Tuesday, December 1
Good morning 5th & 6th grade! Hope you are all staying healthy! Keep up your hard work. I know it is hard doing remote school, but you are doing a great job. And so are your parents, THANK YOU PARENTS!
Mr. Mann said to tell you that for your memory work, you will stay on schedule with your paper you received at the beginning of the year. You will not have memory on Friday, when you return. It will begin on Monday, December 7.
Reading - Chapters 31-35 & 36-40
Science
Desert Ecosystem VIDEO
What Defines a Desert?
Deserts are areas of land that are arid, or dry, and get less than 10 inches of rain per year. These areas can be covered by sand, rock, snow, and even ice. Additionally, they do not have a lot of plant life covering the land.
Deserts' ecosystems cover approximately 25% - 30% of the land on Earth. An ecosystem includes all the life in a particular environment or location. Deserts can be divided into two main types: hot and cold.
Hot Deserts
Hot deserts are warm year round and very hot in the summer. During the day, temperatures often reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In the evening, the temperatures drop sometimes below freezing. Much of the time rain does not fall, but when it does, it is only for a short amount of time. The ground is usually rocky or sandy.
Most of the hot deserts in the world are located just north and south of the equator, where it is the hottest. The largest hot desert is the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. The Sahara covers over 3 million square miles and has some areas that receive no rainfall for years. Other well-known hot deserts include the Arabian, Mohave, and Sonoran deserts.
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Cold Deserts
Cold deserts are cool year around with very cold temperatures in the winter. Temperatures in cold deserts are often below freezing. Heavy snows happen during the winter, with most of the rainfall happening during the spring months. The ground can be solid ice in colder temperatures and rocky or spongy soil in milder temperatures.
The cold deserts of the world are mostly located on the coasts near oceans and closer to the north and south poles. The largest cold desert, and the largest desert in the world, is the continent of Antarctica. This desert is over 5 million square miles and is the driest, coldest, and windiest place on earth. In fact, there are no people that live permanently in Antarctica due to the harsh conditions. Other cold deserts include the Gobi, Great Basin, and Namib Deserts.
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Plant and Animal Life
Plants and animals have adaptations that allow them to survive dry land and extreme temperatures of the desert. Adaptations are special characteristics that help plants and animals survive in an environment.
Desert plants have to adapt to the lack of rainfall. Most desert plants grow low to the ground and have roots that do not grow deep into the ground, but spread out. This allows them to quickly soak up the rain when it falls to the ground. Plants like the cactus also store water in their stems and are prickly. These spines help keep animals from chewing on the plant, which would cause the plant to lose water.
Animals in deserts also adapt to the environment in a variety of ways. Animals in hot deserts, such as kangaroo rats and snakes, burrow underground during the day to avoid the heat. Then these nocturnal animals - or animals who are more active at night - gather food and hunt when the temperatures are cooler. Some animals, like the camel and its hump filled with fat, are able to go weeks without food or water after storing it in their bodies. In cold deserts, animals frequently have thick fur or an extra layer of fat to keep them warm.
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Lesson Summary
Deserts are areas of land that are arid, or dry, and get less than 10 inches of rain per year. Deserts can be hot or cold. Plants and animals in the desert ecosystem have adaptations that allow them to survive the lack of rainfall and extreme temperatures.
Forest Ecosystem VIDEO
What Is a Forest?
What's the first thing you think of when someone says the word 'forest'? Do trees come into mind? Well, that's exactly what a forest is: an area of land that's made up of trees.
What Are Ecosystems?
An ecosystem is a group of living and non-living things that depend on each other to survive. The living things within an ecosystem are organisms like plants, animals, trees, and insects that interact with each other and with the non-living things in the ecosystem, such as the weather, soil, sun, climate, and surrounding atmosphere.
The Forest Ecosystem
A forest ecosystem is a large area of land that's covered in trees and other woody plants and filled with living animals. There are three main types of forests: tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, and coniferous forests.
Tropical rainforests are found near the equator (the center of Earth), where they are warm all year round. It usually rains in rainforests every day, and there are many different species of animals that live in the different levels of the rainforest.
Deciduous forests are made up of trees that shed their leaves in autumn. Worms, snails, and spiders enjoy their rich soil, and they have warm summers and cold winters. In the winter, animals that live in deciduous forests hibernate, or sleep through the winter, and birds migrate to warmer areas in the world. Raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels are common animals found in deciduous forests.
Coniferous forests are the coldest and driest of the three types of forest; they have mild summers, but very long, cold winters. The trees in coniferous forests are evergreens and grow cones (that's why they're called 'cone'-iferous'). Animals that live in coniferous forests include deer, bears, moose, lynxes, beavers, and birds like gray owls and warblers.
Five Levels of a Forest
The canopy is the top most layer of a forest. It's made up of the tallest and oldest trees. This level of the forest is most affected by the weather. It can be exposed to high winds, downpours of rain, and even lightning. Birds, tree frogs, snakes lizards, and hard-bodied insects live in the canopy of the rainforest.
The understory is just below the canopy and is made up of lots of trees that are still in the process of growing. This level gets protected by the canopy and is exposed to fewer weather patterns. Birds, butterflies, frogs, squirrels, and raccoons (in the north), or monkeys (near the equator) all live in the understory.
Below the understory is the shrub layer, which is full of smaller woody plants that don't grow very tall. Insects, birds, snakes, lizards and spiders live in this layer.
The herbaceous layer is the next layer under the shrub layer, and it is full of seedlings, or baby plants. Mosses and many different herbaceous flowers are also found in this layer, and bees, hornets, butterflies, and birds live at this level.
Finally, the forest floor has a layer of leaves that trees shed from the upper levels. Below the leaves is rich soil that can be home to worms, slugs, snails, centipedes, and millipedes.
Lesson Summary
A forest is an area of land that is made up of trees. The forest ecosystem includes three main types of forests: tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, and coniferous forests. Within each forest there are five layers, with the canopy at the top exposed to the harshest weather conditions. Living organisms, such as plants and animals, interact with the non-living things like the weather, soil, sun, climate, and atmosphere in all the layers of the forest.
5th & 6th Tuesday MATH REVIEW (on Monday's tab if needed)
5th Math - Chapter 4, Lesson 6 Compare and Order Fractions
VIDEO 5th GRADE MATH LESSON
6th Math review worksheet of subtracting mixed numbers and Tuesday math review. (math review is on Monday's tab if needed)
VIDEO 6th Grade Math Review
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