Weathering

“A” and Mum write:
Rocks are broken down by erosion and by physical, chemical or biological weathering.
Physical weathering can be due to freeze-thaw, which happens when water gets in cracks in rocks, then freezes and expands, putting pressure on the rock before it thaws and releases that pressure, eventually causing the rock to split.
Another form of [...]

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Metamorphic Rock

“M” writes

Metamorphic rock is formed by existing rock getting changed by heat and/or pressure.
Metamorphic rock may have small crystals, some have layers, like marble and slate.

Metamorphic means ‘changed form’
Examples (as found in CGP KS3 Geography and CGP KS3 Science)

sandstone becomes quartzite
limestone becomes marble
granite becomes gneiss
clays become slate
When [...]

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Learning About Tornadoes and Cyclones

In our Literature lesson this week we have started to read L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz”. Today we read the first chapter, which tells of Dorothy’s life on the Kansas prairies with her Uncle Henry, Aunt Em and her little dog Toto.
Reading about Dorothy’s experience of a cyclone prompted us to learn more [...]

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Sedimentary Rocks

“A” writes:
Sedimentary rocks are made from tiny particles of rocks and sand ,or tiny pieces of shells, plants or animal remains, which form layers and eventually become rock.
Here are some websites that give more information:
http://fi.edu/fellows/fellow1/oct98/create/sediment.htm
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/geology/sed_intro.html&edu=elem
Limestone is a sedimentary rock. It is formed from tiny shells and micro-skeletons.

Below is a picture of sandstone.
It is made [...]

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Igneous Rock

“M” writes:
Igneous Rock is formed from cooling magma (molten rock).

Igneous comes from the latin word ignis for fire.

The volcano in the diagram above is like a tube of toothpaste with holes in because when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste it squirts the paste out of the top, [...]

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Our Very Own Enormous Turnip!

The Dragontree vegetable garden has been a great success this year.
The highlight though was our ENORMOUS turnip… A tried, but she could not pull it up. M joined in to help but even then the turnip was not for coming out of the ground. Finally Mum had to help and with some vocal support from [...]

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Hydroelectric power in the Alps

This was the our first year camping in the Alps that we had electricity…. Imagine a fan heater in your tent when it is freezing outside!  Why it took us 20 years to discover this luxury I do not know!
M had a good look round on a 9 hour walk around the valley and found [...]

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Glacial Erosion in the Lauterbrunnen Valley

Our holidays often turn into extended fieldtrips as we explore in real life the topics and themes we study at our homeschool.  We are looking at Geology and Landscapes next term, so M made a video describing some of the key features of the fantastic, glacial landscape where we were camping.
Some of the key things [...]

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The Dragontree Garden

“A” reports from The Dragontree Garden:
Here at Dragontree we have been growing our own fruit and vegetables.
We have turnips, parsnips, blackcurrants, peas, broad beans, onions, garlic and apples, strawberries, radish, tomatoes and runner beans.

We also planted some potatoes but they didn’t grow very well. We covered them over each time they sprouted up above the [...]

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Water Aid at Work

“M” writes:
For our latest work on our topic on water management A and I went on the Water Aid website to collect information about one place where Water Aid are working -  I picked Madagascar.
Water Aid have put wells close to homes, so women don’t have to walk so far for water, and the [...]

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