P-I-Z-Z-A!

Q: How is the pizza related to the earth and it's layers?

A: Pizza Crust: Earth's Mantle

    Sauce: lava

    Cheese: oceanic crust

    Toppings: land

WATER

US Populations, mid 1800

Of the cities that are listed, I am not familiar with Spring Garden, PA. I have heard of the rest of them. What i believe that these cities all have in common is that they are all located by some sort of water, whether it is a river, lake or ocean. All transportation was done by water.

Q: If you had $100 dollars, how would you distribute that money for the water on Earth?
A: I would guess:
     -Glaciers: $10
     -Oceans: $75
     -Rivers/Streams: $3
     What it really costs:
     -Oceans: $97.20
     -Glaciers: $2.15
     -Ground Water: $0.62
     -Fresh Water Lakes: $0.09

A Mineral is......

There are five things make up a mineral:
     1) has to be naturally occuring
     2) inorganic
     3) crystalline structure
     4) orderly internal structure
     5) definite chemical composition

The graph to the right is the eight most common elements on earth.

Bonds/Crystals

Q: What do elements form when they bond together?
A: COMPOUNDS! and more specific, crystals.
     There are two types of bonding: covalent and ionic.
     Covalent bonding occurs when electrons are shared between elements and ionic bonding occurs 
     when electrons are borrowed between elements.


Magic Salt Crystal Garden

Fossils

Q: What do you know about fossils?
A: I know that fossils help determine time. Some types of fossils are amber [crystallized tree sap], petrified wood, trace fossils, carbonized leaf fossils, molds and casts,and trilobites [fossilized poo]. These are the basics.

Below is fossilized bugs in amber:

Do you know the Geological Timeline?

Q: How are you coming along with the Geological Timeline?

A: Wellll..... So far I know:
              -Precambrian
              -Cambrian
              -Ordovician
And that's all I know.

What I plan on doing for memorizing the timeline is knowing a mnemonic device. "Please come over some day, maybe play poker. Two jacks cover two queens"
   -Precambrian  [Oldest]
   -Cambrian
   -Ordovician
   -Silurian
   -Devonian
   -Missippian
   -Pennsylvanian
   -Permian
   -Triassic
   -Jurassic
   -Cretocious
   -Tertiary
   -Quaternary   [Youngest]

Two days ago in class we made our own molds of fossils using sand, plaster and a shell. Today we get to dig out our shells.
Our mixtures included one with 25% plaster and 75% sand, another with 50% plaster and 50% sand and the third with 75% plaster and 25% sand. The easiest one to break the shell out of was the cup with 25% plaster and 75% sand but it was difficult to see the shell. The most difficult one to get the shell out of was the one with 75% plaster and 25% sand. The 50%/50% cup was the best sup even though it was difficult to get out [not as difficult as 75% plaster], it was clear the it was a shell.
Some strategies include putting the chuck of sand and plaster in a plastic bag and smashing it on the ground versus using scissors.

What Do You Think Geological Time Is?

When I think of time, I right away think about a clock on the wall and the minutes and seconds that pass by. But geological time is much much more than that. Yes, like a clock, geological time passes by, but what makes this different is that geological time starts from when Earth began. as soon as the Big Bang (the Big Bang is a theory) happened, the clock began and started counting the seconds, minutes, days and years that pass by. It is estimated that 4.5 BILLION years have past and that's just a guess based on the evidence that we have found. It could be even great but we are still unsure. The geological time was organized into a timeline and it explains the different eras very well.

Geologic Timeline [Videos]

Below are links to videos about the geological timeline. 
Ages of Rock
Geologic Timeline Music Video
Humans and Geologic Times
Geologic Time Scale by Jason Dee

After watching the videos, I think that the "Geological Timeline Music Video" would be a great one to show in class. The song is creative in the fact that it goes to the rhythm of the popular song "We Didn't Start the Fire" (which I do say is a great song). Because the rhythm is well know, learning the timeline is made easier.

If I Had $100

Q: How much money is spread out in the solar system?
A: If the solar system was to be put into money, I would distribute it like this:
 
     Sun: $50
     Planets: $25 total
     Moons: $10 total
     Satellites: $4 total
     Minor elements (stars, comets, asteroids, etc...): $11 total

Actual:
     Sun: $99.85
     Jupiter + moons: 10.6 cents
     Saturn: 3.2 cents
     Neptune: .006 cents
     Uranus: .005 cents
     Earth: .0003 cents
     Mercury: .00002 cents
     Venus: .0003 cents
     Mars: .00004 cents
     Minor Elements (TNOs, Asteroids, Comets, etc...): almost nothing

Well, as you can see I was way off!

Here is a link that shows you the scale of the solar system and let's you know why it's called space for a reason:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/
     
     
    

A Private Universe [video]

a) What I think the answer is

b) What the answer really is

1. What are the reasons for the seasons?

     a) I think that the reason we have season include that the Earth is at a tilt and rotates around and axis. When the Earth is at a tilt away from the sun, the upper hemisphere will feel winter while the lower hemisphere will feel summer as the lower hemisphere is closer to the sun. When the Earth is tilted towards the sun, the upper hemisphere will feel summer while the lower will feel winter.

   b) See above. When it is summer, that hemisphere is experiencing direct rays while those experiencing winter are getting indirect rays.

2. Why are there different phases of the moon?

     a) I honestly do not know why there are different phases of the moon. I do know that the moon revolves around the earth.

    b) When the moon is rotating around Earth, the sun hits the moon in different phases. The alignment of the moon and sun effects how the light from the sun hits the moon. From the Earth's point of view, we are seeing where the light is hitting on the moon.

1.14.13 M&M Exercise

I have to admit that I thought looking at just a picture of the Earth was a boring way to look at the different layers. Once the M&Ms were passed out and we were asked to bite it in half, I thought it was a more creative way to represent the Earth's core. This technique is a good way o teach elementary students the basics of the core.