Note: You cannot use your name as a login any longer. You must get your personal ID number from Mrs. Luciano.

To work on the practice quizzes, fill out the Secret Word and Your 8 digit ID Number in the blocks at the left.

Then, Click the GO button.

Once you get there, click on Assignments to get to the quizzes.

Note: This will take you to FunBrain.Com

HARCOURT UNITS C AND D

The Harcourt School Science website supports the instruction given in class in an entertaining way.

We will be working in the sections titled E and F. We already covered A, B and C. Please try the wonderful games and activities on the site below.

Use the password "Jones" when you get to the site. There is an option there to save the password, so you will only have to enter it once. Once you are in the site, click for fifth grade.

Click Here!

Chapter Summaries (taken from our text adoption: Harcourt Science)

Processes That Change the Earth

Weathering of the earth’s surface breaks down rocks into soil and sand. Water, wind and ice move these particles. Water carves canyons and forms deltas through deposition. Ice carves valleys and causes terminal moraines. Wind causes sand dunes. Volcanoes and earthquakes cause the surface of the earth to change.

The earth has three layers, the crust, mantle and the core. Rock plates on the crust and upper mantle fit together like puzzle pieces. These plates collide, pull apart and slide past each other. Many mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes happen at plate boundaries.

The earth’s continents were once joined together to form a super-continent called Pangea. It broke apart and drifted into the present configuration of continents. This process took millions of years. Fossils show what life was like in the past. They also show that the earth’s surface has changed.

Resources from the earth such as soil, rocks and minerals are non-renewable. Once they are used up, they cannot be replaced.
Some resources such as trees and plants, water and air are renewable and reusable.

Coal, oil and gas are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels formed over millions of years from decayed organisms. These resources are non-renewable.
Earth has a limited supply of natural resources. They must be conserved. Protecting resources from damage and overuse is a part of conservation. Reusing and recycling products saves resources needed to make new products.

Weather and Climate

Most of the earth’s weather takes place in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, called the troposphere. Weather conditions such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, and the amount of precipitation can be observed and measured. Certain weather conditions such as changing air pressure and types of clouds can be used to predict changes in the weather.

Changes in air pressure, from uneven heating of the earth’s surface and the air pressure above it, cause the wind to blow. Local winds depend on local changes in temperature. Prevailing, or global winds are caused by the sun’s uneven heating of large parts of the atmosphere and by the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Prevailing winds in the United States are from the west, so weather systems tend to move from the west to the east.

Climate is the average of all weather conditions through all seasons over a period of time. Temperature and precipitation are the major factors that determine climate. Earth’s climate has changed over time as temperatures have risen and fallen. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, can affect climate.

OCEANS

The ocean moves in waves, currents and tides. Most waves are caused by the wind. Currents are streams of water caused by winds or differences in water temperature. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the ocean. The moon is closer to the earth, so its gravity has a greater effect on the tides.

Waves, currents and human activities change the shore. Waves erode beaches and cliffs. Currents deposit beach materials such as sand, pebbles and shells along the shore.
Structures that are built by humans can affect the natural processes of change on the shores.
The oceans contain valuable natural resources such as fish, petroleum, minerals and seawater.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND BEYOND

The moon revolves around the Earth, while both the Earth and the moon orbit the sun. Both the Earth and the moon rotate on axes and both have day-night cycles.
As the Earth, moon and sun travel through space, they sometimes line up to produce eclipses. Both the Earth and the moon have craters, but the moon has more because many meteorites burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The earth has wind and rain but the moon does not. Footprints left by the astronauts on the moon will not be subjected to weathering away and will last millions of years.

The invention of the telescope allowed people to see the moon and objects in space. Scientists use satellites, space probes and telescopes to study objects in the solar system and beyond.

The sun is a huge mass of hot gasses that produces huge amounts of energy. It is the source of most of the energy on Earth.
The sun has several layers: the core, the radiation zone, the convection zone, the photosphere, and the corona.
Some of the visible features of the sun are solar prominences, solar flares, granules, and sunspots.
You should never view the sun without special equipment to protect your eyes.

The sun is our star. Scientists classify stars by absolute magnitude, surface temperature, size and color.
Most stars are in the main sequence. Stars undergo a series of changes from nebula to protostar to main-sequence star to expanding star to red giant to planetary nebula and white dwarf.
Scientists learn about stars by using telescopes and other instruments to study the energy that stars release into space.

A galaxy is a group of stars, gas and dust. Many galaxies rotate around a central core. Our sun is in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy is part of a galactic cluster called the Local Group.
Also visible in the night sky are nebulae, which are clouds of gas and dust in which stars form.