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

The 2018 Inventor's Challenge

5/29/2018

KinderPals Reflection

5/22/2018

Questions:

What is the KinderPals Program?
In what ways do you think the program benefits the kindergartners? Try to explain several with support.
Why is the KinderPals program beneficial to 5th graders? Believe it or not, you should be getting something out of the program as well!
What challenges did you experience in KinderPals this year?
What improvements could be made to the program for next year?
Do you think the kindergartners enjoyed the stories from Peekapak? Why do you think that? Do you have any evidence to support your answer?

Answers:

KinderPals is a program where we teach our kindergarten buddies character traits like Kindness, Honesty, teamwork, Courage, etc. We read books with them about these traits, and in the books there are different characters that are in different scenarios that use these traits. We do this to teach our buddies how to act throughout there time at Westgate, and how to act in general at home and to other kids and adults.
I think KinderPals benefits the kindergartners because we teach them life skills, and valuable skills to use throughout there life, and how to act to other people.
I feel like we were learning how to act proper with children, and how to act around younger children and being mature. Even learning more about the skills we were teaching them.
The biggest challenge I usually faced was when I was talking to my buddy and she would just nod or say a few words, and I wouldn't know how much she is getting out of the books and character traits.
I think there should be a little less characters because my buddy could only remember around three out of all of the characters.
I think she really enjoyed reading the books and having fun with the activities because I would try and make it fun for her so it wouldn't just all be learning and all reading.

Testing Plant Growth

5/14/2018

Independent Variable

Plant seeds in different kinds of soil (e.g. potting soil, perlite, sand, etc.)

Dependent Variable

Measure the height of each plant at certain checkpoints.

Evidence

We can record our data using measurements (in cm).

Questions:

Name your Control Variables (What will stay the same for each of the three cups)?
Name the Independent Variable (What is it that is different for each of the three cups)?
Name your Dependent Variable (What is it that you are testing & recording data on?)
What data are you collecting to serve as Evidence to show how plants grow in organic material versus inorganic planting material?
Why is everyone starting with the same three cups? Why do we need to test so many plants?
What sprouts first in a seed: the stem or the root? How do you know?
How do the pictures below prove your answer for #6?
Why do you think it goes in that order?

Answers:

Each plant will get the same amount of sunlight as any other plant, because they are all placed in the same place in the window.
There is six groups of different soils, and three plants are in one group. For example, my soil type was seed starter, but my friend's plants was planted in perlite.
We measured the plant we planted in the different soil.
We are measuring the plants in centimeters.
We're trying to see if the plants grow at different rates with different types of soil.

Plants As Producers

5/3/2018

Questions:

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?

Answers:

Plants get all of their energy from the sun because they absorb it.
Glucose is the food plants use as a source of matter for them to be able to grow.
Plants MAKE there own food, they do not eat. They make there own food using a process called photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, plants need to absorb energy so when they are absorbing the light energy, the light energy converts into chemical energy which acts as fuel or food to the plant.
Plants are called producers because they produce there own food and energy for other animals and humans.
The plants would eventually begin to die off and then other animals would begin to die off because plants are there source of energy.
Other animals wouldn't have any food to eat and they would begin to starve, and then their species might begin to go extinct.
Some living things in a plants system are the stem of a plant, and the roots of the plants because they need energy and they grow.
One NON-living things in a plants system is the soil because all it does is hold the roots of the plant in the ground.
Well, the root interacts with the soil because the roots grow in the soil. The leaves interact with the stem because they grow out of the stem.
Nutrients get transported in and out of the plant to give it its nutrients.

Players In An Ecosystem

4/23/2018

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 image at the top is one of the food chain I created and it is showing the sun's energy getting transported through different animals as they get eaten by other animals.
I think yes because it is a system of living and non-living things and a system of animals all working together to create one big ecosystem.
That could create animals to die off and go extinct because if their food are the ones that disappear that could cause them to starve.
They're eating each other, and the energy that got from the animal they ate is the strength they need for growth and body repair.
Their collecting the energy they got from the animal they just ate and using that as body repair and growth.
It is turned into waste one of the organisms, (for example poop).

Food - Matter and Energy

4/16/2018

Questions About Food Labels:

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?

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?

Answers:

You look to find the word calorie on the label and when you find it it well tell you how many calories there are per serving.
You look for the words that say what you are looking for and it may also give examples of the fats, vitamins, proteins, and etc.
You can usually find the ingredients at the bottom of the label
The ingredients are usually at the top of the label.
The percentages are at the bottom of the label.

As a result of looking at food label, 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 the above food label came from plants?
What similarities and differences did you notice 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 food.

I learned that food can give you energy, matter, and vitamins which are all very good for you.
Tomato soup has no ingredients from animals.
The ingredients that come from plants are tomato puree, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, soy bean oil and and citrus acid.
One difference I noticed is that the pet food label has a lot of different ingredients than the human food label. One similarity I noticed is that the human food label have some of the same nutrients as the pet food label.
I saw an ant and I think it eats leaves and seeds. I think the ant gets nutrients, energy, matter and vitamins.

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:

It gives them energy and matter. Energy gives them fuel and matter helps body repair.
No, because humans need different vitamins then animals. For example, humans need Iron 4 when animals need Taurine.
Calories are the fuel and energy in food and every food has calories in it, so it's not necessarily better because if something has too many calories in it and the animal or human doesn't burn them off, it can cause you to get fatter or gain weight more quickly. Pet owners probably think that the higher the calories, the more fuel the pet gets and this true in some ways, but again too many calories are bad for you.
The energy and matter in food is the thing that actually repairs are body and helps us grow
Energy, it gives us the fuel we need for the day. More specifically calories, there the type of energy in food that gives us our fuel, and lets and helps us grow.
They get the energy by absorbing it when they eat the food.
Energy in this case is calories, and there are 60 regular calories and ten calories from fat so 70 calories in total.
Everything thing in the world is made out of matter so every ingredient on the label is matter.

What Is An Ecosystem?

4/10/2018

Lake Ecosystems INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Ducks eat plants and bugs
Ducks eat fish
Fish eat algae
Ducks get oxygen from the plants

Between living & non-living things

Ducks breathe air (oxygen)
Ducks swim in water
Plants give the ducks oxygen
Fish swim underwater

Lake Ecosystems INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Fish eat algae in the lake
The plant acts as a habitat for the fish
The plant gives the the oxygen to the fish
Plant is food for fish

Questions:

What kinds of living things (organisms) do you see in both pictures?
What other living things might be here, even if you can't see them in the photos?
Why might living things in these photos interact with each other?
Read the BIG IDEA below. How do these pictures depict an ecosystem?

Between living & non-living things

Fish need water to survive
Plants need soil to survive
Plants need water to survive
Fish need oxygen

Answers:

In the first picture the main organisms are the ducks and the plants. In the second picture the main organisms are the fish and the plant.
In the first picture some main organisms that are probably there are fish and snails because lakes can be habitats for both of those animals. In the second picture there are probably more fish in the lake. Snails can also live in lakes so I believe that snails can be found in the habitat.
These things might interact with each other because they both need each other to survive. For example the ducks in the first picture need the plants because they give off oxygen and ducks need oxygen.
All of the pictures show an organism interacting with a non-living thing. For example the Duck is swimming in the water. (a non-living thing) Also in the second picture the fish is interacting with a non-living thing because it is swimming in water.

Questions:

Answers:

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?

They can get lots different things depending on what and where their ecosystem is. They can get food and shelter from certain places in their habitat and ecosystem. For example, a ant crawling through up through the dirt, might use a leaf on the ground as food and shelter.
When I went outside to explore ecosystems, I saw worms crawling through the dirt to a leaf, a robin flying to its nest in a tree, and a squirrel climbing up the tree to get food.
When organisms (living things) interact with other living and non-living things.
How are species created?
I see deer, trees, grass, I infer that there are fish in the pond, I infer that there are bugs in the water, I infer that there are plants in the water.
1) A deer eating the grass. 2) The bugs in the water eating the plants in the water. 3) The fish in the water eating the plants in the water.

Money Island and Vault Relection

4/9/2018

Student Led Conference - Spring 2018

4/6/2018

#WorldPoetryDay

3/21/2018

Attached is a short BALLAD that I wrote for #WorldPoetryDay!

By: Brynna G. #LearnLAP #CelebrateGrowLead #d25Learns pic.twitter.com/Jc7wvbTfDU
— Mr. Solarz' Class (@MrSolarz) March 21, 2018