Agents of Erosion

Erosion is the carrying away of broken down rocks. It is important to understand what agents of erosion are more common in specific ecoregions of Texas.

Agents of Erosion: wind, water, ice, gravity

Agents of Weathering

There are 2 main types of weathering: Mechanical and Chemical. Mechanical weathering is the breaking down of rock by a physical process. Chemical weathering is the breaking down of rock by a chemical process. Below are a list of each agent of weathering for both mechanical and chemical.

Mechanical: abrasion, ice wedging, plant roots, and animals burrowing
Chemical: oxidation, hydration, carbonation, lichens

Images of Texas Eco-Regions

Video Clip of Coastline

Texas Eco-Regions

What sets weathering, erosion, and deposition apart in 7th grade is learning how to apply our knowledge to the different ecoregions of Texas. Students will need to have a good understanding of these regions and the agents of weathering and erosion that might be found.

Weathering Summary

Summary: Weathering is the breaking down of rock. There are two types of weathering: mechanical (water, wind, ice) and chemical (oxidation, lichens, acid rain). Erosion is when water, wind, or ice carries away rock fragments/sediment to a different area. The process of weathering is a VERY slow process that occurs over millions of years. Constructive and destructive forces are always at work either breaking down or building up the Earth’s surface.

Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition

Students will spend the next 2 weeks reviewing and discussing weathering, erosion, and deposition. To teach this topic, I always begin with a song:)

Catastrophic Event Vocabulary Homework

Create a vocabulary diagram (Frayer Model) for each word. The words and definitions are below to help you.

catastrophic - causing widespread damage
human impact - the indirect and direct consequences of human actions on the natural environment
natural events - relating to nature
hurricane-A severe storm with torrential rains and winds greater than 74 mph.
tornado- extremely destructive funnel-shaped rotating column of air that passes in a narrow path over land
flooding- a very large amount of water that has overflowed its source
ecosystem- organisms and their environment

Crushing Can Experiment

1. The Collapsing Can Experiment.
*This builds upon the Marshmallow Madness experiment with pressure.
Materials: Aluminum soda can, Ice Water, Measuring Cup, Hot Plate-to heat up soda can, Tongs /oven mitt, Clear (glass) container to hold ice water, with a flat bottom, safety goggles
Procedure:
•Fill a bowl with cold water (adding ice would help).
•Put about 2 tablespoons of water in an empty soda can
•Heat the soda can on a hotplate.
•Place can up-right on stove and heat until steam is seen escaping from the mouth of can.
•Then quickly move the can over the bowl of cold water, and quickly invert it. Lowering it so that the top lip of the soda can (pointing down) just barely gets submerged underwater all the way around.
•Wait a few seconds. The soda can should quickly crumple in on itself. If it doesn’t, try the experiment again, something went wrong. (Usually either the water in the can was not boiling hard enough, or the can was submerged too much or too little.)

In Journals: Students need to try to explain and diagram what they think happened.

Predicting a Tornado

Students will use the link below to research the conditions needed for a tornado to form. Students will be required to make a journal entry of the needed conditions by next class.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/forces/tornadoes.html

Predicting a Hurricane

Students will use the link below to research the conditions needed for a hurricane to form. Students will need to complete the data table of their findings.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/forces/hurricanes.html

Catastrophic Events Note Taking Handout

Hurricane Katrina
Geographic location:

Possible causes:

Impacts on environment:

Haiti Earthquake
Geographic location:

Possible causes:

Impacts on environment:

Super Outbreak
Geographic location:

Possible causes:

Impacts on environment:

Goliad Tornado
Geographic location:

Possible causes:

Impacts on environment:

Students will read the following news articles (Links are located under Science Links) and complete the information above.
As students read they need to focus on the following:
a.Describe the catastrophic event in the article
b.Speculate on the causes of the catastrophic event in the article.
c.Predict the effects of the catastrophic event on the organisms and the environment of the area mentioned in the article.

Catastrophic Events

One of my favorite topics of the year is Catastrophic Events. Although many students know and/or can give examples of catastrophic events, few know why we teach it in 7th grade. No, it is not because we want to learn how to better protect ourselves. Rather, we study this section to learn about how these devasting events help shape the Earth's surface. We will be spending the next 3 class periods studying the environmental impacts and the ways in which disasters change the Earth's surface.

Space Suit Project

Spacesuits serve many functions.
What they wear while on a mission is determined by the job they are doing.

You and your partner are going to design a spacesuit that will protect the astronaut from the dangers of space while allowing them to fix the probe. Then you will prepare a poster to be used when presenting your design to NASA’s engineers.

Marshmallow Madness

1) Draw a face on the side of the marshmallow.
2) Pull the plunger out of the end of the syringe and place the marshmallow inside.
3) Replace the plunger. Push it halfway in.

Prediction time!
What does your team think will happen to the marshmallow as the plunger is pulled out? ____________________________________________________________________________
4) Now place your finger on the end of the syringe. Keep your finger on the end of the syringe to seal the opening!
5) Slowly pull out the plunger.

What happened to the marshmallow? ___________________________________________________________________________
6) With finger still on the end of the syringe, push the plunger in.
What happened to the marshmallow? ___________________________________________________________________________
Why do you think this happened? (*Make sure you back your claim with evidence from your observations!)______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Armstrong's First Steps

Watch the following video over Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. Why do you think it is important for the astronaut's to wear a spacesuit? What features do you think are important to have on a spacesuit?

Habitable Zone

It is very important to remember that one of the key elements of life on earth is in part due to our location from the sun. We live and exist, because we are apart of the "habitable zone." This means, we are not too cold, not to hot, but just right. An example is that we have 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, and gasses.

M51 & Gizmo video

This video is a great introduction into the lesson of space and the essentials for life to exist on a planet.

6 Weeks Test and Progress

Part of Fort Worth ISD's goal for assessing student progress comes in the form of curriculum based assessments or also referred to as CBA's. Since these assessments are now required every 6 weeks, I have planned on using them as my 6 weeks test. After grading all 150 of these tests, I have found a huge gap between my pre-ap classes and my general science classes. As a teacher, I am constantly faced with these challenges and the need to research and practice more effective ways of teaching all learners. As a reflect back on what I have taught this past 6 weeks, I have found that I need to focus my time and energy to work in smaller groups with my general science classes. In order to do this, I will need to pull students during lunches and after school to try and reteach concepts. I will plan on using the CBA's as a tool for questioning and concept building this next cycle.

End of 6 Weeks

Well, Friday was the last day of the first 6 weeks cycle. As happy as I am that the first part is over with, I have learned a lot. It almost feels like being a new teacher all over again. This year we have added a separate Pre-Ap curriculum and it has been intense. In addition to this, I have also been working 6 days a week with cross country. Between my practices and cc meets on Saturdays and my son's soccer four days a week, it has been exhausting and hard to keep up with everything.

My goal for this next cycle is to stay on top of the work load and plan ahead better. I have had lots to reflect on and it will be my personal goal to work harder and more efficient.

Essentials for Life to Exist

Our next topic is relatively new to 7th grade science and it pertains to the essentials for life to exist. At this level, there are four essentials which include: proximity to the sun, atmosphere, liquid water, source of energy (sun).

Below is a kid-friendly link that can be used to learn more about our solar system, astronomy, and space exploration.

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/

First 3 Weeks Reflection

Okay, so the first 3 weeks of school are now behind us. I have realized after a few years now, that I really need to focus more on my time management. It seems almost impossible to get through everything that we need to get through, but if I can eliminate a few things, that will help. No more using the job cards! I am not good at remembering them for every lab we do and they take up about 5-10 minutes every time I use them. Not to mention, I have to repeat what they are use for over and over. So my goal this week is to get through 2 labs without using the job cards, but still maintain control of my classroom.

Work Voki

Simple Machines - Work

Work

This week in class, we will begin our lesson over WORK. This lesson is focused over one science TEK: 7.7A: contrast situations where work is done with different amounts of force to situations where no work is done such as moving a box with a ramp and without a ramp, or standing still. We are doing this lesson at the beginning of the year, because it really does not fit in with any other TEK we teach in 7th grade science. The students have been working on their scientific process skills and now they will be able to use those in this lesson.

Meaning for My Blog

This blog will be designed and used as a source of reference for my professional career as a teacher. My goals will be to use this blog regularly to post topics I will be teaching in class and to provide myself feedback for the lessons of which I have already taught. By using this blog, I feel that I will not only become a more independent and confident blogger, but that I will also be able to archive my thoughts for lessons, best practices, and world wide news pertaining to my area of focus. This blog will be designed and maintained to help me grow in technology and as an educator.