Does it ever slow down?

WOW. I know I have mentioned this before, but WOW…time is flying! Thanksgiving is over, we are in bundle 5 (of 12, each is three weeks long…to give a reference to those not in our district) and we are well on our way to second semester. As I sit here, slightly chilled from the nice crisp cold that has taken over Texas, I am thinking I haven’t written in a while…and my student blog hasn’t been updated…heck my website needs updating…but really where has the time gone!

I have completed the first part of my research (the paper that I had to turn in for my masters…WOOHOO) but I am still waiting to get the Twitter-like program installed where I can use it with my agents (have I told you before that means my students??? I don’t remember). Once I get the program installed I will be able to complete my project. Hopefully I will have it by second semester! [fingers crossed]

At the OBSI we have been filling our time most recently with physics…force and motion- Newton’s Three laws and the Law of Gravitation and such. We have now moved on to Earth Science and the forces that shape our Earth. There is so much interesting material for this bundle and it is going to be a challenge to fit it all in!

There are some awesome free programs that you can “play” with and discover all sorts of information about our Earth’s history. One is Google Earth… all you have to do is download the free program and then get the free add in that shows the continental changes over the history of the Earth. It will show all the super-continents that have formed over the millennia of Earth’s existence. Yes, I realize most people think that Pangaea was the “only” super-continent, but actually it is only the most recent super-continent and we are SLOWLY on our way to another one…one day….many millions of years from now.

There are some other programs out there too, but I am not going to share those just now…I will post them later. I know I have a few students that read this (yes, I know you do!) and I don’t want to spoil the cool surprise I have in using this one program. I am trying to get the links together for all of this and get them posted here so you will have a source…”one-stop shop” shall we say? I am not going to promise though, so if the time keeps slipping away I won’t feel horrible for not getting it posted. I can say I will try!

Well I am off to grade papers…they are of lab reports so I should have the student blog updated soon!

~Ms. O