Thank You

Girls,
I don't know how to thank you! You made my last day at SGS so special! The song, the cards and notes, the lunch party complete with balloons and a huge banner...who could ask for a better send off??? I will miss you all terribly and your well wishes mean so much to me. I can't wait to hear about your high school choices, see you blast off into space and view the premiere of the Production (where I hope there's some more original songwriting I can look forward to!)

You all have my very best wishes for 2008. I'll come back and visit soon!
Much love to you all,
MM

Solar Eclipses

Here are some pictures of solar eclipses. The first is a picture at totality - when the moon covers the sun and astronomers can study the corona or wispy outer layer of the sun.







The second picture is of the "diamond ring effect" which occurs just before and just after totality. Can you see why they call it that?





Since we were talking about solar eclipses today and several of you were asking when the next one would be happening I took the liberty of checking into it. Mark your calendars for August 1st, 2008, but you'll have to travel pretty far north if you want to see it. The path of totality will to through parts of Greenland, Mongolia, central Russia and China -- so make reservations now!

Check out more info on upcoming solar eclipses at http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/solar.html

Planet Quiz

Ladies,
Sorry to miss you again today while I'm home with a bad neck! But no matter what, I will see you tomorrow - Wednesday - to wish you a happy Thanksgiving break and take care of a little business.

We're going to have a short planet quiz tomorrow to wrap up all the comparative planetology work we've been doing. This quiz will consist of a page of fill in the blank questions (for example: This planet is the largest and most massive in the solar system - and you write in Jupiter) as well as 4 short answer questions. For the short answer, I'll give you a set of questions to chose from and you get to pick 4 out of 6 to complete.

We'll review together for our first period tomorrow and take the quiz after break. The wise woman would also review online using the powerpoint questions and/or review the online notes.

See you Wednesday. Be good to Bert and Sally in my absence!
MM

Planets on the horizon!

We've officially begun our study of comparative planetology. Remember, your planet powerpoints will be due Friday, Nov 2 and you'll be presenting them with your partner in front of the class. Don't forget to read the rubric about public speaking requirements.

You may have noticed there are several helpful links along with a planetary "primer" on my website. These will prove useful in your next assignment - the planet comparison chart. This will be due Friday, Nov 9 (the same day as miniculmination). I'll be passing out the assignment tomorrow, but in this sneak preview I'll reveal you'll be making some sort of chart that compares characteristics of the planets. This can be done on the computer - iMovie, Inspiration, Word - or, if you like art, you may choose to do something more like a poster.

A reminder about M2M LAB BLOGS

By now you should be well aware that after each M2M lab you need to complete a quick blog that includes 3 things:

• What you did during your lab time
• How the activity ties into the key point for the lab
• In what ways this activity might prepare you for our actual Mission to Mars in March

BIG REMINDER!
You must have a blog for every lab - EVEN IF YOU ARE ABSENT. In fact, it is even more important to do a blog if you missed the lab. Remember, each lab feeds into a mini-culmination so if you are absent you should check with your partners from the day and get information about what you missed. It's okay to say in your blog that you were absent and say what others did and what skills you may need to practice, but you MUST complete a blog still.

Upcoming Motion Test

Ladies,
As we discussed last week, we'll be having Part I of our Newton's Laws/Motion/Gravity Test this coming Friday, November 2. You already have your review sheets (copied on yellow paper and hopefully living in your binder) in order to study. You can plan for a review activity on Wednesday in class, but Thursday we'll be starting new information, so plan your studying wisely.

If you've misplaced your review sheet, you can view it on my website. (Linked from this page over on the side.)

Details about posting your science commercials

We've been having a little trouble posting via YouTube, so I would like you to post your commercials through blogger directly. Check out these instructions:

In iMovie:

1. Share - Export Movie
2. Choose "mobile" or "medium" quality
3. (If it asks you where to save, select "Movies" folder)

Then open your blog,

1. Create a new post
2. Click on the video button in the tool bar
3. Browse for your movie (it should be in the Movies folder) and "open" it
4. Add a title, if you desire
   
5. Upload your movie
6. Once it is uploaded, publish your post. You can type in the same blog entry, if you wish.