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We will finish the 2010-11 school year with a two week astronomy unit. We will be studying the properties of light, taking a photon walk and using spectral fingerprints to identify elements in stars. We will then learn the life cycle of stars, investigate our Sun's properties, check the space weather, monitor the Northern Lights and put planets into a scaled model around our Sun. The readings include (Chapter 20: #8, #13-#16), (Chapter 21: #3, #6-#18), (Chapter 22: #5), (Chapter 26: #6). All topic questions from the listed reading sections will be collected and graded. The Astronomy Test will be Friday, May 20, 2011. We will end the year with a beautiful story that will leave you with a vision of the big picture.

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It is time for a trip through geologic history. For the next few weeks we will be learning the story of the history of the Earth, its major geologic events and how it has changed over the last 4.5 billion years. We will be using Chapters 32, 33 and 34 in the Earth book. All topics will be read, restated and answered and collected. This section will culminate with each student making a geologic timeline to get a better understanding the events that have changed Earth and influenced life through its evolution. Check out the Geologic Timeline Show. There will be a multiple choice scantron test over all three chapters.

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With the study of Minerals and Rocks behind us, it is time to continue our geology tour into plate tectonics. We will be covering readings from Chapter 5 topic #4, Chapter 13 topics #1-15, Chapter 14 topics #1-6, Chapter 15 topics #1-4. All topic questions listed will be collected. Please visit the website: Plate Tectonics In A Nutshell to see the big picture. Alfred Wegner's bold continental drift theory got the ball rolling. As evidence mounted, plate tectonics unified much of geology into one simple concept. Different plate boundaries driven by convection currents have and are shaping our Earth's surface. Geologists use earthquake waves, landforms, changes in magnetic polarity and volcanic rock information to piece the puzzle together. Use labs, readings and notes to learn the story.

The Plate Tectonic Test will be 5/6/2011. The Plate Tectonic Test will be a five page essay test. Each of the five essays will have topics, notes, links and a lab to help you get the information organized into a good story (the one page essay). Please get to work on the five plate tectonic essays ASAP. I will grade each, as you finish, so you will be able to rewrite them until they are a perfect 20 out of 20. You will have a few weeks to get the essays done. On the day of the essay test, bring all five graded essays to class. I will choose one and you will choose one to write from memory. The other three will be handed in. You are guaranteed at least a 60% if you bring all five with a 20 out of 20 to class.

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Now that we have the knowledge and the skills to identify minerals, it is time to move on to rocks. We will be performing an Igneous, a Sedimentary and a Metamorphic rock investigation. Be sure to read chapter 5 and restate/answer the chapter 5 topics 1-23. Spend some time checking out my Rock Review Trackstar. The Rock Practical Test will be Tuesday, March 8, 2011 and the Chapter 5 Written Test will be Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Practice the Introduction to Rocks, Igneous Rocks, Sedimentary Rocks, and Metamorphic Rocks notes. Your success in this rock section is directly proportional to the time you spend reading and practicing the labs.

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Over the next Month, we will be studying Geology. The first few weeks we will be identifying minerals by using an arsenal of observations and tests. Before the Mineral Lab we will practice with the Specific Gravity Lab. Students will then begin testing and identifying 30 rock-forming minerals. The Mineral Lab will be due Friday, 2/11/2011. Reread chapter 4 (pages 53-57) EVERY DAY! Practice the Mineral Notes, and put in lots of time practicing the minerals in your kit. Check out The Mineral Project Website. It has a mineral search, mineral identification notes, and a large database of minerals. Check out Minerals for more information. The mineral practical test will be Monday, 2/14/11. The Chapter 4 written test will be 2/15/11.

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Chemistry is the study of matter and how it changes. All notes, powerpoints and study guides for this unit are posted in the notes/reviews section. We start with an introduction to the atom and atomic theory. Once we can find the number of particles in an atom and draw the atom's diagram, we will look at how elements are arranged on the Periodic Table of Elements, including a periodic table test. Using the locations and groups of elements on the table, predicting how elements combine to form compounds becomes possible. We will balance chemical equations and investigate the types of chemical reations. We will review mixtures and solutions and add acids and bases to the mix. The May I Cut In? lab will investigate a single displacement, exothermic reaction and acids/bases. The 4th of July lab will give practice balancing equations and demonstrate the Law of Conservation of Mass. Practice notes/reviews often for success!

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Matter is all the stuff around us that has mass an occupies space. Everything else is Energy. Matter is composed of moving 'little lumps' called molecules, which are made of atoms. A substance that is made of only one kind of atom is an element. There are 117 known elements. The Kinetic Theory assumes that way the molecules in a substance move determines the phase of the matter.  Solids, liquids and gases are the three states of matter.  Pure substances are made of only one kind of material and have definite properties. Mixtures refer to combinations of two or more substances in which each substance retains its own properties. Heterogenous mixtures are not the same throughout. Homogenous mixtures are uniform throughout. Homogenous mixtures are also called solutions, however, the most common type of solution is described by a solid (the solute) dissolved in a liquid (the solvent). Physical properties can be observed or measured without changing the composition of matter. (appearance, texture, color, odor, melting/boiling point, density)   All changes of state (solid to liquid to gas) are physical changes. Chemical properties describe the way a substance may change or "react" to form other substances. Chemical changes, also known as chemical reactions, are when a substance is transformed into a chemically different substance.

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WARNING: The world of moving objects and forces acting on them may not be as you imagined it to be. Get moving and work on applying this physics stuff to what you already know and experience as you live your daily lives! Prepare to be dazzled!

With our introduction to science behind us, we begin our physics unit by investigating motion and forces. The first week we will calculate velocity, use rise over run to graph velocity and relate motion to what we see as we move in our world. Momentum and force will be added to our understanding of motion. Not only will we be doing math problems, A Rolling Ball Lab will allow us to test and experience relationships among velocity, mass and momentum. We will have an Egg Toss Event to relate stopping time to momentum. Fettuccini Physics will give us practice overcoming weight with a support/normal force. Newton's 3 laws of motion will be put to the test with the 10th Annual Egg Drop. The readings for this unit are chapter (2.1-2.10), (3.1-3.9), (4.1-4.2) and (5.1-5.5). Self Studies are very important as you take yourself through each reading session. The Motion and Forces Test will be November 17, 2010.

GOAL: understand the world as it really is!

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Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year. It is time to consider the way we think and question. We will begin thinking in a rational/logical/scientific way. I want you to question everything, look for patterns and expect proof. I will be sending texts (LoganAlerts) to all students/teachers/parents who give me their cell phone # and carrier name. Please e-mail or see me if you want a LoganAlert! I will be introducing you to the Self-Study method of reading and a few rules for success. The Chapter 1 Self-Study will be due Tuesday, 9/7/2010. We will be measuring length, mass, and volume. We will then calculate density using numbers in scientific notation and reporting the solution in correct significant figures. We will also be organizing data into tables and graphs. After reviewing the skills of a scientist, the scientific method, the metric system and variables, we will put it all together in the Pendulum Project. This 5 day lab activity will be due Monday, 9/27/2010. The Chapter 1 Test will be Tuesday, 9/28/2010.

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The best way I can describe the Bilderberg conference, without being melodramatic, is that it is a political symposium for revolutionary oligarchs and globalists, which is held in a different location around the world every year. Essentially, it is a political safe haven for powerful decision-makers in the Euro-American Establishment. The conference’s attendees change a little bit on a yearly basis, but the core group of conspirators stay the same, and they include famous men such as David Rockefeller, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger. Other participants range from heads of states, CEOs, high-ranking military officers, industrialists, news and magazine publishers, university presidents, top central bankers, financiers, influential politicians, to basically anyone who harbors an elitist mindset and holds a key post in government, academia, business, and media.The elect private club has pursued an agenda for political and economic centralization, to be culminated in a global government, ever since its clandestine creation in 1954. Much of it’s influence over Western democratic governments and global bodies is an open conspiracy. But because of the high level of secrecy in which the meetings are held, little is factually known of the club’s true purpose, ideas, and plan for the world, other than to establish an authoritarian global government. Media and news organizations don’t even acknowledge the existence of the Bilderberg group, let alone investigate it’s aims and political reach.Investigative journalist and author Daniel Estulin is one of the few voices who covers the Bilderberg conference from year to year. His book “True Story of the Bilderberg Group” is an international bestseller, and has exposed the existence of the group to a global audience. You can hear his latest information about the Bilderberg’s up-coming secret summit at the corbettreport.com.Estulin will give a historic speech about the Bilderberg group to the European Parliament this Tuesday June 1st, 2010 in Brussels. Read more about it here.

By: truthexcavator Sunday May 30, 2010 9:28 pm

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We will finish the 2009-2010 school year with a two week astronomy unit. We will be studying the properties of light, taking a photon walk and using spectral fingerprints to identify elements in stars. We will then learn the life cycle of stars, investigate our Sun's properties, check the space weather, monitor the Northern Lights and put planets into a scaled model around our Sun. The readings include (Chapter 20: #8, #13-#16), (Chapter 21: #3, #6-#18), (Chapter 22: #5), (Chapter 26: #6). All topic questions from the listed reading sections will be collected and graded. The Astronomy Test will be Friday, May 21, 2010. We will end the year with a beautiful story that will leave you with a vision of the big picture.

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With spring break behind us, it is time to continue our geology tour into plate tectonics. We will be covering readings from Chapter 5 topic #4, Chapter 13 topics #1-15, Chapter 14 topics #1-6, Chapter 15 topics #1-4. All topic questions listed will be collected. Please visit the website: Plate Tectonics In A Nutshell to see the big picture. Alfred Wegner's bold continental drift theory got the ball rolling. As evidence mounted, plate tectonics unified much of geology into one simple concept. Different plate boundaries driven by convection currents have and are shaping our Earth's surface. Geologists use earthquake waves, landforms and volcanic rock information to piece the puzzle together. Use the class plate tectonic videos, labs, readings and notes to learn the story.

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What Is Experience?

Lack of experience diminishes our power of taking a comprehensive view of the admitted facts. Hence those who dwell in intimate association with nature and its phenomena are more able to lay down principles such as to admit of a wide and coherent development; while those whom devotion to abstract discussions has rendered unobservanant of facts are too ready to dogmatize on the basis of a few observations. Aristotle, taken from Shop Class As Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford