Mrs. McDaid’s Science Class Blog

The second annual “Pompeii Day” was a fabulous success.  All of the kids worked very hard to create interesting and informative productions (which are currently waiting to be edited and will be shown after break).  Thank you so much to all of the great moms who cooked and volunteered their time to help make this such a wonderful event.  All of the food that was served was AMAZING!  Thank you, also, to all of the students who put so much time and effort into understanding the events that occured in Pompeii.  Just wait until we study bacteria in science and the Middle Ages in humanities…and have “Black Plague Day” in quarter 3!

If you are still working on your project, here is a link (that takes you to more links) that might help you to get the job done:

Visit:  Ms. DeRozario’s blog

She has done a wonderful job of compiling a list of sites that you can use to do your research.

*** Don’t forget, you need to fill out your rubric’s self-evaluation column and hand it in on the day that your project is due!!! ***

This week we are studying faults and earthquakes.  In order to visualize what the movement of the faults look like we are making faults out of clay!  This is a great way to be able to see something that is so very big right in our classroom.  Students discovered what would happen when faults move in different directions and what landforms are created or destroyed.   

Here are two of our students doing a great job modelling a strike-slip fault.  This type of fault moves horizontally.  This is the type of fault that is found in California, at the San Andreas Fault.  For more information on earthquakes and faults, please visit the site: “Earthquakes for Kids” at http://www.earthquake.gov/             learning/kids/

For the most recent updates on earthquake activity, go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/          eqcenter/recenteqsww/ This link takes you to the US Geological Survey and can give you more information on quake locations, depths and magnitudes. 

We have now started our new unit - Earth Science.  This unit will run until winter break.  One of our first lessons was to dissect a hard boiled egg.  I know that sounds a little strange, but the layers of an egg are similar in proportion to the layers of the Earth.  The shell of the egg is the “crust” - especially when it is CRACKED…the cracks represent to faults in the Earth’s surface!  The egg white represents the mantle and the yolk is the core (both inner and outer together).  This lab also served as an introduction to our dissection tool…which we will use again in the spring when we start our anatomy unit. 

Below are a number of links that you can use to help you better understand Earth Science:

* Structure of the Earth    * The Savage Earth

* Understanding Plate Motion   * Mountain Building

* Plate Tectonics     * Earth Science Games

* Plate Tectonics 2   * Continental Drift   * Wegner’s Plates