lab we did at the beginning of the unit. We looked at how our graphs compared to the graphs in the book and noticed that once the water started to boil at 100 degrees Celsius, the temperature stayed the same as the water boiled. Similarly, as we froze some water, the temperature stayed at 0 degrees Celsius until it had completely frozen. The classes that did not get a chance to discuss this will be discussing it tomorrow before we review for the test.

As we have come to the end of the unit on states of matter, we will be having a test on Thursday the 16th.

• Students should review p. 72-81 of their notebooks to prepare for this test.
• Left side activities should be completed for pages 74, 78, 80 in their notebooks.
  
• If they are looking at the online book (see my web page for the link under "Useful Links") it is Chapter 6.
• A Chapter Review will be given to the students on Wednesday (completed as homework) and we will go over it before the test.

December 7th in class

Here is a link to some very cool science interactive simulators. http://phet.colorado.edu/Just click on the "play with the sims" button.

We used one of these in class today. http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/states-of-matter

a couple of others that will be useful in the future are:
Gas Properties
Build an Atom
pH scale

Publish Post

Monday in Class

After Mental Math and the warm up, today we started class by me giving directions on how to graph their data from Friday's lab. Students should graph time across the x-axis (bottom of the graph) and temperature on the y-axis (left side of the graph). This should be completed for homework. We may not get to it until Wednesday, but it needs to be completed for Tuesday, just in case we get to it.

Then, we looked at how the particles of a substance move depending on its state. We used a fill-in of guided notes as we watched the following video:

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=111171&title=States_of_Matter___Part_1

Not all classes completed the notes and we will complete them tomorrow.

Monday in class

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Here is an electronic version of the practice in identifying chemical and physical changes we did in class today: http://www.quia.com/quiz/303980.html. Students should recognize that a chemical change creates a new substance and usually can not be undone. Physical changes can often be undone and the material stays the same.

Then, we took a look at how the properties of matter are used in technological design. Students should should be able to describe how certain properties of matter can effect choices for suitable materials for designing everyday technology.

Chemistry: The Study of Matter

Friday we kicked off our study about Chemistry and today we started to dig into some of the content. We discussed how everything is made of matter and all matter has both volume and mass. (4th period stopped here and will continue tomorrow.) Mass and weight, although often used interchangeably, are different. We finished up with a short demonstration about how greater mass means an object has more inertia.

Homework was assigned for tomorrow. Students should finish the inside section of today's handout. They may skip numbers 7 and 9. (They should have already answered 7 on the front and we did not discuss how to do number 9.) 4th period will be doing this assignment on Tuesday night, as we did not get to finish the material.

Change in the plan

Due to this week's short week, I am going to change the plan slightly. I am going to move the test to Wednesday. This means Monday will be a day of reinforcement of the concepts we learned last week. Tuesday will be review. Wednesday will be the Test.

The test will cover pages 46-53 in their notebooks. This is Chapter 4 in the textbook, which can be viewed on-line. See the link on my school web page.

Sorry it has been so long.

Sorry I have neglected the blog here, but I'm back. I hope everyone enjoyed their fall break!

Just before the break, we discussed the causes of ocean currents, both deep currents and surface currents. When we returned on Wednesday, we learned how currents can affect climate. As an example, several places in northern Europe have much milder climates than places at similar latitudes in North America and Asia. This is because the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift carry warmer water in that direction. This, in turn, warms the air which gets carried on land and keeps the climate warmer.

Similarly, the California Current from the northern Pacific Ocean carries cooler water along the west coast of the U. S. This keeps the temperature from getting to hot and creates what we, often, think of as being typical California weather. Basically in the 60's and 70's year round. However, this is only typical on the coast, much of the land further inland is much hotter.

In general, warm currents flow away from the equator and cold currents flow toward the equator.

Thursday, we will be looking at tides. This should be mostly review from 6th grade science. Friday will be about waves and wave action on the shoreline. We should be able to cover all of this by Friday, have a review on Monday and take a test over ocean currents, tides, and waves on Tuesday. This may get pushed back a day so we will take our test the day before our day off. It just depends on how much the students remember.

Oh, and KSS is due on Friday this week instead of the usual Thursday. Same thing will apply for next week since we have Thursday off.

Ocean Pollution and the plan for the next couple of days.

Today we read about causes and effects of Pollution. This included:

• the difference between point source pollution and non-point source pollution.
• Types of nonpoint-source pollution include oil and gasoline from cars, trucks, and watercraft, as well as the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
• Types of point-source ocean pollution include trash dumping, sludge dumping, and oil spills.
• Efforts to save ocean resources include international treaties and volunteer cleanups. This includes the creation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Clean Water Act, and the U.S Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.

The upcoming couple of days:
Thursday--Review of Chapter 3 (pages 32-43 in their Notebook) I will also be checking to see that students have processed information on pages 38 and 40 in their notebooks.
Friday--Glogsters must be completed so other students can review them and learn about other marine ecosystems.
Monday--Test over Chapter 3

Resources from the Ocean (p. 41 in notebook)

Today we did an activity to help students improve summarizing what they read. Students read two sections about resources we get from the ocean. For each section they read, discussed with people at their table, and agreed upon what should be in their summary. We then used the summaries as notes for the day.

Glogster project

Half of Thursday and all of Friday we were in the computer lab working on ecosystem glogsters. Each student was assigned either: estuary, polar ice, coral reef, Sargasso sea, mangrove swamp, or intertidal area.

Because this is the first time many students have used this medium, I kept the requirements simple and to a minimum. The minimum requirements for this assignment are as follows:

• a description of the ecosystem
• five facts about the ecosystem
• a list of examples of life--include animals from the 3 groups plankton, benthos, and nektos (as appropriate)
• one interactive element such as a videoclip, an audio clip, or a link to an outside website.

By completing the minimum requirements, a student will have produced an average "glog" worthy of a grade of "C". To receive an "A" or "B", a student must exceed these minimum requirements. This can easily be done by adding more detailed description of the ecosystem, additional facts, adding pictures of lifeforms in the ecosystem, and adding more interactive elements. Not all of these must be done to receive an A, but the final product must be thorough and "finished."

Although we had one and a half days, this may not have been enough time for students to complete the project. Additional time may be required at home. In addition, students may come in before school, after school, or at lunch to use the school's computer facilities.

These must be completed and posted by next Friday. If there are any problems that may prevent a student from completing this project, please let me know by sending an email or a note with your student.

The Ocean Floor

Today we used the text books to learn about the ocean floor. We discovered different landforms that were on the ocean floor, such as: continental shelf, continental slope, abyssal plain, seamounts, rift valleys, and mid-ocean ridges.

We also learned about how we know about the ocean floor, since it is so hard to get to. Sonar , which is an acronym standing for sound navigation and ranging, bounces sounds off the ocean floor, which are timed. How long it takes for the sound to return can be used to calculate how deep the ocean is. Also, satellites are used to determine ocean depths.

We also read about underwater vessels, such as Alvin, Deep Flight, and Jason II and Medea.

Densities of Different Liquids

Friday and today we did a lab that where students were trying to figure out why a poker chip would float on a container of salt water and sank in containers of rubbing alcohol and regular water. On Friday, the students measured quantities of several different liquids, weighed them, and calculated the density of each of the liquids. If they did their measurements properly, they should have found that the density of the rubbing alcohol was about .87g/mL, the water was 1 g/mL, and the salt water was 1.06 g/mL.

Today we made a graph showing the volumes of the liquid compared to the masses of the liquids, compared the density of the liquids, calculated the density of the poker chip, and compared the density of the poker chip to the density of the three liquids. Students now need to write their conclusions as to why the poker chip floats in the salt water, but not in the plain water or the rubbing alcohol.

Students should write their conclusions using the usual format.
They should: State their original hypothesis.
Tell if their hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
Use data to demonstrate why their hypothesis is correct or incorrect.
State how their thinking has changed.

We went over all the data and questions in class and students should have everything completed except their conclusions. We even discussed how their conclusions should include how the density of the poker chip is greater than the two liquids in which the poker chip sank, but density of the poker chip was lower than the density of the liquid in which it floated.

DUE DATE!!!: Reports will be turned in on Wednesday! I have already collected my 3rd period because they had 20 minutes in class to finish their conclusions.

The Earth's Oceans

I've changed up how I am doing the notebooks just a little as an experiment. For pages 32 and 33, instead of having the students write down a daily essential question on the left side, I gave the students a list of objectives which they attach to the left side (p. 32). It should be attached in a way that will allow it to be flipped up so they can still do a left side activity underneath it. Responses are then written on the right side (p. 33) as notes.

Topics we covered are: Divisions of Oceans, How the oceans were formed, properties of ocean water, the ocean and the water cycle, temperature zones in the ocean, effect of climate on salinity (one of the properties of water), how the ocean helps regulate the temperature of the earth.

HOMEWORK: I will be checking to see that students complete a left side activity on p. 32 in their notebooks. We discussed possible activities that could be done for the left side as a class: CD Cover/Label, timeline of movement of continents, mnemonic devices to remember relative sizes of the oceans.
I also introduced a new type of poem called a cinquain. A cinquain is a 5 line poem that has a particular number of syllables or words for each line. The most basic is 2,8,6,4,2. Here is an example I showed in class based on syllables:

Oceans (2)
Salinity changes often. (8)
Evaporation--Hot! (6)
Rivers add fresh (4)
Moving (2)

If you look up cinquain on wikipedia, it gives a large variety of types cinquains.

Oceans

This week we are beginning our study of Oceans. We started Monday by watching a section of Planet Earth on Ocean Deep. Tuesday, after handing back last chapter's tests, we started with a few basics about the 4 oceans and how the oceans were formed.

Students are permitted to do test corrections for this test, and I also passed out an up-to-date progress report.

Check this out!!!!

This week we will begin to study the ocean.

• How do we know what we know about the Ocean?
• How do scientists study the ocean and life in the ocean?

Water Underground

Today we discussed water underground and put our notes and vocabulary on p. 25 of our notebooks. Topics covered were the water table, and how the amount of precipitation that an area receives affects the level of the water table. To get to the aquifers, water must travel through dirt and rock. Water's ability to move through the ground depends on the porosity and permeability of the materials in that area.

Students received a hand out that shows a cross section of the water table and how wells must reach below the water table in order to be useful. This should also be attached to p. 25 of the notebook.

After the quiz tomorrow, we will finish up discussion underground water by finishing discussing about wells and underground erosion and how water affects caves and can create sinkholes.

Several students wanted links to the on-line textbook so they could review for tomorrow's quiz. Here is the information they need. This is permanently on my school webpage under "useful links."

Science Text Book On-line http://my.hrw.com/

Students can access our textbook at home. There are a number of links to interactive sites and objects as well as some links to reading for better understanding and going beyond what we do in class. I have it set to open in a new browser window. If you are having problems getting the page to show, you may have to temporarily allow pop-ups for the page to show up.

username: student9490 password: j9m7j

Is anyone out there finding this useful?

I'm seeing that there is activity on the page, but I am not getting any feedback from anyone. If you are finding this blog useful, please send me an email (christopher.barcroft@cabarrus,k12.nc.us) or comment on this post. If you are a student who comes here to check on assignments or review the material, please tell me in class.

Any feed back is useful. What more info do you want to see posted? Are the summaries too little, too much, or just right?

Thanks,
Christopher Barcroft

Today we made sure all classes finished the outline of Chapter 2 Lesson 1 on p. 21, 21A, and 21B (some students may have had more lettered pages) and we reviewed the questions that students had written on p. 20 of their notebooks. This lesson was about river systems and the types of loads they carry, watersheds, erosion, and stages of rivers.

Students then continued on to Lesson 2 which discusses deposition, deltas, alluvial fans, and floodplains. Students searched the section for answers to 5 questions, which we reviewed at the end of the period.

Left side activity for p. 22 is to create 3 test questions about today's information (with answers) that might be on a test or EOG. These can be essay questions, or multiple choice questions.

Water, Water Everywhere!

Thursday and Friday we began our study of water. We started out by reviewing the water cycle (hydrologic cycle). Then we examined how water flows through tributaries to feed larger creeks, streams and rivers, creating a watershed and how the continental divide causes all water in the United States to flow either east towards the Atlantic ocean and Gulf of Mexico or west to the Pacific Ocean.

We then discussed erosion and factors that cause different types of erosion. Some classes continued to the stages of a river, but not all classes were able to complete this today. Classes that did not finish will finish Monday. Students should now be able to answer most of the questions we wrote down on p. 20. Here are the questions, in case a student did not write them down.

For this left side activity, you only need to answer the Essential Questions COMPLETELY and THOROUGHLY! (You will need to use more than one sentence to completely answer them!!!)
1. Describe how moving water shapes the surface of the Earth by the process of erosion. List the agents of erosion.
2. Explain how water moves through the water cycle using all the parts.
3. Describe the 3 types of loads.
4. Identify the four stages of rivers and describe the difference between each.
5. Explain three factors that affect the rate of stream erosion.

Rubber Band Lab

Yesterday, we collected data to determine, "Does distance a rubber band is stretched affect its distance it flies when launched?" Today we graphed our data, and analyzed the results. Homework for Wednesday is for students to write their conclusion.

The format for the conclusion PARAGRAPH should be as follows:

• State original hypothesis.
• State if original hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
• Provide data that proves hypothesis was right or wrong.
• If correct, restate hypothesis in other words. If incorrect tell how your thinking has changed (you could do this by stating the correct answer as a hypothesis like it would be at the beginning.)

Tomorrow we will start with an introduction to a unit on water by watching a portion of the BBC video Planet Earth: Fresh Water.

A Few Things.

There seems to be a bit of confusion about homework.

1) Students are required to do homework in their notebooks on the left side (even numbered pages). They should answer the Essential Question and do an activity that shows they have understood the material. If a student is having trouble answering the essential question, they should be able to review their notes and find the answer or be able to figure it out. For more information on what should be on the left side of the notebook, students should have a blue handout on page 3 of the notebook that has a list of activities that can be done.

2) When we do labs in class, students are required to complete the data analysis and the conclusion at home if they do not complete them during the lab in class.

3) Students need to be reviewing material nightly, on their own! I will drill and repeat some information, but do not have enough time in class to do this constantly, nor will their teachers next year. Students need to be continuously reviewing material on their own! I am grading quizzes the students took on Thursday. It is clear that students are not doing this.

Wednesday--Today we completed our lab, discussed how to write a conclusion, and reviewed for Thursday's quiz.

Thursday--Took notes on p. 17 about Measurement in Science. We created a table showing What each measurement measures, what units are most common for this measurement, and tools used to measure or how it is calculated. Took quiz at the end of the period.

Friday--finished notes on Measurement on p. 17. Students should now be able to answer essential question and complete activity of their choosing on p. 18. We also went over Lab Safety Contract. Students need to have parent signatures and return the contract on Monday in order to be able to participate in the lab. We ended the day playing Jeopardy to review Measurement, Scientific Inquiry, Lab Safety, and Volume.

Coming up: Monday--Lab to further emphasize variables, data analysis, and conclusions.

Variables in Experiments and Applying the Scientific Method

Sorry I missed posting on Friday. I, like many people, was in a rush to start my travelling and get out to start my long weekend.

Friday-- on p12 and 13 we took notes about a variable is anything in an experiment that can be changed. We also identified 3 types of variables: control variable, independent variable, and dependent variable. We also read some scenarios of experiments and identified the variables in each of them.

Some classes also discussed graphing data and which variable should be on which axis of the graph. This was not done in all classes and will be discussed with all classes tomorrow.

Tuesday-- students were asked to apply all of the information they have learned about the scientific method in an experiment. Their question, hypothesis, and data collected should be on pages 14-15 of their notebook.

here is a website with more detailed info about the scientific process. http://panpipes.net/edit6200/

The Scientific Method

Today we discussed the steps of the scientific method. We watched a movie of a young, surfing scientist who wanted to know which type of waves, produced by different landforms, created better waves for surfing, a reef break or a beach break.

After we watched the video, we analyzed the steps the young surfer followed to find the answer to his question. We then put names to each of the steps from the scientific method. These steps are: Ask a question, Research your topic, Formulate a hypothesis, Test hypothesis, Analyze data, Draw a conclusion, Communicate the results.

We then prepared a foldable for more information about each of these steps. We will be continuing tomorrow with details about each of the steps.

Science and Observation Skills

Today we finished what we were discussing on Friday about Science and the branches of science: Life Sciences, such as zoology and botany; Physical Sciences, such as Chemistry and Physics; and Earth Scieces, such as astronomy and the study of rocks. Students created a graphic organizer showing these branches and should attach it to page 5 in their notebooks. They should now be able to answer the essential questions on page 4 and do their activities to show they understand these ideas.

We also began an observation activity using mystery boxes. Students used observation skills to try to identify what they couldn't see. We will finish this activity tomorrow.

Today in class.

Today in class we discussed that science is not just a collection of facts, but rather using those facts to solve larger problems. We also talked about the most important skill a scientist uses--observation. We will expand on observations and asking questions related to observations on Monday. Students learned the difference between a scietific law and a scientific theory. All of this information was put in the notebook on p. 5.

HOMEWORK: Students should keep in mind that on Monday I will check homework. I will be looking to see that they have completed the "About the Author" on p. 1 of the notebook. Also students should answer the essential question (we answered this in class) and complete an acrostic poem using the phrase "right side" on p. 2.

We ended class with students creating a concept map about the branches of science. Few students completed this and I will not be checking p. 4 until Thursday.

Interactive Notebooks.

Today in class we learned about our interactive notebooks and how to use them. We learned that the left side is for processing the information that is given to the students on the right side of the notebook. In this case, the information was in the form of a blue booklet about interactive notebooks.

The homework is to answer the essential question for the day and complete an acrostic poem using the phrase "RIGHT SIDE"as the anchor for the poem. This should be done on page two of the notebook. In addition, students should complete the "About the Author" page (page 1). This should be completed for the first homework check on Monday.