Thursday

Band and choir students took their Language Arts ISAT tests this morning. Those that remained in class corrected their science test. We then discussed the three different types of volcanoes. On Monday we will continue with volcanoes.

The ISAT test schedule is as follows:
Monday Math
Tuesday Reading
Wednesday Language Arts
Band and Choir students will be gone on Wednesday to the American Falls Music Festival

The rough draft of the scientist reports are due today. If they are late they will receive half points. Sundials are now late, they will be accepted for half points until May 12th. The reason for the delay is weather related.

Wednesday

Students took the test on Observing the Sky today. Tomorrow the band and choir students will be taking their Language Arts ISAT. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week will also be the ISAT tests. Make sure you get enough sleep, drink enough water, and eat well so you will be physically prepared to take these tests. The tests are important as a measuring stick to see if you know how to use the information you have been learning in school.

Tomorrow we will correct the test and begin our unit on volcanoes. Check out the NASA site of the day in the left panel. It is quite interesting.

Tuesday test tomorrow

We reviewed for the test today with each student making a study guide with each question on the test. The students went from station to station. There were questions at each station. Sometimes they had to arrange things in order, like the colors of stars from coolest to hottest and the electromagnetic spectrum. In other stations they drew pictures to represent questions on the test. At the end of the time we went into the classroom and made sure they had the correct answers. The test should be fairly easy for anyone who filled out their study guide.

Monday test Wednesday on section C

Today we learned about tsunamis. We saw a short clip showing how earthquakes cause tsunamis. Then we used a map and found the longitude and latitude of various earthquakes and volcanoes. Tomorrow we will be studying for our test and Wednesday we will see how much we know.

ISATs are coming up. For band and choir students, the first tests will be Thursday. For everyone else the tests start Monday. Remember, get enough sleep, eat well and make sure that you get enough to drink. All of these things keep your mind more alert.

Thursday - test on Wednesday

While I enjoyed a very interesting conference yesterday on how to help students succeed, even if they don't want to, Mrs. Romrell substituted for my class. Each team was given a different catastrophe and then they were given questions on how they would prepare for an emergency. Finally each team gave a presentation to the entire class so everyone would learn.

Today we worked on our scientist reports. Most brought their information with them. Those that forgot that information were allowed to go to the library to find information. We also used the encyclopedias in class and online information. This report's rough draft is due on April 29th. I will get those corrected so the students can finish the final draft.

There will be a test on section C on Wednesday. ISATs start on April 29th and will go through the next week. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and eating healthy to prepare for it.

Tuesday

We finished our earthquake movie today. We learned about how important it is to be prepared for any kind of disaster. The man in charge of community safety in the Los Angeles areas stressed that government cannot take care of people, that they need to be prepared to take care of themselves as much as possible.

We corrected the vocabulary from D18. Tomorrow there will be a substitute. Students will be doing a safety activity in teams.

An open-book test which will cover all of section C will be on April 28th. Students need to have their scientist rough draft turned in on April 29th. We will work on that in class this Thursday. Sundials are also due. The sun is setting at 8:11, so a student could actually get this done after school if they are home by 4.

Monday

Today we finished the conservation posters and discussed the earthquake we had last Thursday. Students discussed what they felt during the earthquake. We talked about faults and the different types of earthquakes. We also discussed primary and secondary waves. Then we started a movie showing what different areas are doing to protect themselves from a major earthquake. We should finish the movie tomorrow and then on Wednesday we will talk about emergency safety.

The sundials are due Thursday, April 22nd. The weather was lovely all week-end and so students need to get the sundials turned in.

The rough draft for the scientist report is due April 29th. We will work on those this Thursday during class time. Students need to bring their information with them.

Thursday

We have 26 sundials turned in, a few more were sent home to fix. The sundial rules are these: Orient the paper or cardboard you are using so that the indicator (pencil, stick etc) is at the bottom on the south end. Mark the shadow, from beginning to the end of the shadow at hour intervals, four hours, five marks. The weather is supposed to be good. If you miss an hour, then do a couple more hours after that and indicate where you missed the hour. They will be due next week as the weather man has promised at least one good day this weekend. (Actually, he promised three good days, but last weekend we only got one.)

Today we learned about Harry Hess and the spreading seafloor. We learned that subjuction keeps the earth from growing while the spreading seafloor adds more mass to the planet. It is a nice balance. Students can read this weekend if they have time. They should be up to D37. On Monday the vocabulary words on D18 will be assigned and due on Tuesday. We are finishing our posters.

Wednesday

Today we put a puzzle together. It was a puzzle of the continents. Alfred Wegener thought perhaps the continents had moved around, and although he was scoffed at in his day, today they realize he may have been correct. We then watched a couple of youtube videos that talked about how plate tectonics may have happened. We also learned about subduction, convergent plates, divergent plates and slip strike faults or transform faults.

The videos we watched are on the links under Plate Tectonics and Plate Tectonics vocabulary.

Tuesday

Today students received the rubric for their final report. They chose the scientist yesterday, this rubric explains what is expected on the report. We will take two, maybe three days of class time to work on it.

Today we learned about stars. We corrected the vocabulary for last night's homework and spent about 15 minutes working on the conservation posters.

Monday

We are, again, putting off the due date for the sundial. They will be due April 22. We are looking for a sunny week-end and I don't mind putting this off until we have sunshine. I guess we should be grateful for the moisture. We have had about four sunny days since the assignment was given, but we will see if we can get one more day. About half of the students have their sundials turned in and corrected. Some students are turning is sundials that are incorrect. The sun directly overhead has a very different shadow than one early or late in the day. There also is a specific way the numbering should go. I measure these two factors to see if the sundials are correct.

In class today we worked on our conservation posters. Homework is the vocabulary words on D4. We will finish stars tomorrow and start on plate tectonics.

Thursday

We continued working on our solar systems today. Sundials need to be finished this week-end if there is any sun out. Make sure you draw to the end of the shadow. If you run out of paper tape another paper to your page. Sundials are worth 50 points. Have a good week-end.

Wednesday

We started on our solar systems today. Students use hangers, string and construction paper to create a solar system. The purpose is to give the students the opportunity to put the planets in order and to better comprehend the different sizes of the planets.

I am checking the sundials. Please make sure you follow the directions as some of them are not done correctly and must be fixed.

Tomorrow students will chose their scientists.

Tuesday

This morning the school had an assembly dealing with cyber responsibility. The speaker told us that ANYTHING we put online can be seen by anyone who knows how to hack. They told about people in other countries, who for a small fee, can hack into anyone's site, get your pictures and other information. That information can be posted on the "world-wide-web" and sent all over. These people generally do not care about your family picnic, they want pictures that can be used for blackmail. Our students were warned against sexting, cyber bullying and putting anything up that might cause another grief because it isn't private. Anyone who is trained can pull up what anyone texted, put on their password protected facebook, myspace, photobucket, or any other site, and use that information. Talk about it, it was very interesting.

In class we started on our conservation posters. We will be doing those and our planets all week. Sundials will be due April 15th as the weather this week-end was not conducive to making sundials.