Blog Posts - What's going on in Mr. Solarz' Class?

Lesson 6: Sunlight On The Menu

4/19/2016

Explain how the matter in each ingredient can be traced back to plants.
Explain how these ingredients can be traced back to the sun.
What MATTER in the food originally came from producers?
What ENERGY in the food originally came from the sun?
How is energy transferred from the sun to ingredients in your favorite foods?

1. The matter in each ingredient traces back to the sun, because a plant needs the sun to grow larger, and animals need their food to grow as well.

2. If a ingredient comes from a plant, the plant needs the sun to grow. But if the ingredient comes from a animal, than maybe its food can be traced back to the sun.
3. All of the ingredients for chocolate fudge are all traced back to plants and the sun somehow. Like salt. Salt comes from saltwater which the water is evaporated, and the salt is left behind.
4 The calories originally came from the sun because when the sun helps grow edible plants, they have calories in it! So each ingredient has to have calories in it.
5. The energy is transferred because when plants grow, they need the sun for energy. And when a animal eats plants they get energy, or calories. This is how all of the energy is transferred.

Lesson 4 - Plants as Producers

4/12/2016

Plants need energy and matter to grow. Where do plants get their ENERGY?
Where do plants get their MATTER?
Where do plants get their FOOD (be careful - this is a trick question)?
Why are plants called Producers?
What would happen if plants didn't have a way to get energy?
What would happen to animals if there were no plants to eat?
What are some of the LIVING components of a plant "system"? (A plant "system" is everything that a plant needs to survive and everything it produces.)
What are some of the NON-LIVING components of a plant "system"?
In what ways do the components of the system interact?
What matter is transported in and out of the plant system?

Plants get their energy from the sun, because chlorophyll absorbs it and turns it into energy. They get it from the soil because the soil has nutrients inside of it, especially when it is watered.
Plants get their matter from the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. Without it, the plants cannot grow.
Plants get their food from the sun, but there is also nutrients in the soil to. The roots will suck it up and make it grow. But the sun is also their food.
Plants are called producers because they are at the very beginning of the food chain, so they produce it! Without producers, there would be no life on Earth!
If plants did not get energy, than it would shrivel up and die! No energy means that there is no way plants can produce food or oxygen, so most lifeforms would die out.
If there where no plants to eat, than every single food chain would be messed up! Some animals absolutely need plants to eat, so if they can't eat them, all the herbivores would die out. And then most of the carnivores would also die out because of the lack of food!
Some of the living components of a plant are leaves. The leaves help soak up the sun, so it is very important.
Some of the non living components are the dirt, and the water. The dirt makes sure that the roots of a plant can expand so it can grow. And the water gives the plant the power to make it's own nutrients.
All the components of a plant interact with each other. For example, the roots of a plant expand in the soil. And the carbon dioxide helps the plants grow! All these interactions are needed, and a plant would die without them.
The matter transported out of the plant is oxygen. We grow plants so that the entire world can survive and not suffocate!

Lesson 3: Players in an Ecosystem

4/6/2016

Notes:
A producer is the beginning of the food chain because they consume energy from the sun. All animals are consumers because they eat the plants and each other. A food web includes producers and consumers. Plants are mostly producers, and animals are consumers. Herbivores only eat plants, carnivores eat animals, and omnivores eat both animals and plants. Or primary consumers eat producers, and secondary consumers eat the primary consumers.

Herbivores:
Cow
Sheep
Deer
Rabbit
Grasshopper

Omnivore/Carnivore:
Lion - Carnivore
Wolf - Carnivore
Snake - Carnivores
Hawk - Carnivore
Preying Mantis - Carnivores
Spider - Omnivore
Pig - Omnivores
Bear - Omnivore
Raccoon - Omnivores
Chipmunk - Omnivores
Human - Omnivores

Evey thing in each list is a consumer!

This Is a food chain

Reflection Questions:

Choose one of your Food Chains that you created and explain how it works.
Can a Food Web be considered a "system"? Why or why not?
What happens if a plant or animal all of a sudden disappears from the food web?
Using this food chain, "sunlight to apple to worm to bird to cat," How do organisms in this food chain get the matter they need for body repair and growth?
Using the same food chain in #4, How do organisms in that food chain get the energy they need for body warmth and motion?
What do you think happens to the matter that is NOT used by the organisms in a food chain or food web? Is it wasted or does something else happen?

Answers:

The food chain I created starts with the sun, which helps the grass grow. The deer eat the grass, and then the lion comes and eats the deer.
Yes, a food web can be a system because there are lots of steps of how primary and secondary consumers eat. For example, a mouse will eat the grass, then a snake will come eat the mouse!
If an animal disappears from the food web, it would totally mess up the whole food web! This is because if one animal is gone, it's predictor will go hungry and die out, and it repeats! All of the food web will eventually die out.
When one organism eats something, they gain nutrients from it and store some away. And when a animal comes and eats that animal, they get the nutrients that it had stored away.
The animals get the energy by one eating grass, then storing some calories away. Then when it's predator eats it, he or she will receive the calories it stored away, and it will be digesting, therefore keeping it warm.
I think that the matter is stored away for later, so maybe when they are desperately in need for energy, they can use it. Or when they eat a small meal that matter will come in handy giving it the energy it needs.

Lesson 2: Food - Matter & Energy

4/4/2016

Organisms We Saw:

Plants:

Trees
Grass
Flowers
Bushes

Plants Need:

Carbon Dioxide
Water
Sunlight
Soil - Nutrients
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium - These Minerals Are Needed For The Plant To Grow
Carbon

Where do they get the things they need?:

Plants get water from their roots and soil
Oxygen comes from the air
Light comes from lights from inside or the sunlight

Animals:

Pill Bugs
Birds
People
Squirrel - Food, Water
Worms
Centipede

Animals need:

Oxygen
Water
Shelter - Warmth
Food - Carbon
Sleep

Where do they get the things they need?:

Oxygen from the air
They get water from lakes, ponds, fountains, and puddles
Carnivores get food from other animals, herbivores eat plants, and omnivores eat both.

Where do we get energy from:

Food - Gives us fat and nutrients - Also gives us matter - Protein is the best possible food you can eat to not get fats.
Sleep - Helps us transfer energy

On the human food label:

How do we find the energy (calories) per serving?
How do we find the matter (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals)?
Where can we locate the list of ingredients?

1. You look at the label and where it says calories, you will find out how many there are per serving.
2. You look at under daily value, and where it says carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals it will tell you how many of each there are.
3. You can locate the ingredients at the bottom of the label.

On the pet food label:

Where can we locate the list of ingredients?
How do we find the percentage of different types of matter in the food?

You can see the list of ingredients at the very top of the label.
You can find the percentages under guaranteed analysis. Every single percentage is listed under it.

Answer the following questions while analyzing the Nutrition Labels:

As a result of looking at food labels, what did you learn about food?
Look at the ingredients of one human food label. Write down the food name. What ingredients came from animals?
What ingredients in the above food label came from plants?
What similarities and differences did you notice between the human food and pet food labels you looked at?
Choose an animal/insect from the ecosystem walk. What do you think it eats? Explain what you think it gets from its food.

Reflection Questions:

What does food provide to animals, including humans?
Do the pet food and human food have the same nutrients? In what ways are they different?
Does a higher calorie count mean a food is better for pets to eat? What makes pet owners think that?
What is it in food that helps us repair our bodies and grow?
What in food helps us move and stay warm?
In what way does energy transfer when animals eat food?
Look at the nutrition label below for milk. How much energy is in the food?
What matter is in the food?

Answers:

I learned that some types of food can have so many ingredients! It so insane that a piece of food needs so many other ingredients. I also learned that carrots had so much salt in them!
The food on the human food label is tomato soup, and there are no ingredients that come from animals.
The soybean oil, carrot fiber, and tomato puree came from plants. Even though they are not all natural, parts of them came from a plant.
I noticed that the pet food label had a lot more ingredients than the human food. I also noticed that the pet food label had different categories of nutrients than the human food labe did.
My animal is a bird. I believe that a bird eats insects and worms. And since some bugs eat plants, I think that the bird gets lots of calories because plants are very nutritious.

Food provides energy, growth, and even warmth! The way food does all these insane things depends on which part of the piece of food you are talking about. Calories are the things that allow you to grow, the nutrients gives you energy, and when you digest, it keeps you warm.
No, the pet and human food do not have the same nutrients. The pet food has different categories than the human food. For example, human food has calories, pet food doesn't.
Pets usually burn lots of calories, so they will need to consume many. Like when a dog runs around in the yard, they burn energy, so they need to refill. Like a car to gas. Pet owners want their pets to be in the best condition possible so they feed their pets lots of calories.
The thing in food that helps us with these things is matter. Matter helps us grow and heal things like cuts.
The thing in food that keeps us warm is energy. Energy keeps us warm and gives us the power to do work as simple as eating a strawberry.
When a animal eat something, it stores away about a tenth of the calories they gain. Then when a predator eats them, they get the calories. Top predators will need to eat lots of prey because they won't get that much energy from one animal.
There are 160 calories in the milk. But that is only one serving. One serving is a cup, so if you have 10 cups of milk, you will gain more energy.
The matter is the calcium. And because the milk is 30% calcium, you will grow a little bit.

Imagery

4/3/2016

Imagine a place where mountains can be spotted from all around, with a island in the distance where horses can be seen from far away, and surrounding everything, is a lake where adventures begin.

Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?

3/30/2016

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

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

3/29/2016

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.

Human Body Research Paper

3/29/2016

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...

6 - What is Mars Like?

3/16/2016

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!

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

3/7/2016

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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