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Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?

3/30/2016

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My Ecosystem:

Vocabulary For This Lesson:

Questions

What do living things get from their ecosystems?
What evidence do you have to support your answer to Question 1?
What does the term ecosystem mean, based on your experience in this lesson? (Don't use the definition from the BIG IDEA here. Put it into your own words.)
Brainstorm at least one question you have about Ecosystems that you hope you learn from this unit.
Look at the image below that shows a portion of a forest ecosystem. Name at least five components (living or non-living things) of the ecosystem that you can either observe directly or infer.
What are three (or more) interactions that might occur in this portion of the forest ecosystem?

Answers

Living things get food, water, and a home in their ecosystems.
If a squirrel lives in a tree in a certain ecosystem, that tree will provide acorns (which is food to them), and a home. And water will be provided from rain.
Ecosystem means that living things and nonliving things live in harmony in an small or bigger area. This term also means that living things use non living things to thrive.
My question is what is the maximum for how big an ecosystem can be?
Some of the components are the trees, the deer, the water, the grass, and the rocks.
Some of the interactions might be that the deer will drink the water, squirrels might pick acorns in the trees, and fish in the pond might get eaten by other fish

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Lesson 1: What Do We Notice About Poetry? Lesson 1: What Do We Notice About Poetry?

3/29/2016

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How does the poem look on the page?

The poem sort of looks like a kite because when you ride a skateboard, sort of you feel like your flying! It also looks like a face because the head is like the engine of the skateboard.
This poem is shaped the way it is because at certain places, there should be pauses. Like when the author says "drawn to our light,

What is the poem about?
What is its subject?

I think it's about a little boy or girl realizing that they are in control of the skateboard. The subject is realizing that you are in control of your own self.
I think this poem is about how enchanting it is to be with your family. I could also mean that summer is a magical time and creatures are very intriguing. The subject is magic in a metaphor.

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Human Body Research Paper

3/29/2016

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Introduction To Human Body Research Paper:

Did you know that our bodies create about a gallon of mucus in just two days! I do. In fact, I know a lot of other interesting information about the human body, and YOU WILL TOO if you read my paper. Within this document, you will find six different body systems essays including focus on the muscular, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems, which all work together to operate our body. All the these systems have different components, each with their own unique functions that help us survive. However, each system cannot operate alone - they need each other to be successful. For example, the nutrients gathered by the digestive system get distributed throughout the body in the circulatory system! Over the previous 12 weeks, we gathered information, organized our thoughts, and paraphrased what trusted websites taught us about each system. We worked with responsibility partners and our papers definitely benefited from the collaboration. Just like each human body system needs to rely on the other systems, we relied on each other to improve our writing and our process. The following is the result of our hard work...

Skeletal System:

    Our skeletal system is made of 206 bones. These bones together provide our body with support so that we can stand, help us to move so we can walk around, and protect our vital organs like our heart and our brain! Our bones even make and store blood cells for our circulatory system! Without our bones, we would be nothing more than a pile of skin, organs, and muscles on the floor. We wouldn’t be able to move and our organs wouldn’t be safe!

    Our bones are made up of many different layers. These layers are important because we need our ones to be strong, yet lightweight. In order to achieve this goal, the outside layer of bone is made up of solid, compact bone that makes our bones strong or dense. The next layer of bone is called cancerous bone (a.k.a. spongy bone). This layer allows our bones to be lightweight and transitions us from compact bone into bone marrow. Bone marrow is a thick and spongy section in the middle of bone where red and white blood cells are formed. Finally our bones are all covered in a thin membrane called peritoneum which is where our muscles attach to bones. So that is how bones are structured in order to keep our bodies strong, yet lightweight!

    Although bones are extremely important, we wouldn’t be able to move without joints...

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6 - What is Mars Like?

3/16/2016

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List potential problems as you read about them in your book. Also be thinking about other problems not mentioned that we should be considering.

It might get very cold because Mars is farther away from the Sun than Earth is.
We might not hit Mars, or we might not be able to be pulled into the atmosphere.
There will be low gravity on Mars, so we will have to adapt to our new weight.
There are no oceans on Mars! So we don't have a good water supply!
There are huge and dangerous land forms, so it will be very hard to travel across it, and we will have to watch out for the volcano!
There are sand dunes on Mars. But Mars is really windy so there will probably be lots of dust storms which are very dangerous!
Water in Mars is deep down in the surface that we will have to find!
Mars' atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide, and if we breathe it in, we die! You will suffocate if you breathe carbon dioxide in!
If you are exposed to Mars' are, you will explode because it will push out our bodies, and we will have to say in our suits.
Mars is very cold and we need to stay warm because we are humans!
Mars' dust is made of rust which means we can choke! If we get our lungs clogged up, we will die!
Mars is constantly zapped with deadly radiation! We can get cancer from this and die!
There are no plants on Mars so no oxygen can be produced! And no big animals or big plants can survive!
We won't be able to eat meat because we can't bring big animals on Mars. And we can't bring to many animals.
There are very harsh deserts.

Write a journal entry about what you learned from the perspective of your persona. Be "in character" while writing and express some of your concerns & worries in your writing.

Include some of the other personas in your writing to make it feel more real. Publish live and then comment on others' writing.

OMG! I can't believe this could happen on Mars! Now I really don't want to go, but I have to. I really don't wanna die! I have a family for heaven's sake!

I have already made friends with Zuzanna, Ingrid, and Chloe'! I don't want them to die either! I thought this opportunity was going to be great, but apparently I can die from it!

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5 - What Should We Bring? What Will We Make When We Get There?

3/7/2016

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Personal Supplies:

Work Supplies:

Iphone
Picture of Family
Kindle
Spare Glasses
Head Bands
PreWrap
Coloring Book
Crayons or Drawing Utensils
Mars Proof Case
Headphones
Charger
Basketball
Softball Glove
Softball

Cook Book
Mixer
Whisk
Spoons
Forks
Knives
Cutting Boards
Ladle
Pans
Colander
Oven
Plates
Refrigerator
Oven Mits
Fryer
Cups
Pitcher
Bowls
Sink

Questions:

Answers:

1. Choose 2 personal items to explain why your choosing them.
2. Explain how you plan to use the work supplies.

1.
I am bringing a picture of my family because on the rocket and on Mars, I might get homesick and want to remember that my family misses me. I am also bringing spare glasses because glasses break very easily and I don't want to break them and just not be able to see!
2.
I plan to use the cook book by using recipes out of it. I will use the mixer to maybe make some dinner and maybe some treats. It will just be a way to make things more delicious. I will also use the whisk to make things that need to be well mixed, but without the extra step. I will need the spoons because I might make a soup, or something that needs a spoon to be eaten. I will also need forks and knifes to cut up food, and to eat it. If I make waffles we will cut them with a knife, then eaten with a fork. I will need the cutting boards because some fruits and veggies are messy and need a really hard surface to be cut. The cutting board will solve these problems. I will use the ladle for soup if I make any, which I probably will for its healthy and easy. The pans will help me make lots of meals and desserts with it. Maybe cooked veggies or something. I will use the colander to make noodles because they are an easy thing to make. I will also need a oven to cook everything and possibly maybe some art that someone created. I will need plates to serve all of the meals I cook. The crew doesn't want to eat their meal without a plate! I will need a refrigerator because some foods spoil if they can't be keepin cool, so I need a refrigerator. I will also need oven mitts because when I take things out of the oven, I don't want to burn my hands! I will need a fryer because some foods require to be fried. Or if I can make a new meal, I can use the fryer. I will need cups for serving drinks because you need a cup, or glass to hold liquid. So then I will obviously need a pitcher so I can pour drinks, but make it easier on myself. I will also need bowls to hold foods that pile like a mountain, or for even cereal! Bowls will just make life easier! The final things I will need is a sink. I will need one because I need to wash dishes, and it also gives water, which is needed to survive!

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14 - How Our Muscles Know When to Move

3/2/2016

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Questions:

How did your body respond when the ball of paper was thrown at you?
How would this reflex protect your eyes if the transparency had not been there?

Answers:

1. When the crumpled up paper hit the transparent sheet, I blinked and I'm pretty sure I smiled and laughed at how fun this experiment was! My body also flinched when the noise of the ball hit the sheet. It is so cool that so much can happen in a matter of seconds.
2. The reflex would protect my eyes because it can keep things out of your eyes. If this reflex didn't exist, chemicals and bad substances might get into our eyes! The eyelashes help because they can feel things that are heading towards the eyes.

My Eye In The Dark

Questions:

1. Can you feel it when your pupils dilate?
2. Do you have any control over your pupils when they dilate?
3. What do we call this when a reflex happens without our control?
4. Why do our pupils get bigger in the dark and smaller in the light?
5. How does this reflex protect our eyes?

My eye while in the light

Answers:

1. No, I could not feel my pupils dilate, but since the light was off, I saw things in a darker manner. The eyes dilated, which means they got bigger, to take in more light.
2. No you don't because when it gets dark, your eyes automatically dilate. The only way you can sort of control it is turning the lights off.
3. A reflex that we can't control is called an involuntary reflex, like an involuntary muscle.
4. They get bigger in the dark because we need to absorb more light to see in the dark, and in the light, we don't need as much light because it is already there.
5. This reflex protects our eyes because if our pupils were really big in the light, we might go blind because we would have to much light in our eyes. If our eyes were small in the dark we, it would be the exact opposite. We wouldn't be able to see very well because it would be so dark. This reflex balances our eyes and helps us live!

Sense of Sight

Sense of Hearing

Questions:

Was it more difficult to catch the ruler using one of the senses as compared to the other? Explain.
How could you use only the sense of smell to catch the ruler?
How could you use only the sense of taste to catch the ruler?
Explain how your senses, nerves, brain, and muscles in your fingers helped you to catch the ruler for one of the senses explored. Use pages 17-23 of your student reference book to help you.
Do you think the nervous system responded to catching the ruler and blinking in the same way? Why or why not? Were the senses used in both? Were muscles used in both? Did you have to think about both actions?

Answers:

Using the sense of sight was harder than using the sense of hearing! My prediction is that sense sound travels really fast, that is why, my nerves reacted quicker to it.
You could find an smelly object, like a mint, and when your partner smells the aroma, you could drop the ruler.
You could take out an candy or edible item and your partner could eat it. When they slip it into their mouth, you could drop the ruler.
They helped me catch the ruler because when my partner told me what he was going to do when he dropped the ruler, the brain sends messages to all the nerves and when that action happens, you catch the ruler.
I do not think that the nervous system responded the same to both reactions. I think this because when I blinked, it was a reflex to protect my eyes, but the catching the ruler was a fun activity that could be a game, not a reflex that protects us. The blinking was a involuntary reflex and catching the ruler was not an involuntary system. The senses both used in these actions is sight because with the blinking, we saw the ball coming towards us, and with the ruler we saw a signal saying that the ruler was being dropped. There were muscles used in both because in the ruler activity, our finger muscles are used, and with the blinking the eyelid closes. I like both actions because they test our reflexes and they both help us in fun, and protective days.

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What I Think I know About Mars

3/1/2016

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What do you know about NASA's plans to visit Mars?
How long will the trip take?
What supplies and equipment will the astronauts need to survive there?
What do you think are the risks of traveling to such a distant planet?
What would you want to bring with you?

1. NASA will probably send astronauts to Mars within the next century and they will also try to find life and precious minerals on Mars.
2. It would take about two and a half years including 18 months in the marsh on surface. It would take 102 days to be halfway to Mars.
3. They would need space treadmills so they could work out, and they would need other exercise equipment so they can stay in shape. They will also need some food and water because those are needs that everybody must have.
4. Some of the risks are that your bones would get weaker because there would be no gravity on the spaceship, you might not be used to Earths gravity unless you exercise every minute! And you have to be able to focus even with the G-force of the take off.
5. I would bring all the food and exercise equipment with me, but I would also bring a TV to maybe entertain myself when I'm down. I would also bring some extra water and fluid to keep me hydrated for sure.

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Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?

My Ecosystem:

Vocabulary For This Lesson:

Questions

Answers

Lesson 1: What Do We Notice About Poetry? Lesson 1: What Do We Notice About Poetry?

How does the poem look on the page?

​What is the poem about?What is its subject?

Human Body Research Paper

6 - What is Mars Like?

5 - What Should We Bring? What Will We Make When We Get There?

Personal Supplies:

Work Supplies:

Questions:

Answers:

14 - How Our Muscles Know When to Move

Sense of Sight

Sense of Hearing

What I Think I know About Mars

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What is the poem about?
What is its subject?