Summer isn’t over yet, but it will be in another 7 hours or so.  Today, September 22 is the day known as the Autumnal Equinox, the end of summer and the beginning of fall.  Does that mean the maples will go gold and red tomorrow?  No, but the time is coming close.

The times of year we refer to as seasons (at least in the northern temperate parts of the Earth) are determined by the relative position of the Sun and Earth.  As the Earth travels the 365 1/4 day trip around the Sun it sits tilted at an angle.  As a result sometimes the Northern half of the globe is more directly facing the Sun (Northern summer) and sometimes the southern half of the globe is more directly facing the sun (Southern summer and our winter).  At the Autumnal (fall) and Vernal (spring) equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator and evenly on the northern and southern halves of the planet.

So tomorrow, the southern hemisphere will begin to receive more sunlight than the northern half.  Later this year we will begin to take a very close look at how this change of seasons, or change of sun affects our climate here on Earth.

Happy Fall!

Another beautiful weeked!  I hope that you all had an opportunity to be outside to enjoy it.

This week we will shift our focus slightly as we work on understanding what happens when matter changes from one state to another; for example from a solid to a liquid or liquid to a gas.  There will be a little new vocabulary involved and some hypothesis testing.  You can expect short vocab quizzes on Wedneday and Thursday and a small project due on Friday.  Assignments and due dates are available at edline.net in your combined calender or at your science class page.

Terms for the week are: Boiling; Melting; Condensing; Freezing; Energy; Heat; Temperature.

See you this week!

Here is the vocab for the

After disappearing from New Hampshire ten years ago, the official state butterfly is making a comeback

In a news positng I came across today, state of NH fish and game biologists are announcing that the Karner Blue, the official New Hampshire Butterfly are re-establishing populations here in the Granite State.

This year marks the fifth straight year that biologists have observed and documented Karner blue butterflies surviving on their own in the wild of the Concord Pine Barrens. Biologists observed Karner blue butterfly eggs and caterpillars and marked approximately 250 adult butterflies hatched in the wild.

For anyone concerned about diminishing biodiversity, this story shows how continued efforts can pay off. these biologists used captive breeding and re-introduction of butterflies to bring the population up in size.  But simply putting animals such as these insects back into the wild would not be effective without habitat restoration efforts as well.  Karner Blue butterflies make their homes in a type of habitat called a Pine Barren.  Within our local area we have pine barrens in Madison and Ossipee, although the Karner Blues make their home near Concord.

There are many other butterfly habitats as well, including the fields behind the school.  Among the plant species common past the soccer fields are milkweeds a common food of the Monarch Butterfly.  While there were no Monarch sightings yesterday, my walking group spotted many small yellow and blue butterflies out in the fields.

Learn more about the Karner Blue butterfly

Image Credit: http://www.maine.gov/IFW/wildlife/species/endangered_species/karner_blue/index.htm

Here is the data we have gathered so far.  While there has been some variation the following represents the median result for all classes combined.

We have concluded that Balloons float when they are the same temperature or warmer than the water they are in.

Now the question is: Why? Why do balloons tend to float when warmer?

Greetings and welcome to another week in science.  This week we will continue our look at the Balloons and Water anomaly and finish the week off with a fantastic field trip.

Be sure to check edline for the specific assignments.

Greetings and welcome to Team 4 Science.  I am looking forward to this year!  Over the summer the science teachers all got together and planned out some exciting things for you all to be involved in.  So there is much to look forward to!

If you haven’t been to this site before, please look around.  At least two years of assigments are posted here so you can get a real feel for what it is that we do.  What’s more is that you can comment here as well, and I invite you to do just that.  As the year progresses you will see how we use this, and other class sites.

So, on this first day, let me wish you success and a great school year.  See you in Science!

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.