The Concept of Chemical Reactions

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

Carl Jung
Swiss psychologist (1875 - 1961)

Air Pressure

Definition: Air Pressure is the force exerted by air, compressed, on any surface that has contact with it. Air pressure changes with altitude. When you move to a higher place air pressure decreases because there are fewer air molecules as you move higher in the sky.


Experiment: So when I squeeze the bottle the cap will go fling off and down the stairwell because the air pressure that is building up inside the bottle when the bottle is squeezed it is so compressed that all the air molecules push the cap off of the bottle.

- Kelly

You Are Creating Your Future Today

I received this email today and wanted to share it with you. Every day in class is a chance for you to achieve your greatest dreams later on; be it able to get that big sale or coming up with an idea that changes the world.

Take this day and every day in school as an opportunity to make your biggest dreams come true in your future.

Congratulations to Luis and Chad, who came up with this science and math lesson, involving potential and kinetic energy, and estimation, distance, collecting and graphing data.

Teachers' work far from waste; it's priceless
BY EMMA KREINER

Recently, a friend of mine commented that teaching was "a waste of a life." His argument consisted entirely of the idea that we spend so much time in the educational system, so jumping back into it after college seemed "anticlimactic."
Instead of going out and making major discoveries in math and science, or becoming a diplomat to change the world, I decide to teach kids.

If teaching really is a waste of a life, I would like to know how people expect to get to where they want to go without teachers.

Most of the work teachers do should be labeled "involuntary volunteering." The work teachers accomplish in the classroom is priceless, but they rarely get the money and recognition they deserve.

I would be a completely different person today if it hadn't been for my teachers. They were the inspiration to think for myself, and that's huge.

Every student faces challenges during their school years, and teachers are the ones who support us through that time.

I thought about what we consider to be valuable resources. The most valuable resource, the most productive resource, is people. People are at the start of every new idea, and at the end of every sale. People are the beginning, middle and end of everything.

I choose to educate people for my living. I can't think of anything that would be more important than helping to raise a child that will be the start of a new idea.

Teachers are the confidence, the encouragement and the nourishment behind so many dreams.
If the Tree of Knowledge really does exist, then teachers are the fruit.

Emma Kreiner is a student in the University of Cincinnati's College of Education.

Scientisits Discover a New Planet

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Tue Nov 6, 5:32 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - A new planet was discovered orbiting a sun-like star 41 light years away, making it the first known planetary quintet outside our solar system, astronomers said Tuesday.

The newfound planet joins four others circling the nearby star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer. Although it resides in the star's so-called habitable zone, a place where liquid water and mild temperatures should exist, it is more like Saturn than Earth and therefore not likely to support life.

Still, scientists have not ruled out the possibility of finding an Earth-like planet within the system as technology improves.

"It's a system that appears to be packed with planets," said co-discoverer Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University.

Ranked fourth from 55 Cancri, the latest planet is about 45 times the mass of Earth and has an orbit of 260 days. It was detected after nearly two decades of observations by ground-based telescopes using the Doppler technique that measures a planet's stellar wobble.

The other planets in the 55 Cancri system were discovered between 1996 and 2004. The innermost planet is believed to resemble Neptune, while the most distant is thought to be Jupiter-like.

Scientists have detected about 250 exoplanets, or planets orbiting a star other than the sun. The 55 Cancri star holds the record for number of confirmed planets. Only one other star is known to have four planets, while several others have three or less.

"We can now say there are stars like the sun that have many worlds around them," said planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who had no role in the discovery.

The research will appear in a future issue of the Astrophysical Journal. It was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the University of California.

The latest discovery shows that our solar system is not unique, scientists said.

"When you look up into the night sky and see the twinkling lights of stars, you can imagine with certainty that they have their own complement of planets," said astronomer Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, who was part of the research.

___

On the Net:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov

Nobel Prize Winners

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - France's Albert Fert and German Peter Gruenberg won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for a discovery that lets billions of computer users store reams of data on computer hard drives.

The technology "can also be considered one of the first real applications of the promising field of nanotechnology," which deals with extremely small devices, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its citation.

"Applications of this phenomenon have revolutionized techniques for retrieving data from hard disks," the prize citation said. "The discovery also plays a major role in various magnetic sensors as well as for the development of a new generation of electronics."

In 1988 Fert and Gruenberg each independently discovered a physical effect called giant magnetoresistance. In this effect, very weak changes in magnetism generate larger changes in electrical resistance. This is how information stored magnetically on a hard disk can be converted to electrical signals that the computer reads.

"The development of computers showed in the last years that this was an important contribution," Gruenberg told Sweden's TV4 channel shortly after being told he was sharing the prize with Fert.

Last year, Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won for their work examining the infancy of the universe, studies that have aided the understanding of galaxies and stars and increasing support for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the universe.

On Monday, two American scientists, Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies, and Briton Sir Martin J. Evans, won the 2007 Nobel Prize in medicine for groundbreaking discoveries that led to a powerful technique for manipulating mouse genes.

Prizes for chemistry, literature, peace and economics will be announced through Oct. 15.

The peace award is announced in Oslo, while the other prizes are announced in Stockholm. The prizes, each of which carries a cash prize of $1.5 million, were established in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel.

The Nobel prizes are always presented to the winners on the Dec. 10 anniversary of the death of its creator.

___

http://www.nobelprize.org

Fighting for Fun

Taneicea, I will never give up on you. You can doubt yourself in angle-tangle all you want, but I never will

Whose class are you in?

Are you allowed to fail?

No one ever has,
and no one ever will...........

.....especially not you





Little Miggs, you doubt yourself in science, not taking notes that could help you go from the bottom of the barrell, to the top of the apple tree.

"Whose class are you in in, where giving up isn't allowed? Who doesn't see you as a failure, and refuses to let you fail? Who will keep believing in and pushing you, until you do the same for yourself?"

So here, borrow my strength and belief I have for you, borrow it as long as you need to, until you have the same confidence in yourself as I do in you.

The only form of failure history has ever known, is when you quit, give up, and stop trying.....I don't think I'll be lettin' any of you lads and lassies be doin' that anytime soon (and I'm saying this in my Shrek voice).

And if you don't have the strength at the moment, you may borrow mine. I may be just an ugly ogre, but my strength is fine. Together we'll see you're highest self this year.

The fight for your highest self must go on! Only then can the real fun begin.

Looking good Drew, looking good.

(Why the bandanna the past two days?....Why not?...Actually I've overslept Thursday and went to school forgetting it was on my head. Today I got a creme pie in my face on the morning news to promote a fund raiser and my hair is all sticky.)

What's on Television

No matter what Bobby Buchea's (spelling?) mother says in the movie, The Waterboy, television is not the devil.

Television could be such a great tool, for education, entertainment, time together, versus a distraction that separates by different programs on different TV's in different rooms in the same house.


Me to Sofia who's sitting on my lap right now: "I want you to be beautiful, bold and free."

Her response, "Why would you want me to be bald?"

Here are some shows on basic cable TV this weekend that I recommend. These shows are a good way to introduce school subjects in a very stress-free way that is effective for both auditory and visual learners.

There are many more channels for science, math, history, etc on the larger cable/satellite packages. I was very sad to give them up this summer, but as we all know, there was more summer than there was money, and I had to have it disconnected. If you have TIVO or DVR, I highly recommend you recording these shows for your young genius to watch during downtime, and in a relaxed, stress-free way. Watch them together. Have family time.

I tell my children that for every one of their shows. For example, for one Hannah Montana episode we watch one History Channel show. For every Jimmy Neutron cartoon (I so dig the character Sheen) we watch a black/white Jimmy Stewart movie. If nothing else, the family is spending time together, my grandmother's concern that this is the main reason why marriages are failing and families splitting at a record rate.

SATURDAY

9AM-7PM
The History Channel
The States of America
*In the Spring your child will have to pick a state to do a project on.
*The narrator is the same guy who did The Presidents, and is fantastic.

SUNDAY

2pm-9pm
The History Channel
The Universe
*Introduces some basic concepts they will have to know AND enlightens them to just how fascinating and grand our world is (and could be the trigger that internally motivates them to REALLY learn science this year. Last year a student went from refusing to read science to me giving him the nickname Doctor as he would help me teach science in class. And it started with him watching these shows.)


MONDAY
8am-8pm
The History Channel
The Universe
*replay of Sunday's shows

Hilarious Student Bloopers

These are actual student mistakes, unintentional ones, collected by Richard Lederer, a high school English teacher. These make me laugh, and then I remember this is the future of our country, and start to cry :-) (Just kidding. When things are wrong....DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THEM RIGHT.)

Don't sit around and complain, anyone can do that. But, can you go about fixing the problem with a sense of humor? That not only makes the problem more likely to be solved, but much, much more enjoyable. I have had enough near-death experiences to appreciate the opportunity to wake up and say, "I'm still here? Cool!"

This great appreciation for life today has helped me to care less about what people think of me, and more about how I can help people think more of themselves, while I am here. My greatest concern being my children and my students. It's a pretty cool way to live.

The History of The World (from 8th grade through the college level)

Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies, and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation.

The pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain. The Egyptians built the pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube.

The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, "Am I my brother's son?"

God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother's birthmark. Jacob was a patriarch who brought up his 12 sons to be patriarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.

....Well, back to working on my thesis, which is on education. I'll post more when I take another break. Till then, keep laughing, or crying. The US emerged as the world's greatest power just a short 60 years ago after World War II. China is predicted to take our place in as little as 30 years. India might surprise us all and beat them to it (greater democracy and faster growth to compensate for China's greater numbers).

Half our economy comes from the math, science, and engineering fields. After kicking out and keeping out many foreigners contributing to this part of our GDP after 911, it seems as if the real terrorism of that event is just beginning.

And with fewer and fewer American students entering the math and science fields because they don't "get it" and therefore don't find it interesting, it's as if we're throwing away this incredible freedom we've gained via economic prosperity and burying our heads in the sand in ignorance.

Hence, another example of where I just don't see ignorance as being bliss. What you, I and especially our children don't know, harms us all. "A's" in school don't mean a thing if that knowledge cannot be broken down and used to solve open-ended problems.

The world is full of problems, and we need heroes to solve them. The longer I teach the more important I see my job. When someone now asks me what I do for a living, with a Bruce Willis-like smile on my face I say, "I wake up grateful that I'm alive, get on my motorcycle, and go make heroes."

"The gods favor the bold." - Ovid

Make a hero today. Go believe in someone.

- Adam Stuart

Kepler's Supernova

In the News

Supernova Outshines Others

Using a variety of Earth and space telescopes, astronomers found a giant exploding star that they figure has shined about five times brighter than any of the hundreds of supernovae ever seen before. The discovery was first made last September by a graduate student in Texas. The star, SN2006gy, is 150 times the mass of the sun. Unlike other exploding stars, which peak at brightness for a couple of weeks at most, it peaked for 70 days.

1. What is a Supernova?

From NASA - What am I?

A NEW EDITION ! Scientist Jeff Richards from NASA has sent in

Who and/or What am I?

Where peoples visions aim only as high as their imaginations. This is where the following work (picture below) is taking place.

Can you figure out what this picture is portraying?

cumulonimbus

Word of the Day

cumulonimbus
Definition:	(noun) An extremely dense, vertically developed cumulus with a relatively hazy outline and a glaciated top extending to great heights, usually producing heavy rains, thunderstorms, or hailstorms.
Synonyms:	thundercloud, cumulonimbus cloud
Usage:	The engineer considered all of the dangers, such as lightning and high winds, that an airplane would be exposed to should it fly through a cumulonimbus.

How do you pronounce this word?

Are you able to use it in a sentence of your own?

How do you change the bright yellow color on those words????? I've tried giving it all different colors in editing and it keeps showing up bright yellow because it's a link. It's almost driving me as crazy as you guys do.

I'm just kidding......

No, no I'm not kidding.


Yes I am. Just joking with ya'al.




(shaking my head, "No. I'm not kidding" Have you seen my gray hair? I can't blame all of it on my own kids.Let's see....there's Dallas, and Belle, and Kenny, and Summer, and...Oh! Right. No names. No names. Uh, I mean in general you all give me gray hairs (especially some more than others :-)

Becoming Independent Learners

I know it was only a day, but being back with you guys feels great. I really enjoy teaching you. I like that you can't help giving me a hug first thing, Kenny, even before I can finish saying good morning to Sofia.

My trip to Illinois was one of tremendous learning and growth for me. So to come back and discover all the learning you have done in my absence lets me know you are truly becoming independent learners.

A few shining examples of students DOING MORE than just what I had the sub ask you to do in class yesterday: (from the MATH QUIZ on Friday)




Summer - you created a terrific PowerPoint on the questions you missed. You recognize you are a visual learner and create more elaborate presentations than I do.


I have much to learn from you, Graphics Master, and need to figure out how to get these on the blog.

Mahrukh - you used the internet to find websites that showed you different ways to learn how to do the problems you didn't understand.

You are our webmaster, correctly using the web to surf for learning resources.

You are now.............Spider Girl!


Ryan & Briana - you both used the FCAT Explorer to find similar questions to the ones you missed. This is excellent! I see you as Great Thinkers.



Serena - you used a word document to quiz yourself on the ones you missed. This is exactly what I do to help me learn what I don't know. I had great success becoming fluent in Spanish this way, and now am applying it to Italian. We both go with what works for us.

*Remarkably, you got an "A" on the quiz but still chose to learn the little that you didn't know. You are truly unstoppable by making these kinds of "growth" choices. I can't tell you how excited I am to watch your future unfold for you, because YOU are conciously choosing what you want and taking action to make it happen.



Belle - although you got a poor grade on the quiz I wanted to take the time to discuss your real ability to "do" math. Many times being able to "do" math is confused with being able to memorize algorithms, or ways to answer problems correctly without really understanding the problem at all.



This is dangerous "learning" since in the real world you won't be given a set of ways to memorize to solve the problems you'll encounter. Those that thrive are those that can solve problems that others can't. To do this you have to UNDERSTAND the problem fully.





YOU CAN DO THIS! You were the first one to solve a college level math problem, meaning your brain operates very well at higher levels. This also means you CAN learn the simpler 5th grade problems, and I expect you to!!!!!!


I was proud to see how hard all of you worked today. MALCOLM you were definitely MIGHTY in your determination to solve the problems that challenged you. We worked hard together and fused our minds in coming up with the right answers!

Remember to try to think in terms of place value versus "columns" and you'll understand the problems better.



The classroom really became a learning playground today. It was so enjoyable. I'm going to miss you all next year (sniff, sniff, no.....I'm not crying......someone must be cutting up onions... =:-)

Click here to see all the pictures from today.

Describe, Design, Do, Determine

DREAM BIG

1. Describe the problem you'd like to solve or objective you'd like to achieve

2. Design an experiment or project to explore the mystery you'd like to solve or idea you want to test
DO BIG!
3. Do it!

a. Have as much fun as you can responsibly handle.

b. ****As you search for answers, be OK with frustration and struggle. It means new learning is near. New learning means new growth. New growth means a new you (your creativity, caused by your frustration, will bring answers). Creativity creates.....you.

c. *If you are not more at the end of the day than you were when you walked in, we both have done a terrible diservice to you; disrespecting who you are, and not honoring everything you are to be!

4. Determine the amount of learning that has taken place. How? Always go back and start with what you know. In this case it's your objective or the intriguing problem you wanted answers to.

Reflect on what you've learned. Evaluate the outcome(s) of your experiment or project. Don't forget about any new or unexpected learning that might have taken place. Some great inventions were made by accident and "failure" (i.e. post-it notes).

BE BIG!
Respect who you are by turning in a paper reflecting your best effort.

Honor who you are to be by listening to new questions that come to mind and pursuing those on your own.