March 30-31 Volcanoes!

Today in class we started a short unit on volcanoes. We watched two short clips on youtube--they can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4KbyB2UnTM

and at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlLZ9Nf96aM

We then watched a demonstration of a volcano erupting and then another of a geyser erupting. Following the demonstrations we worked on the lab "Some go pop, some do not". This lab can be found on page 163 of our textbook. It will be turned in at our next class.

March 27th--Ate the cookies, on to the geologic column

We finished our oven project--and judging by the number of cookies baked, it was very successful. Today we started a lab on the geologic column and will finish it for homework--the lab is on page 78 in our textbook and is due monday for B classes, tuesday for A classes. Next week we will work on volcanoes and then it is spring break. After that it is 4th marking period and before you know it, graduation.

March 24--finished our ovens

Both a and b classes have finished our ovens and will be baking our fossil cookies on Wednesday and Thursday. Be sure to know exactly what you need to do when you get into class because we won't have much time to set everything up and get them started cooking!

March 18-19 Easy Bake Ovens

Today in class we started to build our easy bake ovens. We will be creating ovens out of light bulbs and photo copy paper boxes--then we will be using the ovens to make models of six different types of fossils--using sugar cookie dough as the substrate. The types of fossils are:

Carbon film (or carbonization) fossils
Cast Fossils
Mold Fossils
Simple Burial Fossils
Permineralization (or petrification) Fossils
Replacement Fossils

We will be graded on how well we work together, whether or not our oven works, and how well we model and describe our different fossil cookies.

March 11th and 12th--Modelling the Rock Cycle

Today we modelled the rock cycle by using either food or crayons. We created igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks and so far, no one has set off any fire alarms.

We also created posters telling how we created our models. We will go over the posters on Friday the 13th and then will have our test on Monday the 16th.

March 9/10 Sedimentary Rock

We've been working on chapter two, the rock cycle and the three classifications of rock: Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous. Our test will be Monday March 16th and will be all short answer questions--Check out the study guide on the website (go to the tests and quizzes page) at http://www.freewebs.com/extremescience/testsandquizzes.htm