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

KinderPals Reflection

5/22/2018

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Reflect on the 7-8 times we worked with our KinderPals this year.

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?

KinderPals is a program where students teach kinder gardeners using a website called Peekapak.com. In the website it has lessons that you are supposed to teach the kids. You read them a book and then do activities with them. It is really fun! You teach the kindergarteners about empathy, honesty and other stuff like that.
I think it teaches them valuable Lessons like being Empathetic and also honest. I think it could help them in the long run because it will teach them to be a good friend and to know how to act.
It is beneficial to fifth graders because it teaches them teaching skills. It is very helpful to learn how to teach because if someone needs help with a math problem, you can help them without giving the answer away!
One was trying to get my KinderPal to listen she kept looking around at random things and wouldn't listen, so I would ask her questions constantly, so that she would pay attention. The other one was explaining things to her, so she understood the concepts, so after I finished explaining things I would ask her if it made sense, and if it didn't then I would explain it more.
Maybe there could be more drawing because kindergarteners LOVE that.
I do because if my kindergartener wasn't listening she would be during that part and because they were interesting, I sometimes liked them myself.I also think that because the stories sounded kind of like regular stories that didn't teach you anything, but you would still learn a lot from them!

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Testing Plant Growth

5/14/2018

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Independent Variable

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

Dependent Variables

Measure the height of each plant at certain checkpoints.
_________________________

Evidence

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

Reflection/Synthesis:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

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:

The place they are in, the kind of jar it is in and how much the are fed.
What kind of soil that they are growing in.
The plant.
I am using the how tall they are. Mine is 7.1 cm.
So, that we can test multiple to make sure our data is correct. And also if one thing goes wacky then we will know if it is because of the soil.
The root because it needs the water before the sunlight. It needs the water so it won't dehydrate.
The first picture has a little thing coming out of it and it look like a root because it is going down, it is white not green, and it is not strait it is squiggly. In the second picture it just looks like it has grown. Then in the Third picture it looks like the leaves are coming from the seed like it looks like it is in the seed. In the forth picture it looks like it is the first picture from another angle.
I think the pictures are in this order because it shows them growing in chronological order. It makes it less confusing.

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Plants As Producers

5/3/2018

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Reflection/Synthesis:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

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:

They get their energy from the sun. They use a process called photosynthesis.
They get their matter from photosynthesis, in photosynthesis a plant takes the suns energy and turns it into glucose, which is it's food.
They don't get it from somewhere, they make it it in a process called photosynthesis. They make glucose and "eat" that.
Plants are called producers because they make their own food.
Then they would die because then they couldn't make their own food.
They would all die slowly because if one thing in a food chain dies they rest of the food chain eventually dies too.
The plant is one of the living components, and so are bugs, water, and other animals.
Dirt, minerals, oxygen, carbon dioxide.
They help each other live and survive.
The oxygen is transported out.

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Players in an Ecosystem

4/23/2018

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Reflect & Synthesize

Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

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?

The sun provides the grass with energy and then the Antelope eats the grass. After that, the Wolf eats the Antelope.
Yes, because it is a system of organisms that help each other survive.
Then it would affect the rest of the food web, by making one thing starve because they don't have the food they need and that makes the whole food chain disappear slowly.
They get the matter by eating each other, the Apple gets the matter from the glucose it makes and the worm gets it by eating the apple and the cat and bird get their matter by eating each other.
The apple gets it's Energy from the sun, The worm gets it's energy from the apple. The bird gets it's energy from he worm and the cat gets its energy from the bird.
I think it is turned into fat and is stored in the body.

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Food- Matter & energy

4/16/2018

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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?

You look at how many calories there are in the food.
You look at how many carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals there are in the food.
You look at the bottom of the food label to find 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?

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.

Reflect & Synthesize:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

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?

On the top of the food label.
Next to each of the ingredients under Guaranteed Analysis.

Answers:

I learned that some food is a good source of energy, and some food is a good source of energy.
Tomato soup, none of the ingredients are from animals.
Tomato paste, Corn syrup, soybean oil, carrot fiber, and citric acid.
They both have the percentage of different foods (Matter & energy) in the food. The differences are that the dog food and the human food labels are set up differently.
An ant eats fungus, and I think it gets that from the bottom of the trees. I also saw a squirrel and I think it eats acorns, I think it gets it's food from oak trees. I also saw a blue jay, I think it eats berries, I think it gets them from bushes and humans.

Energy, that helps you to move and do things during the day. You also get Matter which helps us grow and make body repairs.
They have different nutrients. Some animals need different nutrients then humans do. They both have vitamins but they have different kinds of matter and energy.
Yes it is better if pet owners want their pet to have lots of energy and they want it to get a little bigger, but it is not if they don't want there pet to have that stuff.
Protein.
The matter/calories.
When an animal eats food that has energy in it then it processes the food and it gets energy from the food. (The energy comes from the sun.)
160 grams.
There is protein, sugars, vitamin A and C, iron, and calcium.

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What is an ecosystem?

4/10/2018

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BIG IDEA 1:
An ecosystem is a system of organisms that interact with each other and with the non-living parts of their environment.

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

The ducks eat plants
the ducks quack at each other to communicate
the ducks eat bugs
ducks eat fish

Between living & non-living things

The ducks drink water
the plants absorb water
the ducks and plants breath air
the ducks swim in water
the Trees make the oxygen for the plants and fish to breath

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

The fish is using the plant to camouflage
the fish eat the plant
the fish eat other fish
the fish eat algae

Between living & non-living things

The fish absorb the water
the plant absorb the water
the plants eat the dirt
the fish swim in the water

Reflection/Synthesis questions:

What other kinds of living things (organisms) do you see in either picture?
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 above. How do these pictures depict an ecosystem?

In the first picture there was grass that I didn't think were really part of that ecosystem. In the 2nd picture I didn't find anything that wasn't in the ecosystem.
There might be insects, microscopic bugs and dirt in the first picture. They might be crawling in the grass or trees in the back round.In the second picture there might be microscopic bugs and sea insects in the sea dirt.
So that they can get food, or if they need help or maybe even for food.
They show that the living and non-living help each other in their own ways. Which is pretty much what an ecosystem is.

Reflect & Synthesize:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

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?

I already have this above
I already have this above
An ecosystem is a place were living and Non-living things interact with each other.
Can 2 of the same type of animals live in different ecosystems?
A deer drinks water from the stream. The grass uses the water and the soil. The deer eats the grass. The deer also eat leaves. The leaves get their water from the river 2.
The deer eat fish, the deer help each other, and the absorb water.

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Skills21 - Superhero Rehabilitation Program

4/9/2018

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#WorldPoetryDay

3/21/2018

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The Constitution of the Kingdom of Dustania

3/21/2018

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What was the hardest part of writing your preamble? Explain how you overcame that challenge.
What is your favorite part of your preamble? Why is that part powerful and important?
What is the purpose of a preamble in a constitution? What does it do?

The hardest part of writing the preamble was probably figuring out how to word it. Our solution was to make it professional but still, so it made sense to me.
My favorite part of the preamble that we made was when it says "With the virtues of all of these principles, we will establish this constitution." I like it because it sounds very professional, but is still easy to understand. I also like this because it is a very good conclusion.
The purpose of the preamble is to introduce the rest of the constitution. It also introduces our government.

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Student-led conference, Spring 2018

3/20/2018

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<<Previous

KinderPals Reflection

Testing Plant Growth

Independent Variable

Dependent Variables

Evidence

Plants As Producers

Players in an Ecosystem

Reflect & Synthesize

Food- Matter & energy

What is an ecosystem?

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Between living & non-living things

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Between living & non-living things

Reflection/Synthesis questions:

Reflect & Synthesize:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

Skills21 - Superhero Rehabilitation Program

#WorldPoetryDay

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Dustania

Student-led conference, Spring 2018

Kya

Archives

Categories

Independent Variable ​

Dependent Variables

Evidence ​

Reflect & Synthesize

​Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things​

​Between living & non-living things

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things ​

Between living & non-living things ​

Reflection/Synthesis questions:​

​Reflect & Synthesize:Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

Kya

Archives

Categories

Independent Variable

Evidence

Lake Ecosystem INTERACTIONS

Within a system of living things

Between living & non-living things

Within a system of living things

Between living & non-living things

Reflection/Synthesis questions:

Reflect & Synthesize:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.