Bringing space agricultural techniques to earth

This article is pretty interesting, since it talks about space techniques for growing crops and how they could benefit Earth.

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f_fertilizer.html

Minerals in Antarctica

This article discusses minerals found in Antarctica. It has been protected under treaties for non-mining through the year 2041. Do you think anyone should ever be allowed to drill or mine in Antarctica seeing what humans have done to wildlife landscape in the past? What are your thoughts?

http://news.yahoo.com/antarctica-may-type-ice-diamonds-170354556--finance.html

Convection box lab

Class,

We did the convection box lab in class today; wasn't that a cool lab. I really enjoyed showing you all how convection works and being able to show you a concrete example of convection that you could observe first-hand. Let's see how the whole cycle looks when we get to class tomorrow. I cannot wait to do the conduction lab tomorrow with the chocolate chips.

I also liked showing all of you the prehistoric sea creature fossils I found up in New Braunfels over the weekend. It is just proof that there was a shallow ocean here in the heart of Southwest Texas. I will be going up to the site where I found these over the holidays, and I would like to collect enough to give each one of you a fossil.

Just 1 1/2 more days of school everyone! Yipee!!

Math Games

Here are some games that are fun and they will help sharpen your skills in these areas. Play these games over the holidays, this will be some of your homework for the break. Gee!! When has a teacher ever told you to play games for homework on a computer of all places.

Motor bike race (proportions)
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/dirt-bike-proportions/dirt-bike-proportions.html

Otter Race (Exponents)
http://www.mathgametime.com/games/otter-rush-exponents-game

The rest of the week at a glance (December 18-20)

Class,

Tomorrow is the Final Exam for math. It will cover all that we have done since the beginning of the year (Units 1 - 6). We will also be reviewing for the English/Reading exam that will be given on Thursday.

I will give you guys a Fun Grid to do tomorrow after the test, and we will be doing the Chocolate chip Lab.

Friday will be a half day and we will wind down for the vacation. Class well let out at 12:15 pm.

Ratio Space Ship game

Play this ratio space sip game, it is fun, and it will help you sharpen your skills with identifying ratios that have not been reduced.

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/ratio-blaster/ratio-blaster.html

Multiplication Expression games

This is a game where you solve the expression to help the otter win the swimming race.

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/swimming-otters/swimming-otters.html

Math Baseball Game

Play this fraction baseball game. Every time you hit a homerun, it gives you a fraction to reduce to lowest terms.

http://www.math-play.com/baseball-math-simplifying-fractions/simplifying-fractions-game.html

Adding and subtracting game

Play this pirate game.

http://www.math-play.com/integers-game.html

Fractions Jeopardy game

Play this Fractions Jeopardy game and brush up on your fractions.


http://www.math-play.com/Fractions-Jeopardy/fractions-jeopardy.html

Algebraic Expression Millionaire game

If you are still having difficulty putting together Algebraic Expressions, try this game.

http://www.math-play.com/Algebraic-Expressions-Millionaire/algebraic-expressions-millionaire.html

Multiples and Factors Jeopardy game

Here is another Jeopardy game involving factors and multiples.


http://www.math-play.com/Factors-and-Multiples-Jeopardy/Factors-and-Multiples-Jeopardy.html

Exponent Jeopardy

Class,

You all have to try this Jeopardy game.

http://www.math-play.com/Exponents-Jeopardy/Exponents-Jeopardy.html

Who wants to be a decimal millionaire game

Class,

How many of you want to be a decimal millionaire.  This is a cool little game that helps you practice place value.

http://www.math-play.com/Place-Value-Millionaire/place-value-millionaire.html

Math Basketball Games

Here is a site where you can shoot hoops and practice a little math. Try it out class and have fun!!!

http://www.math-play.com/one-digit-addition-game.html

Freedom/Equality Shortwrite

Nelson Mandela recently passed away this last week. He was the President of South Africa and a crusader for freedom and anti-racial sentiment. He was imprisoned for his beliefs that Blacks and Whites should be equal in the eyes of the law and served a 27 year sentence in prison for, basically, treason. What can we do in our own lives to make our world a better place to live in racially and ethnically?

Types of triangles

This is a cute song about the three types of triangles. We will be viewing this video.

Proportions with Mr.Ellison

We will be looking at proportions a little more, and I will be giving you all a semester exam next week that covers proportions. I will take a few problems from each unit we have covered and put them on the semester final. I can hear you guys groaning already.

Multiplying Decimals with Mr. Ellison

For those of you that are still having trouble with multiplying decimals, this is a step-by-step video on how to solve a decimal multiplication problem.

Labeling angles

This is a great video that shows you how to label the vertex and sides of an angle. We will watch this video on Thursday.

How to measure angles with a protractor

Class,
I would like all of you to view this khanacademy video. It will be really helpful when measuring angles come Thursday.

Radiation, Conduction, Convection Hip Hop Song

This is a snappy little youtube over the three types of heat energy transfer.

Convection

This is a neat little 3-D simulation of convection in the earth's mantle. This is a great way to see and understand convection. Be prepared to write a shortwrite over this video in class.

Tomorrow at a glance (December 11, 2013)

Class,

Tomorrow, we will be taking the Unit 5 Exam over Algebraic Representation. We have been on this unit now for about two weeks, and we are ready to be tested. Get a good nights rest, study your review, look over your notes if you have them, and be ready to go first thing in the morning. I will be printing out a clean STAAR chart for all of you, so I want to see you use it! All of you are going to do great on the exam, I just know it; you all have been doing so well on the practice assignments and quizzes. After the test, we are going to wind down and play Coordinate Siege or that other game we all know so well. Mr. Tirado's class may be coming to play with us.

We will be reading The Snake and the Chick out of the Measure Up book tomorrow also and going over the analogies. I also want to look over the Last ELA Exam we took and make corrections for a few points back. The class average on that test was about a 60%, and I know that we can do better.

Please keep in mind my little proposition to you all if all of you pass the Unit 5 Exam. It is a class effort, so let's do it!!

Convection Currents

This is a good example of a convection current. This is a type of heat transfer, which we will be talking about in class this week.

Probabilities

This video has some advanced material on probability, but we are going to view it anyway on Tuesday and do some probability practice problems. We will also do some of Thursday and Friday of this week as well.

Area of a circle

Finding area of composite figures

We saw this video today in class. View it some more, and we are going to discuss and perhaps watch it one more time tomorrow.

Heat Energy

This is a good little video over heat energy with our favorite science guy.

Input/Output Tables

This is a great input and output table video that we will be watching tomorrow in class.

Forms of Energy Cartoon

This is a cute little Wylie Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon that shows the different forms of energy transformation that take place in the cartoon.

Potential and Kinetic Energy

Class,
     View this video and be prepared to to discuss tomorrow in class. I will be giving you guys a short write opportunity to see what you remember about our discussion of energy.

Angle Alien Game YOU GOTTA PLAY IT!

Guys,

If you have not already, you have got to go to my blog posts for March of 2013 and look for Angle measurement post. Click on it and go to the link that is in there. The Angle Alien game shows up right away. It is sort of goofy, but it is a really fun and effective game and helps you to be able to approximate angle measurements. For those of you in my class, view and play this game as often as occasion permits, we will be starting that unit next Wednesday, December 11th (Unit 6).

Tomorrow at a glance (Wednesday, December 4, 2013)

Class,

     Tomorrow, we will be quite busy again in math, as we will be delving into an introduction of Unit 7 and measuring area, perimeter, and Circumference. We will also be doing some practice on the above mentioned concepts. We will also be looking at Algebraic Expression table and writing algebraic expressions for ratios that are not proportional but have a pattern. Like I told you all, I have moved Unit 5 Exam to nest Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the outcome of the next few days' problem practice. We will be loaded with math the rest of this week, all next week, and Monday -Thursday of the following week.
       We will also be reading Chapter 11 out of 39 Clues and having not only a Chapter 11 Sketch but a short-write of the chapter as well.  We will also be discussing Russian Government and Looking at Transformation of Energy. We will also be having a social studies short-write.       

Complementary Angles

This is a great khanacademy video over supplementary and complementary angles. We will be watching this video on Tuesday when we come back from the break.

Russia after Communism

Russia during Communism

We will be taking notes over this video as well. What did Russia look like during Communism?

Russia under Lenin

We will be taking notes over this video as well about Russia under Lenin.

Russia under the Czars

This is a video about the Tsars of Russia. We will be taking notes over this video.

Boo Fun Grids

Class,

          I have hung up all of your fun grids out in the hallway for all to see. You all did such a great job on them. On Friday, since it is a half day, we will probably work on another fun grid, maybe the Shy Guy fun grid or a Star.

Bald Eagles in Llano, Texas....just two or three hours north of here

These are some beautiful photos of Bald Eagles in Llano, just up 87 from here.

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Southwest Florida Eagle Cam

http://www.ustream.tv/SouthwestFloridaEagleCam

Guys,
    
     You have to go to this link to see the mother Bald Eagle in her nest with her eggs, she just laid them today, I missed seeing her lay the eggs by minutes. My class watched the live minute-by-minute streaming video of them this afternoon, and it is AWSOME!! Just go to this link and the video is right there. The eagles are nesting in South Florida. My sister lives close to this site, and she directed me to this link knowing that I have a class full of students. I thoroughly enjoyed the footage!

Types of Energy Song

This is a cool Maroon 5 rendition of types of energy. You have to see this video. We will be discussing this concept when we return from the break.

Conserving Energy

This is a cute little cartoon on conserving energy. Watch this video and be prepared to discuss on Tuesday. Think about ways to conserve energy, and be prepared to identify them in your Energy Conservation Posters that we will be doing tomorrow.

Social Studies shortwrites.....

Class,

We will be having a social studies short-write every day of the week over each part of Russia we discuss note-wise. This will help you guys with your understanding, since you will be writing and reinforcing the knowledge you have learned into text. From now on, we will be doing short-writes over all the things we discuss in social studies.

The Fun Grids today...

Class,

          I am very pleased with all of you and your efforts on our first fun grid of the year; get used to them,because you will be seeing a lot of them the rest of the semester and throughout the rest of the year. This is a fun little activity that relieves you from the stress of math calculations, yet it reinforces the concepts of coordinate plane we just learned. We will be having a fun grid tomorrow that is just a little bit more difficult than the "Bullet Bill" we did, and we will be working on it for two days. There will be yet another fun grid on Friday, since it will be early release, I might even send one home with you over Thanksgiving. I will see everyone tomorrow bright and early.

Russian Society

This young woman describes in detail some of the aspects of her country and covers a range of topics. View this video and be prepared to discuss on Monday (November 18, 2013).

The Philippines Typhoon

This is just a glimpse of the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. We are talking total destruction of most of the Philippines. I would like for the class to write an essay describing your feelings about this picture on Monday.

Next Week at a glance (November 18-22, 2013)

Class,

          This week will be the last week before the Thanksgiving Holidays, and we will be quite busy. In math, we will be be continuing our study of coordinate plane and discussing Algebraic Tables. I will be letting you guys do some really cool fun grids since we know how to grid now. If you guys know how to find consistent equivalent ratios, algebraic tables and writing the expressions should be a breeze, and just about the entire class did really well on the last exam.
          In English, we will be reading Chapters 8 - 10 in the 39 Clues Book. I am postponing the book exam until we come back from Thanksgiving and make the exam cover Chapters 1 - 10, and I will probably give that exam the Tuesday we come back (December 3, 2013). I will also be giving the Unit 2 ELA Exam on that Friday we come ( December 5, 2013), so we will have two exams for English that week.
          In Social Studies, we will continue to look at Russia, some of its culture and history, as well as the economy. We will also continue our exploration of Energy Resources. 

Tomorrow at a glance (November 15, 2013)

Class,

          I would just like to take a moment to say that I am proud of all of you. The Ratio/proportion exams went quite well. All of you showed your work, and it was evident by the good grades. Keep up the good work.

          Tomorrow, we will be doing Gridville. After today, and our first discussion over coordinate plane today, I am quite confident in the ability of each one of you to plot ordered pairs efficiently. We will be discussing how to plot fractions and decimals on the coordinate plane. This will help us when it comes time to do fun grids and Coordinate Siege.We will also be reading from Chapter 6 of our 39 Clues book, and we will be looking at Renewable and non-renewable resources in more detail.

Answer this question......(Homework Thursday November 14, 2013)

Here is the writing prompt:

We have seen from our Chernobyl video how dangerous nuclear waste can be. Write me a short essay telling me how nuclear waste and the production of nuclear energy can be harmful to the environment?

Unit 5 (Algebraic Representation) Tomorrow

Class,
Tomorrow, we will be moving into Unit 5 and looking at plotting ordered pairs on the coordinate plane. Those of you who have not finished or done the Ratios/Proportions exam due to absence, you will be completing that exam tomorrow morning. We will be reiterating the discussion form tomorrow on Friday as we do our Gridville activity. I will be showing you guys how to plot a coordinate on the X and Y axes. With this will come lots of other fun activities. See everyone tomorrow.

Multiplying Fractions

This is a concept we will be covering after the STAAR test. It is a very simple concept that will help you guys be ready for 7th and 8th Grade.

Gridville Illustration

Here is a bird's eye view of Gridville. It is my little creation.

Pythagorean Theorem

Here, I teach about Pythagorean Theorem. I give a step-by-step lesson. I will be going over this concept in class around April, after the STAAR.

Ordering Decimals

This is something in my class that students had some trouble with on the Screener, most of my students. I want you guys to view this tutorial and practice some decimal ordering.

Algebraic Functions

This is just an extension of Algebraic Expressions; it is pretty much the same process and concept.

Algebraic Expressions

This is one of my videos on solving simple algebraic expressions. I make this concept easy to see and learn. View this video.

Simple Algebraic Expressions

This is a good khan academy video over simple algebraic expressions. We will be starting this Unit on Thursday. View this video, and be prepared to discuss it a little on Thursday morning.

Coordinate Plane (November 14, 2013)

This is a step-by-step explanation of the coordinate plane. We will be doing this on Thursday, and I want you all to be ready for it. Please view this video (I know it is 19 minutes) and be prepared for Thursday and Gridville.

This week at a glance (November 11-15, 2013)

Class,

          This week, we will be busy. In math this week we will be doing stations for Unit 4 Exam preparation and a review on Tuesday. Unit 4 Exam will be given on Wednesday of this week. On Thursday, we will be in Unit 5. This is where we will start looking at grid points and graphing;look forward to seeing Gridville this week as well.  I have videos on the blog that give you a visual depiction of Gridville.
          In English, we will also be reading Chapters 5, 6, and 7 out of our 39 Clues book, and we will be doing punctuation and spelling corrections once again this week as well. We will also be getting our new spelling words for the week, and we will have a spelling test on Friday. Next week, we will be taking the Unit 2 Exam for English  and a Chapter 1-7 Test over the book.
          This week we will be having our Unit 5 Exam for Social Studies. There will be a review on Monday and the Exam on Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, we will be going into Unit 6, which discusses Russia and the Eurasian provinces.
          In Science, we will be taking the Unit 5 Exam for Compounds. We will then jump into Unit 6 and Energy Conservation where we talk about renewable and nonrenewable resources. This week will be a wee of lots of new things. I am excited!!!

    

Adding Mixed Numbers with Michael Ellison

In this video, I show you how to add two mixed numbers together using a simple method that breaks up and separates the mixed numbers into 4 separate numbers. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Warthog gets attacked by crocodile

 You guys have to see this video of the warthog that is attacked by the crocodile. It is eerie!!!



 

Extinct Western Black Rhinos

Hey everyone,

It is a sad day for our world and nature; the Western black rhino was declared extinct today by the IUCN. When any animal species goes extinct and leaves this earth it makes me very sad indeed. I hate hearing that kind of news with me being an avid naturalist and lover of animals, wild ones especially. Here is a picture of this once beautiful majestic animal before it met its demise. We must all be aware of our earth and do right by it. We need to educate people on just how delicate the balance of nature really is and how our actions and activities on this earth interfere, a lot of the time, with an animal species' way of life.

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Greenland before and after ice cap melting

envs1020ko.blogspot.com

210 × 254 - jamesbalog.weebly.com

What Earth may look like after total ice cap melting

This is what the Earth could look like if the polar ice caps melted completely. The oceans would rise approximately 212 feet. This is really scary. My home town (Houston) would be gone.

resumbrae.com

resumbrae.com

theminiaturespage.com

 

 

Giant crocodiles

These monsters lived prehistorically also and were terrifying.
 

620 × 197 - prehistoric-wildlife.com

Prehistoric horses

Horses were actually this small in history. There are fossils that have been found of these little creatures. The Eohippus is one prehistoric species.

350 × 260 - eohippus.usegrid.net

Titanoboa

         This snake did once exist here on earth during the Miocene Era right after the fall of the dinosaurs. It has been found in fossils and is thought to have reached lengths of 40+ feet and had a weight of 2,500 pounds. Now guys, I love snakes, love to handle them and play with them, but a snake this size would be pretty scary, and snakes do not scare me one bit y'all.

738 × 358 - dinosaurs.wikia.com

Science prompt (November 7, 2013)

Class,

For the writing prompt today I want you to tell me some of the ways you can tell that a chemical reaction has taken place. Use your notes that I gave you for help if you do not remember all of them.

Tomorrow at a glance (November 7, 2013)

Class,

          Tomorrow, we will be getting into day 2 of our project. Remember to take your time on your work and check it thoroughly, because this is a big ticket assignment. We will also be getting into our Social Studies project and having our own little Renaissance in class. Bring your art ideas and be prepared to be creative...

39 Clues and Math homework for tomorrow (November 6, 2013)

          We will be reading Chapter 3 of the book 39 Clues. We will also be doing a chapter sketch over Chapter 3, and I will be having you all do a short write over how you would feel if you were in the same circumstances as Dan and Amy; what would you do? We will also be reading Chapter 4 on Friday.

         Tomorrow, for sure, we will be having homework for math; it will be some more long division that will have a remainder that you will turn into a decimal. I want all of you to get really good at long division, because solving proportions and unit rate depend on you being proficient at long division.

XYZ Construction Project tomorrow

Class,

Tomorrow we will be starting our XYZ Construction project; be ready to work. This will be some preparation for next week's Unit Exam. I will be giving out 60 tickets to each group.

The Renaissance

We will be watching this youtube for social studies today as we explore the Renaissance and how it affected Europe and its culture. Be prepared to write a summary about the video.

Renaissance Art

 

This is a short clip of some famous Renaissance artwork. We will watch this video and be prepared to discuss tomorrow.

Class Math Project this week (November 6-8)

Class,
          This week Starting on Wednesday, we will be starting a math project that involves solving ratios, unit rates, and proportions. Our company will be the XYZ Construction company, and it will be divided up into 5 divisions. I will put you all in groups of no more than 3, and I will be choosing the groups, so be prepared to venture outside your comfort zone a little. This will be a big grade, almost like a test, and each division will start off with wages of $60.00(tickets for students), so this is a big ticket earning opportunity for everyone. I will explain the rules on Wednesday. We will be having the Unit 4 Math exam next week, around Tuesday.

Chemical Reactions

Today we will be talking about chemical reactions. We will be viewing this youtube and discussing it in class today. I will want you guys to write a short summary about three things you learned about chemical reactions.

Oar Fish

This is a picture of an oarfish. They are real sea creatures that live out in the pelagic zone which is the open deep oceans of the world. They are rarely seen except when they are near death and float onto a beach. These fish creatures can reach lengths of 30 feet or more and were probably where sailors came up with the tales of seeing sea monsters. We do not know that much about them as far as their habits but that they are part of a small family of ocean fish.

654 × 368 - nbcsandiego.com

Unit Rate

This is a great khan academy video over Unit Rate. We will be covering this on Monday, so view this, and be ready.

Some of next week's activities

Class,

Next week in math we will delve further into Ratios and look at Unit Rate and proportions. If you know how to compute equivalent fractions, this part of Unit 4 will be easy for you and the practice assignments will be a breeze. I am very proud of all of you this last Nine Weeks, because you all did, as a whole pretty well in math. Keep up the good work guys!!!!! I will see how well you all pick up Unit 4 and, if I see that you are jamming through it, we will wrap up this unit, test, and move on to Units 5(Algebraic Expressions) and 6(Angles and Polygons).

On Monday, we will be finishing up on our Narnia mural; this will be the first project grade on the Second Nine Weeks.

In Social Studies we will continue our study of Europe, multiculturalism in Europe and government, economy of Europe. We will probably be testing the end of this week, or early next week.

In Science, we will be doing our experiment with the balloon and the peroxide.

Tomorrow at a glance (October 25, 2013)

Class,

Tomorrow, we will be jumping into Unit 4 (Ratios and Proportions). We will be looking at some notes and doing some practice writing ratios and drilling the fact that order matters when writing ratios. I will giving you guys your results from the test yesterday.

We will be having a Spelling test tomorrow as well, so be ready for it. It will be the terms from Chapter 17 of the book. This is going to be more than just a shadow box. We are going to build Narnia, and I am going to assign each of you four characters from the book to draw, color, and cut out. This will be a class project, and the finished product will be a class project grade. This is going to be lots of fun, so bring your creativity with you tomorrow!

We will also be doing a science experiment in class tomorrow involving a potato, hydrogen peroxide, and a balloon. We will all witness a chemical change in the hydrogen peroxide into oxygen bubbles.

I am looking forward to tomorrow guys!!

Oxygen and Bleach experiment

     This is a neat video on how you can take bleach and peroxide and make oxygen gas and salt water. I would like to do this lab with you guys.

Tomorrow at a glance (October 24, 2013)

Class,

     Tomorrow, we will be having an exam in Unit 3 for math. Be sure to bring your review sheets in to class for some extra points of the exam. The exam will be 20 questions and some bonus questions in the back. I encourage you always to at least attempt the bonus page. If you look over the review, you will be ready for the exam and should do well. I will be giving a short 5-10 minute questions and answers session before testing, so bring your last minute questions if you are not 100% sure about something.

     We will also be having The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Exam as well tomorrow. The test will be short answer and open-ended questions......not multiple choice. Bring your thinking caps tomorrow.

We will be covering the European Union tomorrow in Social Studies and be watching a few You tubes over the EU. We will also be looking at compounds and having a lab activity involving hydrogen peroxide and a balloon along with a potato. This lab will be fun!!


See everyone tomorrow!

History of the European Union

This little video also gives a little explanation of how the EU works. We will watch this one tomorrow too.