Weekly Blog 4/25 - 5/2

                   Summary

A biome is a large ecosystem with many different kinds of plants and animals.The deciduous is a type of biome.The deciduous forest is a temperate forest or temperate broad-leaf forest. That are dominated by trees that lose their leaves each year. They are found in areas with warm, moist summers and mild winters.The deciduous is a place with many animals but has the threat of habitat loss for these animals. People are cutting down their trees. The deciduous also have very nice and decorative plants. One of the plants is the Lady Fern.

  

S&EP: Developing and using models

We are supposed to make a diorama of our biome. Like I said my biome is the deciduous forest. My group is going to make the forest view of our diorama. We are going to put 3 plants and 3 animals, one of the animals is going to be a endangered animal. We are going to use our data and information on our flora and fauna and use it in our diorama.

Ocean Project Blog

Summary: 

• This week we worked on a project that was supposed to locate messages in a bottle. And we had to make a story of how the bottle came to the ocean and a worksheet of which currents took the bottle to its place. I learned that there are many many many different types of current. I thought there was only 3 or 6.  I also learned that a gyre is created by the rotation of the earth and the wind. I also knew that winds creates currents.

Backward-Looking:
I knew that the ocean water is very salty and that its undrinkable. And that currents are created by the wind. But in class we got taught some new things. I knew what a whirlpool was. But I never knew there was a thing called a gyre which is a spinning pool of water thats created by the rotation of the earth and the wind. A gyre is NOT a whirlpool. Whatever goes into a gyre never comes out. The gyre keeps all the trash inside the little spinning pool of water. The spinning chaos keeps trashing inside the trash pile. Theres also something called The Great Garbage Patch, there are actually two of them. The Garbage Patch is described as a trash vortex. The patch actually started out as a gyre, then it became bigger and accumulating more trash. There are two famous patches because they are the biggest ones. There are smaller ones know as gyres but these are the most popular gyre's.
Inward-Looking:

I like my work because we had to make a map and I really like drawing maps. And I think my map was really good. And we had to make a story also and I think I made a good story also. But one thing about my story was that there wasn't much dialogue at all. And I felt like I should have added some more dialogue. I enjoyed the story part where you could make up a story because it lets us choose how the bottle got into the ocean. Theres no instructions and no limit. This means no rules! You can write what you want! This is something I liked about the project in lots of detail.

Outward-Looking:

I would give myself an A, because I put lots of effort into it. I followed the directions and I tried my best. And I feel like my work is exceptional because I used what I was supposed to and I worked with other people to make sure my work was fine. The lowest I could get is an A- because my story doesn't have much dialogue and it's not that fun to read. I think its like that because I started my story a tad bit later than everyone else so I had to quickly put together a story both including the way the bottle got to where it is and while teaching the reader about oceans. 
Forward-Looking:

I would change my story because like I said I felt like I needed to add more dialogue. Because most of my story was just narrating! And I feel like I should have done a little bit more dialogue and make my story a little more interesting. But I would mostly focus on the dialogue part because the reader needs to experience whats going on in the story through dialogue. The reader can't experience the full effect through just narration they have to experience it through dialogue also.

Weekly blog 4/11 - 15/16

www.windows2universe.org

SUMMARY:
A gyre is a spinning water circle caused by the earth's rotation and the wind combined causing it to start spinning in a circle form. Its not a whirlpool! A surface current is movement of the water anywhere from the surface of the ocean to 300 feet deep. On the other hand a a deep surface current is water movement that happens 300 feet deep under the oceans surface. Salt water is heavier than fresh water, if you were to put them in the same bottle the salt water would sink and the fresh water would stay at the top. Same with hot water and cold water. Cold water is heavier than hot water, so the cold water sinks like the salt water and like the fresh water, the hot water stays up.

S&EP:SP2: Developing and using models: Did you build a model, draw a picture, created a concept map, etc?
I class we had a project about currents and we were given coordinates and through these coordinates we had to map out the currents it went through. Mine went through the Mozambique to the Antarctic Circumpolar to the South Atlanta then last it ends at the Benguela currents. We are basically mapping out messages in a bottle that was assigned to our group. Everyone has a different coordinate.

Weekly Blog 4/9/16

www.indiana.edu

          SUMMARY
   
A ocean contains about 120 million tons of salt!  A ocean can be polluted many ways such as people littering, oil spills,or other bad stuff.  A ocean can help humans a lot we can easily clean out the water from its salt and pollutants then we drink it.  The ocean has the largest population of animals in it. Some animals aren't even known yet. If the ocean gets harmed with oil spills or lots of litter, it can affect us because the ocean supplies us with lots of our food. I also know that winds can create currents. Current are the direction the waves move in.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

In class we had a worksheet on a Lego Spill and had to figure out what currents brought them to certain places using coordinates. So most of the legos ended up on a coast. I think the coast line was the California current.

Blog 3/21/16

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Weekly Blog 2/29 - 3/4

    

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Summary:  Acid rain is a type of rain that contains so chemicals that are acidic. Sometimes if the rain is not that acidic it won't affect the wildlife and ecosystem. But if its too acidic then it becomes a threat to wildlife. Juan Tuno in our article said this "If they're a little bit acidic, then that's normal, but if they're too acidic, it would kill the fish and other water life." Basically what I said. Acidic rain can be a huge problem. And maybe the answer to the massive fish murder that I am investigating.

S&EP: Engaging in argument from evidence: Did you participate in a class discussion providing evidence for your answers, and/or used the ACE strategy in your work?

This week I used the ACE strategy in my quiz's. ACE stands for Answer, C stands for Cite evidence and Explain. I used it to answer the questions about Acid rain. This is one of them. Do you think acid rain is killing the fish? Why or why not? I said it is because the water test prove that the water is too acidic for fish. Maybe this could be the answer to the Massive Fish Murder.

Grey Area Argumentative Essay

The gray area has been having a problem lately. This problem is that the fish are dying off in large numbers. There is a big question going around “who is responsible for the death of these fish.” With the fish dying of this is a big tragedy which makes less food for other animals. Now the scientists are trying to find out who made this mess? My thinking is that Sandy Trapp and her golf course are causing the fish to die. Because the fertilizer is polluting the water which is causing algal blooms to grow. And then with the lack of oxygen the fish can't breath well then they stop suffocating.



I think that the fertilizer is polluting the water which causes phosphates than that helps algal blooms to grow. Then the algal blooms will suffocate because the algal blooms block out some oxygen for the fish to breath. The article states that the fish need oxygen from the water. “Many fish and water insects cannot breathe oxygen from the air.They breathe dissolved oxygen in water. This also shows that the algal blooms could be affecting the breathing of the fish. Because some fish need more oxygen than the others. “Other animals (like trout, pike, salmon, and the larvae of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and beetles) need a lot.Without enough oxygen, these animals can die. Other animals that depend on them for food may die or leave.” This also tells us that the golf course can be a culprit because they dump way too much fertilizer in the river. “Too many phosphates (and nitrates) build up in water. They may come from laundry detergent, manure, or fertilizer.”


You can tell that the golf course in responsible for the fish dying. Because by watching the birds you can tell. And note the amount of certain birds.  I know that the kingfisher only eats fish.  So with the phosphates the fish will shortly die off. Since the fish will eventually affect the food chain, it will affect the kingfisher.The fish will die then it will take away the food for the kingfisher. That's how the kingfishers population is decreasing. The fish will eventually die off causing the kingfisher and the other birds to die. The this will affect all the other birds. This could spread to deer and other animals. And even to us!

Sandy trapp knows that she is doing something wrong. So does Mo but she's forcing him to. Her golf course is using way too much fertilizer.

“People pay to play on green grass, that's our business. No green grass=no business.We need to add more fertilizer and water to our lawns. I hope I have made myself clear.” States Sandy Trapp with a email directed to Mo. This could be a clue in proving she is behind the fish murder. “Phosphates are a kind of chemical found in fertilizer…” says Juan Tuno. And with the email from Sandy we can tell that the phosphates are in the river and phosphates help algal blooms grow, which causes fish to die off with the lack of clean water and oxygen. “Phosphates help algae (water plants) grow.” This is what the algal blooms files say. And like I said with the lack of air for fish they start to die. Phosphates are formed when there is too much fertilizer and people are watering too much. This causes the phosphates.

I think that Sandy Trapp and the golf course are behind the fish murder. Because she waters on too much fertilizer and her golf course creates phosphates. All of my evidence includes the phosphates because that creates algal blooms and fish loose oxygen.That kills them. And the algal blooms aren't good in general either. Knowing this people should stop going to the golf course so they can stop watering the fertilizer which is already to much. And remember this note that Sandy did? “ No green grass=no business.We need to add more fertilizer and water to our lawns.” This proves that if we don't go to the golf course, they don't put fertilizer anymore because the grass is already Ok. Join to put an end to this fish murder. Stop going to the golf course!