NASA International Youth Art Competition: Art, Video, Short Story, Music Submissions

This is a national contest sponsored by NASA.  All 7th graders are requred to enter because it will be a class grade for us as well.  8th graders are welcome to enter if they'd like - I will submit their entries to them if they give them to me by Monday.

DUE DATE:  Monday, November 29th.

The flyer for the contest with abbreviated guidelines can be found here.  Here's a link to the details, directions, etc.  You must be sure to include some information about Humans in Space.

8th Grade Time Scale

In 8th Grade today, we adjusted this lesson to fit our needs.

1.  Students read and answered the Geological Time Scale Questionaire.
2.  Students began the activity.  This sheet was used as a reference for the activity.

HR 302 should have started and have made significant progress in the activity since today was their lab day.  HR 300 should have finished the questionnaire and will begin the activity during their lab period on Monday.

8th Grade Essays

ALL 8TH GRADERS HAVE 5 PARAGRAPH ESSAYS DUE TOMORROW!!

8th GRADE PERSUASIVE ESSAY Due Friday Nov 19th

Decide what you believe about the uranium mining debate in the Grand Canyon.  Write a persuasive essay with facts to back up your beliefs.  5 paragraphs.

Background about Uranium Mining

Uranium Mining:  World Nuclear Association (I keep getting an error message on this site so I'm not sure if it's our school network or their site not working correctly)

Uranium Exploration Near the Grand Canyon

Report: Grand Canyon Threatened by Approval of Uranium Mining Activities

More articles from Google search

8th GRADE EXTRA CREDIT:

Include information from these articles (which were not given in class):

Health Dangers of Uranium Mining

Uranium Mining Legislation (current events article released Nov 17, 2010)

7th Grade: What we did today

Seventh grade is studying moon rocks.  Today we decided to take a look at the current news on moon rocks to bring our knowledge up to date.

We read the following articles:

Lunar discovery: Two new moon rock types
Water Found in Apollo Moon Rocks

Inside these articles are links and videos to provide more information so I strongly encourage every 7th grader to view these articles online as well.

7TH GRADE EXTRA CREDIT:
Every year I have students who believe strongly in the conspiracy theory that we never went to the Moon.  Here is a great article from NASA outlining their evidence that we did go to the Moon.  Write a 3 paragraph persuasive paper describing this evidence.  Write as if you are trying to convince someone that we went to the Moon.  DUE FRIDAY.  Will count as a 100 test grade.

8th Grade Multiple Choice Study Guide for MONDAY'S BENCHMARK

• Brachiopods and coral fossils are ocean creatures.
• Fossils show evidence about the history of rocks and climate of an area.
• The principle of uniformitarianism is the principle that the answers to the past can be found in the present, meaning that everything is uniform in how it works. Such as a volcano erupting today would be the same as it would have been a billion years ago. Or rain would fall the same was today as it would in the time of the dinosaurs.
• Fossils most often form in sedimentary rock.
• The Earth is 4.5 billion years old.
• Uplifting forces can raise or elevate layers of the Earth.
• Earth’s features are constantly being built up AND worn down.
• The Grand Canyon is a result of erosion due mainly to water.
• Steep cliffs that remain were probably more resistant to erosion than surrounding rocks.
• Sandstone layers were likely formed from wind blown sand.
• The principle of superposition states that in a sequence of undisturbed sedimentary layers or lava flows, the oldest layers are at the bottom.
• Geologists study rocks.
• Rock layers were formed from layers of sediments that are deposited and transformed into rock over millions of years.
• Weathering breaks down rocks.
• Erosion transports rock pieces.
• Gravity produces avalanches and landslides.
• Physical weathering – caused by natural forces such as water freezing and thawing inside rocks
• Mechanical weathering – same as physical weathering
• Chemical weathering – happens when chemical reactions dissolve minerals.
• Variation of steepness in hill slopes is probably due to the softness and hardness of rock layers.
• Soil is formed over time – rock weathers, plants add organic materials and rain spreads minerals through the layers.
• Soil is a mixture of weathered rock, water, decayed organic matter, oxygen and mineral fragments.
• The top layer of soil contains the most organic matter.

7th Grade Open Ended Notes for FRIDAY'S BENCHMARK

Earth’s gravity pull is directly dependent upon the masses of the two objects only (the distance between the objects and the center of the Earth remains the same)

If the two objects have the same size but one has more mass than the other, then the more massive one is pulled more strongly by Earth’s gravity.

One object can have MORE mass than another – but they can both have the SAME volume.

The gravity of the Sun keeps planets in their orbits.  The Earth orbits the Sun because of the pull of the Sun’s gravity.

The lighter object orbits the heavier one, and the Sun is the heaviest object in the Solar System.

Earth and other planets orbit the Sun because the Sun is much bigger than the Earth and the other planets.

Earth and other planets orbit the Sun because they are less massive than the Sun.