When I Grow Up..

.......I want to be an astronaut. In the last several decades, many boys and girls in this country have said those words. Would you really like to be an astronaut?
I'd like to revisit some questions that we thought, wrote, and talked about yesterday. Imagine that you're an astronaut in the 1960s, like John Glenn in the video clip below. What kind of emotions would you feel as you put on the spacesuit? How about as you board a tiny capsule that happens to be sitting on a 6.5 million pound, longer-than-a-football-field rocket? How about when you break free of Earth's gravity and view the Earth from above?

• What would it be like to be an astronaut during those tense (yet thrilling) moments?
• In your experiences, is there anything that you might be able to compare it to?
• Why would the title of the When We Left Earth episode (from which this video clip came from) be "Ordinary Supermen"?
  

Planets of our Solar System

Comment: I eagerly await the chance to become an expert on each of the planets of our solar system.
Question: Who is going to give me that opportunity?
Answer: The Crazy 8s
Another Question: How?
Another Answer: Today and tomorrow they will be researching a specific planet, collaborating in groups, and developing a powerpoint/voicethread presentation that will blow away (in a good way) anyone who is fortunate to be in attendance.

If you need to continue your research, you could click HERE for some useful links on your planet.

Clara is ready to learn........ from YOU

Suppose that you need to explain the concepts of a year, a month, and a day to a small child such as Clara. Could you do this? First, you should know a couple of things about Clara:

1. She is extremely smart for just turning three years old (I know that you're thinking, "Hmm..... she must get her intellect from her mother." Well, you're right.) Clara will follow your line of thought quite well.
   
2. If you use the terms rotation, revolution, orbit, or any other term used specifically for astronomy, she might not know exactly what it means (Many adults wouldn't know what the terms mean either.) Be sure to explain these things as you go.
3. It would help if you related these concepts to things a 3-year-old would know about -- like Disney movies, Elmo from Sesame Street, Lego Duplo, Clifford the big red dog, etc.
   

For each concept (year, month, and day) describe the motion of the Earth, the moon, and the sun. Good luck.

Snow Day Lesson

Since we have not been able to meet for the past couple of days, I made a video that covers some of the concepts we could have been learning..... Stay safe in the cold weather.

I'd also like to notify you that another Ediscio cardbox has been created and assigned to you. Feel free to sign in to your account and mark these cards for learning.

Success

What is the secret? Please fill out the following questionairre.

Geology VoiceThread

I think this might be our most creative VoiceThread of the school year so far. There were a lot of comments that were worthy of being included, but fewer were chosen to stay. Nice work, Crazy 8s. Viewers of this VoiceThread presentation should be able to have a pretty good understanding of what we have learned about during the Geology portion of the class.

Earthquake!

Earthquakes have had quite an impact on our society in the past, and they will continue to have that Earth-shattering (literally!) impact in the future. It is highly unlikely that any of us have physically experienced one of these natural disasters, and I hope that none of us ever will. What do you think it would be like to experience a Great Quake? What would you do? How would you feel about the total loss of control in the situation? Today, you will learn about some of the Great Quakes in history. Through first-hand accounts of people who were fortunate to live through a large earthquake, you will get a chance to learn about what it was like to experience one of these historical natural disasters. The details for today's activity are found here.

In your blog response, remember to answer TWO of the three choices. As always, I look forward to reading what is written!

a. What was the most memorable story, image, or fact about the earthquake you researched? Why?
b. What do you think it was like to live through the earthquake you researched?
c. Have you ever experienced another natural disaster, such as a tornado, hurricane, severe thunderstorm, or flood? Create your own personal recollection of living through the destruction that event caused.