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December 13, 2006
This week we have been reviewing continental drift and plate tectonics. There will be a test on Friday covering chapter 4 and it is our last grade of this nine weeks.
Next week, now that the pod casts have been downloaded onto my computer, we will be finishing up those and the presentations.
I am hoping to send home a progress report next week to give you an update. I will be letting you know conduct grades as well. I know the students are excited about the holiday but they have been talking excessively since Thanksgiving.
I have attached a copy of the latest quiz. Please take a look at it and discuss the importance of listening to directions with your children. Many did not pay attention or were just in a hurry and their grade reflects it.
Thank you all for your support and emails.
Sincerely,
Carol Sumrell
1. Why did we do the egg lab?
2. What two layers of the earth were represented by the shell of the egg?
3. What part of the egg represented the asthenosphere?
4. What part did the white of the egg represent? The yolk?
5. Where inside the earth does the heat originate?
Using the pictures below, tell what type(s) of heat transfer are taking place and describe that part of the picture where you see that particular heat transfer.
Posted by Sumrell at 02:00 PM
December 09, 2006
Below you will find an article I read off of Yahoo that would be a great observation. Just take a minute to read it, you might find worth your time to try and take a look.
Mrs. S.
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Fri Dec 8, 8:14 PM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Stargazers will get a rare triple planetary treat this weekend with Jupiter, Mercury and Mars appearing to nestle together in the predawn skies. About 45 minutes before dawn on Sunday those three planets will be so close that the average person's thumb can obscure all three from view.
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They will be almost as close together on Saturday and Monday, but Sunday they will be within one degree of each other in the sky. Three planets haven't been that close since 1925, said Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer.
And it won't happen again until 2053, he said.
"Jupiter will be very bright and it will look like it has two bright lights next to it, and they won't twinkle because they're planets," said Horkheimer, host of the television show "Star Gazer. "This is the kind of an event that turns young children into Carl Sagans."
The planets are actually hundreds of millions of miles apart, but the way the planets orbit the sun make it appear they are neighbors in the east-southeastern skies. They'll be visible in most parts of the world — in the Western Hemisphere, as far south as Buenos Aires and as far north as Juneau, Alaska, Horkheimer said.
The experts differ on just how to look at the planets. Horkheimer said naked-eye viewing is fine, but binoculars or a telescope are even better.
But if you are going to use a telescope, be careful because the planets are so close to where the sun will soon rise, if you linger you might gaze at the sun through the telescope and damage your eyesight, said Michelle Nichols, master educator at Chicago's Adler Planetarium.
Ed Krupp, director of Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, cautioned it will be hard to see the event "with an unaided eye, particularly in an area that is highly urbanized."
The way to find the planets, which will be low on the east-southeast horizon, is to hold your arm straight out, with your hand in a fist and the pinky at the bottom. Halfway up your fist is how high the planets will appear above the horizon, Nichols said.
Jupiter will be white, Mercury pinkish and Mars butterscotch-colored.
"It is a lovely demonstration of the celestial ballet that goes on around us, day after day, year after year, millennium after millennium," said Horkheimer. "When I look at something like this, I realize that all the powers on Earth, all the emperors, all the money, cannot change it one iota. We are observers, but the wonderful part of that is that we are the only species on this planet that can observe it and understand it."
In ancient times, people thought the close groupings of planets had deep meaning, said Krupp. Now, he said, "it's absolutely something fun to look for."
__
On the Net:
Where to look for the three planets: http://www.siennasoft.com/stargazer/1513.shtml
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Posted by Sumrell at 06:50 AM
December 06, 2006
Hello All,
I am finally back at school and your children had their boiled egg lab today. There was one class that didn't because too many did not have their egg. So, they will be doing it tomorrow. All students have a heat transfer worksheet to complete tonight and there will be a short quiz tomorrow on the lab and the worksheet.
I am going to look over the open book tests and then post them on I-parent. I am still trying to get the external hard drive to download the rest of the podcasts so they can be presented and grades place in the computer.
I hope all is well with other and you are not stressing too much over the holidays.
Just a little FYI, my husband's surgery was a huge success and we are so excited. This is truly a present to both of us..
Have a good evening,
Mrs. S.
Posted by Sumrell at 02:46 PM
