Tectonic Plates (Geosphere)

Today we were learning about tectonic plates. First we got a paper towel and then got a moro bar to be a tectonic plate. Next we pulled the moro bar and made a crack. Then we pushed it back together again. Here are some words we learned: tension, shearing and compression.
Shearing means being pushed side to side. Compression is a force that pushes on the plates and tension is a force on the the plates of the Earth's crust causing them to move apart. (A.M.)

At the start.....

Hmmm  I wonder if I can eat this tectonic plate now?

....after some force had been applied.

Back to the Hydrosphere

Yesterday we did another cool experiment. First we grabbed a tray and started to make a mountain with rocks, sand and fine rocks. Then we poured a little bit of water on and watched. Next we poured on a lot of water and watched.We had erosion and rivers.  (G.S.)

Air Pressure

Yesterday we learned more about the atmosphere. We got an ice cream container, paper towel and a jar. Next we stuffed the paper towel in the jar. We put water in the container. We turned the jar upside down and plunged it into the water. When we took the jar out the paper towel was dry! It was because the air pressure pushed against the water. This is what happens in the atmosphere, the air all around us is always pushing. It is called air pressure or atmospheric pressure. It is measured in hectopascals. (hPa).

We also tried to push down the plunger on a syringe while we had our finger or hand over the end. That was hard to do because we could not squeeze all of the air, only some of it. The air kept pushing back.

How Plants Germinate

Today we were learning how to make scientific observations about how plants germinate.
We put a rolled up paper towel in a clear plastic cup. We placed a seed down the side of the plastic cup between the cup and the paper towel. We put 2cm water in the bottom of the cup.
Now we wait and watch!
We are going to record our observations by making observational drawings.

This is what our seeds look like on Day 1. We have just 'planted' them.

The Geosphere

Today it was the geosphere we were learning about. The geosphere is all the land on and under the Earth. We learned what the Earth is like inside: core, mantle, crust and magma.
To help us understand about the geosphere, we out some oats in a pot and made porridge! Then we put in some polystyrene pieces. As we watched we saw the polystyrene move slowly as the porridge bubbled. We learned that this is what is happening on Earth - the porridge was like the magma and the polystyrene was the land. This is what it looked like.

The Hydrosphere

Today, we were learning about the hydrosphere which is all the water on Earth, in rivers, puddles, seas, oceans and lakes. We learned about the water cycle and we made a water cycle in a plastic bag. We have put them on the windows and we will watch them work.

This water cycle display on our window reminds us of the scientific words.
You can just see one of  the plastic bag water cycles bottom right.

The Biosphere

The Biosphere includes all living things. We are doing some fair testing on seeds. We have put some seeds on a paper towel and put them inside a plastic sleeve. We have put the seeds in different places. Some of them have no light, some of them have no water, some of them have no air. We can only change one thing for each group of seeds. That's what fair testing is.Some of them are a control they have warmth, light, air and water. We are finding out what these living things need to germinate properly.

Anything growing yet?

The scientists checking and recording what they observe.

Nothing growing yet but we are checking the seeds carefully each day and recording
what we observe.You can see where we have written on the bags which conditions
each group of seeds has.

The Atmosphere!

Today we learned about the atmosphere: where it is, what it is, what is it for.
We became scientists and did an experiment.
We put some warm water in a jar and covered it with gladwrap. Then we put ice and salt on top of the gladwrap. We predicted that the ice would melt and we were right but we also saw lots of little bubbles form on the underside of the gladwrap because when the vapour from the warm water touched the cold gladwrap it turned into water droplets. This is the way clouds form in the atmosphere.
Here are some of the Room 14 scientists at work.

Our Earth

Now we have learned about the four subsystems that form our planet: geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.

The geosphere is the land, biosphere is living things, atmosphere is the area above the Earth and hydrosphere is water.

The picture shows the four subsystems. Around the picture we have classified all the natural resources we thought of  according to the subsystem it belongs to.

Day 1 First Day Back

On our first day back, the stars in Room 14 worked out that a natural resource is something that comes from nature. It is not man made. We wrote an awesome list of lots of natural resources that we could think of.

Welcome!

If this Earth could talk...what help would it ask for?
This term we are going to be learning about the Earth and how we can care for it.
Mrs A.