5.2 & 5.3: Reduce and Reuse

Last week we looked at what we used to heat our homes and power the appliances we use everyday. This week we think about ways to extend and reuse these resources.

How can we conserve our natural resources?
What items can we recycle in our homes?

Over the next two weeks we will be working on Contract 11 and Contract 12. This will wrap up our first unit and prepare us for our first Unit Exam!

Contracts 11 & 12

5.1: Natural Resources Support Human Activity

Ever stop to think about the things you use everyday? What are they made from? Where does that come from? How does it get to you? In chapter 5 we will be gaining appreciation for what we use on and how we affect the world by using those products.

This questioning is the first step in solving some of the issues we face. Some of the questions already posed in class:

What could we use to replace our nonrenwable resources?
What drastic changes would come about?
How does this affect us?

In our discussions about our use of natural resources, ask yourself what you would do if there was no oil to move things from place to place, or what if the lights didn't come on with the flick of a switch?

Contract 10 has students looking at energy use in their own home.

I will also give an extra contract grade to any whole groups who participate and finish the We Change the World Challenge!

Here is a look at a few week 10 A Contracts.

Contract 10

4.2 & 4.3: The Geologic Time Scale

Last week, we learned that fossils give us a glimpse back in time. We also learned that thousands of fossils were found at the Rancho la Brea. That's one site! Millions of pounds of fossils covering only a few tens of thousands of years! The Earth is more than four and a half BILLION years old! In Social Studies you may cover 100 to 1000 years in a year at school. How do we take all that information and laid down over 4.5 billion years and learn about it in a week and a half?

We don't come close, but the Geologic Time Scale is a good start.

We have looked at what fossils can tell us. Now this week we will ask:

How are these facts put in chronological order?
What can we learn from looking at the whole history of the Earth?

Contract 8.9 will have you making a diagram of the periods of the Earth, researching index fossils and then putting them into place on the Geologic time Scale, explaining change over time on Earth, and trying to explain just what is Half-life?

Here are some of this weeks A contracts

From Contract 8.9

4.1: The Past Revealed in Fossils

This week we will be looking at fossils, how they form, and what we can learn from them.

In class we will be going over Section 4.1 in the book, looking at examples of fossils, using a video on the La Brea tar pits, and going over Science Contracts for Week 7.

What do you know about fossils?
Where have you seen fossils?
Most importantly, what can we learn from fossils?

As we go through the week, some of your ideas about dinosaur "bones" might change.

Here are some images of students teaching students for their A Contracts.

Contract Week 7

WKCE Week

In the past week, each of you spent almost 7 hours over 3 days of school taking tests in reading, language, math, social studies, and science. Fourteen times you were told to make you mark heavy and dark. You only got 3 snacks.

Did you try your best? Who do you think looks at your scores? Does this test affect your classes in high school? Did you finish feeling like you had done well?

What are your thoughts on your eighth grade WKCE week?

Welcome to our Science Blog

Hey kids,

Welcome to our science blog. Take some time to sign up for a free account through Google so that you can post your comments.

In the coming units of study we will be using this blog:

as another source for weekly contracts.
to discuss this weeks QotD.
for debate on our Science News projects.
to continue discussion we began in class
....and much more.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the Blog. We will be taking a trip to the lab before we start using the blog full time at the start of Unit C: Earth's Oceans