The Week of March 22nd

If i went back in time I would help myself with power. Power has units of joules per second. It is measure in watts. To find power you divide work by time. Now we are able to be given facts and we can find power, work, and acceleration using a series scientific equations. The equations could look like mass times acceleration equals force, force times change in position equals work, and work divided by time equals power.

We learned this using the energy activities online. It gave us many problems and examples. It also explains equations and other things involving energy. Besides this we learned doing games and examples on the board with our class. We discussed in groups to further our understanding and worked in partners. We also had a couple quizes that we took with our table, which helped us get better grades on it.

This information will help us in the future because in a week we will be having a test on it and if I don't understand it I wont do well. Also when we learn a new subject I am sure this will come into play as we do new problems and activities.

There was no specific experiment we did on power. We mostly did situations and figured out power using different equations.

The Week Of March 1

Dear past self,

When you begin to do the unit of Energy you need to know how to decided what objects that are in a specific system. At first I wasnt very good at indentifying systems. Now it is easier for me because I know the following things:

1. A system is a group of things that work together to do a task. Therefore if there is an object that doesnt affect or take part in the system it isnt part of it.

2. Anything could be part of a system, not just the obvious things. For example if you are jumping on a trampoline the force of the earth pulling you down could be part of the system.

3. A System can not do work on itself, so there will always be an outside force that starts the system. This means when your are deciding what should be in the system do not incude the outside force.

Experiment- A helpful experiment that we did in class was about 6 students stood in a line with there arms locked out in front of them. Mr. Finley was behind us and he pushed us making the person at the end fall forward. In this experiment the students are the system and Mr. Finley is the outside force.

The picture is a representation of the experiment above. The dominoes are a system.

The Week of February 1st

Dear past self, I would like to tell you all about the characteristics of the moon. This will really help you understand more about astronomy. First there are many lunar surfaces, but I am going to focus on three. The first one is the crater. A crater is simply a hole, varying in lengths and depths, in the moon. It is created as a result of an asteroid/meteor impact. Also, another lunar surface is the ray. A ray is ejections, spray, and debris jetisoned away from a crater. Finally, I'd like to explain rilles to you. Rilles are folds on the surface created from collapsed underground lava flows. You should know these concepts. It will help you.

Experiment- A good experiment is to drop a marble into a pie tin of flower. It simulates an astroid hitting the moon, because the moon is very dusty and powdery. After you drop the marble you can observe the depth of the crater and the length of the rays.

The Week of January 18(absent)

This week we learned about the different types of tides and continued our work on seasons. We concluded that there are seasons because the earth has a constant tilt and when the sunlight is more focused on part of the earth it will be hotter.There are neap tides, high tides, low tides, and spring tides. Also I learned that a solstice is when the earth's tilt is away or towards the sun. An equinox is when the earth's tilt is right in the middle.

We learned this using many simulations. One of them was a virtual orbital situation. We also used the simulation to write a lab that concluded our knowlege in the subject. We also were verbally taught by Mr. Finley.

These ideas are important to know because later in the marking period we will be having a test. Also astronomy is good to know in every day life. Such as going to the beach or planning an event. These ideas are actually more important than you think.

The Week of January 11

This week we continued our study of astronomy. We learned about how the force of the earth on the moon affects the oceans tides and how there are spring tides ,high tides, and low tides. We focused on why there are seasons, thoughout the week. There are seasons because the earth has a constant tilit so at certain times the sunlight can be more focused or not. We also had a biology placement test.

We learned these science ideas in many different ways. We used another simulation that showed us the seasons. We also used the smartboard and a machine that detects how focused light is. We tested this machine with a flashlight pointed at different angles and lengths from it. This helped us understand why it is hotter when the sun is farther away from the earth. These ways helped me greatly.

These science ideas are important because last week we learned about the moon and the sun and now we are furthering our learning towards how they make seasons. This will continuely help us keep learning until we know alot about the subject. Without these science ideas we wouldnt be able to keep learning this subject so we wouldnt get far at all. In conclusion we learned many science ideas this week.

The Week of January 4th

This week we started working on astronomy. This is the study of the moon and stars. We also learned the difference between Revolution and Rotation. Revolution is when something travels around a fixed point. Roation is when something travels on a fixed point. We learned about the moon phases such as the new moon, waning gibbous and crescent, full moon, and waxing gibbous and crescent. We also learned how the force of the earth on the moon affects the tides.

We learned these ideas in many ways. One way was through Mr. Finley teaching us all of these ideas. We also learned through a helpful moon simulation lab on the computer. It had many different parts to it that really helped me understand it. The final way we learned this was through a pneumonic phrase about the many moon phases.

These science ideas are important to us because we will have to understand these ideas to do well on tests in the future. Also this specific subject could allow us to look at the moon the night before you go to the beach and be able to know how high the tides will be. Science ideas such as these always can help people in the future.

The Week of December 14

This week we did alot of reviewing for the upcoming test, but we also learned some new science ideas. We learned about friction and air resistance and how it affects scientific learning. We continued on our force diagrams and made more number sentences. We also learned about Newton's third law and to draw a force diagram for it you need two seperate ones to show each vantage points. These new science ideas will help me on the test.


I learned these ideas by taking notes and doing homework. I also completed a 5 page extra credit study guide that helped me. Not to mention that i completed many review questions for the test. We also had many examples and demonstrations. This week we even wrote a small story about friction to help our knowledge. Without these ways I wouldn't fully understand the science ideas.



These ideas are important because they will help me on the test. Also it will prepare me for more scientific things in the future. It also helped me furthermore my knowledge on the the last and the present unit that we are enduring. These science ideas are important because it will help me in the future, not just the present.