Students Create Fabulous Posters of "The Water Cycle"

Chapter 10 Lessons 1, 2, and 3 Scheduled and "The Water Cycle" Poster Due on Monday, January 22nd!

Hello Parents!

We have jumped forward to Chapter 10 covering water and its effect on Earth/many uses. This is a VERY LONG chapter. I will be dividing it in half for our tests. The first test will be on Tuesday, January 30th, and it will cover Lessons 1, 2, and 3. I gave your children a study guide yesterday. They should begin studying now (10-15 minutes each night). We just started Lesson 1 yesterday, and will be finishing the lesson today. I will be sending home a rubric and a piece of white poster board with your child today. These items are for a project your child will need to complete between now and Monday. It is due on Monday (January 22nd). Your children must know how The Water Cycle works and be able to draw it and describe the process. I will be drawing a sample on the white board today for the children, and will be sending home a handout with the cycle on it. There is also a diagram in their science text. The rubric is very specific, and if everything is completed on it, it is worth 110 points (a test grade). On Monday, the children will be presenting their posters, so it is important that they understand the process fully. If you have questions, feel free to contact me. Below are the study guide, a copy of the rubric, and a copy of the diagram. Please don't rely totally on the diagram. Your child should use the diagram in the book, as well. Thank you! Beth Stafford

Study Guide - Chapter 10-Water

Lessons 1, 2, and 3

Why is water important?

Answer: Water makes up nearly two-thirds of your body's mass. That water is necessary to keep your body functioning.

What body processes does water help with?

1-breaking down food

2-grow

3-reproduce

4-get and use materials they need from their environments

What is a habitat?

Answer: A habitat is the place where a living thing lives and obtains all the things it needs to survive.

True or False?

Most of Earth's surface water - nearly 97 percent - is salt water found in oceans. Only 3 percent is fresh water. TRUE!!!!!

Of the 3 percent of fresh water, how much is frozen in huge masses of ice near the North and South Poles?

Answer: 2/3 is frozen

Which is the largest ocean?

Answer: The Pacific Ocean is the largest, covering an area greater than all the land on Earth.

What is groundwater?

Answer: Groundwater is the water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground soil and rock layers.

True or False?

Far more fresh water is located underground than in all of Earth's rivers and lakes. TRUE!!!!!

What are the four main sources of fresh water on Earth?

Answer: 1) ice, 2) rivers, 3) lakes, and 4) groundwater

What are the major steps of the water cycle?

Answer:

Evaporation - is the process by which molecules at the surface of a liquid absorb enough energy to change to a gaseous state.

Transpiration - Water is given off through the leaves as water vapor.

Condensation - is the change in state from a gas to a liquid.

Precipitation - Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth's surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

What is a tributary?

Answer: The streams and smaller rivers that feed into a main river are called tributaries.

True or False?????

Tributaries flow downward toward the main river, pulled by the force of gravity. TRUE!!!

What is a watershed?

Answer: The land area that supplies water to a river system is called a watershed.

True or False?????

Watersheds are sometimes known as drainage basins. TRUE!!!

What is a divide?

Answer: A ridge of land that separates one watershed from another is called a divide.

What is the longest divide in North America?

Answer: The Great Divide (also called the Continental Divide) is the longest divide in North America.

What makes a lake or pond different from a river?

Answer: Unlike streams and rivers, ponds and lakes contain still water.

Where does pond and lake water come from?

Answer: Ponds and lakes form when water collects in hollows and low-lying areas of land.

Name ways that lakes can be formed.

Depressions created by ice sheets can form lakes.

Movements of Earth's crust that formed long, deep valleys called rift valleys.

Volcanoes can form lakes-lava and mud from the volcano block a river.

Lakes can also be formed in the empty craters of volcanoes.

People can create a lake by building a dam.

What is a lake that stores water for human use called?

Answer: A lake that stores water for human use is called a reservoir.

Which is usually deeper, a lake or a pond?

Answer: a lake

What can cause lakes to disappear?

Answer: Natural processes and human activities can cause lakes to disappear.

What is eutrophication?

Answer: Eutrophication is the buildup over time of nutrients in freshwater lakes and ponds that leads to an increase in the growth of algae.

What is a water table?

Answer: The water table is the top of the saturated layer.

What are permeable materials?

Answer: Rock and soil that have large and connected pores (sand and gravel) allow water to pass through. These are permeable.

What are impermeable materials?

Answer: Materials that have few or no pores or cracks, or the pores are very small or unconnected, are impermeable (clay and granite) or will NOT allow water to pass through.

Explain what a water zone is.

Answer: Water from precipitation soaks down through permeable rock and soil layers. These layers contain air as well as water, so they are not saturated, or filled, with water. The top layer is thus called the unsaturated zone. At some depth, the water reaches a level where the pores in the ground are saturated with water. This is called the saturated zone. THE TOP OF THE SATURATED ZONE IS THE WATER TABLE!

What is an aquifer?

Answer: An aquifer is any underground layer of permeable rock or sediment that holds water and allows it to flow.

What are three ways people can get water from an aquifer?

Springs-Springs are formed as groundwater bubbles or flows out of cracks in the rock.

Wells-People bring groundwater to the surface for drinking and other everyday use by drilling a well below the water table.

Artesian wells-Water rises on its own because of pressure within an aquifer.

"The Water Cycle"

Rubric

Title: The title of your poster should be

written and centered at the top of your poster.

Points Possible: 5

The poster should correctly contain all parts of

The Water Cycle, and each part should be neatly and clearly illustrated (drawn and colored).

Points Possible: 50

*evaporation

*condensation

*precipitation

*transpiration

*runoff

Each part of The Water Cycle should be defined on the poster. Points Possible: 25

The poster should be neat, organized, colorful, and creative. Points Possible: 15

All wording should be spelled correctly. Definitions should be written in complete sentences with proper grammar and punctuation.

Points Possible: 15

Total Points Possible: 110

Chapter 6 Study Guide and Test Date

Hello Parents!

Happy New Year 2018!!!! I hope your Christmas breaks were happy and restful! I am here at school today planning for the next couple of weeks, and am confident that we will be ready to test over Chapter 6 by Friday, January 12th. While we will just begin the chapter tomorrow, it is very short!

Please begin working with your children (15 minutes each day) in preparation for the test. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know! The Study Guide is below, and your children will be given a hard copy tomorrow.

Blessings this joyous New Year,

Beth Stafford

Chapter 6

'Weathering and Soil'

Study Guide

What is uniformitarianism?

Answer: Uniformitarianism is the principle that states that the geologic processes that operate today also operated in the past. Example: Ancient landforms formed through the same processed observed by scientists today.

What two things break down rocks?

Answer: erosion and weathering

What is erosion?

Answer: Erosion is the process of wearing down and carrying away rocks.

What is weathering?

Answer: Weathering is the process that breaks down rock and other substances from heat, cold, water, ice, and gases.

What are the two types of weathering?

Answer: mechanical weathering and chemical weathering

What is mechanical weathering?

Answer: The type of weathering in which rock is physically broken into smaller pieces is called mechanical weathering.

What are the natural agents of mechanical weathering?

Answer:

freezing and thawing

release of pressure

plant growth

actions of animals

abrasion

What is abrasion?

Answer: Abrasion is the wearing away of rock by rock particles carried by water, ice, wind, or gravity.

What is chemical weathering?

Answer: Chemical weathering also breaks down rocks, but it does it through chemical changes.

What are the agents of chemical weathering?

Answer:

water

oxygen

carbon dioxide

living organisms

acid rain

What two important factors determine the rate at which weathering occurs?

Answer:

the type of rock

the climate

What does permeable mean?

Answer: Permeable means that a material is full of tiny, connected air spaces that allow water to seep through it.

True or False?

Chemical reactions occur faster at higher temperatures. TRUE!!!

Chemical weathering occurs more quickly where the climate is both hot and wet!

What is soil?

Answer: Soil is a mixture of rock particles, minerals, decayed organic material, water, and air.

What is bedrock?

Answer: Bedrock is the solid layer of rock beneath the soil.

What is humus?

Answer: Humus is a dark-colored substance that forms as plant and animal remains decay.

What is fertility of soil?

Answer: Fertility of soil is a measure of how well the soil supports plant growth.

True or False?

Soil that is rich in humus generally has high fertility. TRUE!!!

Sandy soil containing little humus has low fertility. TRUE!!!

What is the best soil for growing most plants?

Answer: loam

What is pH scale?

Answer: A pH scale is a range of values used to indicate how acidic or basic a substance is; expresses the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution.

A substance with a:

pH less than 4 is STRONGLY ACIDIC!

pH of 7 is NEITHER acidic nor basic (Pure water is an example of this!)

pH greater than 10 is strongly basic

True or False?

Most garden plants grow best in soil with a pH between 6 and 7.5. TRUE!!!

How does soil form?

Answer: Soil forms as rock is broken down by weathering and mixes with other materials on the surface. Soil develops in layers called horizons. A soil horizon is a layer of soil that differs in color, texture, and composition from the layers above or below it.

What is a C Horizon?

Answer: A C Horizon forms as bedrock begins to weather by breaking up into small particles.

What is a B Horizon?

Answer: A B Horizon (subsoil) usually consists of clay and other particles of rock, but little humus. It forms as rainwater washes these materials down from the A Horizon.

What is an A Horizon?

Answer: An A Horizon is made up of topsoil, a crumbly, dark brown soil that is a mixture of humus, clay, and other minerals. Topsoil forms as plants add organic material to the soil, and plant roots weather pieces of rock.

What are decomposers?

Answer: Decomposers are the organisms that break the remains of dead organisms into smaller pieces and digest them with chemicals.

What organisms are considered decomposers?

fungi (like mushrooms)

bacteria

worms

How do animals affect soil?

Answer: mammals such as mice, moles, and prairie dogs break up hard, compacted soil and mix humus with it. Animal wastes contribute nutrients to the soil as well.

What is a natural resource?

Answer: A natural resource is anything in the environment that humans use.

What is one of nature's most valuable natural resources?

Answer: soil

What are two ways that the value of soil is reduced?

loss of fertility through a loss of moisture and nutrients

loss of topsoil due to water and wind erosion

What is soil conservation?

Answer: It is the management of soil to limit its destruction.

Name three ways soil can be conserved.

Answer:

contour plowing---Farmers plow their fields along the curves of a slope instead of in straight rows. This method helps slow the runoff of excess rainfall and prevents it from washing the soil away.

conservation plowing---Dead weeds and stalks of the previous year's crop are plowed into the ground to help return soil nutrients, retain moisture, and hold soil in place.

crop rotation-A farmer plants different crops in a field each year.