Parts of the Earth

What are the names of the layers inside the earth?  What is each layer like?  What is the difference between the crust, lithosphere and asthenoshpere?  Click on the link below and use your mouse to scroll over the parts of the earth to find out what they are and how each layer is different.


What is inside the Earth?

A New Earth?

How many of you heard about the new planet that has been discovered by NASA?  Read the following information....very interesting!!

A New Planet

What all did you learn.  There are so many facts, but summarize what they have discovered in your own words.

Lunar Eclipse

Have you ever seen an eclipse?  Read the following ...

Lunar Eclipse

When will the next eclipse occur?

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics

Who first came up with the concept of Continental Drift?  What is the name of the super continent that existed over 1 million years ago?  What are convection currents and what do they have to do with Continental Drift and Plate movement?  How does convection currents cause movement in the mantle?  What is subduction?  What might crustal movements cause?  Click on the link below and then on Plate Tectonics then on Continental Drift.


Volcanoes Online

Earth's Interior

What are the three layers of the earth?  What is the lithosphere?  What is the difference between oceanic and continental crust? What is the core made of and how hot is it?  What is the mantle?  What is magma?  Click on the link below to answer these questions and tell why scientist might study earth's interior.  After you click on the link Click on Plate Tectonics and then on Earth's Interior.


Volcanoes Online

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina occurred in 2005 and most of you probably don't recall much about it because you were so young.  This hurricane caused much destruction down in New Orleans.  Watch the following video to see day by day what happened.   This is a video produced my National Geographic. Some of you may find this a bit too much to watch.  You may turn away at any time.  Watch it and tell me what you think.


hurricane day by day

Plate Tectonics

Next week we will begin our unit on Plate Tectonics.  What do you think we will be discussing in this unit?  What topics will we discuss?  What possible labs would you be interested in doing?
check out the following link to get some information!


plate tectonics

Where Shall We Build

As we come to a finish on out unit covering Erosion & Deposition, what are your thoughts on where Boomtown should build their new hotels, houses and shopping?  You have had a chance to examine various soil types found in the area, you have seen how the land has changed over the past 100 years, and you have looked at specific areas in Boomtown and how erosion has affected each one.  With all of this information, which area would you chose to build:  the seaside cliff, the green hill, or the marsh?  Explain why you chose where you chose.

Earthquake in Japan

Over the weekend, Japan experienced an earthquake.   What was the magnitude of this earthquake? Was there fear of a tsunami?  What caused this earthquake?  Check out the following link:


Earthquake

What else did you learn?

Beach Erosion

After reading the following post, please explain to me what is beach erosion?

California Coast

What is beach erosion?  WHat are they trying to do in California?  Would you be willing to help in these efforts?

NASA's launch

NASA launched it's latest endeavor on Saturday.  Read the following link:

Mars rover

What did this launch consist of?  What is it's name?  How long will the journey take?  How far is the journey?  What are they looking for, what are they hoping to learn?
Leave any other things that you learned or found interesting.

Pumpkin Pie

How many of you you enjoyed pumpkin pie over the holiday weekend?  Could you imagine growing a 1,000 pound pumpkin?  How many pies do you think you could make out of that??
Check out the following video and leave your thoughts.

1,000 pound pumpkin

Oklahoma Earthquake

Did you hear about the earthquake in Oklahoma this past weekend?
Read the following link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/06/us/oklahoma-earthquake

Where was the earthquake in Oklahoma? What was the magnitude? Were there aftershocks? When was their last major earthquake? What else did you learn about thus earthquake?

What does erosion & deposition create?

Now that you have read a bit about erosion/deposition, what do you know that is created by the processes erosion and deposition?

Erosion

Read the following link:

http://www.geography4kids.com/files/land_erosion.html

Now that you have made you first post and read this link, how would you define erosion? Explain what happens during erosion and the various types.

Erosion & Deposition

When you hear the word erosion, what do you think?  What about deposition, what does that word mean to you?  Do you know anything that either of these two processes create?  Is there anything you would like to do in class when learning about erosion and deposition?

The Great Pumpkin

In honor of Halloween being last night we have a little mixture of science and Halloween!
Check out the following video!


Leave your thoughts!


Pumpkin Physics

End of the 1st Quarter!

It's hard to believe we have already completed the first quarter!
What has been your favorite part of your science class this year?  What was your favorite activity we have done?   What is something you wish we could have done in our space unit that we did not?  Is there anything you would have changed or done differently?  Leave your thoughts.


Thanks for your input!

Constellations

Check  out the following link.  It provides an alphabetical list of the many constellations we will find in the night sky.  Pick a constellation and give me some information about it.  Tell me it's abbreviation, it's translation, it's position in the night sky, and provide some history about the constellation for me by reading the paragraph at the bottom of the page.


constellations

The evening sky

What happens in our evening sky .. check out the following link!   Leave your thoughts.

What's in the sky?

Dark Matter

Have you ever wondered what holds the universe together?  Have you ever heard the term dark matter before?  Have you wondered what it is all about?  Watch this short video and see a short explanation about dark matter and tell me what you think.


What is dark matter?

Super Nova

What can happen at the end of a star's life cycle?  What do you think will happen to our Sun at the end of its life?  Watch this video clip and tell me what you think.  Will our sun end up this way?  It make take a moment for the video clip to play so be patient.


Super Nova

Sun Spots

Have you ever wondered what a sunspot looks like?  How do they form.  Do they effect Earth?  How long have people known about them?  Watch the video about sun spots and tell me what you think about them.


Sun Spots

Black Holes

Black holes are places where ordinary gravity has become so extreme that it overwhelms all other forces in the Universe. Once inside, nothing can escape a black hole's gravity — not even light.

Yet we know that black holes exist. We know how they are born, where they occur, and why they exist in different sizes. We even know what would happen if you fell into one. Our discoveries have revealed one of the strangest objects in the Universe, and there's still much we don't know.  Click on the link below and follow Hubble into a black hole.  Once on the website click on replay intro to listen about black holes.

Hubble Black Holes

Meteor Shower

What is this expected event?  When is it going to occur?  How often does this occur?  What is the problem that could cause trouble viewing this year?
Read the following link and let me know what else you learned.

Meteor Shower

Once in a Blue Moon ....

Many of you have asked "what is a blue moon?"  Check out the following link!

what is a blue moon

Did you know what a blue moon is?  Did you learn anything new?

What's really burning?

Do you like to burn candles.  I think everyone is fascinated with flame.  Listen to this article and watch the video.  When a candle burns, what really is burning?  Tell me what you learned about flames.  Why would someone study flames?  Is there heat all through the flame?  What is soot? 


mapping flames

Planning Ahead

Now that they have finished all of the Apollo missions, what do they have in store next?  Listen to the following link and leave some notes about what their next steps are in outer space?

What's To Come

Follow Up to the Satellite which fell to Earth

Check out the following link and read the article.

Where did it fall?

What new information did you learn about this satellite and where it fell?

Chinese Enter the Space Age

China launched an experimental spacecraft from the Gobi desert this week. The unmanned Tiangong-1 (which means "Heavenly Palace-1") is expected to orbit Earth for two years. Journalist Miles O’Brien discusses planned docking missions for the craft and China’s space program.  Listen to the article and tell me what you think.  How do you feel about China becoming a space power?  Why do you think the Chinese want to accomplish with their space program?


http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201109304

What are Pterosaurs?

Do you like dinosaurs?  What about the flying pterosaurs?  What do you know about them? David Attenborough has produced dozens of shows and books about how plants and animals live. But his latest, Flying Monsters 3D, takes a look at creatures that have been extinct for around 65 million years--pterosaurs, or flying reptiles--and examines why they may have evolved to fly. Listen to this article and let me know if this is a movie that you would like to see? 


http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201109301

Cataloging the Skies

Listen to the following podcast:

Planet X

What did you learn from this podcast?

Space Station

After reading the article on the 20 year old satellite crashing to Earth, now read this article about the possibilities of the Space Station crashing into Earth in the years to come.

Space Station

When do they think the space station is going to fall back to Earth?  What are the chances of it crashing into the US?  What are your thoughts?

20 year old satellite falls to Earth

Read the following link:

Satellite crashes to Earth

When did this satellite fall back onto Earth?  Where did it hit?  What else did you learn about this satellite when reading this article?  Would you have been afraid it might hit you or your house had you known it was falling?
Leave your thoughts.

Jupiter

Check out the following link:

Jupiter

Learn about Jupiter and play a game at the same time!

Planet orbits 2 suns

Just this week a planet was discovered orbiting 2 suns.  Read the following link and leave your thoughts.

Planet orbits 2 suns

Future NASA rocket

Read the following link:

NASA rocket

Leave your thoughts on NASA's future rocket.

Cyber Bullying

click on the link below and complete the anonymous survey:

cyber bullying survey

Headed to the moon

Read the following link:

To the moon

What was launched towards the moon this weekend?  What were they going to do?  How long will it take to get there?  What will this provide for school children?  What do the want to study and how will this help them?

NASA needs astronauts!

Read the following link:

Keep astronauts on hand

Would you want to be an astronaut?  How would you feel about living in the space station?  What would you miss most if you were in space?  What would you want to take with you?

The Harvest Moon

How many of you have know what a Harvest Moon is?  Have any of you seen a Harvest Moon?

Read or listen to the following link:

Harvest Moon

When does this occur?  How did it get it's name?  Leave any other thoughts you have on the Harvest Moon.

Living in Space

Listen to or read the following link:

Living in Space

How would you feel about going to space knowing you would be putting your body at risk to these numerous factors?  Would these factors hinder you from going to space?  Would you be concerned about losing bone density or having your fingernails removed?

Hurricane Katia

A new hurricane has been working up in strength over the past few days.  It has now reached Category 3 status.  Read the following article.  How would you feel if you were stuck in a hurricane?   What would you do?  If a hurricane was headed towards where you live what would you do?  Leave your thoughts and make sure you answer all questions.

Hurricane Katia

Two Weeks in ....

Now that we have been in class for about 2 weeks I wanted to get your input. 
I know we have had some different schedules and shorter classes, but with the time we have had together, what do you think about our science class so far?
Also, how do you feel about this blog site.  I know many of you have said you have not blogged before and I would like to know if you like it or not?  How do you think we could use this in the most beneficial way?  What would you think are exciting activities we could run through our blog?

Remember to reply to other students' posts and take part in some engaging conversations!

Discovery of a New Star

The following pod cast talks about a new star that has recently been discovered however some believe it should not exist.  What is their reasoning that this star should not exist?  What are your thoughts about this discovery?

New Star

Hole Punch Clouds

What do you know about clouds?  Check the link on Hole Punch clouds and tell me what you think.


hole-punch clouds

Hurricane Irene

How many of you heard about hurricane Irene which hit the east coast last weekend?  Did anyone know somebody who was affected by the hurricane?  Read the following and article and leave your thoughts on the damage left by hurricane Irene.  Also tell me the name of the hurricane that is developing right now.

Hurricane Irene

Did You Feel The Earthquake?

Did you feel the earthquake last week?  Have you ever felt and earthquake?  Listen to this podcast and learn about why earthquakes are rare in our area, but why they travel father than in the west.  Tell me what you think


Did You Feel It?

Who Would Have Thought?

Have you ever seen a water strider?  Well they are insects found in creeks and ponds that seem to walk on water.  But do they really?  Watch this video and find out how they get about.  Then tell me what you know about water striders and what you think about the video.


Water Strider

Welcome!!

Welcome to Mrs. Hoffman's Earth Science course!
Last week, when we went over our syllabus, we discussed the topics we will be covering this school year.  Please tell me what topic you are most excited to learn about.  Include why you are excited and anything you might already know about the topic!