Holiday Feast 2011

You will be planning a menu using assignments that cover a variety of topics that we have studied thus far in science. You will have time in-class with the laptops on December 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, and 21 with the final project being due by the end of the day December 21. It is important to note that some of these days we may have shortened classes due to team or school activities so some of you may need to also work on parts of these tasks at home.

You can work on the assignments in any order that you choose. You will be required to fill-out and turn-in your progress log each day for teacher approval. Each task will be graded by a separate rubric and then totals for each task will be added together to get the final project grade. A portion of the project grade will be how wisely you used your time during class and your behavior over the course of the week.

On December 21 you will turn in a folder that contains each project stapled to the corresponding rubric. You will also need to turn in the Menu with your name on it. You may chose to work with a partner or alone.

Look at your menu planner now as we go through each option

Appetizer Mineral Project For your appetizer, you need to select one of your most valued possessions and research to find out all of the materials needed to make that item. Then you will select the most prominent material in that item to discover how it is extracted and produced. Also research how this process might impact humans and the environment.

Main Course #1 For your main course option 1, you can research the life of Alfred Wegner or Herman Hess and write a 2 page report on his life and discoveries. If you have a different scientist from a field we have studied you may ask for special approval.

Main Course #2 For your main course option 2, you will create a pamphlet on earthquake safety. You should include what you should do to stay safe before, during, and after an earthquake. You should also include facts about earthquakes and the damage that they cause along with the earthquake risk for our area.

Main Course #3 For your main course option 3, you will create a model for each type of volcano. Each model should be representative of what each type of volcano looks like. Major features should be labeled and you need to include a paragraph or chart with each one telling us the type of lava, type of eruption, slope, a real-world example, and details about the last eruption that volcano had.

Side Dish #1 For your side dish option 1, you will create a chart listing the top ten largest earthquakes in the world. In the chart you will need the location, date, and magnitude for each earthquake. You will also need to include a map where you label where each earthquake occurred.

Side Dish #2 For your side dish option 2, you will create a poster outlining the effects of a volcanic eruption. You need to list immediate and long term effects on the land, air, and water.

Side Dish #3 For your side dish option 3, you will imagine that you are a scientist in the field who has just discovered an amazing new fossil. Write a one page journal entry describing your find. You should include where it was found, what type of organism created the fossil, what time period it lived during, what type of fossil it is, what happened to the organism, and a drawing of the fossil.

Side Dish #4 For your side dish option 4, you will design a lab experiment that illustrates the steps of the scientific method.

Side Dish #5 For your side dish option 5, you will pick 3 time periods from the geologic time scale to illustrate. You need 1 illustration for each period that depicts what the earth looked like during that time period. Include a caption with each picture that tells which time period it is showing and a paragraph describing major events that occurred during that time.

Side Dish #6 For your side dish option 6, you will imagine that scientists find an ancient lake bed with hundreds of well-preserved mammoth bones in it. They are able to measure the amount of carbon 14 that remains in the bones. Carbon 14 has a half-life of approximately 5700 years. How could you use the half-life of carbon 14 to determine how old the bones are? Use the following graph to answer questions 1-4. You will earn 5 points for each question you correctly answer.

Side Dish #7 For your side dish option 7, you will read the Legend of Mount Mayon and then write a comparison between how the legend says the volcano formed and what you know about how volcanoes actually form. You will need to research and include what type of volcano it is, some facts about the volcano, and how it actually formed. This should be at least 1 page typed, double-spaced.

Side Dish #8 For your side dish option 8, you will research two mining techniques (panning, rocker, long tom, sluice mining, hydraulic mining, coyoting, and tunneling). You will complete a pros and cons chart for each of the two mining methods that you have researched.

Dessert #1 For your dessert option 1, you will write 4 poems using 4 different vocabulary terms from this year. Use the following template for writing the poems. The 1st line one word and names the scientific idea. The 2nd line is two words and describes what the first line means. The 3rd line is three words and says what the first line does. The 4th line is four words and tells how the write feels about the first line. The 5th line renames the first line in a single word.

Dessert #2 For your dessert option 2, you will make a cootie catcher with information about a topic of your choice that we have studied this year.

Dessert #3 For your dessert option 3, you will make a cartoon strip about a topic of your choice that we have studied this year. You need to include at least 5 vocabulary words.

Dessert #4 For your dessert option 4, read about the natural resources that are contained in an average Christmas Tree. Color the tree and label on the tree what natural resources are contained in the star, tree, ornament hangers, electrical wire, light bulbs, wire insulation, ceramic ornaments, plastic ornaments, electricity, glass ornaments, paint, and the tree stand.

Questions?