Surf for Ocean Games

Can you put these ocean puzzle pieces in motion? With your new ocean map and data table-reading skills, I bet you can!

But can you name all the oceans without the map? :)

Ocean Map Game

Glo-Ballin'!

"Hydrosphere"
Scientist S.O.M.E. (Studier Of My Environment)
Ms. Miller
Big Mo Records

Hydrosphere, we live here, you know this (OCEANS!)
Water circlin' outside, inside, in a ball-shaped building
Hydrosphere, 3/4 of here, on earth, you know this (OCEANS!)
5th grade sci, oh my, we study oceans

The water part of the earth is called the hydrosphere. It takes up about 3/4 of the earth. (Say 71% if you want to be exact like one smartie, Maria, from Ms. D'Ascoli's class.) Three out of every four places you go on earth are underwater. Most of that water is saltwater in oceans.

I'm Your Density

Great minds think alike. This college teacher did the same experiment Ms. Miller did in class today with cubes. You can think like us, too!

Today we played with the most important chemical on Earth. It's called dihydrogen oxide—H2O! Water!—and you can get it anywhere.

Try this trick at home!
- Get 2 cups half-full of water and 2 pencils that are the same kind.
- Pour a lot of salt into one cup. Mix the salt and water up.
- Tell a friend you can do magic!
- Put a pencil in each cup.
- One pencil will sink. One pencil will float.
- Can your friend tell you why?

You can! The earth has 2 kinds of water: freshwater and saltwater. When you swim at the beach, you float. When you're on a lake, it's easier to sink and drown. But how so?

Fifth Grade Funnies

Ms. Miller used to be in fifth grade, too! (Click to enlarge)

She's the one with the bangs and the weird shorts front and center!

New diseases and a new scientist of the month to come in the next couple of days.

Question Time

Happy New Year! So many new questions, too. Ms. Miller asked her assistant J. Walter Weatherman to answer a few for you.

What are your favorite bands?
Angel, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
Some of Ms. Miller's favorite bands are Talking Heads, Blondie, the Kinks, the Clash, Radiohead, and Wilco. These are older bands, so if you know any of them Ms. Miller will be proud of you. She is always happy to talk about music after class. If you like Ciara or Rihanna, for example, Ms. Miller thinks you try Kelis, who is better because she is more fashionable and married Nas.

Who is your favorite Degrassi couple?
Clarissa, Ms. Arias' class
The best couple of all time on Degrassi, by far, is JT and Liberty. Ms. Miller's favorite character is Craig.

Do you watch Desperate Housewives?
Jose, Ms. St. Marie's class
Ms. Miller watched the first season. The show was really good until Bree's husband Rex left the show.

Do you have a MySpace account?
Leandro, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
Sadly, no. Ms. Miller wanted Scienceback to be a MySpace page so her students could friend it and message her. But then Nick News told her MySpace can be dangerous, so she made a blog instead.

Do you have friends? Do you have a life?
Manuel, Ms. Arias' class
Teachers have friends, too! They just can't talk about them during class because you have so much to learn.

Send Ms. Miller your questions after class, or write them in your science notebook. She will try to get Mr. Weatherman to answer them here every once in a while.

*Image courtesy kidsrcrafty.com