Blue Shift/Red Shift

Okay, we learned that Oog, the caveman, sat on the beach and watched ocean waves. He noticed a stick bobbing in the water. Using his Mickey Mouse watch, Oog timed the number of times he saw the stick at the top of a wave during a one-minute time period. It was 60. The next day, it was 30, the next day it was 120. Hmmm. He discovered frequency, wavelength, and cycle.
Radio
The munchkins learned this same frequency and wave pattern works for radio -- most favor 97.7 radio station. They were shocked to learn the 97.7 means 97,700,000 Mhz or 97.7 million cycles per second.
Light
This same frequency equates to color. White light refracted into the seven-colors of the rainbow show blue is a short wavelength and red is a long wavelength. The wavelength determines if the light is coming toward you or away. With that, we learned objects in space, for the most part are moving away from us. We learned how doppler and sonar work, etc.
Math
Sine wave
Oscilloscope
Monitoring a hospital patients heartbeat, electrical impulses from electrical components.
All that from watching a stick in the water.
Have a great weekend, everybody.

I Made Some Teachers, Happy

I ended the lesson on waves, today, with a final display in the hallway with my train whistle. It certainly annoyed a lot of teachers trying to teach their lessons. Sorry, folks.

Missed the Tournament
Ah, the sixth grade had their volleyball tournament, today, during related arts. The sixth grade teachers had some things to do before our grade-level meeting, and therefore, we missed the entire tournament. Rats. I always like to get photos of the tourney. Who won?

BASE
What will the world be like after humans are gone? Today, we focused on the disintegration of timber and concrete structures after just 40 years. Not the most exciting aspect of human disappearance, but, it does set the stage for what comes next as 2,000 years of human domination is erased.

Have a great night.

Slow Train A'Comin'!

Talkin' 'bout ocean waves, today. Yes, even sound waves. Referred to frequency, wavelength and wave period! Out comes my trusty train whistle and the munchkins are lined-up in the hallway - and there I go, marching up and down the hallway tooting on my train whistle so the kiddoes can understand the doppler effect. I even snuck in a little Fig Newton 3rd Law of Motion by bouncing a ball on the floor and then a tabletop to show wave action as it comes into shore.
The morning classes reenacted the making of a wave in the hallway.

Strollin'
Using PSSA writing rubrics I graded the morning classes essay on taking a walk on the ocean floor. I showed the prompt and a student's paper to Mrs. Pulizzi and Mrs. Nemeth. First thing Mrs. Pulizzi noticed was the prompt was not restated. The afternoon classes get this assignment on Friday. I hope I survive.

Vallamont Park
I am still in shock. I used BASE to show a powerpoint presentation on Vallamont Park. The kids loved it. In fact, they wanted to spend the entire period talking about historical Williamsport. I actually had a ball. I hope I piqued some interest in local history.

Have a great night.

A Couple of Cool Strollin' Stories

Thanks Mackenzie and India. The stories these girls composed for "Strollin' On The Ocean Floor," were FANTASTIC!!!!! My morning classes are composing stories that jive with the PSSA Writing Rubrics. Bailey did a great job, as well. Section 62 and 64 are due, tomorrow. Any late work is worth half-credit -- no exceptions, save for Abby, who was absent when the assignment was given.

Afternoon Classes
Are working on Motions of the Oceans. Today, they realized the up and down motion of waves is simply, water molecules vibrating. Geez, Z, how obvious can this become?

Life After People
Absolutely fantastic two-hour event on the History Channel, last night. The computer graphics were awesome.

Future Fright
My new social studies class watched "Future Fright." A 25-minute story about a family that returns to the U.S. after seven years, abroad, to find the Bill of Rights has been refuted and a totalitarian government in place. It scared some of my cherubs, who, apparently took our freedoms for granted. Boy, is this gonna be a fun marking period with the 27 Constitutional amendments.

TP'ed the Boss' Truck
When you send out a group of gamey middle school teachers on a video scavenger hunt and then offer them a free-style portion, expect, the unexpected. Yep, we went to Mr. Fausnaught's house, found his truck parked there, and videotaped ourselves applying two rolls of toilet paper about the vehicle. To add to the fun, Mr. F's dad and sister-in-law showed up. We got them in our video.

Have a great night. Be careful in the snowfall, tonight. Hope there is no delay, tomorrow. I gotta get some teaching completed.