Unit Organizer: “Systems and Cycles ” Block – 1.5 weeks Prentice Hall - Earth Science (Approximate Time: ) Trad – 3 weeks

OVERVIEW:

STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Enduring Understanding / topic Text/Lab/Resources Focus Standards: Systems and spheres A Systems Perspective  Atmosphere (air, weather, SES1. Students will investigate the composition climate) and formation of Earth systems, including  Hydrosphere (water, oceans, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, the Earth’s relationship to the solar system. rivers) Biosphere e. Identify transformations and major  Cryosphere (ice, glaciers, ice reservoirs that make up the rock cycle, ages) Hydrologic Cycle and the Roles of hydrologic cycle, carbon cycle, and  Geosphere (the solid earth, plate Water other important geochemical cycles. tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes) Water Cycle Activity Support Standards:  Biosphere (life, including humanity, fossils, and evolution) SES5. Students will explain how life on Earth  Exosphere (our solar system and responds to and shapes Earth systems. space) c. Explain how geological and ecological Cycles - The constancy of change Earth Observation Days - Introduction to processes interact through time to  Rock cycle Earth Systems activity cycle matter and energy, and how  Hydrologic cycle (water cycle) Introduction to the Earth Assignment human activity alters the rates of these Discover Our Earth  Plate tectonic cycle processes (e.g., fossil fuel formation Earth's Cycles  Climatic cycles and combustion). Earth Systems in a Bottle - NSTA  Geochemical cycles (carbon cycle, phosphate cycle, nitrate cycle, sulfur cycle) Unit Organizer: Earth Interior Block – 2 weeks (Approximate Time: ) Traditional - 4 weeks

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STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: Earth Formation Chapter 1.1 & 1.2 – View of the Earth, Students will understand that: Formation of the Earth SES1. Students will investigate the 1. The sun, the earth, and the rest of the solar Earth’s Major Spheres composition and formation of Earth systems, system formed from a nebular cloud of dust Chapter 8.4 – Earth’s Layered including the Earth’s relationship to the solar and gas 4.6 billion years ago. Structure system. 2. The earth and other solar system objects Earth as A System a. Describe the early evolution of the Earth and are believed to have melted early in their People and the Environment solar system, including the formation of Earth’s history, allowing the layering of lighter over solid layers (core, mantle, crust), the distribution of heavier material that accounts for today's Chapter 3.1 – The Rock Cycle major elements, the origin of internal heat sources, crust, mantle and core. 3.2 – Igneous Rocks and the mechanism by which heat transfer drives Chapter 2 – Minerals The density of solar system objects, plate tectonics. 3. including Earth, can be determined based b. Explain how the composition of the Earth’s crust, Windows to the Universe - on their gravitational pull on other objects. mantle and core is determined and compare it to Enter and go to the Earth link. Density helps scientists determine that the inner that of other solar system objects. USGA - Geology Resources planets have a rocky exterior and a metallic e. Identify the transformations and major reservoirs for Southeastern States core, whereas the outer planets consist mostly that make up the rock cycle. Earth Systems from of light elements in gaseous and liquid states. NASA's JPL Systems and spheres Support Standards: NASA's Earth Observatory  Geosphere (the solid earth, plate The Interior of the Earth tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes) SES6. Students will explain how life on  The history of the universe Earth responds to and shapes Earth Cycles - The constancy of change  Rock cycle  Geology Links systems.  Birth of A solar System d. Explain how geological and  Astrogeology ecological processes interact through  mineral quiz time to cycle matter and energy, and how human activity alters the rates of these  mineral id test processes (e.g., fossil fuel formation and  The rock doctor - minerals combustion).  Mineral Matters Unit Organizer: “Plate Tectonic Settings” Block – 3 weeks (Approximate Time: ) Traditional – 6 weeks

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STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: 1. The outward transfer of earth's Smithsonian Volcano program internal heat drives convection circulation Identifying igneous rocks SES2. Students will understand how plate in the mantle that propels the plates Igeneous rocks from the Earth tectonics creates certain geologic features, comprising earth's surface across the Science Grid materials, and hazards. face of the globe. Igeneous Rock lab a. Relate certain geologic hazards to specific 2. Volcanism as mechanism Rock Cycle plate tectonic settings. 3. By studying earthquake waves that Igneous Rocks b. Associate specific plate tectonic settings pass through the Earth, scientists know Metamorphic Rocks with the production of particular groups of igneous the exact thickness of the Earth's crust, and metamorphic rocks and mineral resources. mantle, and outer and inner core, and the Igenous Rocks - fact that the outer core is the only liquid Discovering Plate Boundaries layer. Seisvole and Seismic Waves programs - SES2. Students will understand how plate 4. Water vapor and other gases from Alan L. Jones Plate Puzzle tectonics creates certain geologic volcanoes early in Earth's history led to What is an Earthquake-- Revealing A features, materials, and hazards. the formation of the oceans and initial a. Distinguish among types of plate atmosphere. Fault Plane with Hypocenters tectonic settings produced by plates 5. Two primary sources of Earth's A Model of Sea-Floor Spreading diverging, converging, and sliding internal energy are the decay of Teacher's Guide past each other. radioactive isotopes and initially, the Real Evidence of a Subducting Plate b. Relate modern and ancient geologic gravitational energy from the earth's The Plate Tectonic Story- A Scientific features to each kind of plate tectonic formation. setting. Jigsaw c. Relate certain geologic hazards to specific plate tectonic settings. Chapter 9 – Plate Tectonics Metamorphic rocks d. Associate specific plate tectonic Chapter 8.1,8.2,8.3 – Earthquakes GPC Metamorphic Rock Pictures settings with the production of Chapter 10 – Volcanoes & Other Igneous USGS Metamorphic rocks particular groups of igneous and Processes metamorphic rocks and mineral Chapter 3.2 Igneous Rocks Animation - How metamorphic rocks are resources. Chapter 11 – Mountain Building formed Chapter 3.4 – Metamorphic Rocks Metamorphic rocks SES1. c. Describe how the decay of radioactive Stone Mountain Metamorphic rock tour isotopes is used to determine the age RockDoctor presents metamorphic rocks of rocks, Earth, and solar system. Simulated Metamorphic Process - Squeeze Granola Bar Create grain deformation and preferred orientation by deforming a granola bar using C-clamps and plywood. Metamorphic Rock Identification- What Lies Beneath- Online key to identify metamorphic rocks.

Unit Organizer: “Landforms and Landscapes” Block – 2.5 week (Approximate Time: ) Traditional – 5 weeks

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STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: Students will understand that: Chapter 5: Weathering, Soil, and Mass 1. Water, ice, air, and biological activity at Movements SES3. Students will explore the actions of the Earth’s surface cause rock to Chapter 6: Running Water & Groundwater water, wind, ice, and gravity that create weather, partially dissolving it and Chapter 3.3 – Sedimentary Rocks landforms and systems of landforms breaking it down into smaller particles. Chapter 7: Glaciers, Deserts & Wind (landscapes). 2. Decomposers add the remains of a. Describe how surface water and organisms to the rock particles, making groundwater act as the major agents the soil necessary for plants to grow. of physical and chemical weathering. b. Explain how soil results from 3. Weathered earth materials move down weathering and biological processes slope gradually or catastrophically under acting on parent rock. the influence of gravity. c. Describe the processes and hazards 4. Wind, water, and ice erode weathered associated with both sudden and material and deposit it as sediment. gradual mass wasting. Sediment is usually picked up, d. Relate the past and present actions transported down-current, and deposited of ice, wind, and water to landform many times before it is finally buried in a distribution and landscape evolution. sedimentary basin. e. Explain the processes that transport 5. After sediment is buried, the weight of and deposit material in terrestrial and overlying material and the circulation of marine sedimentary basins, which fluids cause the sediment to be result, over time, in sedimentary rock. compacted and cemented into rock. 6. The landforms that make up a landscape can be shaped by both erosion and deposition, and depend on uplift or subsidence, rock type, temperature variations, and the relative importance of different agents of weathering, erosion, and deposition. 2nd 9 weeks on Block & 2nd Semester Traditional Unit Organizer: “Weather and Climate” Block – 3 Weeks (Approximate Time: ) Traditional – 6 weeks OVERVIEW:

STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: Students will understand that: Chapter 17: The Atmosphere SES1: d. Describe how the Earth acquired its initial 1. Solar radiation heats the landmasses, Chapter 18.1 & 18.2 – Moisture, Clouds oceans and atmosphere. oceans, and air. Chapter 19 – Air Pressure and Wind SES 5. Students will investigate the interaction of 2. The curvature of the Earth causes solar Chapter 20 – Weather Patterns insulation and Earth systems to produce weather radiation to strike locations on the Earth Chapter 21 – Climate and climate. at different angles. At high latitudes, the a. Explain how latitudinal variations radiation passes through more of the Basic introduction to weather in solar heating create atmosphere, causing less solar heating (including air masses) atmospheric and ocean currents than at latitudes nearer the equator. Earth's atmosphere that redistribute heat globally. Atmosphere structure and ozone b. Explain the relationship between 3. Heating of earth's surface and air masses and the surfaces over atmosphere by the sun drives convection Layers of the atmosphere which they form. within the atmosphere and oceans, Satellite images of environmental change c. Relate weather patterns to producing winds and ocean currents. The Great Ice Age interactions among ocean 4. Weather is the short term condition Animation of Earth's spheres Earth currents, air masses, and involving the transfer of energy in and topography. out of the atmosphere. d. Describe how temperature and 5. Climate is the long term condition Weathering the Odds- Learning About precipitation produce the pattern involving the transfer of energy in and Weather Forecasting in the Science of climate regions (classes) on out of the atmosphere. Classroom Earth. 6. Global climate is determined by energy e. Describe the hazards associated transfer from the sun at and near the with extreme weather events and earth's surface. This energy transfer is Essentials of Weather climate change (e.g., hurricanes, influenced by dynamic processes such tornadoes, El Niño/La Niña, global as cloud cover and the earth's rotation, Feeding Frenzy- Seasonal Upwelling warming). and static conditions such as the position Dr. Art's GREENHOUSE EFFECT f. Relate changes in global climate of mountain ranges and oceans. The effect of acid rain on monuments in to variation in Earth/Sun 7. The climate of the earth has varied over Washington, DC relationships and to natural and time because of variations in the tilt of anthropogenic modification of the earth, radiation output of the sun, Cycles of the Earth and atmosphere atmospheric composition. composition of the atmosphere, arrangement of continents, and Georgia Automated Environmental reflectivity of the earth's surface. Monitoring Network 8. Climate change and extreme weather Intellicast weather - see forcast and radar events can exert a major influence on the health and economic well-being of for your area human beings. Systems and spheres Weather Channel  Atmosphere (air, weather, climate) Weatherbug  Hydrosphere (water, oceans, rivers) American Meteorological Society Cycles DataStreme  Hydrologic cycle (water cycle) Online Meteorology Guide  Climatic cycles Air masses and fronts

Introduction to the Atmosphere Storm Chasing Windows to the Universe - Atmosphere questions global warming Climate Change Shrinking Artic Sea Global Warming information Kids Climate Change Global Warming Debates Tornados Weather Channel tornados Thunderstorms Tornado Chaser CNN - tornado animation tornados National Weather Prediction Almanac Forcasting Weather

Unit Organizer: “Reconstructing Earth’s Past Block 3 Weeks through the History of Life” Traditional 6 Weeks (Approximate Time: ) OVERVIEW: STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: 1. The sequence of rock layers at a Chapter 12 – Geologic Time given location provides a record of Chapter 13 – Earth’s History SES4. Students will understand how rock changing environmental conditions Chapter 3.3 Sedimentary Rocks & fossils relationships and fossils are used to through incomplete intervals of Catastrophic Events in the History of Life: Toward a reconstruct the Earth’s past. geologic time. New Understanding of Mass Extinctions in the Fossil d. Describe and apply principles of 2. Fossils are used to correlate the Record - Part II relative age (superposition, original sequences of rocks at various horizontality, cross-cutting relations, locations, in order to build up a Cleaning Water the Way Nature Does and original lateral continuity) and more complete picture of the past. Combined Sewage outflows describe how unconformities form. 3. The known decay rates of Effects of Acid Rain on Forests e. Interpret the geologic history of a radioactive isotopes present in succession of rocks and rocks are used to measure the time Exploring the Ozone Hole: Mechanisms of unconformities. since the rock was formed. Stratospheric Denitrificaiton f. Apply the principle of 4. Geologic maps and cross sections Extinction-Prone Groups of Species uniformitarianism to relate are tools geologists use to establish sedimentary rock associations and spatial relationships between rock Determining Fossil Ages - Lesson 1 their fossils to the environments in sequences. Determining Fossil Ages - Worksheet which the rocks were deposited. g. Explain how sedimentary rock units Time Scaling a Football field - Ky Survey are correlated within and across Model a timeline on a football field using regions by a variety of methods (e.g., geologic map relationships, the students to mark events. principle of fossil succession, Time Scaling - paper strip - nap.edu Students radiometric dating, and develop their own time lines in a 5e’s activity paleomagnetism). using paper strips. h. Use geologic maps and stratigraphic Getting into the fossil record relationships to interpret major events in Earth history (e.g., mass extinction, Stories from the fossil record - paleoecology, major climatic change, tectonic geologic time, etc. events). Univ. of Calif. Berkeley Paleontology SES1. c. Describe how the decay of radioactive Museum isotopes is used to determine the age Understanding evolution of rocks, Earth, and solar system. SES6. d Describe how fossils provide a record of Explorations through time shared ancestry, evolution, and extinction that is Learning from the fossil record best explained by the mechanism of natural Life has a history selection. Our changing continent - USGS SES6.e - Identify the evolutionary innovations that Fossil Internet Lab most profoundly shaped Earth systems: Absolute dating photosynthetic prokaryotes and the atmosphere; Into the Fossil Record multicellular animals and marine environments; Evolution of Life land plants and terrestrial environments. CT scanning of fossils Fossil Succession Geomagnetism Shifting of Earth's Magnetic Field Paleotology Portal Radiometric Dating Relative dating GA Fossil sites Determining the Age of fossils Palaeos - the trace of life History of Life through time Mystery Fossils Earth Systems Science - Geologic Time scale Virtual Dating Lab Fossil Succession Earth Animations Telling Time Using Rocks Paleomagnetism Prentice Hall Geologic Time Tours of National Parks The dating Game Explorations through Time Geology of Grand Canyon The Grand Staircase The Grand Staircase Images Virtual and Online Field Trip Guides Bryce Canyon Zion National Park Unit Organizer: “Distribution of Life and Earth’s Block 3 weeks Citizenship” Traditional 6 weeks OVERVIEW:

STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS UNIT Focus Standards: Students will understand that: Chapter 11A – Georgia Earth Systems SES6: Students will explain how life on Earth 1. Humans are a part of the Earth system. Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomes responds to and shapes Earth systems. We depend on Earth systems and Earth's a. Relate the nature and distribution resources. Chapter 4 – Earth’s Resources of life on Earth, including humans, 2. Increasingly, humans modify Earth to the chemistry and availability of systems as a result of population growth, Catastrophic Events – National Science water. technology, and consumption. Resources Center b. Relate the distribution of biomes Humans affect Earth systems through Global Climate Change (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine) 3. to climate regions through time. activities such as groundwater History of Water c. Explain how geological and contamination and depletion, construction Hydrologic Cycle of structures along rivers and coasts, and ecological processes interact Ion Exchange through time to cycle matter and burning of energy resources causing energy, and how human activity atmospheric and climatic changes leading Life from Space: An Emerging Paradigm to sea level rise. alters the rates of these processes Neighborhoods (e.g., fossil fuel formation and 4. Humans are affected in areas with combustion). topography by mass wasting, and, in Our Cancerous Environment geologically active areas, by earthquakes Project Gigalopolis and volcanic eruptions. Supporting Standards: Project Gigalopolis 5. Climate changes and extreme weather SES1. Students will investigate the composition events can exert a major influence on the The Physical Environment and formation of Earth systems, health and economic well-being of people. World Biomes including the Earth’s relationship to the solar system. b. Identify the transformations and major North American Biomes reservoirs that make up the rock Biomes cycle, hydrologic cycle, carbon cycle, NASA - Mission: Biomes and other important geochemical Introduction to Biomes cycles. Animated Map of Vegetation Change, SES2. Students will understand how plate tectonics creates certain geologic past 21,000 years (Viewer) features, materials, and hazards. Earth Systems History (Brown e. Relate certain geologic hazards to University) specific plate tectonic settings. f. Associate specific plate tectonic settings with the production of particular groups of igneous and Quaternary Biome maps (NOAA) metamorphic rocks and mineral resources. SES3. Students will explore the actions of Diversity of Life in the Paleozoic water, wind, ice, and gravity that create Early Paleozoic Events 1 landforms and systems of landforms (landscapes). Global Biosphere Map (NASA) f. Explain how soil results from weathering and biological processes acting on parent rock. Cenozoic Events (Levin Ch. 15) g. Describe the processes and hazards associated with both sudden and gradual mass wasting. SES5. Students will investigate the interaction of insulation and Earth systems to produce weather and climate. g. Describe the hazards associated with extreme weather events and climate change (e.g., hurricanes, tornadoes, El Niño/La Niña, global warming). h. Relate changes in global climate to variation in Earth/Sun relationships and to natural and anthropogenic modification of atmospheric composition.