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.