Wow, the students have been busy lately!! We have learned all about the life cycle of stars, learned the constellations that are in the night sky during the winter and figured out how we find them. We have learned about the different phases of the moon, why the moon looks different as it goes through these phases, and what each moon phase is called. We have learned about lunar and solar eclipses, and the student even acted these out for us in class. We are finishing up understanding why we have seasons today and the students will test over this material tomorrow. I continue to be impressed with the great questions I am hearing in class. After our test, we will begin learning about the history of space exploration.
0 Comments
There is an awesome website out there for you to learn even more about what's happening in space. This website is full of wonderful articles, pictures, 3D simulation, and more. Check it out!
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/ The students have a test this Thursday, Septermber 29th. The test will cover food chains, food webs, symbiotic relationships, and predator-prey relationships. The students finished a study guide in class today and also have several pages of notes and drawings in their science notebooks that they can use to help prepare for the exam on Thursday.
The students have been busy these first few weeks of school learning about how all living things are connected in our environment. They recently took a test demonstrating their knowledge of this concept by building a food chain. They did an awesome job! This week they are learning about predator-prey relationships, and playing a few outdoor games to help them understand the concepts of carrying capacity and limiting factor. Be sure to ask your students what they are learning in science, it helps their understanding of the concepts if they re-tell what they have learned.
Reminder: We have a field trip on Friday, Sept 16. We will be down on the riverfront attending special presentations hosted by STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math.) Please have students dress appropriately with comfortable tennis shoes and a jacket or a hoodie. We had a great first week of classes at West Middle School! We are beginning our first science unit focusing on the interaction between living things. This week, students learned how all living things are connected and rely upon each other for survival. It was a great reminder of how we as a learning community also rely upon each other for survival at Middle School. Each person has a unique role to play in school, just like every organism has a unique role to play in it's environment. We are ALL important parts of our environment, and we all must work together for the whole team to be successful. The students also learned some great new "big and fancy" science words, don't forget to ask them to describe what they are learning in science using their new vocabulary! I can't wait for week 2!
The Fujita scale is a scale of the damage and destruction of tornadoes. Tornadoes are very catastrophic event that can make structured houses and large trees be swept away. Tornadoes are measured by an E-F rating, 0 being the lowest rating and a 5 being the highest rating. The tornadoes are measured by the damage the tornado causes. The tornado is only given an E-F rating after the tornado has finished, so the damage can be calculated. A tornado is very catastrophic event, and can happen quickly with very little warning.
--Sydney Helt, 2nd period science class On Monday we had a test all about air masses and reading weather maps. Personally, I had some trouble on the first few questions on the test. The Jet Stream is why all weather moves form West to East. An air mass takes the characteristics of the surface that it is above. If we have air coming from Canada, we have cool dry air. If we have air coming from The Gulf Of Mexico, we get warm moist air. The moist air comes form the water and the dry air comes from the land. I hope that this helped if you were stuck!
--Ella Jolin, 3rd period blogger Check out this interactive website on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale and how it is used to describe an earthquake's intensity.
This week we are beginning to study the layers of the Earth. The students have been busy creating graphic organizers that will help them remember all of the layers of the Earth and what each layer is composed of. After our study of the layers of the Earth, we will begin studying plate tectonics. Our study will include Pangea, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains.
|
AuthorMrs. Coughlin Archives
September 2016
Categories |