Month

Curriculum Focus

Technology Element

Essential Learning and Technology Skill Focus [EALR'S]

September

Volcanoes and Mt Saint Helens and Fresh Water (Prentice Hall Science Explorer, Earth Science, 2001, Ch 6, sections 1, 2, and 3, Ch's 11 and 12)

Theme: Patterns and Interactions

Reading the textbook (strategies) & Internet activities (web bytes).

Mount Saint Helens Video & Bill Nye (Ordered from Olypmic ESD 114

Cispus trip to Mt Saint Helens (wk of Sept 24)

1.3 understand how interactions within and among systems cause changes in matter and energy.

Processes and Interactions of the Earth System

Benchmark (BM) #2 "Describe the processes of constructive and destructive forces and how they continually change landforms."

1. Understand that some earth changes occur abruptly (earthquakes/volcanoes) while others are very slow processes (mountain building and erosion).
2. Understand that heat flow and material moving within the earth cause earthquakes and volcanism. They also help in building mountains and ocean basins. Volcanic dust can change the atmosphere.

October

Plate Tectonics (Ch 4)

Earthquakes (Ch 5)

Recommended reading:

1. Ch 4, Plate Tectonics (section 4-1)
2. Ch4, Plate Tectonics (sections 4-2 to 4-5)
3. Ch 14, Ocean Zones (sections 14-1 to 14-4) AND Ch 15, The Atmosphere (section 15-4)
4. Ch 4, Plate Tectonics (section 4-4)
5. Ch 15, The Atmosphere (sections 15-1 and 15-2)
6. Ch 15, The Atmosphere (section 15-3)
7. Ch 5 ALL

Theme: Systems

Web Research & PowerPoint Presentations for the online science magazine.

Global Project?

Starting with same as above.

1.2 recognize the components, structure, and organization of systems and the interconnections within and among them

Components and patterns of the earth system

BM#2 "Describe the components and relationships of the earth system: solid earth - crust, hot convecting mantle, metallic core; the hydrosphere - oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and streams; and the atmosphere - a mixture of gases and biosphere."

1. Describe the basic structural components of the earth (core, mantle, crust, etc.)
2. Demonstrate that the crust and mantle of the earth act as a shell broken into plates that move and cause land features where they collide, or spread apart.
3. Know that a "thin" blanket of air surrounds the earth and a "thin" layer of water covers 3/4 of the earth.
4. Understand that ocean floors are thin plates spreading out from mid-ocean ridges, while continental plates are thicker and less dense
5. Know that the atmosphere is a mixture - nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and trace gases
6. Understand that the atmosphere has different properties at different altitudes.

November

and

December

and

January

and

February

Recommended Reading:

1. Ch 3, Rocks (sections 3-1 to 3-5)
2. Ch 3, Rocks (section 3-6)
3. Ch 2, Minerals (sections 2-1 to 2-3)
4. Ch 3, Rocks (sections 3-3 and 3-4)
5. Ch 3, Rocks (section 3-5)
6. Ch 7, Weathering and Soil Formation (sections 7-2 and 7-3)
7. Ch 7, Weathering and Soil Formation (section 7-1)
8. Ch 8, Erosion and Deposition (sections 8-1 to 8-3)

Chapters 11 (Fresh Water, sections 1, 2, 3 and 4) and 12 (Freshwater Resources, 2, 3 and 4) will be used as well to prepare students for the Middle School's Water Quality Project

 Theme: Earth Properties

Web Research & PowerPoint Presentations for the online science magazine.

Water testing with Limnological water quality kit and Palm IIIc's with Probes. We will also test the soil.

1.1 use properties to identify, describe, and categorize substances, materials, and objects, and use characteristics to categorize living things.

Nature and Properties of Earth materials

BM#2 "Classify rocks and soils into groups based on their chemical and physical properties; describe the processes by which rocks and soils are formed."

1. Know and understand that rocks are classified by the ways they are formed i.e. igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.
2. Describe and explain how the rock cycle relates to the earth
3. Understand that minerals exist in various quantities and that discovery, recovery, depletion and recycling are important issues.
4. Understand that sediments eventually become buried and cement together with dissolved minerals and become rock again.
5. Understand that rocks show evidence of pressure and temperature
6. Know that soils are a combination of weathered rocks, decomposed living things, water and air. Soil layers often show differing composition and origin
7. Understand that weathered rock comprises the basic soil composition.
8. Understand that texture, fertility and erosion resistance of soil is influenced by plants and other living organisms living there.

EALR's 2 and 3 will also be addressed throughout the year:
2. The students knows and applies the skills and processes of science and technology. 

To meet this standard, the student will:

1. develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
2. apply science knowledge and skills to solve problems or meet challenges

3. The student understands the nature and contexts of science and technology.

To meet this standard, the student will:

1. understand the nature of scientific inquiry
2. know that science and technology are human endeavors, interrelated to each other, to society, and to the workplace
3. skills to organize and express science ideas

EALR's 2 and 3 in detail:

2.1 develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

• Questioning
• Designing and conducting investigations
• Explanation, Modeling, Communication

2.2 apply science knowledge and skills to solve problems or meet challenges

• Identifying problems
• Designing and testing solutions
• Evaluating potential solutions

3.1 understand the nature of scientific inquiry; Intellectual honesty

• Limitations of science and technology
• Dealing with inconsistencies
• Evaluating methods of investigation
• Evolution of scientific ideas

3.2 know that science and technology are human endeavors, interrelated to each other, to society, and to the workplace

• All peoples contribute to science and technology
• Relationship of science and technology
• Careers and occupations using science, mathematics, and technology

3.3 skills to organize and express science

ideas use effective communication strategies and tools to prepare and present science information

March

Chapter 9, A Trip Through Geologic Time

Theme: Interactions within systems

Web Research & PowerPoint Presentations for the online science magazine.

1.3 understand how interactions within and among systems cause changes in matter and energy.

History and evolution of the earth

BM#2 "know the importance of fossils in documenting life and environmental changes over time."

1. Fossils document the existence of plant and animal life on earth over long periods of time.
2. Environmental changes, species extinction or evolution, and climatic variances can be tracked with fossil records. Fossils taken from various layers of sedimentary rock can provide a physical timeline of life on earth.
3. The importance of fossils cannot be minimized. They provide physical evidence of life as it existed before recorded history, for example, the diversification of earth environments or chages in species diversification.

April

Conclude Water Quality Analysis

Theme: Earth Properties

Report for Online Magazine will be written and uploaded.

 Refer to how we will spiral the main concepts covered this year.

May

Ch 18, Climate and Climate Change (sections 18-3 and 18-4)

Ch 7, Weathering and Soil Formation (sections 7-3 and 7-4)

Ch 10, Energy Resources

Theme: Interactions within systems

Web Research & PowerPoint Presentations for the online science magazine.

1.3 understand how interactions within and among systems cause changes in matter and energy

Environmental Resource Issues

BM#2 "Explain how human societies use of natural resources affects the quality of life and the health of the ecosystems"

1. Explain how environmental degradation and resource depletion is occurring at various rates worldwide, as a result of overpopulation, laws, technology, and a country's affluence.
2. Understand and explain that human activities cause environmental change. (Activities involving resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal accelerate changes in resource availability, ecosystem viability, and carrying capacities.)

June

Ch 19, Earth, Moon, and Sun

Ch 20, The Solar System

Ch 21, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe

Theme: Interactions within systems

Web Research & PowerPoint Presentations for the online science magazine.

1.3 understand how interactions within and among systems cause changes in matter and energy.

Interactions in the solar system and beyond

BM#2 "describe how the regular and predictable motions of most objects in the solar system account for such phenomena as the day, year, phases of the moon, eclipses, seasons, and ocean tides."

1. Seasons are explained by the different angle at which the sunlight hits any place on earth during the different times of the year. There is an apparent motion of the stars around the earth during each 24-hour day. Although it appears that a starry sphere is rotating, the motion is better explained by the daily rotation of the earth. The north end of the axis of that rotation points to the same place (that's how the star Polaris got its name) in the sky through the year and from year to year. But, because that axis of rotation is not inclined at 90 degrees (actually it is at about 67 degrees) with respect to the plane of motion of the earth around the sun, the sunlight hits the earth from directly over some northern region of the earth during the months of April to August and directly over some southern region during the months October to February. This also accounts for changes in the rising and setting (times and places on the horizon) of the sun during the different times of the year. Thus, different latitudes get more or less sunlight during the different parts of the year, and we have seasons.
2. The apparent motion of the moon across the sky is a bit slower than the sun, so moonrise happens nearly an hour later each day. The sun illuminates half of the moon at all times. But, because the moon orbits the earth once in about 28 days, the portion of the moon that we can see from day to day changes. Thus, we observe a small change in the phase o the moon from one day to the next.
3. The angle formed between sighting to the sun and sighting to the moon is related to the phase of the moon that we can see from earth. For example, a full moon occurs when the sun and moon are approximately opposite of each other, and a quarter moon occurs when the angle is approximately 90 degrees. A new moon happens when the sun and the moon are in approximately the same part of the sky. That is the condition when the opposite side of the moon is illuminated, so we don't see it from earth.
4. Eclipses occur when the earth or the moon get in the way of the sun's light. If the earth is in the way of light getting to the moon, the earth's shadow crosses the face of the moon and we have a lunar eclipse. If the moon is in the way of the sunlight getting to the earth, the moon's shadow crosses the face of the earth and we have a solar eclipse. Eclipses generally occur rarely (at most every few months) because the earth, moon and sun are rarely exactly in line.
5. Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. Gravity alone holds us to the earth's surface and is the major mechanism for explaining the phenomena of ocean tides. Since gravitational force is stronger when an object is closer, the moon's pull on a bit of water on the moon side of earth is greater than the pull on the water when it is on the side away from the moon.