Last Blog

I am in eighth grade this year so this will be my last year of blogging and science class with Mrs.G. Next year I will start high school but I do not think the classes will be that difficult because I have been taking high school science for three years. Earth and Environmental science can be challenging, but I worked through it the whole year. Even if I had not studied for the final I think I still would have done well. Any final exam is just the basic concepts and topic taught throughout the year. In my opinion, it is almost like every single day of the school year is preparation for the final. While taking the final, I understood all the topics and processes involved with picking the right answer choice. This final made me have to apply my knowledge of the topic to the questions. After taking the final I felt good and this class will be adequate preparation if I choose to take this class again in high school.

It is hard to physically do a lab pertaining to some of the topics taught this year. It is not possible for us to just go through the Earth's layers to see the order or take a field trip to the mid-ocean ridge.  A lot of labs we did this year only simulated the processes that occurred on or in the Earth. The lab that most prepared me in the sense of lab analyzation was the soil sample lab. This lab helped me not only understand the components that make up soil but also the proper way to organize and set up a lab analysis. Before this lab, I had some prior knowledge but this lab helped me actually learn how to create data tables, charts, and written conclusions in a more hands-on way.

The other activity I enjoyed doing was much more recent. In our unit about space, one concept that was important to master was the order of the moon phases. Before doing the Oreo cookie moon phase lab, I did not really grasp the concept. Seeing the phases all laid out helped me visualize how it actually might look on Earth. This activity also helped me on the final because it helped me once again see it more clearly in my head.

Earth and Environmental Science was not my favorite science class I have taken at WAAS. It was not as hands on as some of the other classes such as Biology and Chemistry. I also feel as though there was more information being covered this year compared to past years. I have acquired knowledge on a broader range of topics that have to do with daily life and the past. I have learned now how my actions can affect the environment in both positive and negative ways.

My thoughts on science have changed in the way I felt while taking the class. At the beginning of the year, I was excited. I wanted to learn about the world around me. I loved science and the school I attended. As the year went on though, my opinion of science as a whole changed in a negative way as well as the respect I had for it and the respect I had for the school I attended. I was no longer excited to learn  when I walked in the doors. The same joy for learning I had in sixth grade disappeared. Not because of the changing topics but the changing attitudes of the person teaching these topics. So much can change in two years which is one of the most important life lessons I learned while taking this class.

Science next year will hopefully allow me to enjoy learning again and this is what I am most looking forward to. To be honest I do not know what I need to improve on for next year. Each week I have worked on something to improve on and it seems to be working. The main goals I have for next year is to do my possible best and rekindle the love for learning I lost this year. I am not considering pursuing a career in science but hopefully, next year I will have a better grasp on some of the topics that could not be taught at WAAS.

My advice to the future classes taking Earth and Environmental is to study hard and stay on top of things. This is important in this class because there is more information this year than any other year. Another important piece of advice I took back from this year is to enjoy a subject if you truly love it no matter how a teacher may negatively affect your opinion of it.  I am glad this is my last blog because it represents my time at WAAS being finished.

Quiz

On Monday we started class by viewing Mercury as it made its transit across the sun. We did this by looking through a telescope with a lens that would diffuse most of the sun's rays. When I looked into the telescope, I did not really see much except for a small white dot. This dot was supposedly Mercury. After viewing Mercury, we moved onto notes. Today in notes we learned the basic vocabulary to help us with understanding the different phases of the moon. One of the important words I learned was the difference between waxing and waning. Waxing is when something gets bigger but waning is when something gets smaller. After reviewing notes we did the tech book questions for this unit on space.

On Tuesday we started class with our usual science starter. After doing this, we did an activity involving Oreos and moon phases. We used the cookies to create the moon phases by shaping the filling. We did this on a sheet of paper and laid the cookies out. After making each one we labeled them. This helped me learn the moon's phases in relation to the sun and Earth. After doing this activity, we did a review worksheet with questions about the moon's phases.

On Wednesday we used all of class to study for both our quiz and and our final. I took most of the class time to study for the quiz. I prepared for the quiz by doing the tech book questions and making note of all the questions that I got wrong. By doing this, I targeted the areas in which I needed to focus more on. I need to focus on the phases of the moon and their relation to Earth and the sun. After the quiz, I will spend lots of time to review for the final so that I do not have to study all at once.

On Thursday we took our quiz on space. While taking this quiz, I overthought most of the multiple choice questions and changed my original answer. This is one thing I need to improve on especially for the final. Overall I thought this quiz was very hard, but I managed to do my best. In preparation for this quiz I focused on studying the tech book questions and reviewing the notes I took. One thing that helped me was making note of the questions I got wrong and taking the practice quiz again. Next week will be filled with lots of studying for finals.

Space Model

On Monday, we started class by taking notes. One thing that I have never realized about the sky is that it is slightly curved. This invisible body in the sky is called the celestial sphere. This sphere represents the fact that all objects are not located the same distance away from the Earth. One thing that affects our lives is the fact that on Earth there are 365.25 days in a year. This results in a leap year every four years. After taking notes we worked on a new activity. This activity involved using scale factor to make our own model of the solar system. We did this by first filling in the distance from the sun to all the planets then determining what it would be on our model.

On Tuesday, we started class by doing a Kahoot. This Kahoot was mainly on space. There were some questions that were in our notes and some that were general questions about space that were more difficult but still fun to answer. After the Kahoot, we took notes. Today one of the topics that we were sure to review moving on was longitude and latitude. This can be very confusing and after reviewing which one was which I understood a little bit more. After taking notes we worked on our lab. Today, we started on the basic outline for our model. We rolled out 3 meters of paper to draw the rough sketch of the model on. We spaced out each planet in accordance to the sun and the scale factor which we calculated yesterday. Tomorrow we will finish the model.

On Wednesday, we started class by doing another Kahoot. This one was mainly about space and the planets and was a little less broad. I do not know the order of the planets very well but that is something I need to improve on before the quiz. After the Kahoot, we took more notes. These notes were on the Kepler laws. The first one describes how planets do not orbit in a circle, they orbit in an ellipse. The second one describes the fact that things closer to the object they are orbiting move faster than when they are farther away. After taking notes we worked on our lab from yesterday. We used the drawing we did the previous day and used objects that would correspond to the planets size scaled down. After doing that we worked on questions we will do tomorrow.

On Thursday, we started class by doing a Star Wars Kahoot.  I do not know how this relates to anything we were doing in science but we did it anyways. After the Kahoot ,we took more notes. In the notes, we went over what an equinox is. An equinox is when the day is equal to the night approximately.  It happens twice a year and it is a result of the Earth's equator passing through the center of the sun. After taking notes we worked on finishing our lab. One of the questions was open ended which made it somewhat hard for some people to come up with an answer. Tomorrow we will not be at school because of a field trip in which we see pelicans nesting.

Quiz

On Monday, we played a review game for our quiz on Wednesday. This review game mainly focused on winds and did not fully pertain to the information that was actually going to be on the quiz. I could not answer most of the questions because most of them were not on things we had actually gone over in class. The one thing however that I did take back from the review game was that winds move from high to low pressure. The homework consisted of studying for the quiz on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Mrs. G was not at school. The substitute reviewed the worksheet we completed last Friday when we had another substitute. This was a review of section one and mainly was about weather. It helped me focus more on the information on the quiz. After reviewing this worksheet we worked on the textbook questions. There were 57 questions which made it hard to concentrate on the questions that would actually pertain to what was going to be on the quiz. Overall, I do not feel very prepared for the quiz tomorrow but I will prepare to the best of my ability with the materials that I have been given.

On Wednesday, we had our quiz. I felt overall better about the quiz once we took some time to review in the first part of the class. The quiz was much shorter than usual but that also means that the mistakes, if any were made, would count as a higher percentage. There was only one short answer question and I felt okay about it. I studied latent heat and phase changes very well before I took the quiz so that part was somewhat easier. We will move onto the next unit and skip the climate section so we will have time to prepare for finals.
One thing I may need to improve on this week is to start maybe reviewing for finals. It seems like it is far away but it is in fact very close.

On Thursday, we started class by reviewing the quiz we took. I did better than I thought. After reviewing the quiz, we took notes. These notes were on unit 10 which will be our last unit in science. This unit is on space. Currently, my knowledge of space is very limited but after this unit I hope I will know more about space. One thing that was slightly introduced was parallax which I hope we go into more. This week was stressful and I wish I could have just skipped school and just gone to the beach.

On Friday we did not have school due to there being a teacher workday.

New Unit

On Monday, we started a new unit on weather and climate. We will focus more on weather and only take a quiz to conserve our remaining time for part of the space unit. One thing I learned today that I did not know before is the difference between climate and weather. Weather is a description of the exact temperature and cloud cover at the moment but climate is calculated through patterns over a long span of time. We then went on to the different types of clouds and how hail forms. The typical clouds you would think of as being fluffy and white are classified as cumulus clouds. After doing a few slides of notes we worked on doing our vocab for unit 9. The one thing I need to improve on when doing vocab is reviewing it after I write them.

On Tuesday, we started class by doing four slides of notes. The first new thing I learned while doing notes was latent heat. Latent heat involves phase changes like condensation and evaporation. These phase changes involve a change in energy. Phase changes move from a low energy state to a high energy state. The energy released into the environment from phase changes are latent heat. Saturation was also a topic we reviewed from last year. The saturation we talked about involved condensation and evaporation. Saturation is when both condensation and evaporation occur at the same rates. Saturation can affect the moisture in the air  and is affected by temperature. After taking notes, we worked on creating a cloud viewer for making identifying clouds easier. This was a cool idea to help us learn the cloud types if we ever go cloud watching.

On Wednesday, we reviewed notes on dew point. The dew point is a saturation point. I never really thought about the dew found on my grass most mornings until this unit. After reviewing notes we worked on a weather stations lab mostly about pressure. While doing this lab I learned that better weather occurs at high pressure. A low pressure usually results in clouds or rain. The next time it rains I will know that it was a result of low pressure in our atmosphere.

On Thursday, we began class by taking more notes. We mainly focused on severe weather. One new thing I learned while taking notes is how lightning is formed. It is formed by wind direction from low to high causing winds to rotate. Ice particles that move up and down create static electricity forming lightning. I never knew that lightning was formed by winds. We also went over the ways to measure weather conditions. I knew of a barometer but I did not know of the rest. After that, we worked on the weather stations lab. This lab helped me understand changing pressure systems and how they impact life on Earth. One way air pressure affects humans is through the respiratory systems. Without atmospheric pressure, humans would not be able to breathe.

On Friday, we finished up the week by doing a review worksheet. This was a review for our upcoming quiz and the questions were mainly directly from the notes. This review took me the majority of class but I still had some I did not finish. One thing I can improve on for this week is studying for my quiz next week in advance. This new unit was okay and I learned a lot more about weather.

New Section

On Monday, we had IOWA testing so that resulted in our science class being shorter. To begin the class we did our normal science starter. Then after that, we reviewed notes about the atmosphere. We reviewed topics on global heating and winds, both global and local. An example of a local wind would be a lake wind or a sea breeze. One main factor of Earth's overall heating is the Earth's curvature. After reviewing notes, we worked on a new activity on the atmosphere. To start this activity, we did research on the different types of chemicals in the air and how they could harm humans. Carbon Monoxide is an example of one of these gases that could do great harm to human bodies.

On Tuesday, we did not have science class because of an abbreviated schedule due to IWOA testing.

On Wednesday, we had our quiz on section one. I thought this quiz was very hard and that we did not go over some of the topics as well as we usually do for most of our quizzes. I studied the way I normally do for all tests and quizzes, but for some reason, this was a lot harder than all the ones I have taken in the past. I had the most trouble on the multiple choice questions because I thought that they were worded in an odd way. The short answer questions made sense and I did not really have a problem answering it. Our next test will be open notes so hopefully, I will use that to my advantage when taking it.

On Thursday, we started class by reviewing our quiz. I have some material I need to improve on for next week's test. It will be open notes, so this week it is important that I add all of the side notes while reviewing them in class. This is something that I need to improve on so I can do well on the quiz. After reviewing for the quiz we did some new notes for section two. We started by learning the layers of the atmosphere, which was more like review because of the graph we did last week. The layers of the atmosphere change with density and temperature as the elevation changes.

On Friday, we worked on learning new material on the different layers of Earth's atmosphere for the test next week. The new information I learned about was about the thermopause and mesopause. These are transition layers in which the temperature usually remains constant. I added these layers to the graph we worked on last week to help me review for my test. We also learned about the ionosphere.  Most people often associate this layer of the atmosphere with the Aurora Borealis lights that occur at the poles. This happens when solar wind activity  interacts with the charged particles in the ionosphere. After doing notes we had the rest of the class time to review. Overall this week was a stressful week because we had a quiz in the middle of Iowa testing and shortened classes.

Seawater Lab

On Monday we continued with the seawater lab. Today we tested the viscosity of corn syrup, fresh water , and seawater. To test these we put 100ml of each liquid into a graduated cylinder. Then we took round copper pellets and dropped each one into the liquid separately to perform 10 tests in all. As we dropped the pellets in, at the 70 ml mark, time was recorded from that measurement to when they hit the bottom. For the corn syrup recording data was very easy but for the water test it was very difficult to get accurate results because they moved so quickly. After all the data was collected the average was taken and the velocity was calculated.

On Tuesday we started the class by taking notes. The notes were on the different physical features that exist in both deep ocean and shallow ocean areas. To help show the correlation we drew a diagram of the different physical features such as continental slope and continental shelf. After that we continued with our seawater lab viscosity lab tests. Today we made the graphs displaying the velocity of each sample. The velocity of the corn syrup sample was much higher than the other samples because it is more viscous. The best way to display this data would be in a bar graph because the bars would easily compare the data side by side.

On Wednesday I was not at school during science class because I was attending an awards ceremony for the Azalea Festival art competition.

On Thursday we started class by taking notes. Today the notes were mainly on the different shallow and deep water environments that marine life live in. Even with modern research, scientists still do not know all the marine life that live on the deepest part of the ocean floor. A large majority of the marine life that live down there have adapted due to the harsh environments.  Most organisms living in the deep rely on a food source called marine snow which is a shower of organic matter from the shallow water. Due to the deep ocean's lack of sunlight most photosynthesizing organisms cannot live there. Instead they occupy a shallow region called the photic zone in which sunlight is easily passed through. After taking notes we worked on our lab. Today we did the last test which was to test the pH of both seawater and freshwater. My hypothesis for this test was that fresh water would be able to regulate pH more efficiently but after the data was collected it showed that my hypothesis was incorrect. After collecting the pH for both samples we put the information on a graph to show the relationship between the two samples.

On Friday we spent the class working on work we needed to finish for science. I worked on my study guide for the test next Wednesday. I knew most of the questions but some of them were very challenging. The questions were on the unit 7 oceans. Most of the new material was on the different parts of the ocean such as the photic and aphotic zone. The photic zone has access to light and can sustain phytoplankton but the aphotic zone is so deep in the ocean it has no access to light. Overall the thing that I can most improve on is studying for the test next week by doing the study guide in advance.

Quiz and Oceans

On Monday we started class by reviewing some of the notes we took last Friday and we went over some new notes learning new information about tides. Today from these notes, I learned the difference between neap tides and spring tides. Tides are a result of the gravitational pull of the Earth, Moon, and Sun on the oceans. Neap tides are tides where the amount of change from low to high is not very drastic and is a result from the Sun and Moon being a 90 degree angle. Spring tides are tides that are more drastic and are stronger. The low tides during a spring tide are very low and the high tides are very high; almost the opposite of a neap tide. After notes we continued working on our lab. Today we tested the specific gravity of our water samples. To test this we used a hydrometer which gave us our data which was then imputed into our tables. From the current data and data previously taken we were able to make a guess of what water we thought the samples were.

On Tuesday we had a visit from the Morehead Planetarium to teach us about black holes that exist in space. They set up a large dome in the cafeteria  with a projector in the center. The dome was suspended by air pumping through a vent leading from an opening. It looked like a bouncy castle that was shaped like a whale. When we entered the dome we sat on the floor and looked at the star projected on the walls of the dome in a 360 degree range. The first video that played was about black holes. Black holes have a very strong gravitational pull and defy almost every theory we know to be true. One of the main things that I did not know about black holes is that it is almost impossible to get out of them and that even light cannot escape. After the video we learned about some constellations. Before this lesson I never knew what Orion's belt actually looked like but now I do. Overall this demonstration was a good lesson of all the things about black holes that I did not know.

On Wednesday we worked on our seawater lab. Today we worked on testing the dissolved oxygen in cold and warm water for both fresh and salt. My hypothesis was that there would be more dissolved oxygen in the warm fresh water but from the data my hypothesis was disproved. The results showed that cold fresh water has the most dissolved oxygen in it. In the lab our data showed that the salt water had a higher level of dissolved oxygen but that is not what it should be. This is probably a result of our old test sample of salt water that has been sitting out for a few days.

On Thursday we reviewed for the quiz on Friday. To reinforce some of the notes, we read the textbook chapters. The textbook chapters were more detailed than the notes and helped me grasp some of the topics I did not understand. In preparation for the quiz, I retook the assessment I first took at the beginning of the unit. After reading we did a study guide worksheet. This worksheet helped test my knowledge of the concepts and how to apply them. It also did a very good job at helping me understand density of ocean water. Overall the information is very new and I will need to review a lot for the quiz.

On Friday we took our science quiz on the oceans unit. I prepared for this quiz by studying the text book questions and reviewing my notes. After taking the quiz I understood all the information I needed to study for the next test. One thing I really had to  review for the quiz was the vocab and deep ocean waves. Overall this week I need to work on studying my vocab in advance.

#TrashBag

On Monday we started out our week with a new project that would open our eyes to how much trash we actually produce. The project consisted of everyone in the school carrying around their own personal trash bag with them at all times. This meant that all trashcans in the school would be gone too. This was fortunate for me because my job at school is to take out the school trash. In total we will carry our trash bag with us for 24 hours, even at home, and all trash we produce will go into the bag. Hopefully this project will open our eyes to the amount of waste that goes into landfills each year. After that we watched a video showing what humans have truly done to the earth. Even though it was a cartoon, it did show me how much humans have really affected the Eco-system and the organisms living on it. After the video, we took the tech book assignment to test our prior knowledge on oceans. I did better than I thought I would do and got 54% correct. At home keeping up with the trash made me realize how much waste I truly produce. It was less than I thought but in a year that would be a lot of trash after a while.

On Tuesday we collected the data from our classes' trash collection. Most of the trash collected in a day by the entire class was significantly lower than I thought it was going to be. My trash collecting experience left me wondering about how much trash the entire school would bring together in a week. The flaws that may have occurred when collecting the data would be that some people might have changed their ways for the day or for some reason they collected more trash than they would on a regular day due to some different reason. Another factor that could have resulted in skewed data is some trash items weigh more than others. For example thin plastic bags weigh less than heavy cardboard but cardboard is less detrimental to the environment because it is a paper product. Plastic can not be broken down as quickly as cardboard can which is a factor we need to consider when buying products in the store or how much of it we use. After collecting our data and putting in a graph, we started the notes for our new unit on oceans. Prior to this unit my knowledge on oceans was very limited and being educated on oceans would overall help my view on what I can do to help near the ocean where I live.

On Wednesday we did more notes on the oceans unit. Today we went over salinity in the oceans and some factors that go into it but we did not go into much detail. One thing I learned that I did not know before is the amount of solids able to be dissolved in water are much higher when the water is warmer. I also learned that plankton  are a key micro-organism in the ocean ecosystem and provide many larger animals with a food source. After taking notes we worked on the pre-lab questions for the upcoming lab. These questions pertained to the oceans and most were basic questions about the definition of words that seemed to have nothing to do with oceans. One question I struggled on was the question about micro and macro nutrients and was curious to see what  they had to do with the hydrosphere.

On Thursday we continued with the notes for the unit. One new thing that was introduced to me that I did not know before was that the oceans are highly affected by convection almost like what occurs in the mantle. We also briefly went over the Coriolis Effect which is rumored to change the way in which the toilet water flushes depending on where you live. Now this is probably not true but natural water does take on this effect. After that we worked on our ocean water lab. In this lab we tested the difference of the boiling and freezing point of fresh and slat water. The freezing point of salt water is much lower because it is denser which did surprise me. We also tested the salinity levels of different water mixtures both salt and fresh.

On Friday we started the class with notes. We reviewed the Coriolis effect by watching a video that both explained and proved that the theory exists. In the video two men on both sides of the world performed the same type of experiment. The experiment was that a pool was drained on both sides of the world. Food coloring was put in the pool to show direction and both sides went different ways proving the effect to be true and the reasons that toilets swirl different ways is because they are man made. After watching the video and taking notes we worked on the lab. Today we tested salinity of the different samples and compared density. We put the data in graphs to better show our data.

This week I think everyone can improve on the amount of trash they produce. I can do this by being more resourceful and recycling the items that actually can be recycled. One important thing I learned this week is that if our trash production doesn't decrease the landfills will continue to get bigger which is not good for the environment.

Soil Profile

On Monday we started out the week by taking notes. We briefly reviewed the notes we started to review on Friday. One new thing I learned about soil is the different kinds of soil. The different types of soil are pedalfer, laterites, and pedocal. Pedalfer is the best soil for plants to grow in because it is very rich in minerals. Pedocal however, is very infertile and lies in an area with little rainfall resulting it to be very dry. After reviewing notes we started a soil analysis lab. For this lab we all had to bring in a soil sample to test. My soil was very coarse when viewed under the microscope and did not bubble when vinegar was applied leading me to believe I have sand. Since Wilmington is a coastal town this is common for most soil samples.

On Tuesday I was absent.

On Wednesday we started the class with a science starter. For the science starter we had to name the soil horizons from the top to the bottom. This helped me review for the test the next day because it tested my ability to remember the order of the layers. After that we reviewed the answers to the study guide. Doing the study guide helped me organize the information we had learned in class. Writing down the answers to the questions also helped me review information I did not understand the first time learning it. After reviewing the study guide we worked on our soil lab. Since I was absent the day before, I had to set up my graduated cylinder. To do this I put sand in the cylinder and filled the rest with water and shook it up. I am waiting for the results tomorrow to take the percentages of sand, silt, and clay. After that I took the pH of my soil and surprisingly it was a neutral 7.0.

On Thursday we took our test on the whole unit. This unit mainly consisted of weathering, erosion, and soil. One big thing I had to study for this test was the order of the soil layers and to do this, I would have to improve my study habits. One thing that helped me remember the order was the phrase orange apes eat big crunchy raspberries. One of the first things I did when I got my test was list out all of the layers so I would not forget when doing the multiple choice questions. The test was different because the short answer section was abbreviated. All of the answers given had to be less than two sentences which was hard for me to summarize how soil was formed in two sentences. Overall I felt good after taking the test and I was able to answer many questions from past units and current.

On Friday we continued with our marsh seed project. So far in total we have 12 seeds planted. In each planter, four seeds are planted and the goal is for them to eventually grow. After we planted the remainder of our germinated seeds, we dumped the sprouted seeds in a colander to be planted in a larger container. The goal of this project is to restore the salt marsh and learn about the ecosystems that rely on the salt-marsh. After planting our seeds we watched a video to introduce our next unit. The next unit revolves around the hydrosphere a part of Earth we have not fully gone over as a class yet.

Soil

On Monday we started the class by reviewing vocab. To do this ,we got out a blank piece of paper and numbered it from one to nine. Then Mrs.G called out the vocab definitions and we had to write down the word that corresponded with the given definition. This helped me know the words I needed to study for the quiz on Tuesday. The quiz would be on the units we had gone over in class about erosion and weathering and the vocab for those units. After doing the vocab quiz we studied  the textbook questions for the remainder of class. Our only homework was to study for the quiz which was something I really needed to study hard for.

On Tuesday we had our quiz on units 1-2. This quiz had vocab from the notes and material we learned from doing the weathering stations lab. Some of the information from the weathering stations lab included ice wedging. We had to use what we learned from the notes and also the lab to help us answer a question that would require us to apply our knowledge.  I knew most of the questions but some did trip me up. I can use my quiz to understand what I missed and not make the same mistakes next time on the test. Also reviewing the quiz to help study for the test always seems to work for me based on my results from the past.

On Wednesday we got our quiz results back. I did well and I now understand the questions I missed and why I missed them. After reviewing quiz, we were introduced to the new units about soil. For our science starter we were asked basic questions like "what is soil". From my past understanding soil is the minerals and sediment on the ground beneath us with both living and non-living things in it. After that we did vocab cards for the whole unit. These words were all new to me but I understood most of the meanings. One word that you may not know is used to describe soil is humus. Humus is the dark organic matter that form on the soil when living things decay. This is the type of humus that belongs in the ground not on pita chips.

On Thursday we went over the soil unit by learning the soil layers. The vocab we had previously done on Wednesday was very helpful for this. To learn the soil layers we filled out a diagram with definitions on the side. The soil layers are named by letters A, B, C, R and O. The topsoil layer is the best layer to grow plants in because of the mineral rich humus. The bottom layer is very different from the top layer and had been barely weathered. While doing the worksheet we made an edible representation of the layers in soil.  Different ingredients represented each layers of the soil.

On Friday we all brought soil samples for an activity we would be doing next week. My soil definitely contained some sand and felt gritty and heavy. After that we checked on our seeds we had been germinating for a couple of weeks now. So far my group had eight germinated seeds. To germinate the seeds we put them in an air-tight container with water then placed it under a heating lamp. To germinate, seeds need water or else they will die so it was very important that they remained in water the whole time. We planted the germinated seeds into containers with soil and sprayed them with water. Our group had two planters so far with four seeds in each. In a few weeks we should have even more seeds that have germinated. After that we worked on our introduction for our lab report.

Overall this week I learned a lot about soil layers and composition. One thing I can improve on this week is memorizing the order of the layers for the test next week.

Weathering and Erosion

On Monday we were not at school because it was Martin Luther King Jr. day.

On Tuesday we started a new quarter which led to us starting a new unit. This new unit revolves around weathering,deposition, and soil. To ease our way into the new topics, we did an activity before starting our notes. The activity centered around weathering and involved skittles and water. The skittles were put on a tray, which represented Earth or the ground, and then we dropped water on them from a dropper. After each set of ten drops, a drawing was taken and a brief description was also recorded. Very quickly, the water removed the coloring from the outside of the skittle. After the coloring came off, the "s" on the top came directly off. At first I did not completely understand the processes, but after going over notes I understood it more.

On Wednesday, we started a new lab to continue with our unit about weathering. In this lab, there were many stations and at each station we learned about a different type of weathering through a demonstration. The station I went to dealt with chemical weathering. We were instructed to put vinegar on a penny for four minutes and then wipe it off. After the four minutes was up and I wiped the vinegar off, there was a huge difference from when I first put the penny in. The tarnish on the outside was gone and the penny was a lot shinier. The penny that had been sitting for 24-hours was even shinier and had almost no tarnish at all. This demonstration showed what happens to a rock when acid rain constantly hits the rock. The demonstrations we did at the stations helped me better understand the material I needed to improve on.

On Thursday we continued with the lab we had previously worked on. Before we worked on the lab we watched a video showing us the weathering that occurs at beach environments.  The change in just a couple months were very drastic but the change throughout the whole year was almost devastating. Almost 17 meters were gone in only one year due to beach erosion. This is a big problem in our area but it is hard to see in our daily life but this video really showed me how a beach environment can get destroyed by just weathering.
After watching the video we worked on the lab again. Today I mostly learned from the activities about frost action. Frost action occurs when water enter rocks through cracks and freezes. When water freezes, it expands breaking the rock apart. This is a type of mechanical weathering that can occur during the winter on road rocks. In the activity, two cups of water were presented on the table. One had been frozen and the other was normal. There was a difference been the volumes of the two waters. The frozen water appeared to have a greater amount. This was used to show that water expands as it freezes. Overall this lab helped me learn a lot more about the different types of weathering.

On Friday I was sick but it seems that we did more work on our seed lab.

This week was a short week since we had Monday off but I still was able to learn a lot about weathering. One thing I need to improve on this week is reviewing my notes more often. Reviewing my notes more frequently will make it a lot easier around test time and will help me learn the material better.