Revised: 18 November 2009
Welcome. This blog is for parents and students who are in my classroom.
You can post comments, but you must register. All comments are subject to moderation, and will not appear on the website until I have approved them. This will insure that no inappropriate material appears on this site.
You can also visit: EclecticScience Network, our science website, and its sister site Student Research Center. Our busy schedule keeps us from adding a lot of items to these sites, but we hope you enjoy what we have been able to share.
Mr. G
No, the moon won’t be blue. The expression “Once in a blue moon” is old, and simply means something that won’t happen or is very rare. The meaning has shifted to mean the second of two full moons in the same month. This December we’ll see the second full moon on the 31st, a rare event indeed. For more, read this, and have a great new year.
The annual Geminid meteor shower has been intensifying, and researchers say 2009 could be the best year yet. This year’s display peaks on Dec. 13th and 14th.
We studied atoms and matter, but didn’t get into some of the interesting new ideas from physics of which much of modern science fiction is based. Here’s a movie that’s part of a series from NOVA (PBS Series). If you find it interesting, watch the rest of them on the PBS NOVA website.
The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension
PBS NOVA Website: The Elegant Universe
Have fun!
The week of 23 November has only two school days. To give students a chance to make sure all late work is turned in, I will be printing progress reports on Monday. Students have until Tuesday afternoon to turn in all late work for the new term. Report cards will be sent home next week Tuesday, 1 December.
Although a spelling list was given today, the next test will be in two weeks on 3 December. This, as you can guess, is because we only have two days of school next week. Wednesday is a grading day in which the teachers will be preparing report cards and catching up on paperwork. I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving holiday.
The retake for the science vocabulary test will be on Friday, not Thursday as announced in class. That will give everyone all week to prepare for this one. I will give 3 short study sessions in class as well, but you really need to study on your own to master the words.
As you may have noticed, I’ve moved the spelling lists to their own page. You have to click on the list you want and it will download a pdf file of the spelling list (including the cursive worksheet I give to the students each week). A new spelling list will be given most Tuesdays and the tests are the following Tuesday.
A permission slip went home last Wednesday so that your student can view the video “In Search of History: The Aztec Empire” produced by The History Channel. As you may know, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice, and the video discusses this through wall drawings and illustrations (no graphic blood and gore, or live reenactments). The video will be viewed on Thursday. If you do not wish your child to see this video, I will send him or her to the library to read.
In class we talked about how all objects fall at the same speed. The reason why balloons and feathers fall slower than most other objects is because of air resistance. The air pushing on the large area of a low mass object causes it to fall slower. On the moon, however, no such problem exists because the moon’s atmosphere is pretty much nonexistent.
I have placed a break here so the movie doesn’t try to load on the home page. The movie is 8.4 MB, which will take some time to load if you have a slower internet connection.