Autumn Equinox:: Au Revoir Summer!

Autumn Equinox:: Au Revoir Summer!

FACT: Seasons change as we orbit the sun.


Spring • Summer • Autumn • Winter

Twice a year, around March 20 or 21 and Sept. 22 or 23, our sun shines directly over the equator. That event marks the beginning of spring or fall. What is the equator?

Public Domain photo

e·qua·tor
[əˈkwā•dər]
noun
an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles,dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.




In March when the sun shines directly over the equator, the event is called the spring or vernal equinox. In September when the sun shines directly over the equator, the event is called the fall or autumnal equinox.

The Autumnal Equinox will occur in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. on Friday, September 22, 2017 at 1:02 P.M.

Things to look for in fall:


1. Deciduous (di•si•jo͞o•əs) trees will change color and drop all their leaves. Evergreen trees will not. Evergreen trees will stay forever green. :-) Why do the leaves of deciduous trees change color? Use World Book Online to research. Remember, do NOT copy sentences. That is plagiarism, and it is against the law! Take notes, and then turn your notes into your own sentences.

Photo by Grandma Barb




Photo by Grandma Barb

2. On the equinox, there are exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. The day and night hours are equal. However, as we continue into fall, the days will get shorter and the night hours will get longer. This pattern will continue until we reach the winter solstice. That is the longest night of the year and marks a new season, winter.




3. Because the northern hemisphere is now tilted away from the sun, the days will start to become cooler. People will change their behavior.What sorts of behavioral changes will your family make as the days get shorter and cooler? (In southern California, we have mild climate. We don't get too cold in our community.)


There are many fall festivals or holidays. Watch the BrainPop video about fall to learn about the many harvest festivals celebrated. Do you celebrate any of these autumn holidays? If so, please share so we can learn from you!

Check out the FREE BrainPop video about Fall.

4. Some animals in the northern hemisphere will change their behavior. As fall leads to winter, some animals migrate, or move, to a warmer area. Others try to fatten up for the winter they know is coming.

Again, BrainPop Jr. has a video about fall.
Check it out by clicking here.



https://jr.brainpop.com/science/weather/fall/

Share some fun facts about fall!
Did you use BrainPop or World Book Online as a reference?

If you are in the southern hemisphere, tell us what season you are enjoying! How are you changing your behavior?

Breakout EDU!

Today we ended our day with a fabulous game.

 It's called Breakout EDU!

photo by Ms. Tulbure

TEAMWORK was important!

In fact, it was the whole challenge!

Students received top secret locked boxes on their desks with mysterious instructions. Sometimes the instructions were written out, and sometimes the directions were just a picture.

Once a team decoded their code and unlocked their box, they took one clue and moved onto another locked box.  Everyone was intrigued with their locks.

 

How do we get them open?

Students were given 45 minutes to solved all the puzzles and unlock the last code on the iPad. The last code could only be solved when they collected the clues from each of the five locked boxes.

Take a look at our teamwork and problem solving below. 

 (all photos by Ms. Tulbure)

One by one, teams started unlocking the last code on the iPad.

Until finally, with 34 seconds to spare..... 

We all unlocked the last code!

It took working together and listening to each other in order to be successful. 

How was the Breakout EDU experience for you?

Share at time you had to work with a team in order to achieve a goal.

Quality Comments!

How to Compose a Quality Comment!

Blogging has many parts: the post, the comments, and the sidebar.

If you do a good job with all of the parts, your blog will be more interesting.

Today we will focus on quality comments!

Content is key!

In our class, we evaluate our blog comments.
A one-point comment is a general comment that doesn't add very much to the post. Example: I like your blog. Please visit mine! A two-point comment adds something to the comment conversation. A commenter might compliment the writer in a specific way or add new information. Another idea is to make a connection. Maybe the post reminds you of an experience that you've had. Share that connection!  Try to end your comment with a relevant question. That way, an interesting conversation can develop.


Here is a video Mrs. Yollis' class made with tips to help you take your comments to the next level!

We like to open our comments with a greeting and end with a closing. We choose to do this as it makes it easier for us to follow the conversation within a comment section.

Mrs. Smith, from Ontario, Canada, adds another excellent idea:
Give some information about where you are from and what grade you are in.
Thanks for a great tip, Mrs. Smith!  



Here is a video by Mrs. Yollis on how to comment on this blog

-For Advanced Bloggers-

Some bloggers like to use HTML code to make their comments better.  Learning to write HTML code, or HTML tags, is a somewhat simple way to take your comment to the next level.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a language.

*     *     *     *     *

To write HTML code, use the following symbols:

Important: Do not add a space between the HTML tag and the word or sentence.

                                                                                                     

1.  To put text in italics, place this HTML code around the text:

 

 

The sentence will look like this when published:

  

Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing. 

                                                                                                     


2.  To make text bold, place this HTML code around the text:

                            

The sentence will look like this when published:  

Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing.

                                                                                                     


 
3.  To make a hyperlink, it gets a little tricky.

Use the following HTML code around the URL and add your own link word/words:

  [The URL is the address of the web page. It starts with http://www…]

The HTML code below:

   

Will become this hyperlink when published:

                                                                 Mrs. Yollis’ Website

Sometimes it is hard to remember the HTML codes. I keep an HTML word document on my desktop with all the common codes, especially the one to create a hyperlink. Here is a video demonstrating how easy it is to a create a hyperlink if you have the code set up in a Word doc.

If you like to add fun shapes...here are those codes!

Leave us a comment about your success!

Ask us for help if you need any!