May 18-22--Build a better building (out of spaghetti?)

This week we have started the construction of our earthquake resistant spaghetti buildings. On the 18th and 19th we formed our companies and began to research and design.

Please check the website for the details of the spaghetti webquest. There is also some extra credit available--due by friday the 22nd.

To get some practice in building structures, play the game "Cargo Bridge" at http://onemorelevel.com/game/cargo_bridge

Be sure to check out the advantages of triangles over squares and rectangles.

May 5/6 Starting our projects

Today starts several days of research and project writing. We will be in the media center/computer lab and working on our poster and digital story. Both will be due on Wednesday May 13th for B classes, Thursday May 14th for A classes.

Don't forget your thumbdrives--we'll need them for the next two weeks.

May 4 Welcome back from Ask Testing

We are back into the game after the previous week of testing. We are starting our earthquake project--please check out the earthquake project webpage on my class website.

Today in class we used the earthquake shaker table to explore how buildings fail during earthquakes--remember, for extra credit you can build a model of a building with earthquake resistant technology, then test it on our shaker table. Please be prepared to explain how the technology works!

April 20-27 The week before NJASK

This week we will be doing short reviews of topics previously learned.

Monday we reviewed plate tectonics.
Tuesday we took our chapter test on plate tectonics.
Wednesday we celebrated Earth Day
Thursday we reviewed physical science with dry ice
Friday we reviewed genetics and punnet squares

April 16th and 17th, the layers of the earth and plate boundaries

Today we covered lots of ground. We created a foldable to organize the layers of the earth. We looked at the layers as defined by its composition, then looked at it as defined by its physical properties. The information for this was found on pages 88-91. Interested students can complete questions 1-4 on page 94 to check their understanding.

We then read about different plate boundaries (divergent, convergent and transform) and also looked at two types of crusts (oceanic and continental). We then completed an activity that used graham crackers to model these different boundary interactions. Read pages 99-101 to refresh your memory about this information.

Remember--test on Tuesday.

April 14-15--welcome back from Spring Break

Hope everyone had fun during their time off!

Today in class we started plate tectonics and also did a bit of review for the State tests (they are in two weeks time).

We discussed gravity, then demonstrated the phases of the moon.

We started chapter four and discussed the break-up of Pangea, then read about continental drift theory on pages 92-93 and 95-98.

We will have a short test on chapter four on April 21st--check the website for the study guide.

April 1-2 Pompeii

Today in class we watched the Discovery Channel movie Pompeii: The Last Day. It re-enacted the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.

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 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

2/24 and 2/25--whodunnit

Today in class we did a brief review (test on friday) and then got into the mystery minerals lab. Students were given samples of 18 different minerals, and then used different physical properties to identify them.

Feb 18th and 19th--The start of Earth Science

Today we dug into chapter one and started learning about minerals. We talked about four questions we use to determine if something is a mineral and then we talked about the major classes of minerals (silicates and non-silicates). We also discussed how minerals and chemistry were related.

We then used magnifying glasses to look at several different items, and we determined if they were mineral in nature.

We went over the mineral composition of the earth's crust, and then talked about carbonates, sulfates, native elements, sulfides and halides.