Friday, April 25, 2008

Unit 3 .LIGHT AND SOUND

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/ear/label/labelanswers.shtml

Label the Ear Anatomy Diagram


Human Anatomy
Sound is collected by the pinna (the visible part of the ear) and directed through the outer ear canal. The sound makes the eardrum vibrate, which in turn causes a series of three tiny bones (the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup) in the middle ear to vibrate. The vibration is transferred to the snail-shaped cochlea in the inner ear; the cochlea is lined with sensitive hairs which trigger the generation of nerve signals that are sent to brain.
Read the definitions below, then label the ear anatomy diagram.

anvil - (also called the incus) a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the hammer to the stirrup.
cochlea - a spiral-shaped, fluid-filled inner ear structure; it is lined with cilia (tiny hairs) that move when vibrated and cause a nerve impulse to form.
eardrum - (also called the tympanic membrane) a thin membrane that vibrates when sound waves reach it.
Eustachian tube - a tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose; it equalizes the pressure between the middle ear and the air outside. When you "pop" your ears as you change altitude (going up a mountain or in an airplane), you are equalizing the air pressure in your middle ear.
hammer - (also called the malleus) a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the eardrum to the anvil.

nerves - these carry electro-chemical signals from the inner ear (the cochlea) to the brain.
outer ear canal - the tube through which sound travels to the eardrum.
pinna - (also called the auricle) the visible part of the outer ear. It collects sound and directs it into the outer ear canal
semicircular canals - three loops of fluid-filled tubes that are attached to the cochlea in the inner ear. They help us maintain our sense of balance.
stirrup - (also called the stapes) a tiny, U-shaped bone that passes vibrations from the stirrup to the cochlea. This is the smallest bone in the human body (it is 0.25 to 0.33 cm long).


To find the answers of this exercise click on: answers








Friday, April 18, 2008

Unit 2. Vertebrates

Maths (cambio de medidas) Natural Sciences (características de los vertebrados) and English (texto descriptivo)

http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/lc/organ/1/lco1_4a.htmlUnit 2: Vertebrates



Here you have information about some animals.
PENGUIN - This is an emperor penguin the largest and most colorful of all the penguins. The emperor penguin which stands nearly four feet high, is the giant of all present-day penguins. The female lays her egg and then abandons her egg to her partner. The male incubates a single egg by carrying it on its large feet. The female returns after the egg hatches and takes care of the chick. A penguin's body is streamlined and this helps it to swim with remarkable skill. Penguins hunt while swimming, catching fish and other small sea creatures. They can obtain a height of 1.35 m (4 ft) and weight up to 22 to 45 kg (50-100 lbs).
BLUE WHALE - The blue whale is the largest and heaviest animal of all time. It can weight up to 508,000 lbs and reach a length of 110 feet. It is a strong mammal that can travel at 25 hours per hour. At birth it can weight 6,600 lbs and be 7 meters (25 feet) in length. The blue whale is a filter feeder, meaning that it has "baleen" filters in its mouth where plankton (small floating organisms) are trapped. The sound of a blue whale is awesome, a high pitched sound can be heard 530 miles away.
SHARK - You can use this puppet to describe the Great White Shark or the Sand Shark, depending on whether you want to describe a monster or benign member of a very primitive fish family. The sand shark is found in the Atlantic Ocean. This shark is not normally dangerous to humans. It eats fish and mollusca. The babies are born from the mother. They can weigh up to 170 kg or 375 lbs and can be up to 3.2 m or 10.5 feet in length. The Great White Shark is a very large fish with a terrifying mouth. These saw-toothed edged teeth are as sharp as razor blades. The shark inhabits all the world's seas. The Great White tends to attack everything that looks like food. It eats absolutely everything and the stomach of many Great Whites include dustbins, tins of jam, and thousands of metal objects. The adult length is up to 10 meters or 33 feet.
STINGRAY - The rays are primitive fish related to sharks. Their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone. There are about 90 species of stingrays which range in size from one to seven feet across. They live on the bottom of the sea floor.
HERMIT CRAB - Hermits crabs are related to crabs and lobsters. Most live in tidal areas or deeper in the ocean. A few are even land dwellers. A Hermit crab has two large pincers and two pairs of walking legs. When threatened, it pulls entirely into its shell.
SCALLOP - There are over 300 species of scallop that live throughout the marine world. The scallop can "swim" in the water, by using a propelling motion as they open and close their shells. Scallops have tiny bright blue eyes all along the edge of the shells. These eyes are highly sensitive to light and dark.
DUNGENESS CRAB - The Dungeness crab ranges from Alaska to California. It lives in sandy areas from the low tide line to 300 feet deep. The dungeness crab can live eight years and be 10 inches across. To grow the crab sheds its shell or molts, before the new shell hardens. The Dungeness crab has 10 legs, the front pair are modified into piners with which it catches small fish and shellfish.
OCTOPUS - There are over 150 species of octopus which belong to the mollusk family. They are found throughout the world’s oceans, most commonly in warm seas.Octopuses range in size from two inches to a giant 32 feet across the arms of the Pacific species. Octopuses are masters of camouflage. They can change color, shape and skin texture. The octopus’ well-developed eyes enable it to see all around itself.
DOLPHIN - This is a mammal, although there is a fish by the same name. They live in the open ocean, but visit the coastal areas as well. They tend to live in warmer waters.
LOBSTER - Lobsters belong to the invertebrates grouping of animals. They are related to crabs and other jointed critters, like insects. They have two well developed pinchers which they use to eat and defend themselves.
The following vertebrates listed below may be included in your set. Remember, if you have puppets, you may want to include them.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Unit 1 : Solar System



Hurricanes

A hurricane is a powerful, rotating storm that forms over warm oceans near the Equator. Another name for a hurricane

is a tropical cyclone. Hurricanes have strong, rotating winds (at least 74 miles per hour or 119 kilometers per hour), a huge amount of rain, low air pressure, thunder and lightning. The cyclonic winds of a hurricane rotate in a counterclockwise direction around a central, calm eye.

If this type of storm forms in the western Pacific Ocean, it is called a typhoon.

Hurricanes often travel from the ocean to the coast and on to land, where the wind, rain, and huge waves can cause extensive destruction.

Generally, when a hurricane moves over land (or over cold ocean waters) the storm begins to weaken and quickly dies down because the storm is fueled by warm water.

On average, there are about 100 tropical cyclones worldwide each year; 12 of these form in the Atlantic Ocean, 15 form in the eastern Pacfic Ocean and the rest are in other areas.

Hurricane season is the time when most Atlantic Ocean hurricanes occur; it is from June 1 until November 30. In the eastern Pacific Ocean, hurricane season is from May 15 until November 30.



The weather symbol for a hurricane is:

The marine flags that alert boaters to a hurricane are two square red banners,



each with a black square in the middle: .







Unit1 (CN) Unit 7 (IN)Phoca, the Traveling Harbor Seal

Read, Phoca, the Traveling Harbor Seal. It is about a harbor seal (scientific name, Phoca vitulina) that lives in the San Francisco Bay, and was born in Mowry Slough. After reading the story discuss the vertebrates and invertebrates in the story. Remember that the vertebrate (harbor seal) ate many invertebrates (i.e octopus).



Unit.2 COMPARING LAND AND WATER ORGANISMS

Some animals like frogs, start their life in the water, and then emerge to live on land near water. Animals have many different habitats in which they live.
A frog is an amphibian that is at home both on land and in fresh water. The process that transforms a frog from water to land is called "metamorphosis." As a tadpole, they have a very dangerous life. Many predators like fish, turtles, birds, and even large insects look for the young tadpoles tCOMPARING LAND AND WATER ORGANISMSo eat. Different frog species have different growth rates. Some become frogs within weeks, however some like the North American bullfrog may take more than a year to fully develop. The rate of metamorphism is also influenced by temperature of water and other chemical factors.
Organisms that live in the marine environment must be able to adapt their bodies to the salt water. They also need to have a supply of nourishment similar to organisms that live on land. The ocean usually has nourishment throughout the water as dissolved minerals. Food created by algae is floating within the upper 200 meters of the water column. Water allows organisms to move around with greater ease than on land. Organisms that reside in the ocean live in certain areas of the ocean just like land animals live in certain areas. Whales for instance have a much larger habitat than an elephant, because the whales can move within the ocean of their birth.
The beach is an area that is half water and half land. Many portions of the beach are covered by water part of the time, so it is not a friendly area to live.
Shallow waters are usually close to the coast. Organisms, like crabs, clams, corals, and seastars reside in this area. Fish can also live in shallow, and deep water. Deep water organisms include porpoises, fishes, and deep water clams.
Link
If you want to see frogs tales click here

Friday, April 4, 2008

Unit 2.Discovering characteristics of animals

http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/lc/organ/2/lco2_2a.html

The vertebrates refer to the phylum called CHORDATA. Members of this phylum are our common everyday animals. All mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish belong to this group. There are over 45,000 species throughout the world. Vertebrates have a backbone, a nervous system, and a gill slit during some stage of their life cycle. In land-dwelling vertebrates, these slits are present only in the embryo.

Mammals have distinct characteristics including: controlled body temperature, highly developed jaws, a coat or hairy skin covering, highly developed internal organs, and mammalian glands. Most important is their mode of reproduction and the way in which the young are fed on the mother's milk.

Birds are warm blooded and have a constant body temperature (with some exceptions). Birds have succeeded in conquering the air by having a very light skeleton. The beak and eyes are highly developed. They have feathers and produce eggs.

Reptiles are mainly terrestrial, but there are many living partly in the aquatic environment. The body is covered with scales or patches of horny, sometimes bony skin. Limbs are usually short or absent, feet show many variations in form. Most reptiles are oviparous, meaning that they produce external eggs. Representatives of reptiles include lizards and snakes.

Amphibians are aquatic are four limbed. The most common characteristic is an exposed, water permeable skin, rich in glands which secrete mucus, which is sometimes poisonous. Amphibians lay small round eggs protected by a gelatinous mass. Some species go through a larval stage that metamorphoses into a juvenile, for example, a tadpole changes into a frog.

There are two major types of fish, one group called the bony fishes and the other cartilaginous fishes. All fishes live in water and have external fertilization (with some exceptions). Cartilaginous fish include sharks, rays, and lampreys. Bony include most of your present day fishes like tuna, salmon, and goldfishes.


Unit 1. Sistema Solar

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/


The Planets

The nine planets that orbit the sun are (in order from the Sun): Mercury,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter (the biggest planet in our Solar System), Saturn (with large, orbiting rings), Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet). A belt of asteroids (minor planets made of rock and metal) orbits between Mars and Jupiter. These objects all orbit the sun in roughly circular orbits that lie in the same plane, the ecliptic (Pluto is an exception; it has an elliptical orbit tilted over 17° from the ecliptic).




  • The inner planets (those planets that orbit close to the Sun) are quite different from the outer planets (those planets that orbit far from the Sun).
  • The inner planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are relatively small, composed mostly of rock, and have few or no moons.

  • The outer planets include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. They are mostly huge, mostly gaseous, ringed, and have many moons (again, the exception is Pluto which is small, rocky, has one moon, and is considered to be a dwarf planet).



Small Bodies

There are other smaller object that orbit the Sun, including asteroids, comets, meteoroids and dwarf planets.

  • Asteroids (also called minor planets) are rocky or metallic objects, most of which orbit the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

  • Comets are small, icy bodies that orbit the sun. They have very long tails.


  • Meteoroids are small bodies that travel through space. They are stony and/or metallic and are smaller than asteroids. Most are very tiny.

Solar System Activities, Other Web Pages

Solar System coloring pages

An interactive puzzle on the Solar System.

Solar System Tutorial

an on-line teaching/quiz a
bout our Solar System.

Find It!, a quiz about the solar system.

A fill-in-the-blank (cloze) activity on the Solar System - or go to the answers.

A Solar System calendar to print out and color.



A Solar System Model to make



Solar System Crafts



How to write a report on a planet - plus a rubric.



The Solar System as it is today from Fourmilab Switzerland






Unit1 (CN)Unit5 (CS/IN)Habitats: Have to have a Habitat

Habitats: Have to have a Habitat

Chorus
Habitat, Habitat, Have to Have a Habitat
Habitat, Habitat, Have to Have a Habitat


You have to have a habitat to carry on!

The ocean is a habitat, a very special habitat
It´s where the deepest water´s at
It´s where the biggest mammal´s at
It´s where our future food is at
It keeps the atmosphere intact
The ocean is a habitat we depend on!
Chorus

The forest is a habitat, a very special habitat
It´s where the tallest trees are at
It´s where a bear can scratch her back
(ch- ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch)
It keeps the ground from rolling back
Renews the oxygen, in fact
The forest is a habitat we depend on!
Chorus

The river is a habitat, a very special habitat
It´s where the freshest water´s at
For people, fish, and muskrat
But when people dump their trash
Rivers take the biggest rap
The river is a habitat we depend on!
Chorus
People are different than foxes and rabbits
Effect he whole world with their bad habits
Better to love it while we still have it
Or rat ta-tat-tat, our habitat´s gone!
Chorus

Activities:
1º Look up the meaning of the words in pink in a dictionary. Specify their grammatical category (noun, adjective, verb…)

Carry on:
Depend on:
Intact:
Scratch:
Ground:
Rolling back:
Renew:
Muskrat: (noun), ratón almizclero
Dump:
Trash:

2º Make a list of all the superlatives you can find in the song and translate them.