Greetings and welcome back.  I hope you had a wonderful vacation.

This weeks project is 100% online.  While I am not assigning specific homework to the class on any given day, you will need to be very aware of your progress and may wish to do some work outside of class this week.

Consider the following as hypotheses.

• The Earth can be divided into layers.
• The outermost layer is broken in different places.
• Because the outermost layer is broken, the pieces move.

These hypotheses describe the most basic components of a theory known as the Theory of Plate Tectonics.  Your job is to find geological evidence to support the idea that the Earth’s crust is made of pieces that move.

Your product will be a PowerPoint (Google presentation) that presents the evidence to concerned citizens/ scientists.

Steps for completing this project.

1. Read, read, read…  There are many links below.  Just begin reading.  Some items will overlap with others; some will give you specific evidence.  They will all increase your knowledge of the topic area, leading you to greater learning and a better product.
2. Begin to organize your ideas.  After you have read more than half of the resources below begin organizing.  You may want to use a graphic organizing tool like bubbl.us or perhaps outline using a word processor.
3. Create a presentation.  Please create the presentation using Google Presentations.
4. See the rubric - Last updated April 27, 2009

Here are the resources you are to use:

Riding to Earth’s Core

Distant Quake Changes Geyser Eruptions

A Volcano Wakes Up

Wave of Destruction

Digging into a Tsunami Disaster

A Great Quake Coming?

Earth Rocks On

Earth from the inside out

The Dynamic Earth – This is multimedia, follow links that make sense.

A Geographic Jigsaw Puzzle

The Origin of Continents and Oceans

Vindication of a Visionary

Earthquake Zones

Mid-Ocean Ridge

Magnetic Striping

Ring of Fire

Understanding Plate Motions

Added April 28, 2009
Animations
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html

http://www.scotese.com/newpage13.htm

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0804/es0804page01.cfm?chapter_no=08

http://www.odsn.de/odsn/services/paleomap/animation.html

Greetings and welcome back.

Monday-Begin climate controls activity

Tuesday- Climate controls activity

Wednesday- Climate Controls activity

Thursday- Climate Change

Friday- Climate Change

Climate Controls Activity is due on Friday at the latest.

See you this week in science.

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/ess1.html

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/ocean/circulation.htm

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/polar/icemelt_oceancirc.html

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/ocean/seabreezes.htm

We have had four snow days so far this year.  This is what I saw when I got up this morning.

Radar image of our latest Nor easter

What will happen?  I will know in about twenty minutes.  In the meantime, the week awaits.

Tuesday-Review lab sheets from last week

Wednesday- Science Fair or Alternate assignment

Thursday- Science Fair or Alternate assignment

Friday- Climate Unit

See you this week in science.

Just when you thought vacation was going to end, you got another day!  But despite the new addition of another 18 inches of snow, spring is not far off and if you look closely you will see it.

In the meantime, we have some learning to do.  There was some unfinished business from before break, namely wrapping up the three cities study and our science fair experiments.

For the week

Any unfinished Three Cities work is homework this week.  Grades will be submitted by Friday.

All science fair experiments should be completed by the March 9.  We will work on the remaining parts of the projects after that date.

Tuesday- Temperature variation, science fair, google reader

Wednesday- Lab activity

Thursday- Lab activity is due

Friday- tba- All Three Cities work should be complete and assessed by the end of class.

See you this week in science!

This is the week before vacation.  Did you really need me to remind you?

For your planning:

I will need one day this week.  That day will be Tuesday.

Vocabulary quiz on Thursday- 5 words.  Nothing new here, just be ready.

You should budget two days for the Temperature Variation activity.  This is from the climate wiki.

You may use the other two days for science fair.  For your convenience I am including the list of things you might do on science fair days.  This is the same list as last week since the week didn’t go as planned.

1. Nearly all pages I have seen need editing for spelling, grammar, puctuation, capitalization, etc…
2. Connect with your network- the five projects you are following.
3. Volunteer as a test subject on a project
4. Work on background research.  Don’t forget your MLA citations.

See you this week in Science!

Wow!  February already?  Vacation is just around the corner, progress reports go out this week, Valentine’s Day… Before you know it we will be in DC.  In the meantime we have some more learning to do.  Here are the weeks assignments:

This week you will need to make some choices about how you work and when you work on different assignments.  I will give you some simple guidelines to help you decide.  The only day we will all be working on the same thing will be Wednesday.  I would like for you all to do a lab that day that will help us to understand why Sun Altitude is so important to our climate.

Here are your choices:
Part of the Climate Unit
Please read and complete the hours of daylight assignment found on the a1-climate wiki.  You may budget your time this week as you wish.  Plan on two full days to complete this assignment.  I will be checking work on Friday.

Science Fair

Plan on working on your science fair project this week during class.  If you are not working on the actual experiment there are a variety of things you can be working on.

1. Nearly all pages I have seen need editing for spelling, grammar, puctuation, capitalization, etc…
2. Connect with your network- the five projects you are following.
3. Volunteer as a test subject on a project
4. Work on background research.  Don’t forget your MLA citations.

For Wednesday
Spreading out the Light
Why does the angle of light on our model globes affect the amount of temperature change observed?  This lab will test the hypothesis that light is spread over a larger area when the light angle is low.
Questions are due Thursday.
Assignment Due Dates:
Thursday, Feb 5 - all lab questions from the sun angle lab on Wednesday are due Thursday.

Friday, Feb 6 - all parts of Hours of Daylight

If you live around here you had better like snow.  I was walking in my backyard this weekend.  It was tough going as I was sinking up to my waist most of the time.  The snow depth in my back yard is 34 inches at the measuring post.  While that is not unusual for winter, most of the snow depth is still loose snow.  With all the very cold temperatures we have had the snow has stayed soft and light.

If you love snow check out the snow project by sean_bnb.  And of course one of the best parts of snow is going down hills.  These guys have a project to help you go faster.

Greetings and welcome back.  We have two different projects going on this week.  We will move into the portion of our climate unit that we started last week and begin conducting our science fair investigations.  You will need to make every effort to stay organized as you move into the next few weeks.  Part of your journey to becoming independent learners involves developing clear organization habits.  Whether you rely on your agenda book, edline, Google calender or some combination be sure to write down due dates.  Then you should make a checklist of tasks that need to be completed.  While I can provided you with a detailed list for the climate unit, only you can do this for your science fair project.  If you are having trouble with this please see me I can guide you.

Important - Progress report grades close Friday.

This week is your last chance to revise your question, hypothesis, variables and experimental design section.  Many of you will want to do this.  The revisions are homework.  I am available after school, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday all until 3:00.  Plan.

Monday- Google Reader, Edline, Climate Unit

Homework- Gather needed materials for science fair project; revise questions, hypothesis, variables, experimental design; Study vocabulary

Tuesday- Climate Unit

Homework- Gather needed materials for science fair project; revise questions, hypothesis, variables, experimental design; Study vocabulary

Wednesday- Climate Unit

Vocabulary Quiz- words are here

Due- Locations and Sun Angle- all parts

Thursday- Science Fair

Begin projects

Friday- Science Fair

See you this week in Science!