Effects of Sand

Sand is always moving. The beaches you might visit everyday are not perminent features. The shape and size of beaches change everyday on a small scale and somtimes drastically over a longer period of time. The changes occur becasue of various reasons but its always because of the sand moving.

In our Oceanography class we looked at different sand samples from around the United States under microscopes and noticed the many differences. Some of the differences are visable to the naked eye and some require the use of a microscope. Here is the list of traits we observed:

• Color
• Magnetite
• Size
• Texture
• Wentworth Scale
• Sorting
• Composition

A few days after doing our observations we went on a field trip to our local beach. We looked at the sand closely but it did not look any different than the sand we were used to. Although the sand varys greatly around the world, it usually doesnt look very different when the beaches are close to each other. The drastic changes can only seen if one compares sand from different areas across the world. Here is a few examples of the diversity found in beach sand colors.

source:

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/beacherosion.html

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Biomes of The World

I was sitting in class one day when my teacher told us we were going to be learning about biodiversity in the different biomes of the world and the creatures and plant life that inhabit them. The only thing is she put a twist on learning the unit. She said instead of her giving us a big lecture on the different biomes and the fauna and flora that inhabit them she told our class of about twenty to choose a biome and make a brochure on that biome.I ended up choosing a deciduous forest and I found it interesting that many of the biomes are classified by how many seasons they have. For example my biome had four seasons Summer,Winter,Fall, and Spring whereas other biomes such as the Tundra only have two seasons Summer and Winter. I also found out from my class mates presenting their own brochures that a rain forest has very poor soil but a deciduous forest has very rich soil I found that very perculiar because one would think that an area with so much life would have very good soil but because of all the rain the nutrients are washed away but in the deciduous forest the ground keeps most of its fertility. A couple other determining factors on the biomes are the temperature the climate and the elevation. I thought the way we learned this unit was very interesting and it probed our thinking and creative abilitys and introduced us to a new way of learning. So instead of learning about envirments that are long gone we could learn about enviornments that interest us.

Jeff H.

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Reflection on Friday’s Class Discussions

On Friday, D period class went outside to discuss the world’s biomes. I really liked going outside. It helped me visualize how our area would be different in different biomes. I liked the brochures idea, although as a result from School Loop dying and a power outage, many students did not have them in. That was a pity because I felt like we could have talked about biomes more/stayed outside longer. I noted the similarities and differences the alpine and tundra biomes had. They are both cold, have high winds, and had snow in the winter but less or not at all in the summer. The alpine was all over the globe, while the tundra was mostly in the Arctic Circle region. I really liked how the class was structured on Friday.

Jacques L.

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One with Nature

 

On our walk around the pond, we observed many different types of plant, animals, and trees. We looked at our pond in front of our school.  The pond was mucky and dirty but with many frog in it. If the muck was removed from the pond it would look crystal clear but nothing would be able to live in it. We saw many frogs around the pond and if their entire habitat was removed they would not be able to strive. There *food chain might be altered if their environment is changed. We also observed many dandelions all over the fields. They were every where and we picked them and Calvin put them in his shirt. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EcvgZyQvLo 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_chain

AlexanderM.

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Pond Ecosystem

At the school pond I noticed that despite the algae there were fish, frogs, and various plants. I thought algae in ponds or lakes was bad for the other life in that pond or lake. Maybe there is not enough to kill the other life, but just enough to create food for the fish and birds.  There probably is enough primary consumers to keep it in check.  I tried to catch a frog, but the algae and other plant matter provided good cover.  If there are so many frogs, I bet there are many flies to feed them.

Jacques L.

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Animal In the Wild

Today, I went to the backyard because it looked like a nice day.  When I got outside it was really windy and I could see the leaves being blown all around and I could see birds flying everywhere along with bees.  The bees were huge, not sure what exactly they were, and they kept flying around looking like they were about to fall down.  They kept going flower to flower which I think was probably them spreading nectar from flower to flower.  The bees get food from the nectar of the flowers.  I saw chipmunks running in the grass and even up trees. I’m guessing the chipmunks live in the trees as over the course of an hour I went outside again and continued to see random chipmunks running to and from the tree.  If there was no tree I’m pretty sure the random birds would swoop down and catch one of those critters.  It’s hard to tell because anything can happen in the wild.  For all I know, the chipmunks might eat the birds!  No one really knows what will happen but can only presume what will based on their prior knowledge.  There seems to be a swampy place behind the fence.  Not really a swamp but the land there seems wet.  I heard a random sound.  It sounded like something ran past the plants that look like the plants you see where lions live.  I checked out what it could be but when I got there it was gone.  On the lookout now for what animal is living in the swamp area.

Alex H.

           

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