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Today I will be reading Section 2: Ocean Currents. Before I begin reading I skim through the pages to see how long the section is. Then I begin to examine section headings and pictures and predict this will be about three different types of ocean currents — surface, upwelling and density. I also have a notebook and pencil with me to take notes. In my notebook I jot down the section heading and subheading.  Before I begin reading I read the authors notes in the margin of the text. It explains what will be learned in this section and its importance.  Also in the margin are review and new vocabulary words. I write them in my notebook leaving room for their definitions.

As I begin reading I visualize myself making chocolate milk as the author suggests and compares it to ocean currents.I read the section about surface currents quickly and ask my self what is the difference between surface and ocean currents. Going back I reread it more carefully, making sure I understand the differences and write it down. Continuing to the next subtopic– How Surface Currents Form — the Coriolis effect is explained in words and in a pictorial demonstration. Continuing on reading to the end of the section I start to feel a little uncomfortable and reread the last couple of sentences that explain the direction of currents to the left and right due to the Coriolis effect. Looking at the map of surface currents while rereading reminded me of a weather map tracking a hurricane storm. It starts from the Caribbean and turns to the right up the east coast of the United States. I make a note to search the Coriolis effect on the internet.

Reading the next two subtopics — The Gulf Stream and Tracking Surface Currents — were straightforward. The author did  great job reinforcing the idea of surface currents. He made a historical connection from the American colonial era using Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin. He used to complain why mail reached England faster, than it did America. After studying maps the General figured out that the ships sailing from England were traveling against the current, and ships traveling to England were traveling with the current. As I was reading this section I visualized sailboats and colonists on the ocean and reexamined the map in Figure 5 to see the currents. Currents are reinforced again with a message in a bottle.

Then warm and cold surface currents are discussed briefly. I found it interesting that the California current is a cold surface current from the north pole and the east coast has a warm current, the Gulf Stream coming up from the equator. At this point I am starting to get a little tired. The next topic is upwelling. After I finish the section on upwelling I make a mental visualization between upwelling and surface currents. Upwelling is a vertical circulation from the deep ocean and surface currents are horizontal circulations created by winds.

Next is density currents. From the reading a make a note that density currents are  deep and are related to water temperature and salinity. In the margin the author has a mini lab about density currents. I will probably try the mini lab another day. I prefer to read one day and do activities another day. Density currents are explained further with deep water  and intermeadiate water examples. The author also applies math in this section by calculating density of salt water. I read through the examples and I already know how calculate density. The authors directs those who need more practice to www.glencoe.com for additional questions. I have noticed  a similar caption earlier in this section. So I looked for it and found it on the second page of the reading. The author also directs those who want more information about ocean currents to that website also.  

This brings us to the end of the section. As in the first section there is a section review box with a section summary and self check questions. I read the text in the box and feel comfortable about the topics.

After I finished reading, I took a ten minute break. After the break I visited the author’s suggested website www.glencoe.com. The website had a lot of information. There were practice quizzes, crossword puzzles, links to more information and more. I found the following link to be useful:    http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/oceanography_currents_1.html. It provided an overview of the section.  Since I work better with visuals I searched the internet for visuals to increase understanding..

I found the following visuals to be useful

surface currents:

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2401/es2401page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

Upwelling:

 http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2405/es2405page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

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