Blog Archives

Super Volcanoes with Richard Chapman

10/28/2014

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Super Volcano!

There are over 1,500 active volcanoes in the world.
Japan has more than 100 volcanoes. A volcano went off in Japan without any warning.
Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. Hydrothermal energy is the action of hot water in the earths crust.
A volcano is a rupture in the Earth's crust allowing hot gases, lava, and ash to escape.
Mt. St Helen is in Washington.
Yellowstone is a super volcano.
The magma chamber below Yellowstone is twice as big as the thought it was.
The tectonic plates move, which then causes mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, hydrothermal, and geothermal activity.
The water at Yellowstone boils.
Snow and rain go down and gets warmed by the magma and is pushed back up.
It takes four thousand years to go down and come back up.
The plates collide and make us move about the size of a thumbnail each year.
The cone is made bigger as the lava flows because when the lava cools its turned into rocks.
Yellowstone is an active volcano because it still has geothermal and hydrothermal activity.
When the plates collide and one plate goes under another in the sea it takes a lot of water with it, creating lots of steam.
Airplanes cannot fly through an ash cloud because it would be like flying through sand, it could fail the engine, and scratch up the windshield.
When rocks come out of a volcano they are igneous rocks.
Obsidian is volcanic glass. It is slightly harder than window glass. The Indians used to use it for arrowheads.
More of the Earth's surface is made of basalt than anything else.
The rock's holes were caused by hot gasses escaping as it flew through the air.
The rock that has a layer over layer shows the ashes from the volcano.
The cone of the volcano is under pressure and when it blows the cone comes back leaving a crater called a caldera.
The hot springs can create mud pots.
Submarine volcano creates islands and underwater mountain ranges.
They used obsidian because it was hard and extremely sharp.
Some advantages of geothermal and hydrothermal because it can warm an entire town, the problem is that there isn't many places where you can use them and that they can just run out of steam.

Here is a mud pot

Obsidian Arrowheads

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Art Appreciation: Andy Warhol

10/21/2014

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Although best known for his silkscreen paintings, Andy Warhol was also an excellent draughtsman. Drawing was a constant part of his artistic practice. As a child he took classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art, and he won several awards for drawings he produced in high school. At Carnegie Institute for Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), where Warhol earned a degree in pictorial design, his offbeat, nontraditional and sometimes irreverent drawing style did not always meet his professors’ academic standards. At one point they forced him to do extra work over the summer to remain in good standing at school. Upon graduation, Warhol moved to New York to begin his commercial design career.
In the 1950s Warhol used a “blotted line” technique to develop a signature style for his illustrations. Blotted line combines drawing with very basic printmaking, and it enabled Warhol to create a variety of illustrations along a similar theme. The process had many complex components. First, Warhol copied a line drawing onto a piece of non-absorbent paper, such as tracing paper. Next he hinged this piece of paper to a second sheet of more absorbent paper by taping their edges together on one side. With a nib pen, he inked over a small section of the drawn lines. He then transferred the ink onto the second sheet by folding along the hinge and lightly pressing or “blotting” the two papers together. Larger drawings were made in sections, and completing a large blotted line drawing took time and multiple pressings. The process resulted in the dotted, broken and delicate lines that are characteristic of Warhol’s illustrations. Warhol often colored his blotted line drawings with watercolor dyes or applied gold leaf. He also used hand-carved rubber stamps to create patterns. He employed all of these techniques in his burgeoning success as a commercial illustrator such as his award-winning and whimsical designs for I Miller shoes or the high end leather company Fleming Joffe. During the decade he also filled many sketchbooks with freehand drawings—mostly done in ballpoint pen—of friends and still-life objects. Wild Raspberries and A Gold Book are two books of drawings from this era.
While making a name for himself in New York, Warhol participated in the exciting metropolitan cultural life of the city. Despite his success as a commercial artist, Warhol longed to be known as a fine artist. He went to dance and opera performances, galleries, museums, and the New York Public Library, where he researched images that he later transformed in his work. In 1956, he left the United States for the first time and traveled around the world—visiting Japan, Cambodia, India, Egypt and Italy. After this enlightening experience, Warhol decided that his ambitions exceeded the bounds of the commercial art world. For the first time since his student years, he returned to painting on canvas. He began to make friends in the contemporary art world of downtown Manhattan—this scene embraced new forms of all arts, including dance, performance and film.
Read more at warhol.org: http://www.warhol.org/collection/art/earlywork/#ixzz3GoHAcfVW
Read more at warhol.org: http://www.warhol.org/collection/art/earlywork/#ixzz3GoH39njF
Read more at warhol.org: http://www.warhol.org/collection/art/earlywork/#ixzz3GoGseIHo

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Why Do Leaves Change Colors?

10/20/2014

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Historical Reenactment Reflection

10/9/2014

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Zebadiah (Zeb): He was a patriot. His job was a Carpenter. He would shape and carve wood to make a cooper to store beer.
Molly Brandt: She was Neutral In the war. She was the head-clanmother. She was a spy for both sides.
Charles Walker:He was neutral because he was a land agent and he doesn't care who you are he is selling land to you. He would give deeds to people and the land surveyor would most of the rest.
Captain John Parke: Was a land surveyor and in the war he would watch who the Indians were siding with. He would measure land and used to tally markers to see were he has been.
Lean and Catherine Dubious: Their job was to make the clothing for the boys and the girls in the clan. Thy would make a type of waistband that was made out of whale baleen and helped people have better Posture. She was a patriot. Boys would wear dresses when they were little. Her husband was a linen merchant.
Captain Peter Smith: His job was to be the chief of the scouts, but he would not go scouting he would just recruit people. He was a patriot. What he was looking for in a scout was: 1. Where did you see 2. Who did you see 3. When did you see.
Mistress Maclean: She was Neutral but wants to be more of a patriot. She was the local Innkepper in the hotel. She was the eyes and ears of the village. She would report anything interesting that she heard or saw.
Janette Lundoll: She was a patriot. Her job was a spinner. She was adobted at age 7. She used combs and carters to clean and straighten wool. She also used dye to color the wool. She also raised sheep.
Joseph O'Fallon: His job was a fur trader. He fought for Scotland. He was an Irishmen instead of a loyalist or patriot. He would get the furs from native americans. He was a beaver fur trader. He would wear sashes to survive from gut movement. Canoes were used to transfer furs. Fur traders would carry two knives.
Captain Angus McClain: He was a loyalist. He was a cabinmaker and he would work with wood. He used a tomahawk to cut wood. He used knife, but some officers had 4 pistols.

Historical reenactments are valuable because kids get to learn in a fun way, instead of reading from a textbook. Learning from a historical reenactment is a fun way for kids to learn. Kids don't remember when they read from a boring book. They choose to remember when they are having fun.

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Historical Reenactment Preparation

10/9/2014

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I look forward to meeting Joseph O'Fallon, the trapper. He doesn't like the British and will fight for the Americans if another war comes. He has a small trapline, and he does some trading with the local tribes. He used to fight for the French but when the British won he became an enemy of the british.

I look forward to meeting Janette Lundahl, the spinner. I look forward to meeting her because she joined a group of patriot women. She and her husband don't grow cotton because it is too laborious and they don't have any slaves. Instead of cotton she is learning how to spin hemp fibers into thread.

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Rube Goldberg Invention

10/5/2014

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The Rube Goldberg machine takes something as simple as feeding a cat, and turns it into a complex machine that's only purpose is to feed the cat. This Rube Goldberg will feed a hungry cat.

The numbers in this graphic organizer connect to the numbers in the drawing on the left.

Reflections

1. What was the most surprising thing you learned about energy during this entire unit? Why was it surprising?

2. What was your favorite part of this energy unit? Why was it your favorite?

3. Where is energy found?

4. How would you define energy?

I learned that heat energy goes into colder things. It was surprising because I used to think the opposite, that the cold would go into warm things.
My favorite part of the energy lessons was finding the eight forms of energy around Westgate. It was my favorite part because we got to walk around school looking for things.
Energy is found everywhere. If it moves it's motion energy, if it falls it's gravitational. If it makes noise it's sound. If it uses the sun's light it's solar energy, and so on.
I would define energy as something that makes things move, that makes things make noises, Everything has potential energy. I would define it as something that makes the world work

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