What's an asthenosphere?

Remember to Expand your Vocabulary tonight. You need a picture and a definition for each word and connections or a paragraph for the group of words. This week's word are:
asthenosphere, lithosphere, prime, composite, tectonic (lithospheric) plate.
Check out the Visual Glossary at the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for this week's science words.

Bravo!

Great work this week on pulling together your portfolios for the first time. They look wonderful. I know some of you wanted to practice long division. Here is a some information on long division if you like.

PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO

Tonight you should be putting the finishing touches on you portfolio pieces. I can't wait to see the finished products!

Are we preforming for Friday Morning Meeting this week?

What do you guys think?

Read and Respond

Tonight's homework is to read and respond to a news article relating to science, math or technology. Please find an article that includes a GRAPH for this week. Here are some sites that you can use to find your article.
Science News for Kids
Atlanta Journal Constitution
New york Times- Technology
New York Times- Science
Scientific American- Math News
Scholastic News for Kids
Time for Kids
Remember you should have three paragraphs in response to the article that you choose: Issues, Evidence and You.

Earth's Density

Today, all students graphed the density of the Earth's layers in Excel as a part of their portfolios for unit one. Click for more information on the Interior of the Earth.
Information about Graphing in Excel
For HW tonight, students are creating a Memory Aid for the topic that was hard for them on the quiz or with their new vocabulary. The words for the week are:
scale
interval
outliers
analyze
rubric
survey
Students, be ready to work tomorrow. We have a lot to do by Friday!

Portfolios

This week, we will be working on pulling together work that shows how students have met the standards. By the end of the week, each student should have the following required submissions ready for their portfolios:

• A graph comparing the temperature of the Earth at various depths from the crust to the inner core.
• A graph displaying the density of the layers of the Earth. (We will complete this in class this week.)
• Construct a graph comparing/contrasting the thickness of each of the layers of the Earth.
• Two survey questions for a chosen population, appropriate sample size, and appropriately constructed graphs for those questions.
• Examination of variation for at least two of the above graphs.
• Mean, median and mode of at least two of the above graphs.


Brain Pop - GRAPHS
User name: ACMS Password: science

Frequency Table Practice

Data Picking GAME

Show What You Know

Next week, you will be working on portfolio entries to show what you know about the standards that we have been working on so far. Over the weekend, think about how you are going to show your knowledge and level of mastery of the following standards. We look forward to hearing about your ideas!

S6E5: Investigate the scientific view of how the Earth’s surface is formed.
a. Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantle and core including temperature, density and composition.

M6D1: Students will pose questions, collect data, represent and analyze data.
b. Using data, construct frequency distributions, frequency tables and graphs.
c. Choose appropriate graphs to be consistent with the nature of the data (categorical or numerical). Graphs should include pictographs, histograms, bar graphs, line graphs and line plots.
d. Use tables and graphs to examine variation that occurs within a group and variation that occurs between groups.
e. Relate the data analysis to the context of the questions posed

Quiz Tomorrow

On Friday (tomorrow!), we will have our first quiz which will assess the skills and knowledge we have been working on for the first two weeks of school.  The quiz will require you to know the difference between categorical and numerical data, understand the layers of the Earth and how they compare to each other in terms of temperature and thickness, and recognize and be able to interpret graphs (line graph, stem and leaf plot, line plot, bar graph, pictograph and histogram).

Mean, Median and Mode Practice

Vocabulary Word Crossword Graphing

Review of the Structure of the Earth

How does the temperature of the Earth vary with depth?

Today we grappled with graphing the Earth's internal temperature versus depth.  All the students completed their graphs and analysis.  There were definitely some points of frustration along the way.  Next week, we will explore using Excel to make tasks such as these easier!  

Developing a Common Language

Today we completed our pre-assessments and reviewed the vocabulary for the week.  The students worked in groups to act out or draw pictures to represent the words we learned.  The skits and images were extremely creative.  We have a very talented class.

We are working towards having a common language in the classroom, so that we all know that when we use the word categorical we are referring to questions whose answers can be sorted into groups.  We are not using the term to mean clear and evident as in the sentence, "I have categorical evidence that she murdered my sister."  

One student gave us a hint today on how to know if a question will result in categorical or numerical data.  He stated that categorical questions usually have stems such as "How," "Who" or "What", while numerical questions usually have stems such as,  "How many," How much," or "When"?  

Post an example of a question that would give a numerical answer and one that would give categorical data.  

For homework tonight, students will create something to AID THEIR MEMORY.  They have the requirements for this assignment in their EARTH Journal.  Whatever they create should help them to remember what we are learning in MST (graphing, structure of the Earth, types of data, mean, median and mode).  

Linear Function Applet 

Test Your Knowledge of Graphs

Try the Mean Machine- I Mean It!

Welcome to Week 2

I enjoyed reading the EARTH Journals and learned a lot about our student population.  A small number of the students asked questions about stem and leaf plots.  I think that this is a representative sample of the class and that other students probably have the same question, so here is some more information on stem and leaf plots:

Stem and Leaf Plot Explanation and Practice
Interactive Stem and Leaf Plotter

Remember tonight's homework is to Expand Vocabulary for the following words: numerical, categorical, population, frequency, sample, mean.
We look forward to seeing your pictures and hearing your definitions and connections tomorrow.
A student asked this question today.  Click to find out about the temperature on the sun.  
How does the temperature of the sun compare to the temperature of the Earth?

How Am I?

As we finished our first week of school, we took some time to reflect on our progress so far. In only one week, we have journeyed into the Earth, analyzed and discussed six types of graphs, and gotten to know each other a little better. Next week, we will continue to explore these topics and delve into more detail. The students will also be creating their own graphs. The EARTH Journal will continue next week with new words and new things to remember. Mr. Torsch and I enjoyed our first week with you all, and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Teacher Topic

Chocolate was on our minds again today as we graphed individual and class totals of each color of M&M.  We also discussed mean, median, and mode.  Try the activity below to review.  Tonight's homework is a T day, TEACHER TOPIC.  Tonight, the Teacher Topic is as follows: Compare and contrast the Earth and  a Peanut M&M.  How is each layer alike and different?  Write your response to the Teacher Topic in your journal. For more information on the Structure of the Earth. Click Here

Read and Respond

I am so excited about the A day assignments from last night!  We were lucky enough to be serenaded by Zoe, and we got the pleasure of hearing poetry and reading cartoons about the parts of the Earth and graphs.  I can't wait to see what next week brings.  

Busy is the theme for the week!  Today we read about the layers of the Earth and charted the characteristics of a peanut M&M and the Earth.  Tomorrow, we will be comparing them to each other and looking for trends and patterns in the characteristics of the layers of the Earth.  Tonight for HW, each student should be writing three paragraphs about the article that they read in class.  They were given requirements for their paragraphs in class.  

We also learned what a cross-section is today, so don't be surprised if all your fruit ends up cut in half :)

Aid Memory: Organizing and Remembering

Today we worked to answer the essential question: How does the way we organize data influence how we understand and remember it?  For HW tonight, A day, the students will create a tool to organize information that AIDS their memory (concept map, pneumonic, song, etc.).  We looked at several examples in class today.  We also explored the difference between a line graph and a line plot.  

More information on concept maps. 

http://www2.etown.edu/bap/Resources/conceptmap.pdf

More on mnemonics. 

http://www.betterendings.org/Homeschool/Fun/mnemonic.htm

Line Plots:

http://www.highpointsmath.com/SiteMap/LinePlot.html

Line Graphs:

http://www.highpointsmath.com/sitemap/LineGraph.html

We had a busy, busy first day of class.  The students learned how to do their E day homework in their EARTH Journal.  They will do the E day assignment for the following words: core, mantle, crust, density and composition.  Each student was given a red folder in which to keep their papers and two composition books (EARTH Journal and LABS).  The LABS composition book will live at the school.  Each student also received a syllabus to read over and have signed by their parents.  Mr. Torsch and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone.  See you tomorrow. 

Welcome

Welcome to Math, Science, and Technology class.  Mr. Torsch and I are looking forward to spending this year exploring with you.  Since we focused on vocabulary today, please post one of your favorite vocabulary words.   Also, make sure that you vote in the survey on the right of the page.