Charity Fair Project Blog

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Summary: To prepare for the charity fair, we had to do many things. First, we decided which charity we were going to support and the partners we were going to have. Then we gathered research on our charity like, what it does with the money, and what its mission is and what it does to the patients, etc. Then we made an ignite presentation. We presented our charity to the class. After that, we made our trifold posters and items. Then we set up and sold our things. I learned many ways to get more people at least interested in our items. Maybe go, buy 1 get 1 free. Or maybe lower the price. 

Back Ward Looking:
How much did you know about the subject before we started?
l didn't know anything about the charity fair. Nothing about selling, or the carbon footprint, not even about researching charities.

Inward-Looking:
What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
I liked how much we worked together on it even though we were behind. We drew pictures instead of taking them, we worked together on the poster, we even were together for almost the whole night.

Out-Ward Looking:
What grade would you give it? Why?

I would give it a A- or a B+ because we forgot to do real pictures and instead drew them.

Forward Looking

What would you improve upon? I would like to maybe make sure that every part of my work was done.

Weather- Water Cycle

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Summary: This week we were learning about the water cycle. Evaporation is when water turns into water vapor and goes up to the clouds. Condensation is when a cloud forms. Precipitation is rain, snow, hail, etc. Transpiration is water evaporating from plants. Sublimation is a glacier melting and evaporating. This all makes one large cycle - the water cycle! Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, Transpiration/ Sublimation. The diagram shows this.


S&EP:SP2: Developing and using models: We drew a comic on our journey through the water cycle.

Weather 12/3/15

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Summary: I am learning about the weather. First we did the layers of the atmosphere. The first layer, witch we live in, is called the troposphere. Weather only occurs in the troposphere because it contains all of the water vapor. I mean, you can't make weather without water right? The next layer is the stratosphere. Jets and weather balloons like to fly here because there is no weather. Have you ever been in an airplane and seen all of the clouds under you? That is because you are above the troposphere. The next, the mesosphere, is way to cold for humans to discover. Like, there could be leprechauns and unicorns up there for all we'd know. Too cold to discover! To high for weather balloons and too low for space shuttles. Meteors and the northern lights are up there too. The last is the thermosphere. Space shuttles are around this area. Then, it heads up to space.



S&EP: SP4

I used a graph to analyze the data of the layers of atmosphere. We were using for measuring temperature and adding where it began and ended. We also drew what "lives" there. Like jets in the stratosphere and weather in the troposphere.

Letter to Mr. Cuttatree 11/20/15

                            Letter to Mr. Cuttatree

Dear Mr. Cuttatree,

       I am the Resplendent Quetzal. I am writing to you today to tell you a bit about myself and what I do for the rain forest so you may consider not building the Uppity Resort. 

       My scientific name is Pharomachrus Moccino. I am said to be the most beautiful bird in the world.  I have a green head, a blue back, a red chest, and the rest of my feathers are black and white. The magnificent tail feathers that I have are two feet long, almost three times as long as my body! The fuzz on my head is green and sticks straight up. My beak is small and is a yellow orange in color.

     I eat many things like a variety of fruits that grow on a variety of trees. If you cut them all down, my friends will die. I eat things like figs and a variety of insects that all live in the rain forest. My favorite foods are wild avacadoes! I swallow them whole and regurgitate the pits onto the ground. I help the trees spread. I eat things like lizards, frogs, snails, and larvae. My babies eat invertebrate, reptiles, and amphibians, but begin to eat fruit as they mature.

     My eggs and young ones are food for toucans. The kinkajou, jays, squirrels, and weasels will eat me too. Hawks, Owls, and other birds of prey will also enjoy me. I have to protect my children. The way I do this is I peck out a hole in a thick branch of a tree. I will make my nest in the hole and sit on the nest, taking turns with a male bird. I keep them there under me or the male and the one who is not sitting on the eggs or young goes to hunt. We also keep them there until they are strong enough to fly. When they are, they leave the nest and are on their own. There is a lot of great sadness, though, only about 20% of the young we produce lives to leave the nest.
   
     A type of symbiosis there is between the avacado tree and me is I spread the seeds of the tree around the rain forest. If the rainforest did not have me, they would die. The avacado tree would die. So would the kinkajou, the hawk, the owl, and all the other animals that eat me. Then the hawk who eats mice would die and then there  would be too many mice and things like that.

                                                                                                         
                                                                                                            Respectfully,













                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Resplendent Quetzal


                                                       


    

Letter to Mr. Cuttatree Project 11/12/15

http://www.ventbird.com/system/photo/image/4452/standard/Resplendent_Quetzal_by_David_Wolf.jpg

Summary: This week I am learning about the resplendent quetzal. It is a magnificent bird that has tail feathers about 3 feet long. It eats wild avocados whole, regurgitating the pits and helping the tree spread. The birds eat insects and a variety of fruits. Only about 20% of the babies live to leave the nest. The organisms that find it a tasty snack are hawks, owls, and kinkajous.

S&EP: SP7 

We are trying to send a letter to Mr. Cuttatree telling him not to cut down the rainforest. We have to tell him from the perspective of a living organism in the rainforest. Maybe the he will reconsider.

Food Webs 11/6/15

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Summary: This week we were discussing food webs. A food web is a series of food chains that are mixed together that are all connected in different ways. As you see in the web above, the antelope squirrel gets it's energy from both brittlebrush and the prickly pear cactus. It gives it's energy to the red tailed hawk. Different plants (producers) give energy to other animals (consumers ) and those animals give their energy to secondary consumers. Then that is passed on to the top level consumers. 

S&EP SP2 

This week we were looking at a food web. We answered all of the questions That were going with the web. On some of them, we had to read a small story and answer questions like, " what happens when all of the sardines die?". We were looking at the web to see the way thing would affect the anchovies. Looking at the webs were very useful and went along with the projects just fine. 

Photosynthesis 10/29/15

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Summary: This week we were learning about photosynthesis. I learned that plants convert light and energy from the sun into  carbon dioxide, oxygen, and a sugar called glucose. Glucose is a sugar the plant uses to give it life. And plants don't care about our need for oxygen. They ignore us. They do not care about us. Only themselves. They are selfish. So I learned that roots take in water. Carbon dioxide goes in; oxygen comes out. Sometimes oxygen goes in and carbon dioxide comes out, But pretty much this is the way photosynthesis works. We don't need to make this because we eat food and plants don't. They use photosynthesis to make food like we use ovens and things like that. So a plant needs Co2 (carbon dioxide) and H2o (water) and sometimes O2 (oxygen) to live.




SP2: Developing and using models

We weren't really using models, but we were taking notes on our photosynthesis videos. we are learning about how every thing in the ecosystem is important. Figs grow, monkeys eat them, and eagles eat monkeys. Every thing works out. 

Body Systems Project Blog

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Summary: This week we were presenting our best body systems in a supporting role projects. There was a winner- the skeletal system! It was so fun and I learned a lot about the different systems. Like urine is toxic and if you didn't have a skull your brain would fall into your stomach. Ew. The skeletal system did a little skit for their compelling argument. I personally couldn't hear anything, but everybody else liked it. I really liked what the other groups did too. This project was really fun and I learned a lot about the body systems.

Backward looking: What process did you go through to produce this piece?

I went through a good process to finish my work. Me and my group were starting the labeled diagram of the nervous system. Then some of them decided to move on to the interview. Once we were done with the drawing, We did the rest of the interview and Started the compelling argument. When we were done we began a draft of the acceptance speech.

Inward looking: What parts did you find satisfying about the process and /or the finished product?

I really liked the way we got every thing done on time and were ready to present our work to the class. This was satisfying because we saw the work being done and we were working together a lot. What I think we could have done better was we could have done all the parts together and see what we need to do and what we need to save till the end.

outward looking: What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?

Well, I want people to look at it and say,"Wow, that group looked like the y were really working together on this!" They would be impressed on how much work we did and how much we were doing. Wé want them to look at it and be proud.

Forward looking: What is one thing that you want to improve on?

I want to work together on the task at hand so we can get all the work done productively.

Body Systems Project 10/16

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Summary: This week we were doing our Body Systems project.  Today we were working on the compelling argument. We are trying to tell people why the human body can't survive without our system. We have to have a live interview, a compelling argument, and an acceptance speech. Yesterday we worked on our labeled diagram of the nervous system.  We were putting facts around the diagram of the persons insides. We didn't put the nerves in the drawing because people said that it looked as though the body would crack open any second.

S&EP- SP2

I drew a picture of the nervous system to explain what the system looked like. I was looking online to see what picture would work and I tried to draw it myself.

Body Systems 10/9

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/1201_Overview_of_Nervous_System.jpg

Summary: We have been learning about the urinary system and the nervous system. The nervous system controls everything you do. The brain sends messages along the spinal cord to all the nerves in the body. This helps you do things. The urinary system is interesting. Urine is produced in the kidneys, then goes down to the bladder where it is stored. Then it goes out the urethra and you go to the bathroom! We were also learning about the muscular system and the Skeletal system. The skeletal system holds you upright and the muscular system helps you move. We are doing a project on the body systems. We are all doing research on our body system and explaining why the human body cannot survive without our system. We have to have a live interview, a compelling argument, and an acceptance speech. 









S&EP - SP1
Did you ask a scientific question?
We did! We answered a scientific question! I established what is already known about the nervous system by watching videos and taking notes. I asked myself, Am I making an assumption? and if I am, is my assumption correct? My assumption was that the human body could not survive without the nervous system, and I was correct!

Body Systems Weekly Blog 09/28-10/02

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Summary: This week we were talking about the body systems. We were watching videos about the respiratory system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system. We learned the oxygen goes to the heart and leaves the heart as carbon dioxide. We walked the path air did. We had drawn a chalk diagram so we could see where the air went in and out.

S&EP

SP2: Developing and using models.

We built lungs to see the parts of one. For the rib cage, we used a plastic bottle.
For the diaphragm, we used a cut up balloon. For the trichia, we had a real balloon.

Organelle Trail Project Blog 9/24/15

Summary: This week we continued our cell unit. The organelles that live in both plants and animals are the vacuole, the nucleus, the mitochondria and the cytoplasm. The ones who only live in plant cells are the chloroplast and the cell wall. The vacuole stores food, water, sugar and  waste. It looks like a bubble. Plants have one big vacuole, and animals have a bunch of little ones. The cytoplasm it a jelly-like substance that suspends all the other organelles in place. The cell wall holds up the plant. The chloroplast turns light into energy.The nucleus is the brain of the cell. The mitochondria provides energy for the cell. The cell membrane lets things go inside and out of the cell.



Backward looking: How much did you know before the project?  I didn't know very much about cells at all. My old school was not very big on science education. We started talking about plant cells, but that was once a week and we were in 4th grade. We didn't do very much. All we did is read the definitions of the organelle. Then, we made a cell out of candy, yogurt and fruit. That was fun, but I like this better.



Inward looking: What did you like about the project? What was satisfying? The physical description was very satisfying. The picture was very realistic.I feel very proud of the work that my team accomplished. I had a lot of help that was badly needed. On the day it was due, we were very productive.

Outward looking: What grade would you give it? why? I would give my project a B+ because our poster does not even look like a wanted poster. We forgot it was supposed to even be a wanted poster so we made it as though it was informative. The pictures and crime are really corny. And I wrote Academics instead of Accomplices!The picture under that is weird.


Forward looking: One thing I want to improve for next time is.....
I want to make it look more like a wanted poster. And even though you can't tell, we were arguing a lot. Tuesday was our only productive day. We were spending all our time fussing over a worthless google doc. This is what I want to improve on. 

Cells 9/18/15

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This week we were beginning our study of cells. We were discussing, 

• what are cells?
• Were can we find them?
• plant .vs. animal?
• how many cells does a human have?
• we watched a video

and many more questions were asked. Now we are making a cell wanted poster which includes:

• what does the organelle do?
• where is it?
• plant, animal or both?
• what does it look like? 
• what other organelles does it work with?

and so on. Sasha, Ellie and Dylan are working with me on the chloroplast. Sasha is location.Ellie is description. Dylan is what organelles work with it? I am Crime.

Project Reflection 0907-0911

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Summary: This week it was up to us to try to save science education. The board of education wanted to take science away. We turned in our letters on Friday. We were discussing what made science important. Here are some things that I had written:

• Science helps you "fix things."
• science can save lives!
• science helps you figure out how things work

Backward Looking

Which recourses did you use on this piece? Which ones were helpful? Which ones will you use again?

The thing that I found helpful was my science notebook. I really found that helpful because I write all sorts of information in there and I found it nice to see my answers.

Inward Looking

What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?

I think that it reveals I am good at paying attention.

Outward Looking

What did you want people to see?

The three bullet points.

Forward Looking

One thing I want to improve is...

Typing up the blog.

Oreo Cookie Mystery

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Summary:

The mystery we were solving this week was were double stuffed Oreos really double stuffed?

Our hypothesis was if double stuffed cookies were really double stuffed, then the double stuffed will weigh twice as much as a normal cookie and be twice as tall. The materials we used were 

• 1 regular Oreo
• 1double stuffed Oreo
• 1 balance
• 2 cups
• 1 metric ruler 

We put the ruler vertically next to the cookies and measured them in centimeters.`Then, we would put one cookie onto the balance and evened it out with beads.

 Conclusion: Our hypothesis was correct because if you consider weight, they are triple stuffed!

But if you consider height, they are normal.

           

                                                   

The Scientific Method

       


          

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Summary:

In class this week, we were talking about the Scientific Method.  There are seven parts to the Scientific Method. First, you start by asking a question.  Then, form a hypothesis.  Test your hypothesis with an experiment. A hypothesis is a scientific guess. Gather your data. You can use a data chart. Analyze the results of your experiment. A graph usually helps with that. Draw conclusions from the results. Finally, share the results with other scientists.                       

S&EP                                                                      

SP1: Asking questions and defining problems

One of the first steps to becoming a scientist is knowing what is a scientific question and what is not. A scientific question is something that you can do an experiment to find out the answer.

What is science 08/28

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Summary:                                                                                                                                                                                        
                       In Science this week  we were studying the scientific method. There are seven parts.



                                                                                         

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