01/09 M&Ms

Surprise

           On Friday, we did an experiment asking if when two m&ms are put together will the colors blend. My hypothesis was that they will blend together and form a new color because when you put together watercolor paint together the color does blend and also because they are made from the same ingredients and food coloring. I was very surprised when we conducted the experiment because instead of blending together like I thought it would the colors just stopped moving and started moving in a different direction. Everytime the colors touched it just made a barrier between the colors. The colors are like oil and water, they never can blend and always stay separate.

Summary

          This week in class we started out chemistry unit. We worked on doing M&M experiments. Each day we had to perform a experiment and write down data. All the experiments were about the dissolvement of the colors on the M&Ms. I reviewed the scientific method and learned about how to conduct a successful experiment and write a good hypothesis.

Backward-Looking

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

          Before we started the chemistry unit I didn't know much about performing experiments except for my knowledge on the scientific method. We learned about the scientific method in the beginning of the year but after that some of the information was forgotten. Thats why we had to review the scientific method. Now I know that in a science experiment you can only have ONE variable. A variable is  a thing that you change in an experiment. With more than one variable your experiment will be unfair. I also learned that when you place to different colored M&Ms in water the colors will not blend together.

Inward-Looking

What did/do you find frustrating about the work done this week?

This week I found only one thing frustrating. When we performed the M&M experiments it was hard to drop the M&M where you want it to go. On the experiments that used only one M&M it was hard to get to the exact middle. When we used two or more M%M we tried to make the experiment fair by making them the same distance from the second line in the racing M&Ms. Everytime we drop them into the water they slide in a different direction. That's why in racing M&Ms the green won because it was closer to the second line than all the others.

Outward-Looking

Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? How was it similar or different from others?

             Yes in most experiments. For most of the experiments all the tables followed the same instructions and did the experiment the same way. The only thing we did different was that we used different colored M&Ms. In one of the experiments though we all wrote our own instructions. All the groups probably had the same idea but did the experiment a little differently.

Forward-Looking

What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next week?

        Next week my goal is to do my blog on Wednesday, turn in all my data, and make sure to bring my science notebook everyday. Instead of doing my blogs on Friday I will do them on Wednesday. Also, I will continue to turn in my data every day. I will ring my science notebook to take notes or refer back to my notes for help.

Severe Weather Project Reflection

12/12/14 Tsunamis

Summary

This week our class worked on our weather projects. My group is doing a weather broadcast. So far over the week I have been researching about tsunamis. I learned many things such as what a tsunami is, the geographical occurrence of tsunamis, and what are the ingredients of making a tsunami. A tsunami is a series of very large waves that are formed by underwater earthquakes. Another thing I learned was that four out every five tsunamis was caused by and in the ring of fire. The ring of fire is an dangerous area where many earthquakes are caused.

Backwards-looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

Before I started researching about tsunamis I thought they were only very big waves. I knew that tsunamis were very dangerous and large. I already knew what a tsunami was and how it is caused by earthquakes but I didn't really know specifically what caused them or what you should do when a tsunami happens. A cool fact that I learned was that things can catch on fire from a tsunami and that debris floating on top of a wave can catch and stay on fire. I also learned that most tsunamis are caused by the ring of fire.

Inwards-looking Reflection

What were your goals for this week? Did your goals change as you worked? Did you meet your goals?

This week we had to write a daily goal, if we accomplished our goal, what our next steps will be, and any questions we had. So far I have always met my goals. Today we learned about writing SMART goals. S stands for specific, M stands for measurable, A stands for attainable, R stands for realistic, and T stands for timeframed. My goals did not change over the week and I think I wrote very SMART goals.

Quiz Makeup for 5th Weather EdHEADS 12/08/14 Quiz

Here are my answers to the questions I got wrong on the quiz.

How do weather patterns generally move across the United States?
Open the image before answering.

A) West to East

B) East to West

C)North to South

D)South to North

The correct answer for this question is west to east. The reason why is because we receive most of our wind from Alaska. Alaska is on the north west of us and its weather pattern blows east. This is why the weather pattern in the US moves west to east. The answer that I chose on the quiz was east to west. This answer is wrong because the wind pattern in the United States does not go east to west. The reason why is because since we receive most of our wind from Alaska and Alaska is to the west of us our wind pattern is from west to east. If Alaska wa on the east of us east to west would be correct. Since Alaska is on the north west side of the US the weather patterns moving across the US is not east to west. Next time i will be more careful and refer more to my notes to help me answer questions.

To predict the weather, you do NOT need to know which of the following:

A)Front Speed and Direction
B)the Distance of a Front or Weather System from the place you are Forecasting for
C)the Current Weather Conditions
D)the Current Phase of the Moon

The correct answer is D. The reason why is because d is the only thing not needed to predict the weather. You need to have A) front speed and direction because with that information you could more easily keep track of where a storm is going. Also, it is one of the things you need to tell people when you are broadcasting weather. I chose B for my answer. You would need B) the distance of a front or weather system from the place you are forecasting for because with that distance you can tell how far the storm (or any form of weather) is from you and where the weather you are predicting is. Another reason why is because even if you are correctly predicting the weather there you wouldn't even know where you are predicting the weather for. That is why my answer was wrong. The reason why you need to know C) the current weather conditions is because that is the most important thing. You definitely could NOT predict or broadcast the weather without knowing what the weather conditions are. Knowing the weather conditions is the most important thing because without knowing them you would have no idea at all what the weather was like. The correct answer is D) the current phase of the moon. The reason why B is correct is because the phases of the moon has nothing to do with weather like the sun does. Weather does not depend on the moon and the moon does not affect it. The sun on the other hand has a lot to do with weather. Next time when answering a question like this I will read the question and answers a lot more carefully and think about my answer before I answer.

Which of the following systems would most likely have the greatest amount of moisture associated with it?

A

B

C

D

The correct answer is A. The reason why the answer is not B is because up where B blows the air that is where mountains are located. The mountains bolack all the moisture from blowing in. In A however the moisture can blow in freely in and all the moisture is collected. In A there is nothing to hold back the moisture unlike the mountains in B. The reason why my answer C and the option D are not correct is because the H represents heat. The heat sucks up all the moisture so that way there is less moisture. Next time, when I see a question like this I will think carefully about the pictures and observe what is happening and in the pictures.

12/5/2014 Weather

Summary

This week we studied about the water cycle and weather. We finished our water cycle comic strips in the beginning of the week then learned about weather the rest of the week. In class we did a water cycle model that represented the water cycle. We took notes about weather and learned about different things that have to do with weather such as wind speed, temperature, and wind direction.

Backwards-looking Reflection

Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?

In third grade, I also learned about the water cycle. We also did a demonstration of the water cycle similar to how we did it in class. In art we made posters that show the water cycle. They were cartoon diagrams ssimilarto the comic strips we made in class this week. This year during each topic we learn about we uusuallylook at a powerpoint to learn and take notes off of. This year we have done that multiple times.

Inwards-looking Reflection

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week I was really proud of my water cycle comic. It was about Percy the Demidrop and his journey through the water cycle. I named it Percy the Demidrop and his Slippery Adventure! I spent a lot of time working on the colouring making sure it was good quality and looked very nice. I used a lot of important science words such as writing precipitation instead of rain, accumulation, evaporation, and condensation.

11/14 "Deforestation"

Summary

This week I wrote a letter to Mr. Cuttatree telling him why he should not build the Uppitty Resort. My three main reasons to convince him with were because the food web will be affected in a negative way, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought will happen. First we brainstormed ideas about what would convince him, then we picked the top three, next we made a topic sentence and graphed out where everything would go as well as adding in facts and examples to guide us while we write our letters. 

Backwards-looking reflection

Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?

Earlier in the year we worked on our letter to the school board trying to convince them that science was important and a big part of our education. This letter was similar to the letter to Mr. Cuttatree because in both we were trying to convince someone to do or to not do something. In both letters we wrote down our reasons and facts on a organizer which I think really helped both times. I think the second time writing the letter (which I am working on and not finished with) it was easier and I typed in a lot of information. 

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week  really enjoyed writing my letter. I think that so far I did a good job and put in a lot of interesting facts. I especially liked my comparison between a kitchen and the rain forest's food web. 

I wrote "An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen!" I really liked this part of my blog. Another thing I did that I liked was adding in facts like how about 150-200 species become extinct everyday and how every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down.

Letter to Mr. Cuttatree

Dear Mr. Cuttatree,

        Today I am writing to you because I have heard that you are going to build the Uppitty Resort. I think that you should not build it. You should not build the Uppitty Resort because to do so you have to cut down a large amount of trees which will cause the rainforest's the food web to be affected in a very negative way while loss of biodiversity will happen, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought may happen. There are many more reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort but those are three important reasons why. Here is more information about my three reasons why you should not build the Uppitty Resort.

        My first reason why you should not build the Uppitty Resort is because the food web in the rainforest will be negatively affected and loss of biodiversity will occur. This will happen because is one animal in the food web disappears (which at least one probably will if you build the Uppitty Resort ) then the whole food web will be affected since every single organism in a food web will be affected. For example, if the keel-billed toucan (a type of animal that lives in the rainforest) went extinct, what do think would happen to everything else? Well, lets see. The harpy eagle, one of the keel-billed toucans main predators will become endangered which will eventually lead to it homecoming extinct because it's main food course is now gone. Then the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, then the thing that eat the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, and so on. Also since the keel-billed toucan eats mainly fruits (when I say mainly I mean it eats A LOT), if it becomes extinct then the fruits will overgrow since the keel-billed toucan eats so much of it. Even if other animals eat fruit they usually don't eat as much as the keel-billed toucan. The other animals that eat fruit will over populate and the things that eat those animals won't be able to keep the balance between each organism and eat the fruit eating animals fast enough. An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen! If you want to build the Uppitty resort you have to understand that if you build it, chances are that at least one animal will become endangered or maybe even extinct that the whole food web ( which is basically every single animal in the rainforest ) will be affected in a negative way. Also not only organisms in the rainforests will be affected we will to. By cutting down trees and plants, some plants that are used for important medicines or can be used for potential medicines will become extinct. Imagine how lives could be saved if we started preserving forests. Everyday we are missing out in incredible medicines because so many trees are being cut down. From about 150-200 species or both animals and plants become extinct everyday! Do you really want to do this to the rainforest?

       Oxygen! Without trees how do we breathe? Trees are awesome, they supply us with oxygen so we can live and breathe. Everyday second us humans cut down two U.S football fields of trees. Imagine how many are cut down in a year!! If there are no trees to produce oxygen then us humans would cease to exist. Plants produce oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Photo means light, while synthesis means makes from. For plants to eat and live they do photosynthesis which is their process of making food. They need sun energy, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. During photosynthesis the plant absorbs sun energy and oxygen and the roots absorb nutrients and water in the soil. During photosynthesis they release oxygen and produce glucose which is sugar. Chloroplast an organelle is what makes photosynthesis happen. It is why the plant is green and can only be found in plant cells. It is a round green oval filled with chlorophyll inside. It has stacks of thylakoids which are called grana. That is why us humans can't produce our own food like plants. Humans and plants are the perfect pair because in order for humans to breathe we need oxygen which plants release during photosynthesis while plants need carbon dioxide to do photosynthesis which we release. By cutting down trees to build the Uppity Resort you are breaking the friendship between plants and us. Us humans would have a very hard time breathing if this rate of deforestation continues. As you can see, you really should not build the Uppity Resort. 

      Deforestation equals less trees, less trees equal global warming, global warming equals drought, and drought equals chaos everywhere. Really, i'm not joking. Drought really does mean chaos everywhere. For example, if there is drought than trees will not get enough water and die and all the same effects from deforestation will again occur. If people do deforestation still than not only that will happen drought will happen to which comes from deforestation. Double the trees will die!!! What does drought have anything to do with deforestation you may ask? Greenhouse gases are gases that cause global warming. They build up like a big blanket around the earth which traps sunlight inside causing the world to overheat which leads to drought. Trees help prevent drought because during their process of photosynthesis they take in a lot of carbon dioxide which is one big greenhouse gas. Trees help us a lot like how they absorb carbon dioxide. Without them the world be definitely overheat and become a dry wasteland. Everyone would be fighting over water and that wouldn't help.When drought happens everything is effected. You can help stop drought from happening worldwide by not building the Uppitty Resort. 

       So, I hope you listened to my three reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort. YOU can help prevent deforestation from becoming an even BIGGER problem. Imagine if your grandkids  or great grand kids were born when there was barely any trees left because of deforestation. They wouldn't be able to walk around in the forests and look at the beautiful nature. They would not be able to have the same experience as you did all because of deforestation. And even worse, you did some of that deforesting. YOU can help make sure that never happens. YOU can play a role in stopping it. YOU can make a difference by not building the resort. Anyone can make a difference in the world,  here is your chance. I hope me and my classmates showed you that building your resort will make a big impact which is not all good. Even if the resort does supply jobs for many people it also will do many negative things that we are trying to prevent. There are more cons to building the Uppitty Resort than pros. Please help the world prevent BAD stuff from happening by not building your resort. if you can't stop building it or want it to be built to badly please consider building it somewhere else where no trees will be cut. Remember, YOU can make a difference by not building the Uppitty Resort.

11/7 "Deforestation/Keel Billed Toucan"

Summary

This week I learned a lot about deforestation. I learned about why deforestation happens and what happens when deforestation is happening. Deforestation is a terrible thing but it can sometimes benefit us humans such as how Mr. Cuttatree claims building the resort will give many people an opportunity for work.

Backwards Looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

This week I learned many things about deforestation. At first I thought that every 5 seconds a tree is cut down but I now know that every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down every second. This is terrible since we get all of our oxygen from plants. At first before we learned about this I never realised how bad deforestation was happening and doing to us. I learned that 137 species become extinct every day. Brazil is where deforestation occurs these days and 90-95% of it's rainforests have been cut down. Deforestation causes homes of animals to be destroyed, erosion, less oxygen for us, less biodiversity, and many other things. People do this so they have room for buildings, farms, room for mining, and so they can make materials. did you know that 214,000 acres of land is cut down every day. That's an area of land larger than New York City.

Inwards Looking Reflection

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week I was very proud of my rainforest animal presentation. I think I had a lot of information about the keel billed toucan and when I presented it on exhibition night I did a very good job showing them that one thing can effect the food chain and we have to try very hard to make sure the biodiversity of the rainforests stay. I was especially proud of this project because I felt like I put a lot of hard work into making it interesting and helpful and on exhibition night my hard work really showed off. I think I did a very good job presenting my project on exhibition night and I feel very proud of myself.