Homework for 9/29/15:
Note: Bake Sale tomorrow - tomorrow is an Early Release Day.  
No lunch at school and you're going to get hungry! 
Bring a dollar for a donut, cookie, or cupcake! 
Support a good cause: Bennett Cancer Center, Stamford.

Hat day Friday. Money raised benefits 6th grade student activities.

Absence policy: IF you miss class, you must still look at the blog and do the homework as best you can. You are not automatically excused from homework. So if you're home due to a cold or stomach ache, or because you overslept or had an appointment for an hour or two, you should still do the homework and bring it to your next class. 

7th Grade:
Per. 3 - In your science notebook, write 1-3 things you learned about Sensitivity or Variables.
Per. 4 - 7th Grade - Reflection: Explain three things that you learned about the human body during the "What's Happening Inside" activity. 
Reflections are to be written on the Left Side, with a minimum of 3 well-written sentences.

6th Grade: Local Weather Data Tables are overdue. Please bring in your data tables tomorrow for our data analysis activity.
Per. 1 - 5 STAR note Questions - For students who were absent or pulled out for band or music, class notes are shown at the bottom of this blog entry. Please copy them into your science notebook (Notes and/or Vocab section).
Per. 6 -set up and fill out a data table to compare anything in your home. Ex: Name all the things living in your house (such as people, dogs, cats, lizards, fish, spiders, etc.) and show how many legs each one has.


6th grade board notes from today:
Date: Sept. 29, 2015
Topic: Investigating Local Weather (return) 

TSW:

•record and analyze 7 days of daily weather data;                                          record and graph local monthly weather averages;                                             compare daily weather conditions to the monthly weather data.

Vocab: Check your vocab section to make sure that you have all of these vocab terms.

 •Atmospheric scientist – person who studies the atmosphere, collecting & analyzing 

data about current and past conditions.

•Mean – average; add all numbers and divide by the number of numbers.

•Median – middle number.

•Meteorologist – Scientists who study weather, may report data such as wind 

speed, air pressure, and precipitation.

•Mode – most frequent number.

•Precipitation – Any form of water that falls from the sky, including rain, snow, 

sleet, hail, or freezing rain

—Risk: frequency of past events is used to predict the likelihood of future events. See Item 3 & maps on p. E-9.  Is this a good way to predict  risk? Why or why not?

Below are notes taken by Period 6 only:

 Data are pieces of observed, recorded information, and may be

•          —Quantitative (measured with numbers and units), or
•          —Qualitative (described without numbers).

Ex: how many inches of rain fell today, compared to the color of the moon the other night. Which is quantitative data? 

—Data tables are a way to organize and display data.. —Data tables have rectangles arranged in:

—columns (vertical, or up and down), and

—rows (horizontal, or side to side).

—Example: data on the height of people in a classroom. Use a simple data table with only 2 columns, called a “T-chart”. Column 1 shows names, while the 2nd contains their height.

—Data tables can be described by their number of columns and rows. Ex: the data table shown on the board is a 2 by 7 (or 2 x 7), which means it has 2 columns and 7 rows for data.

But you must also add one column and one row to label your data and units.

For this T-chart, 1st column shows what  we’ve changed (independent variable), or the 

person measured.  The 2nd column shows the result we found (or dependent variable). 

That's the height. 

 
Note: Bake Sale tomorrow - tomorrow is an Early Release Day, so no lunch at school and you're going to get hungry!  Bring a dollar for a donut or cupcake!

NEWSLETTER: 
 
 In 6th Grade, we're studying Weather and Atmosphere, and students have recorded weather data for the last week or more.  We'll organize and  analyze it -- put it in tables, graph it, find the mean, median and mode. We are also learning about how bodies of water and the atmosphere interact with each other to change our weather and climate.  To tie that in, we're going on a Soundwaters Field Trip in the next couple of weeks, so get those permission slips in!  

In 7th Grade, we are learning about the structure and function of selected human organs and organ systems. Right now, we're learning about sensitivity, which changes with the density of nerve receptors on different surfaces of our arms. Then, we'll digest some information on how the body breaks down food. 

Don't forget to check out Twitter to see what we're doing in classes:  
https://twitter.com/MrGoldsmith208

Working on: 
1. Remind accounts have been set up for each of my classes. Info forms will be coming home soon, as will copies of the Class Syllabus, and Resources for Students.
2. Robotics Club - sign up sheets and permission slips are done. Donations to buy new LEGO Mindstorms robots (or gently used robots) are always welcome!
3. Halloween Dance - Oct. 30.  Permission slips will be coming out this week.


BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION - We'll be collecting starting later this week, so find them, cut them out, and send them in to your student's advisory teacher (or me)!  

UPCOMING:Oct. 1 - PICTURE DAY is coming SOON!!!  Get those photo forms filled out.  If you're one of my 6th Graders, bring your order form to Mrs. Bivona. Forms also available online at
Oct. 1 - Don't forget to attend PTO / SGC Kick off at Ripp. 

October 1- School store opens and Advisory begins!

Oct. 8 - Open Schools Night.  
Oct. 30 - Halloween Dance (tentative) - 7 to 9:30. 
November 5- Community Resource Fair 6:30- 8:30