One of the most interesting things I have been learning in the last several weeks is in Science class. We have been learning about earthquakes and other things that are caused by the movement of the earths tectonic plates. We learned that earth quakes were formed because of the pressure of the plates pushing against each other and eventually the pass over and form an earthquake. One of the things that I found interesting was that tons of earth quakes happen every day. Also that the tectonic plates move about the same speed that your fingernails grow. Some examples of things that are caused by the movement of the tectonic plates is deep sea trenches, volcanos, and mountains. Yesterday we did two experiments that were super fun. One was something Mr. N had already made and we just felt it. It was made of water and cornstarch and if you poked it quickly it felt hard but if you put your finger in it slowly it was liquid. That was to explain the density of the mantel of the earth. The second experiment we did was with and egg. It was a hard boiled egg and we cracked it open and the different layers of the egg were the different layers of the earth.
I have learned many skills in school. One of the more interesting skills I have been learning about right now is in math. I have been working on chapter nine lesson one with Elliana. We just started this chapter. It is about numbers and if they are negative or positive. For example a negative number would be buying something for $15, so it would be -15. Also an example of a positive number would be 20 feet above sea level, it would be +20. Also we have been learning about how to find the opposite of negative or positive numbers. To find the opposite of a number you need to count how many numbers away it is from zero then go that many numbers the opposite way to find another number. Another way that I think is easier is to just change the positive numbers into negative numbers and the negative numbers into positive numbers. For example the opposite of -40 is +40 and the opposite of +26 is -26. There is only one number out of all the numbers that is the same opposite as not opposite and that is zero. The opposite of zero is zero.
One of the things that helps me learn in most subjects is to do an experiment or have a model of something. This helps me learn because I can actually see the model or do the experiment. Also it helps to be able to do something instead of just sit in class listening to someone explain something to me. Some times it helps me to do experiments in groups if my friends. I like this because it make school more fun because I can do the things with my friends.Some of the examples of the experiments and models we do is in science. Also in our Egypt projects we were able to make a model that explained some thing and that helped me understand it.
