Mr. Bent’s Edublog Page

I’ve got to get the new site up and running…….I’ll try to add new stuff when I can.

Sorry.

Mr. B

We took a “quiz” to determine how much you knew about this unit so far.  I’d say we had about 50% of you at the place where I want you, with the other half needing to “get cracking” on this stuff.  Please study your notes and maps ASAP.  Don’t let it go for another week or so……..it might really have an impact on your grade.

The mapping exercise went well (I thought), with most people doing well with plotting points.  Some people had a hard time with directions, while others struggled with basic geogrphical concepts (countries vs. continents).

Tomorrow we will return to our packet, as we focus on GPS and the locations of each continent on Earth.  We will use Google Earth for much of this discussion.

Please comment on the class today.

Mr. Bent

Don’t forget, you have a class summary due tomorrow.  Here is a copy of the FCA sheet for you (in case you forgot).

Mr. B

Good Luck!

Mr-bs-hw 1.5

……..Two concepts that most people never seem to get.  Lines of latitude measure north and south of the Equator, while lines of longitude measure east and west of the Prime Meridian.

Do you think you’re ready to plot points using latitude and longitude co-ordinates?

We had a challenging class today, as you all tried to define 24 words from the new “mapping” unit.  Many of these words were unknown to you, but for the most part, you tackled the problem with a respectable effort.

Many of the groups that I saw today worked REALLY hard, with 3 groups (of 16) finishing all 24 words.  A few groups had great difficulty getting along, and didn’t get much done at all.  This is a reminder, in school, as well as in “real” life, that you don’t always get along perfectly with people that you work with, but sometimes you just have to do it.

I want to personally thank Nyesha for looking at the map behind my desk and giving me the idea to incorporate globes into the lesson.  Your roaming eyes really paid off today!

It was hard, but I hope you found some enjoyment and use to the class.

Mr. B

Oh, and Megan, that WAS a nice job by Adrienne and Cole, wasn’t it?

Heh, heh…………

yeah, yeah……I chose these as the best.  But who is this?

Eat………………..a lot!

I gave back test scores yesterday, but we have not yet finished going over the test results.  We’ll do that today.  We’ll also review the anticipation/reaction guide results.

Today we discussed Global Winds, Sea Breezes, and Land Breezes. Everyone had a chance to draw Land Breezes as well. Here is a diagram from the internet that shows these two breezes, followed by a few pictures that were student created:

We CAN learn by watching old, cheesy cartoons.  See for yourself………

Today we discussed the concepts of convection and conduction, two of the ways that heat is transfered on (and above) Earth.  Conduction is the direct transfer of heat from one substance to another (think hot sand heating your feet), while convection is the heating, rising, cooling, and sinking of fluids (think hot air rising, cooling, and sinking).  The lesson was pretty straightforward, and we’ll be creating 3 vocabulary cards regarding these words during CE next week.

Well, we spent much of today’s class reviewing the seasons diagrams that you all did.  The review went well, and I hope that you all got the overall important part of the message:

READ DIRECTIONS!

FCAs are there for a reason.  Please read them and double-check your work.

That said, the diagrams were fantastic overall.  I’m quite pleased with your drawing, reading, and writing efforts this year.  Now, if you could just improve on following directions…………………………………….

directions…………………….di……………..re………………..c…………………….tio………………..n…………..s………….

We focused our short class today on the concepts of Perihelion and Aphelion.  The Earth’s orbit is not circular, so it is sometimes closer or further from the sun then other times.  However, these distances are not really great enough to cause seasons on Earth.

Remember that the Northern Hemisphere actually has Winter when the Earth is closest to the sun (Perihelion), and the Northern Hemisphere has Summer when the Earth is furthest from the sun (Aphelion).   This might seem confusing, but it would make perfect sense if we lived in the Southern Hemisphere (closest to sun in Summer and furthest from sun in Winter).

It is the TILT of the Earth that gives us our seasons!