Things to include in your Inside Earth Prezi:

Earth’s Interior

1. The characteristics of the Earth’s interior, such as the crust, mantle and core.

2. What each layer is made of.

3. How thick, heavy or dense it is.

4. Do these layers have other names or parts?

5. An example: picture, video or outline.

6. How do we know the characteristics are this way?

Convection and the Mantle

7. What is heat transfer?

8. What causes convection currents?

9. What are the three types of heat transfer?

10. Give examples of each one with a picture, video or drawing.

11. Define density and how it plays a role.

12. What three factors are needed in a convection current?

Drifting Continents

13. What was Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis about the continents?

14. What evidence supported Wegener’s hypothesis?

15. Where can this evidence be found?

16. Why was Alfred Wegener’s theory rejected by most scientists of his day?

17. What is Pangaea?

18. Give examples of these via pictures, video or drawings.

 Seafloor Spreading

19. What is the process of sea-floor spreading?

20. What is the evidence for sea-floor spreading?

21. How fast is this process happening?

22. What happens at deep-ocean trenches?

23. Define the key terms of the section such as mid-ocean ridge, subduction, trenches, sonar, etc.

24. Show this process by flowchart, pictures, video, or drawings.

25. How does magnetism play a role in this process?

26. What evidence is available of this process?

Plate Tectonics

27. What is the theory of plate tectonics?

28. What are the three types of plate boundaries?

29. Define each type.

30. Show an example of each one.

 

We did a cool little animation today with seafloor spreading and answered some questions along with it.  I assigned the guided reading for second period, but not in first since the administrators took some time in first too talk to the team.  I wanted to show a quick video and get their quizzes from Friday back, but I ran out of time.  Tomorrow we will venture back into the computer lab to work on our Prezis for a bit and the rest of the week will be spent on expanding our knowledge of the sea floor and the forces that move it.
I noticed today was quite a bit noisier than usual.  We’ll have to work on that too.

In class today we had a little talk about 9/11 and then worked on a review for the quiz we took at the end of the period.  I’m always interested to know how kids think about 9/11 as the years go on.  We are starting a new section on Monday about sea floor spreading.  No homework over the weekend, but next week we will hit it hard.

Today we spent the majority of the day in the computer lab working on our Prezis after I went through some techniques and answered some questions from the students.  Their work is really coming along great and I would urge the parents to take a look at what they’ve done.

Tomorrow we have a quiz on Alfred Wegener and Continental drift.  I sent home a worksheet on the Mesosaurus and fossil finds for review.

We went to the computer lab for the first time today and it went pretty good.  There were some bumps in the road when it came to viewing the tutorials, and tomorrow I’ll fix that.  The kids did a lot of exploring the site and using the tools which turned out to be what they needed.  More tutorials tomorrow and we will start synthesizing the material into the “infinite canvas.”  Pretty cool stuff.  No homework, but I do urge the students to explore more on the Prezi site and watch the videos attached in the “Learn” section.

So today I had the students watch the awareness test video to see how observant they are.  It’s  fun video to watch and fools most of the kids, most of the time.  Then we watched a short lecture on Pangaea and Continental Drift.  The next section was introduced via the guided reading on Plate Tectonics.

Tomorrow we venture into the computer lab to start their massive Prezi concept map.  I aim to have each student create a series of smaller concept maps that connect all the work we do this quarter into one big presentation that they can use as a model for future use.  I’m asking those students who have an email address to create their own Prezi student account.  It’s very easy and safe and very free.  It is NOT a social networking site, however you can share your presentations with other people.  The privacy settings are easy to manage and I urge each parent to take part in observing what your child does with their work.  Here are some simple directions:

1. Log onto www.prezi.com and chose the “sign up” button.

2. Select the student/teacher button.

3. Select the “Edu Enjoy” selection with 500mb.

4. Enter the relevant information and begin the tutorials.

It’s that easy!  Please take some time to play around and explore the site.  I will be using this extensively.

Today was devoted to our second quiz of the text, over convection currents.  After that we looked at some student made videos about Alfred Wegener and his theory.  Some were great videos and some were not.  We talked about other ways we could illuminate a scientist’s life and theory and my 7th graders have some awesome ideas.  I look forward to seeing them realized.  Most handed in their concept maps and their writing exercises, but if they need to use the weekend to finish them up, they have it.

Science Controversy #2

The link above is for the science controversy assignment we did today.  The concept map needs to be completed and handed in tomorrow and the crossword is for study purposes.  Tomorrow we will have a quiz over this week’s material which is found in the guided reading from Monday.

 

 

 

Today we worked on a concept map of the information found on our Prezi over Heat and Energy Transfer.  Make it colorful!  Remember, if you want to go online to www.prezi.com and sign up yourself to explore, please do so.  My Prezi page is titled “Mr.Benson’s classroom.”  Next week we will be in the computer lab creating individual presentations for our class site.  Also, the crossword over the convection currents is due tomorrow.

Ok, so we had a short day due to the PLC schedule.  No big deal.  We went over the answers to the guided reading worksheet form yesterday and I introduced my Prezi on heat transfer.  Tomorrow we will be creating a concept map on paper with the info from the last few days.  I scheduled some computer lab time for next week so we can create our first Prezi together on our next section.  That time will be a great time to learn the Prezi platform as well as reinforce the material in the next section as well.  No homework today.