Ms. LaFontaine

Welcome!

Welcome to 6th grade Science!!  It is great getting to know all the new faces this year.  We will be learning Earth science, which includes rocks, volcanoes, tornados, space, etc.  You need to come each day ready to learn. 

Supplies needed:  3 subject spiral notebook and either a science section in a big binder or a small science notebook.  Get whichever works for you.  You will also need index cards, at least 200 for your vocab words. 

Attached ehre is the syllabus for the year.  Please sign it and bring it back.  I will give it out in class tomorrow.  Download Syllabus1112 

 

It is going to be a great year!!!

Friday

Today we practiced taking our own notes on Ocean currents and Climate.  We finished with a video of the ocean by Bill Nye. 

QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1:  ocean composition (13-1), ocean topography (13-2) and currents and climate (14-1,2). 

NEW TEST DATE OF FEB. 7:  Water cycle, groundwater, oceans, currents, waves, tides

Tuesday

This week we are learning about the ocean.  We began reading ch. 13, sec 1 and 2 and will continue in ch. 14, sec 1, 2, 3.  We are doing a lab today on the density of ocean water. 

HW:  finish reading ch. 13, sec 2 and finish the seafloor drawing:  color, label, define terms on back

TENTATIVE TEST DATE:  Feb. 3, vocab due Feb. 3. (see words on Jan. 10 blog)

Wednesday

Today we had our writing test and will be finishing up on water tomorrow with a lab.  Next we will move on to the ocean in ch. 13, sec. 1 and 2 and ch. 14, sec 1-4.

I found a great study site.  It is called Study Blue.  You can make flashcards for your vocab words and add pictures and everything.  You can also study with it and it keeps track of your progress!  Here is a link:

http://www.studyblue.com/#

Thursday

We have kicked off our water unit with a competition between "tribes".  We are playing Survivor!!! Groups will have immunity challenges and reward challenges to compete for points as they learn about water and the ocean.  The tribes work together to learn the material and help each other learn it.  This is a very effective strategy for learning, and the game makes it more engaging for an everyday subject like water.

Parents:  Part of the fun of this is winning points and prizes.  At the end there will be a Super Duper Survivor Prize Package that will be given to the winning team from all 4 classes.  The top tribe in each class will win a class prize and then will be entered into a drawing for the Super Duper Prize Package.  I would be extremely grateful for anything you could donate to this cause.  There will be no more than 5 students in the group.  Suggestions are:  $5 Target gift card, bag of candy, little $ store treats, etc.  Any help would be appreciated.  I am already providing rewards along the way.  Thanks for you help.

Tuesday

Welcome back!! I hope you all had a very nice, relaxing break.  We will be jumping into our water/ocean unit beginning tomorrow.  It will cover  parts of ch. 11, ch. 13 and ch. 14.  We will be learning about the water cycle, ocean floor, ocean water, currents and waves.

Vocab for this unit will be due the week of 1/27.  Here are the words:

infiltration, evaporation, condensation, transpiration, precipitation, conservation, runoff, groundwater, aquifer, gravity, permeable, water cycle, wave, continental shelf, continental slope, abyssal plain, sea mount, salinity, oceanography, water table, surface current, deep ocean current

Tuesday

We began working on our water unit yesterday with Science Seekers on Safe Water.  We will finish that up tomorrow and do a webquest in the computer lab. 

 Use this link for the webquest:  http://www.discoverwater.org/

http://www.projectwet.org/use-project-wet/children-water-games/water-festival-game/ 

Grades are up to date.  There is one more lab grade to go in this week.  That will be the last one.

Have a wonderful and restful break!  Go out and play and enjoy the sunshine!

Mrs. LaFontaine

Thursday

TOMORROW IS THE VOCAB TEST!!!! STUDY!!!

We will be starting our water unit next week.  It will cover chapters:  11 and 13.

Wednesday

For those who are working on the PowerPoint presentation for your project.  Here are a few sites for you.

 

Iceland:  http://www.platetectonics.com/oceanfloors/iceland.asp

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_are_the_Icelandic_volcanoes_related_to_plate_tectonics

http://www.scienceisforeveryone.com/Plate%20Tectonics%20-%2016%20to%2020%20Final.pdf

Galapagos:  http://people.rit.edu/rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/Vulcanism2.html

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_17.asp

The Alps:  http://boingboing.net/2009/12/16/why-are-the-alps-are.html

http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/geology/platetectonics/alps.htm

Banos, Ecuador:

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_17.asp

http://www.ecuador-travel.net/andes.volcano.htm

http://www.planetdiary.com/archive11/geos1011011.html

http://info4volcanos.blogspot.com/2011/04/ecuador-cordillera-oriental-tungurahua.html

 

Hope this helps.

Tuesday

Worked more on our Summative Think Tac Toe project today.  We will go over Seafloor Spreading some more tomorrow.  Then, continue on with the project.

WE WILL HAVE A QUIZ ON PLATE TECTONICS ON TUESDAY!!  Look over your notes and labs and organizers from density, continental drift, plate tectonics, seafloor spreading, subduction, earthquakes and volcanoes.

Monday

Today, we wrapped up our learning on volcanoes and began working on our summative projects for Plate Tectonics.  This will be a test/project grade and will be  done in class.  This will be over all of our Plate Tectonics unit.

Once again, here are my vocabulary words for this units:  Mid ocean ridge, trench, subduction , seafloor spreading, magma, Plate etheory, volcanoes, earthquakes,  rind og fire, crust,mantle, outer core, inner core, lithosphere, asthenosphere, composition, convection current, Continental Drift Theory, Pangaea, transform boundary, convergent boundary, divergent boundary, faults.

REMINDER:  VOCAB TEST IS DEC. 16!!!