Thursday

The students finished drawing the layers of the sun, atmosphere, comets, asteroids, meteors, meteorites, meteoroids and the moon phases one more time before the test. We also practiced spelling the planets in order. We discussed the final stages of a star. If the site had been working we would have gone to the site about The Star's Size listed on the links. It is good, but you have to control it with the pause button as it goes too fast. Finally, most of the students were able to parade their large team solar systems.

The test is Tuesday March 4th so there is homework this week-end, study for the test. The questions on the last two posts have a lot to do with the test. If you can answer them, you should do fine. It is imperative that everyone is here Monday as we will play a review game to study for the test.

Test is in less than a week!

Some more ideas to study are:
- Name the planets in order and spell them correctly
- What is parallax?
- What color of star is the warmest? coolest?
- What two forces keep stars together?
- What is a penumbra? umbra? (use the correct words)
- Describe a solar / lunar eclipse
- Compare and contrast inner planets to the gas giants
- Know the layers of the sun
- Know the levels of the atmosphere
- Label and draw a comet
- Draw a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite

Homework until Tuesday is to read chapter C, take notes and draw
Thanks to the parents who sent back the papers signed!

Test preparation

Things to study:
- know names and how to draw the moon phases
- know the order of the planets and how to spell them
- difference between asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites, meteorides
- is Pluto a planet?
- difference between planets and stars
- what is 1 AU?
- definition of light year
- Kuiper belt, what is it and where
- Jupiter's four largest moons and spelled right

More tomorrow!

Project Northland

Today was project Northland. The students learned about the dangers of alcohol abuse. They talked about different people they knew who had been injured or killed because of the mis-use of alcohol. They were told that it is illegal to smoke or drink at their age. They were warned that if they are caught drinking they can't take driver's ed. Tomorrow we will cover the layers of the sun and the atmosphere.

A test is coming!

We announced today that the test over section C will be March 4th. That will give us March 3rd to cover any review the students feel they need. February 26th all the reading for the chapter should be done. Monday will be Project Northland, but by Tuesday the students should be familiar enough with the chapter to be able to discuss it. Have a great week-end.

Hope you saw the Lunar Eclipse last night - it was fantastic. We were fortunate to be able to see it here. You may have noticed it appeared the light came back the wrong way. I contacted KSL and asked why the light disappeared as you would think, but it came back left to right. Keith Merrill the meteorologist said, "During a moon phase, the light or shadow always go from right to left because of the rotation of the moon. Last night, the moon was traveling from right to left into the shadow of the Earth, so it would appear to us on Earth that the shadow was moving from left to right." Pretty interesting!

Wednesday

We hurried today and finished our individual solar systems. Tomorrow we have a test on the order and correct spelling of the planets. We will then move on to stars, comets, meteors and asteroids. Don't forget the lunar eclipse tonight when the Earth blocks the sun's light from our moon. It should be happening between 6:45 - 8:45, with the total block being between 7 and 8. Hope you can see it.

Tuesday

If you don't have a hanger in class, bring it on Wednesday. We will be finishing and displaying our solar systems.

President's Day

Homework over this long weekend consists of reading up to page C-81. Students also need to bring a wire hanger if they don't have one here. Hope you all have a great weekend and be ready for a quiz on the reading on Tuesday morning.

This tri-mester is going to go on one week longer than planned due to the three days we lost because of the weather. That means the tri-mester will end March 6th. This would be a great time for the student whose grades are in jeopardy to work really hard and get things fixed up.

Creating the solar system - bring a wire hanger

Today and tomorrow we will be creating two solar systems. The first will be on black paper to teach the students the order of the planets and the comparative sizes and distances. Then we will make individual solar systems to take home. You will need to bring a wire hanger for this second solar system.

Working on the Planets

There is no homework tonight, except for those who didn't read last night. I took a vote and in one class, only five students had read, the other classes did worse. That was sad cause we had a quiz on the reading. As you can imagine, the grades weren't very good. Today we worked in teams to fill out a chart on information on the different planets. We are including Pluto because it is still interesting to compare sizes and so forth.

Reading for Monday Night

On Tuesday we will be doing planet charts so tonight students need to read through C67. Everyone should have finished the first 66 pages in section C. If not, you need to read it all. Make sure you know the answers to the questions! Hint hint hint!

Bright enough for a sundial

Sunday is bright enough to get the sundial done. Don't delay!

Instructions for the Sundial

Go to the right side of the page. Click on January. Scroll down the page. The sundial directions are there. It is due on Tuesday February 12th. Make sure you try to mark the end of the shadow as well as the entire shadow. Good luck!

Rules for fixing the test

1. New lined paper must be used with name, date and class
This must be stapled to the test.

2. For true/false and multiple choice questions the letter
answer must be followed by a complete sentence, for example

B 3. Figure 14-2 illustrated the moon phases.

The short answer questions also must be answered in complete sentences

3. This is due at the beginning of class on Monday or
the old grade will stand.

Read the next section

The students were told in class today that they need to read the next section C44-C55 and know the answers to the questions at the end of that section. Those who did not do well on the test will be able to fix their mistakes for 2/3 of the original points. I allow this because the important thing is for them to learn. It would be best if they could pass the test with 100% every time. But I feel it is important for them to fix their mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

Words & Ideas to know for the test

Maria, umbra, penumbra, hypothesis, frequency, reflection, refraction, rotate, revolve, tides, neap tide, spring tide, telescope, astronomy, astrology, time zones, International Date Line, seasons, day and night, sun as an energy source, moon phases, craters, visible light

Test on Wednesday

Today we will be reviewing for the test scheduled for tomorrow. The students will work as teams to answer the questions that will be on the test tomorrow. They will receive points for the questions that are answered correctly. The team with the most points will receive 10 points extra credit, the team in 2nd place will receive 8 points and then it will decrease in increments of one point each. The teacher will explain why answers are right or wrong. Hopefully this will help them learn how to answer test questions correctly.

Monday

Today is the Northland Project. Mrs. Bloxham is teaching the students how to say no to peer pressure when others try to get them to do something dangerous. She talked about insistant pressure, direct pressure and indirect pressure. The students learned not to give in to pressure to do dangerous things.