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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Day 17 & 18 Ecology


September 16th and 19th, 2011: Days 17, 18





Field Trip: Cathance River Education Alliance, Topsham Maine

http://creamaine.org/

Sophie’s Blog: Tell us about the walk we took on Friday and what we did, saw, and learned. Write 20 good sentences.



This afternoon, this afternoon was a special afternoon. It was a warm Friday afternoon in late summer, and we went on a walk and learned all about ecosystems (and mushrooms). Today we decided to go on a nature walk at CREA. CREA stands for Cathance River Education alliance. We started off walking on the Heath trail and we saw a small vernal pool and we sat down and talked about its ecosystem. We saw tons of frogs including a super huge one. We then kept walking and saw some liken, Mom told me what liken was and we kept looking for different types of it. We walked in to a big vernal pool with a dock were we saw people, we walked over and they asked us if we would like to set free a turtle. We said yes, so the man brought out the turtle and let us hold it. We set it off into the vernal pool and it went and hid from us. We looked at the ecosystem for the big vernal pool and the lady was impressed with us. So she invited us in to the ecology center and we learned more about liken. We left the ecology center and went back on the Heath trail home. Mom told me all about mushrooms and we probably saw and touched 50 different mushrooms. Like I said it was a special afternoon!







Mushy

Ugly

Soft

Hard

Rocky

Obese

Optimistic

Muggy


Never eat mushrooms,

Or you’ll have to use the flush-room!


Mushrooms can be brown, Mushrooms can be yella, I hope I don’t get Salmonella

6 x 6 written by Sophie using this book: Earth-Shaking Science Projects About Planet Earth by Robert Gardener

Vocabulary

1. Evidence:  That which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief

2. Pangea: The hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined about 300 million years ago

3. Plates: Parts of Earth’s crust that can move

4. Volcanoes: A vent in the Earth’s crust which lava, steam, ashes, ect., are expelled , either continuously or at irregular intervals

5. Mantle: the portion of the earth, about 1800 miles (2900 km) thick, between the crust and the core

6. Earthquakes: a series of vibrations induced in the earth's crust by the abrupt rupture and rebound of rocks in which elastic strain has been slowly accumulating

Sentences

1. When people first started to think the Earth was round they needed more evidence so Aristotle took a sphere and a lantern in a dark room and proved that a sphere only made a round shadow, than during an eclipse the Earth made a round shadow on the moon proving the Earth’s sphere shape.

2.  Pangea was a continent that existed a long time ago when all present continents were joined.

3. Plates are parts of Earth’s crust that can move and form mountains and hills.

4. A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust that allows magma to reach earth’s surface.

5. The mantle is the layer of heavy rocks under Earth’s crust.

6. An Earthquake is caused by the movements of plates; I bet there were a lot of Earth quakes back when the continents were forming the mountains and hills.

*Sophie, name and describe the 3 experiments in the book you want to do and explain why?

1. Other Evidence for a round Earth, I want to do this experiment because I think it sounds interesting to pretend to be Aristotle and prove the Earth is round

2. Earths moving continents, I want do this experiment because I want to see how we got our continents and everything

3. Earthquakes, I want to do this experiment because it teaches you how to build buildings to resist earthquakes, Lily might need this information in the future

Details/ Facts

1. Mount St. Helens, in the state of Washington, erupted violently in 1980

2. An earthquake in 1989 damaged buildings in San Francisco, California

3. Once there was a fence built across the San Andreas fault in California. It was straight when built but when the land moved part of the fence went with it

4. The Great Rift Valley in Eastern Africa marks a boundary between two of Earth’s plates

5. When Australia became a separate continent, its mammals were mostly marsupials

6. Earth is nicknamed a “beautiful blue marble floating in space”

Questions

1. What is lava? A: Magma that has flowed on to the Earth’s surface

2. How do you build buildings to resist earthquakes? A: You put building of the same height at different distances from the epicenter

3. How do mountains form? A: When two plates of land come together they can form a mountain

4. Which two continents do geologists and biologists think were the first to separate? A: South America and Africa

5. Who is Aristotle? A: The man that said only a sphere can make a round shadow which helped us discover the Earth’s shape

6. What are the layers of the Earth? A:crust, upper mantle, mantle, outer core, inner core, core

Math

*Look back through the book and give me 6 examples in the experiments where you use math

1. Other evidence for a round earth: you use math in this experiment because you have to use geometry to see how the Earth is round

2. Three layers of the Earth: you use math for this experiment because you have to measure with measuring cups how much water you put in

3. Earths moving continents: you use math for this experiment when you trace the continents to see the angles of the continents

4. Other plate movements: You use math for this experiment when you see how far away the plates need to be from each other

5. Volcanoes: You use math in this experiment because you need to see how much baking soda you have to use to make the “lava” come out

 6. Inside Earth: You use math to see how the mantle and the core are not the same thing

Current Events

*Find currents events about the Earth (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, etc.) Write the headline, read at least the first 3 paragraphs, and copy link.

1. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/

2. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

3. http://www.volcanolive.com/news.html

4. http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano_news.html

5. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/10/501364/main20041987.shtml


 Picture of back pond:


Ecosystem Observation Worksheet         Front Pond

Date:     09/19/11                                                                              Season: Fall

Time of observation:      4:00                                        Duration of observation: 20 mins

1.       List three details or parts of the ecosystem you are observing:

Waterfall: faster than normal, fish, rocks, algae in whirlpool at top and on rocks

Cattail: starting to fall, changing color, some strands in the water

Socks (fish): skinny, bog orange bump over head, still and deep, interacting with other fish, hid under rock



2.       What did you notice or observe?

The waterfall gives the fish oxygen, the fish eat the cattail, the waterfall gives clean water to the cattail, the fish eat the algae off the pump for the waterfall and the cattail attracts the algae from the pump to make the waterfall faster




3.       What elements (weather, temperature, light, etc.) affected the ecosystem during your observation?

Shade on pond, cool temperature outside, cold water temperature, slight wind, sun the distance



4.       What things changed since the last time you observed the ecosystem?

Since summer:  the fish were skinnier, the waterfall was faster (less algae), the plants sere small, the water was warmer, and there was a lot less algae on the rocks




5.       What changes do you expect to happen to the ecosystem before your next observation?

The water will be even colder, the plants will be more titled and brown, and the fish will be deeper and slower





6.       On back, draw part of the ecosystem (can be specific detail, food web, metamorphosis chart, picture):

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