Ms. Bragg's Blog: May 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

VIDEO: Widely Misconceptions About the Reasons for the Seasons

VIDEO: Proof that Galileo was right about falling objects from the Apollo Astronauts!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

VIDEO: Geo Bee's Final Moments 2013

Click on the photo to read the article.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Geo Bee this week!

Finalist from VA:

Alexa Trebek having a little fun with geography facts on the streets of DC this week:

VIDEO: Sam made a scale model of the Solar System with his family!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Vertasium Video for Tonight's You-Be-the-Teacher Assignment

http://msbraggsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/video-scale-model-of-earth-and-moon-by.html

Just in case, click here to download the assignment.

Here we go, Galaxy
There's a space out there, the Milky Way
On an arm of Orion
We sit right there the Solar System

Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
Up, up here we go, go
Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
From Mercury out to Pluto

Mercury closest to the Sun
No atmosphere and small like a runt
No moons there to surround it
Distance from the Sun- 70 million km.
Next is Venus crazy atmosphere
Hottest planet and no water vapor
Third is Earth-life is in this place
We have one moon and tectonic plates

Here we go, Galaxy
There's a space out there, the Milky Way
On an arm of Orion
We sit right there the Solar System

Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
Up, up here we go, go
Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
From Mercury out to Pluto

Mars, the red planet very dusty
Atmosphere is very thin, crust is bumpy
Jupiter is next in line
Biggest planet in the sky
And the big red spot running endless
Yeah, where we at? It's the ringed one
Saturn's the planet less dense the H2O
Spinning so fast flattened at the poles
Has 62 moons
And made of clouds

Here we go, Galaxy
There's a space out there, the Milky Way
On an arm of Orion
We sit right there the Solar System
Let's fly

Now Uranus is a blue-green color
Gas planet rotates south to north
Neptune is the last of the planets
Strongest winds there "Scooter's" twisting
The coldest planet it's so far, not close
The last one but what about Pluto
I'm like Plut...o...o...o
Not a Planet, Oh, oh, oh

Here we go, Galaxy
There's a space out there, the Milky Way
On an arm of Orion
We sit right there the Solar System

Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
Up, up here we go, go
Let's fly (fly, fly, fly, fly)
Up, up here we go, go
From Mercury out to Pluto

VIDEO: The Solar System Song by KidsTV123

KidsTV123
Copyright 2011 A.J. Jenkins/KidsTV123: All rights reserved.
For free MP3s, worksheets and much more:
http://www.kidstv123.com

I am the sun. I'm a burning ball of fire. I'm very big indeed.
Life on earth depends on me. I am the sun.

I am Mercury. I'm the closest planet to the sun.
I'm a ball of iron -- I have no moons. I am Mercury.

I am Venus. I'm the same size as the Earth but I spin the other way and much more slowly.
I have no water -- I am Venus.

I am the Earth the place. The where we all live. There is land and lots of sea so I look blue.
I have a moon. I am the Earth.

I am Mars. I'm a rocky, red planet. My mountains are the highest in our solar system.
I have 2 moons. I am Mars.

I am Jupiter. I'm a gas giant. I'm the biggest and I spin the fastest. I have the biggest moon. I am Jupiter.

I am Saturn. I'm a gas giant. My rings are made of ice. Titan is my biggest moon. I am Saturn.

I am Uranus. I'm an icy gas giant. I'm the coldest planet in our solar system. And I have rings made of dust. I am Uranus.

I am Neptune. I'm an icy gas giant. I'm the farthest planet from the sun. I have many storms. I am Neptune.

We are The Solar System.

VIDEO: "Family of the Sun" Song by the Air and Space Museum

Model of the Solar System Using Toilet Paper!

The 4th graders have been learning about the planets in the Solar System-- what makes them similar and different, what makes a planet a planet, etc.

Check out this video from NOVA: Definition of a Planet.

Today, we concentrated on the "space" in space, asking ourselves how far apart the planets are (on average) from each other. We constructed an 84-foot model, using 200 sheets of toilet paper. In this shaky video, you can see how closely the Terrestrial Planets (planets more like Earth-- Mercury, Venus, and Mars) are grouped together and how far apart the Jovian Planets (the "Gas Giants"- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are. The white wall to the right approximately represents the Sun. The very last person to the right represents Pluto, now classified as a dwarf planet.

It's important to remember that even though this model seems very big, we would need a much bigger model to represent the relative sizes of the planets. In our 84-foot TP model, Jupiter would be the size of a grain of salt.

The students are singing "The Family of the Sun" song.

Thanks to Suzanne Chippindale and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for putting out this terrific lesson. You can click on the pic below to see the full lesson.

Online Assignment

Hello 4th Graders!

You must complete the following before having more free time in the Astronomy folder:

Mcgraw-Hill: Our Solar System (do quiz/game that follows)
NOVA: What is a Planet?
Study Jams: Our Solar System Inner Planets (read and study all slides and do quiz)
Study Jams: Our Solar System Outer Planets (read and study all slides and do quiz)
BrainPop: Solar System (watch and do REVIEW quiz)

Have fun and expand your brain!

REMEMBER: When you are done, you can have more free time exploring the Astronomy folder.

Friday, May 17, 2013

REVIEW Game Suggestions

Make sure to find opportunities to have fun while you review VA Studies this weekend! Here are some suggestions of games to play. I'm sure you can come up with lots of other creative options! Please share your best homemade games with me, so that I can pass on the fun to future 4th graders!

"Guess Who?"

Best played with people who have studied VA History-- in other words, other 4th graders! Having 3 or more people do it together makes it more fun/silly.
If you play with someone who hasn't studied VA History before, make sure that you let them look through the cards first. Explain to them the people they don't know.
Cut up all the cards (a gave you a copy of important people from VA history) and put them in the brown paper bag.
Have a friend tape a card to your head and tape one to theirs. Make sure that the card wearer doesn't see the front!
Each player gets to take turns asking yes-or-no questions.
When you guess right, have the other person tape another card to your forehead and keep going.
You get to decide how you want to keep track of points.

Relay Race of Knowledge!

Again, best played with other VA scholars-- in other words, 4th graders who have studied VA.
Some of you played this with me during Friday Afternoon Club today.
You need questions and answers. Suggestions: you can use the question packet or flashcards.
Make teams.
One person runs to a designated spot and then back. When they return, someone on their team reads them a question. If they get it right, they've finished that question. If they got it incorrect, they need to run again. When they return, they get a second chance at the question-- so it's a good idea to pay attention to the correct answer when it's read to you the first time.
Usually, the team that finishes all the questions first wins (teams have to start out with the same # of questions)... But it's up to you how you want to award points.

Waste-Basket Ball Trivia

You will need: (1) a trashcan, (2) a balled-up piece of paper, and (3) questions from a quality source-- like your flashcards or question packet.
Make teams or play as individuals.
Set up the trashcan/wastebasket and a shooting line.
Take turns asking each other questions.
For every correctly answer question, a player/team gets a chance to shoot a basket.