Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

This week in Science we will begin our studies of the Physical Sciences. This will include Matter, the Physical States of Matter, and how they can Change, Forces, Motion, Energy, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Sound, and lots more.

Physical Science is a very fun unit, and the students usually really enjoy it.

This week we begin discussing Matter, or "the stuff everything is made of"; the Three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and physical changes that include, evaporation, condensation, melting and freezing. By the end of the week your student should be able to tell you the three states, give you their characteristics and tell you the temperatures and state changes of the four physical changes listed above.

Solids: Have a definite size
Have a definite shape
The particles move very slowly, they vibrate in place.
The particles are very close together
Liquids: Have a definite size
Take the shape of the container they are in
The particles move at a medium speed
The particles are spread a little bit apart
Gases: Have no definite size, take the size of their container
Have no definite shape, take the shape of their container
The particles move very fast
The particles are really far apart

Evaporation is when a liquid changes to a gas. In water this is like liquid water being heated to 100*c or 212*F and turning into water vapor. These temperatures are also referred to as water's boiling point.

Condensation is when a gas changes to a liquid. In water this is when a gas like water vapor cools down and turns back into a liquid, like on the outside of our cups, or in the sky to make clouds.

Melting is when a solid changes to a liquid. In water, this is when an ice cube heats up to above 0*C or 32*F and it will start to melt into liquid water.

Freezing is when a liquid changes to a sold. In water this is when liquid water cools down to 0*C or 32*F and turns into ice.

A really good at home video to watch is found on the BBC website link on the right of the screen. It is under physical processes, this allows you to add and take away heat to view the change occurring.

If you notice on the side of the screen under vocab there is a new link. This is a link to the ten new words that your student is adding to their vocabulary rings each week.

October 22nd, 2009

Hello everyone! :)

This week in Science we continued discussing Adaptations. Specifically adaptations and how they help an organism survive in an ecosystem. The students were given an assignment that is due tomorrow that is called Eco-adaptation. This required them to create a (real or unique) creature that would be able to live in the Rain Forrest Ecosystem.

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we did not learn any new content, due to shortened rotation schedules to allow for time to CogAt test in our classrooms.

However, today, I was off campus at an ESL training. My sub, however did introduce a "new" lesson to the students. Luckily, it's a concept we've discussed in-depth, several ties in class.

Today's lesson was called I Have A Niche.

A Niche is what an organism's specific "job" is in an ecosystem. It can include, what it does, what it eats, and what eats it. For example, an owl's Niche is that it flys at night, lives in trees, hunts and eats vermin. Follow this link to see an explanation.

For today's lesson the students were given a Grassland Ecosystem picture. This Ecosystem included a pond, the air, the soil, and a burrow in the soil. The students were then given 13 organisms that they needed to correctly identify, and then place in it's correct Niche in the Ecosystem.

This activity should be completed in class, if it is not, I will provide time in class on Friday. :)

See you tomorrow!

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Today we begin our discussions of biomes, and the adaptations of organisms that are found there. You can follow the linked work above to go to a Berkely website that has really good information on different biomes. Our Science Saurus defines a biome as a very large area of land with a certain kind of climate and certain kinds of organisms living there. An adatptation is a structure (body party) or behavior (something you do) that allows an organism to survive in it's environment.

Our two classes go to the computer lab on opposite days, however we will be watching this video in the computer lab. Underwater Astonishments.

Students, after you've watched this video, click on the comment button, and answer the following question. Remember, do not leave your name. Put your teacher's name, and your number. For example, Echols #19, or Kuykendall #19

What type of adaptations did you witness during the video? How could these be useful to that organism.