Our new lesson deals with waves, tides, and the ocean's circulation.  We dive into what forces generate different kinds of waves, and where the largest can be found.  We also will learn about how the interaction between the sun and moon and the Earth affects our tides.  The circulation of the oceans affect our weather patterns in many different ways, so we will discuss this also.  The PWC Objectives supported by this unit are O-4.8-10.

During the next several weeks, we will be studying about our water world.  Students will learn about the unique properties of water, some chemistry related to water, how marine life is affected chemically, and the physics of water.  The PWC supporting objectives are O-4.5 and O-4.6.  There is a powerpoint in class files that students may review, or to catch up if they miss school!

We are just about to finish our lesson on Marine invertebrates.  The students will take a test soon on what was covered in Chapter 6 of our textbook.  During the last week and a half, we took a break from invertebrates to write a short research paper on any historical aspect related to Oceanography.  It seems that our students learned a few interesting facts during the process and so did I!  We look forward to our next unit on Marine Vertebrates!

This week we have been taking our test on Chapter 5.  Next week, we will begin our discussion on Chapter 6, Introduction to Marine Invertebrates!  Some of the organisms we will be discussing are:  Sponges, worms, squid, oysters, shrimp, lobster, and many others.  This lesson follows the Prince William County Objective O-4.16.

This week and next week students will be learning about the oceans simplist life forms, viruses and bacteria.  They will learn the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and their structures.  Students will learn Linneaus' classification system from Domain to Species and how and why organisms get their names.  These lessons go with the PWC objective O-4.14 and O-4.15.

This week, we will study the primary production that occurs in our oceans.  Students will be able to identify types of plankton and which contribute to production.  Also, we will look closely at the process of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.  This topic follows the Prince William County Objective - O-4.13.

This week we are uncovering the theories of how the universe and our solar system began.  We are taking notes from powerpoints that go along with Chapter 3 in our book.  The PWC Objective is O-4.1.  As a group, we will cover the quizzes on 3-9 and 3-16.  These questions will be helpful when taking the next test!

A basic introduction to atomic structure and configuration!

Great power point to review invertebrates.