Dear Crazy 8 Class of 2016,

Just now it is starting to hit me that school will be done for the year tomorrow. Holy cow. Maybe it was seeing many of you at the awards ceremony tonight. I saw a group of young people that had grown (mentally, emotionally, physically), not only throughout this 8th grade year, but all three of your years at Memorial.
Time goes really fast, in case you were not aware of that. Time to reflect is valuable, and we'll get to do that tomorrow, but it won't be long at all before your next challenges are here. It will be awesome to see you all meet those challenges, whatever they might be. Work hard. Have fun. Be a good friend. Be nice to your parents (Gasp!). Oh, and don't pretend that you're too cool to say "hi" to me when you see me around.
Sincerely, Mr. Hoegh

PS. When Clara, Elsie, and I were at awards night eating cookies outside, we found the missing film canister from our GPS contest. It was hidden by the time capsule in a bush. I'm about to figure out if the results will change. Oh, the suspense!

Essay and End-of-the-Year Form

The essay: Choose one activity from this year and identify the steps of the scientific method that were included in the activity. Be sure to include an activity that involved all of the steps.
Answer this in a comment, and you won't have to complete the same science essay tomorrow.

GPS Contest 2012

That was pretty fun wasn't it? I enjoyed watching each team in action on Thursday. The weather was awesome. So many of the groups did very well, and every one of the film canisters was found...... eventually. I commend all the teams for their hard work. Here are the results from the 2012 GPS Contest: GPS Final Standings 2012
Period 3: We had a tie at the top. Congratulations go to the Polka-dotted Penguins and the Lumpin' Llamas.
Period 4: The Gavinators narrowly edged Team Commando by one point. Bravo, Gavinators.
Period 6: Team Awesome took down the rest of period six. The name fits, I guess.
Period 8: Pie and Waffle Bosses were victorious. The closest competitor, J3, was only two points behind.
Feel free to leave comments that you have about the GPS contest. How was your experience? Were there any waypoints that you just couldn't seem to find? What was the best strategy? If you had to do the contest again, what would you change?

Severe Weather Form and Review

We will take the Quarter 4 Post-test next Monday. The rest of today will be reviewing for it. Here are some ways in which you can do this:

1. Ediscio: Sign in and go through the cardboxes having to do with meteorology and oceanography. Those include “Fronts and Air Masses”, “Greenhouse Effect”, “Humidity”, “Layers of the Atmosphere”, “Ocean Currents”, “Pressure”, and “Wind”.
2. Weather Jeopardy: Go to the student shared folder -- “8th Grade Science”. Open up the “Weather Jeopardy” powerpoint and try your best to become victorious.

Severe Weather Project

Severe weather can be fascinating. But what causes each form of severe weather? What makes it so fascinating? What can people do to protect themselves? It will be your job to figure out the answers to these questions, and then present on this in the form of a VoiceThread, Prezi, Fakebook page, Google Presentation, Easel.ly Infographic, or SlideRocket. With your group, you will be researching your specific type of severe weather. By the end of Wednesday you will have prepared your presentation. Here is a list of websites where you might possibly find information on severe weather. I'm sure you could find others as well.

ALL: Atmospheric Science Resources
Ask the Experts
NOAA Education Resources 
How Stuff Works
Natural Disaster Sites

Blizzards: Blizzard of Oz sites

Floods: Floods before and after

Tornadoes: Best Tornado sites Severe Weather Slideshow from April 17
Airplanes and Weather: USA Today: Airplanes and Weather What Causes Turbulence? Hurricane Pilots Planes and Ice Aviation Weather

Rain Shadow of the Himalayas

The picture above is a satellite view of the Tibetan plateau, found north of the Himalayas. The green land to the south of the Himalayan mountains is India, which receives enough precipitation to support a tropical rainforest. North of the mountain range you can see a great plains region and the Gobi Desert; areas that receive very little rainfall. How can we account for such a change in the amount of precipitation each place receives? The short answer is "rain shadow", and it happens in the United States as well. It is largely the reason that Western South Dakota receives approximately 5 less inches of rain per year than we do here in Sioux Falls.
In your response on Classmarker (it will be on the Fronts and Air Masses Standard Check), explain what happens to the air mass that initially forms over the Indian Ocean as it travels north. Why does this process leave so much precipitation on the south (windward) side of the Himalayas, and hardly any to the north of them?
Note: You should answer this question on Classmarker. It will be worth 4 points.

Relative Humidity Data Results

View Relative Humidity Lab - Spring 2012 in a larger map Click on each placemark to find the average relative humidities from all of the data samples taken on Monday. Are there any patterns? Compare the inside locations to the outside locations -- that's one pattern I saw. In fact, the four highest relative humidity values were from inside the school. What might have caused this? There could be many factors that would influence our numbers. Please explain. Don't run away from the struggle.