12/23/11-

Happy Holidays to all, enjoy your vacation. 

We have lots to learn when we get back! 

Have a Wonderful 2012!  See you next year!

12/21/11 - homework:
7th Graders - Due Thursday, you have a packet of copies taken from our book, also available on line at the electronic version of our SEPUP book (go to Life Sciences, then Micro-Life, then Activity 37). Read the directions so you know your tasks, including:

• Read pp. C-30 to C-38, and
• take STAR notes; and
• Fill in the Time Line (date and summary of contribution); then
• Answer AQs 1-3 on SPP [Separate Piece of Paper]).

Sixth Graders -  Complete 1st 2 columns of KWL, then read, then complete the last column, then answer  AQs 1-4 on the back of the KWL.  Due Thursday or Friday, depending on circumstances.

For 12/19/11 - Homework: 7th graders need to bring in a new science notebook tomorrow or as soon as possible. 

6th graders: Period 2 - Answer Analysis Questions 1-3 on page C-6 of Unit C, Activity 30, Can You Taste the Difference? 

Also, ALL OF MY SIXTH GRADERS: bring in a new science notebook this week or after break. 

Dec. 15 - 7th graders:

• Test on Friday on Bodyworks Unit.  You've had the Study Guide since Monday, and we went over answering all questions today. Please study!
• "Feel the Beat " projects were due today.  If you did not turn them in, you will work with me after school until they are completed, at reduced grade.  Extra credit posters may be turned in as late as Tuesday of next week.

6th Graders:

• you have a test on Friday on our Chemistry of Materials Unit. 
• Send me an email saying that you checked the blog!
• Review your Study Guides you've had since Monday.
• Be sure you bring your science notebook and Study Guide to tomorrow's class. 

Back to blogging:
7th graders: you have a test on Friday on our Bodyworks Unit, and have had Study Guides since Monday.  Finish answering the questions today. Also, your "Feel the Beat " projects are due tomorrow.  As I've mentioned in class, extra credit posters are third priority (after studying for the test and turning in your completed project), so the posters may be turned in after the actual project.  Projects msut be turned in tomorrow (with after school detention on Thursday for those not yet done); I'll take your extra credit poster as late as Tuesday of next week. 

6th Graders: you have a test on Friday on our Chemistry of Materials Unit, and have had Study Guides since Monday. 
1. Finish answering the questions today through page 3; I'll assign page 4 for homework tomorrow night.   Those of you who are motivated  are welcome to complete the entire packet.
2. Also, most of you received a reading and note taking packet.  If you did not get it, it consists of the first 4 pages of each of the following activities: 25, 26, 27, and 28 of Unit B, Chemistry of Materials. So if you didn't get the package, check out the electronic version of our SEPUP textbook on line AND take notes in your science notebook as follows:
Conservation of Mass: The total mass of the reactants equal the total mass of the products in a chemical reaction in a closed system.  

• A closed system is a container that holds a chemical reaction so that none of the reactants or products can escape  from the reaction container.
• An Open System is where a chemical reaction takes place in a container that allows any reactants or products to escape.
• So, even though chemical wastes cannot be completely destroyed, they can be made less hazardous by:
• Diluting - adding lots of water.  Serial dilution means adding lots of water, then splitting up that solution into parts and adding even more water, and then doing the same thing over and over again. So you go through a whole series of dilutions to end up with a very large amount of a very diluted solution.  
• Incineration - burning of wastes at very high temperatures(greater than 1,200 degrees F or 650 degrees C).
• Reclaiming the metal (removing it from the waste) so it can be reused by combining the solution containing hazardous waste with another solution that causes the waste to
• precipitate (fall out of solution), or
• Replacing the metal in a waste compound with another metal.

I plan on posting the answers to the review sheets over the next two nights. If you have not been able to answer some of the questions, look for the answers tomorrow night.

AND If you did not do your homework, at least you will have some of the information going into the test. But then you're probably not bothering to look at my blog either....

Oh, yeah, there's a couple of cool science stories out there this week, most importantly, that the Higgs Boson may have been detected, and the huge new "space-vehicle-launching plane" being planned, and my personal favorite: "Camera captures light particles moving through space" by Claire Connelly at news.com.au.  See the video at http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/camera-captures-light-particles-moving-through-space/story-fn5fsgyc-1226222016231.

Homework for the weekend?  Yeah!   It is getting near lots of deadlines, so .....
7th Graders: This week, you'll finish Feel the Beat and the Body Works Unit.  Test on Friday, review sheet on Monday.  You're best off if you do as much as you can of Feel the Beat over the weekend, and may be review your notes for our current unit.
6th Graders: This week, you'll finish the Chemistry of Materials Unit, with a review sheet on Monday, practice test on Wednesday and Test on Friday. Review your notes for our current unit.

7th Graders: I think I posted on this last night, but here we go: Tonight, write your conclusions and start doing some research on your next step.  See the instructions on pp. 7-8 (double check those page references if you have your packet - I don't have mine).

6th Graders - Packet on the environmental impact of disposing of computers. Answer the REading questions on the front page, and for 3d period, also answer the AQs at the end of the article.

7th Graders: Finish performing, if you haven't already, your "Feel the Beat" activity to increase your pulse rate.  Be sure that you have Four (4) trials' worth of data, and be sure to change ONLY ONE THING: your independent variable. Tonight's assignment: Graph your data.  Thursday Night's assignment will be to write out your conclusions about your data, and research a design for your next experiment (see pages 7 and 8), citing your research source(s) as if it was a Current Event.  In other words, list Title, Author, Date of Publication and Source - TADS.  You should have a research proposal ready to discuss on Friday morning, since you will be performing your research over the weekend and turning in your report on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

6th Graders:   Please answer Analysis Questions 3, 4, and 5 on page B45 of Unit B (Chemistry of Materials) Activity 20 (Modeling Polymers).  Answers go on a separate piece of paper.  Next week, we have a practice test, Unit test, and start of a project: Meet an Element.  Students who do not meet interim deadlines will be strongly encouraged by me and hopefully by parents to attend semi-mandatory make up sessions after school.  So don't fall behind!  No Current Event this week, we'll have a reading assignment tomorrow night, and I'll give you a study guide for next week's test so you can review for the next few days (yes, over the weekend). 
 

Homework tonight:


7th graders: Feel the Beat: perform the procedures that you designed. Record data to show it to me tomorrow.

6th Graders: Write a reflection on a separate piece of paper about what you can do to perform better in the lab.  For example, could you: read directions? follow directions better? find something to do?  avoid sitting there watching everyone else do the work? 

Homework tonight:
7th graders: Be sure to fill out the pages 1 and 3 of Feel the Beat.  Be sure to propertly identify the Independent Variable and the Constants (a/k/a Controlled Variables) .

6th Graders: Read and answer questions on the Sheet "Compounds and Formulas". For the two girls who did not get their science notebooks back from me (sorry) see the scanned sheets below.