A WAVE OF LEARNING

This is our first blog post since returning from winter break, and it feels good to be back in the rhythm of things. From here on out, blog posts will return to a biweekly schedule for the remainder of the year, keeping you up to date on what’s happening in our classroom and where things are headed next.

Where We Were

Coming back from winter break, we jumped right into our Natural Hazards unit. To anchor our learning, we focused on the tragic 2011 tsunami in Japan, using it as a real-world phenomenon to guide our questions and investigations.

Over the past two weeks, students have explored:

• How tsunamis are caused

• How tsunami waves form and move through the ocean

• Models that help explain wave behavior

• The risks tsunamis pose to coastal communities

We wrapped up this portion of the unit with a “quiz” that functioned as a performance task, where students applied what they learned to assess tsunami risk rather than just recall facts. This helped us see how well students could use evidence and reasoning to explain real-world impacts.

Images from our wave models lesson.

Where We Are

This week, our focus shifted to the human side of natural hazards. Students explored the small fishing village of Ryoishi, Japan, which was heavily impacted by the 2011 tsunami, and compared it to Kamaishi, a much larger coastal city nearby.

Through this comparison, students analyzed:

• How community size and geography affect risk

• Different engineering solutions used to reduce tsunami damage

• Why some solutions work better in certain locations than others

We also began a lab activity focused on tsunami communication strategies, examining how warnings are shared and how effective communication can save lives. This lab will be completed next week as students continue analyzing and refining their thinking.

Where We Are Going

Over the next two weeks, we will be wrapping up the Natural Hazards unit. The final assessment will be an engineering design project and tsunami preparedness plan, where students will design solutions and explain how communities can better prepare for future tsunami events.

After this unit concludes, Mr. Roberto, who returned from winter break on the 20th, will be taking over instruction as we transition into the Weather & Climate unit. This is one of my favorite units of the year!

Enjoy the impending snowstorm! ❄️

If you have any questions or want to connect further, please feel free to reach out at curtis_catwood@conestogavalley.org. You can also follow our classroom adventures on Instagram at @classwithcatwood, where I share updates and snapshots of what we’re learning.

Stay Gold,

Mr. Catwood

ROCK-iNG TOWARD BREAK

As we get closer to break, the excitement is definitely in the air, but our students are still staying focused and engaged with some big geology topics. Even with the holiday season approaching, they continue to show curiosity and effort as we build toward the end of our Earth’s History and Processes unit.

Where We Were

Recently, students completed their Earth’s Structure quiz, which wrapped up our major focus on plate tectonics and Earth's layers. They used their understanding of plate boundaries, continental drift, and seismic activity to show what they have learned. This assessment marked the end of our tectonics work and helped set the stage for our shift into the rock cycle.

Where We Are

Last week, we shifted into rock types and the rock cycle. Students explored how rocks form, break apart, and transform through Earth’s processes. One of the highlights was a hands-on role-playing dice game where students moved through the rock cycle as sediments, magma, igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, and more.

Below: Some photos from a mini-lab we were completing in Core Extension.

This week, students also used their knowledge of plate tectonics and the rock cycle to begin creating their "Changing Mountains" one-pager. They selected one of the mountains we studied earlier in the unit. They explained why that mountain is changing over time, how materials cycle through the geosphere, and how different geologic processes shape its past, present, and future.

Below: Some photos of completed one pagers.

We have now begun investigating index fossils and how they allow scientists to determine the age of rock layers or strata. Students are learning why certain fossils are so important and how they help us place geologic events in order.

Where We Are Going

We are heading deeper into Earth's past by exploring the Geologic Time Scale and how scientists organize 4.6 billion years of history. Students will also complete a stratigraphy lab to apply their understanding of rock layers and fossil evidence. We will wrap up the unit with our Analyzing Fossils project, where students will use everything they have learned about rocks, fossils, and geologic processes to interpret the story preserved in ancient remains.

If you have any questions or want to connect further, please feel free to reach out at curtis_catwood@conestogavalley.org. You can also follow our classroom adventures on Instagram at @classwithcatwood, where I share updates and snapshots of what we’re learning.

Stay Gold,

Mr. Catwood

Tectonic Times

Hey everyone!

Thanksgiving break is definitely on the minds of just about every student right now; you can practically feel the countdown energy buzzing through the hallways. However, we’re keeping things rolling and staying focused as we head into the holiday.

If families weren’t aware, I also run our On Wednesdays We Wear… campaign, and we’ve got a special one-day give coming up on Tuesday, December 3rd. Instead of wearing a color all month, we’ll be supporting CV SEEDS and wearing Red on that day, an incredible local organization that does so much for our district and the broader community. Students are not required to donate, but they’ll have the option to contribute during school lunches that day if they choose to participate.

Where We Were

We wrapped up our topics on continental drift and plate tectonics, tying together all the evidence students gathered over the past couple of weeks, from fossils to glacial markings to Wegener’s puzzle-piece continents. This all led to where we are.

Where We Are

This week, we shifted gears into volcanoes and seafloor spreading, digging deeper into how Earth’s interior moves and reshapes the surface. Students got hands-on with our Viscosity of Lava lab, always a favorite to play with the oatmeal and sugar, and we capped the week with our Earth’s Structure quiz, which covered plate boundary interactions, seismic waves, continental drift, and tectonics.

Below: Images from the Viscosity of Lava - Lab Activity

Logitech Crayons

I recently acquired Logitech Crayon styluses for our iPads. These styluses are going to allow us to keep a digital notebook using the Notes App on our iPads so that students never lose their notes, have their notes easily accessible, and reduce our printing. Hard copies will still be available for most items, but overall, students seem happy to have things in a place where nothing can go missing, and they get to use the styluses, which are pretty fun to use on the iPad. We'll mostly use them for notes at first and smaller assignments before using them a bit more heavily for other assignments once everyone has the hang of how to use them and the Notes App more proficiently. It'll be a learning curve, but it'll help students stay more organized, which is my goal. To keep organization a priority, reduce missing work, and help students be prepared for high school and beyond.

Where We’re Going

Next up, we’ll explore the Rock Cycle, and revisit Mount Everest and the other mountains we’ve mapped to understand how materials change within the geosphere over time. This will guide our conversations around the Geologic Time Scale, helping us wrap up our Earth’s History and Processes unit. From there, we’ll transition into our Natural Hazards unit in early December.

If you have any questions or want to connect further, please feel free to reach out at curtis_catwood@conestogavalley.org. You can also follow our classroom adventures on Instagram at @classwithcatwood, where I share updates and snapshots of what we’re learning.

Stay Gold,

Mr. Catwood