Minor Details - September 21

September 21 - 25, 2020

Introduction to Ecosystems

Today we considered what it means to be a "living thing". We started by having a discussion about whether things like fire, air and seeds are alive. You can find the presentation we watched here.

We also read about the volcanic eruption of Mt Krakatoa in 1883 and discussed how it was possible that living things somehow survived the massive eruption. You can find the article we read in the Science section of our Google classroom.

It is interesting to make the connection between Mount Krakatoa and what we've been learning in geography about subduction plate boundaries around the Pacific Rim.

Challenge - Using Graphs to Determine Equations

We challenge you to use this graph (see image right) to determine the equation that represents this pattern! Do you know the value of y when x = 50?

Take some time to talk about this at home!

Food Separator Procedural Instructions - First Draft

Before we started work writing instructions to build our food separators, we looked at some instructions on ifixit.com to see how they use similar criteria to ours in order to create excellent, easy-to-use instructions.

Each one of us is using the criteria with our own unique style to write instructions (see images below). We have 3 more class periods to test our instructions and use feedback to make improvements. The final copy of instructions is due at the end of the period on Monday September 28.

Patterns, Equations & Graphs

We are exploring patterns and creating equations ("rules") to model relationships. In the past few days, we have working with real life relationships in addition to patterns of tiles. Today we started graphing relationships to compare what the lines for different equations look like (see images below).

Procedural Instructions

There are few things more frustrating that trying to follow bad instructions. Take these instructions for using chopsticks (see image above right).

Today we developed criteria for writing excellent procedural instructions (see image below right). Our first task will be to use these criteria to write instructions to get from our class to the office. We will also try out our skills writing instructions to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Our culminating task will be to write excellent procedural instructions for someone to build our food separators.

Gizmos - Plate Tectonics

Sometimes you just can't investigate something at school. Plate tectonics is one of those things.

We are using the interactive Gizmos simulations at www.explorelearning.com to investigate what happens at each of the 4 types of plate boundaries.

To check our understanding, we'll have a quiz on plate tectonics on Wednesday, Sept 25

Cornell Notes

Today we discussed the fact that most days we are expected to take notes, but most of us have never been taught how to take notes! The result? Our notes are often disorganized, missing important information and difficult to read. This makes it virtually impossible to effectively use our notes for review and study.

A professor at Cornell University discovered the same thing about his students several years ago. He designed a system of note-taking that has been proven to help students take better notes.

We will be using an adapted version of Cornell notes for all our classes this year (see image to the right).

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