Oct 31 - 7th

Students and I had a heart to heart talk about their current grades. In short, they have to study for tests, turn in assignments, and work hard to get their grades up.

We finished the notes from Thursday.

We then went to the computer lab so that students could check their grades.

Students then took the pre-test on cell processes on edmodo.

Finally, students shared their thoughts on the upcoming topics as identified by the Next Generation Science standards.

6th hour go here

7th hour go here

8th hour go here

Next page in your notebook.

October 31 - 8th grade

Things to do today:

1) Complete your Bonding Quiz (handout from teacher)

2) Check your grade and write into your data notebook

3) Somewhere between page 30 and 33, you should have written the following statement, "I didn't know that __________, but now I understand ____________." You should fill in the blanks. For example, " I didn't know that there are different types of changes, but now I see that if something new is formed the change must be chemical."

4) watch the following video and add examples (words or drawings) around your phase change triangle of examples (page 33).

Video

5) Your phase change worksheet is due tomorrow.

Oct 27 - 7th

Students put page 28 into their notebook.

We then discussed the notes on the chemistry of life.

Oct 27 - 8th

Students took their vocabulary quiz.

We then looked at examples of physical and chemical changes by playing memory.

Students finished by adding the reflection statement, "I didn't know that _________ but now I understand ______________." This went on page 32 or 33.

IONIC AND COVALENT BONDING QUIZ MONDAY.

Oct 26th - 8th

We started by answering the following questions:

Students saw demonstrations of number 3 and number 4. Ask them about them!

We then looked at the following question, "Does the volume of a liquid change depending on the container it is in?" The answer was no according to our use of beakers and graduated cylinders.

We then did page 33 in our notebook.

Vocab quiz tomorrow

Oct 25 - 7th

We have spent the last two days in the computer lab working on our mini arguments on vaccines.

Tomorrow we will have a test. I am slightly worried that many, many students are asking what pages the test is on one day before the test. This graphic has been on the board since last Thursday.

This shows the number of questions on the test from each page.

Oct 25 - 8th

We discussed answers to the review and brain work questions.

In order to better understand the Law of Conservation of Matter, we watched the following Ted-Ed video. Link here.

We spent the last part of class filling in vocabulary and the notes chart from page 32 of our notebooks.

Oct 24 - 8th

Students checked grades for second quarter thus far.

Students also were assigned new seats today.

Students received  their tests from Friday back. The mean and median scores for this test were higher than usual.

We used our planner pages to look at upcoming events (Vocab quiz Thursday, Ionic/Covalent Quiz Monday).

Students then used the reading section below to fill in page 30 of their notebook.
Reading section for today.

We had a brief class discussion on the t chart from the notebook.

Students were assigned review and brain work questions for homework.

WHEW! Seems like a lot for a Monday...

Oct 21 - 7th

Students continued working on their vaccine mini-argument. They should come back on monday with their graphic organizer finished.

Oct 21- 8th

Students took a test.

After, they began working on the vocabulary assignment.

Then homeroom came around, and this happened...

Oct 20 - 7th

Students got new seats.

We then discussed the mini argument that students will right on the issue of mandatory vaccinations.

Rubric

Students also received articles to use as text evidence. We will be typing the mini argument on Monday and Tuesday.

Cell test will be wednesday. Students had a breakdown of what notebook pages questions will be coming from.

Oct 20 - 8th

We finished going over the Ionic bond packet. Both the ionic bond and covalent bond packet went into our notebooks (p. 28 and 29).

We then reviewed for tomorrow's test.

And we heard some "wisdom"

Oct 19 - 7th

Students received 2nd quarter minor sheets.

Students turned in their social media assignments.

We put page 26 into our notebook.

Students were told that they have a test next Wednesday.

Oct 19 - 8th

Students received their minor sheets for 2nd quarter.

We went over correct answers to yesterday's quiz. Students were encouraged to use this quiz when studying for friday's test.

We also discussed the correct answers for the ionic bonding packet.

Homework is to study for friday's test!

Oct 18 - 7th

Students were given 15 minutes to finish their vaccine notes.

Students then watched a video on why some people do not believe in vaccines and the debate that has sparked.

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365449467/

Students filled out note cards commenting on 2 of the following questions:

• Through a published schedule and set of guidelines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health officials recommend that every child receive certain vaccinations by age 6. What are the benefits of this recommendation to public health officials, to the community and to other children?
• Some parents and health care professionals question the CDC’s recommendations and decide not to vaccinate their children, while others, like Jennifer Margulis, choose to vaccinate their children along an alternative schedule. How might her decision affect both her own children and others?
• In what ways is vaccination different from other types of personal health decisions?
• Who should be involved in deciding whether children receive a specific vaccine?
• Should the government have the right to compel vaccination? Should parents have the right to refuse it?

Thank you to pbs.com for the discussion questions and video.

Oct 18 - 8th

Students took their second quiz on the periodic table. This will be returned tomorrow so that they have it to study from for Friday's test.

After they completed the quiz, students had time to finish working on their ionic bonding packet.

If there was any time remaining, they were allowed to study for Friday's test.

oct 17- 7th

We started class by checking grades and setting up our 2nd quarter planner pages. We also discussed what students should do (by Tuesday) if they feel that their grade is not accurate.

We then watched the Ted-Ed video on how vaccines work.

How vaccines work

Students then began working on their notes page. They were asked to take a lengthy description of the vaccination process and cut it down to 6 steps.

Vaccine war

Oct 17 -8th grade

Students checked grades for the completion of 1st quarter.

We had a discussion using the bubble map from friday.

Students were given time to work on the ionic bonding packet.

Link to assignment

We finished by looking at other students examples of the diagrams to describe ionic and covalent bonding.

STUDENTS HAVE A QUIZ ON NOTEBOOK PAGES 16 - 24 TOMORROW.

STUDENTS HAVE A TEST ON NOTEBOOK PAGES 8-27 (not ionic/covalent bonding) ON FRIDAY.

Oct 14 - 8th

Students worked on their Ionic Bonding WS in groups. This WS is due Monday, including the thinking question at the bottom.

Students were given the opportunity to re-take the AM and AN quiz if they wanted to.

We finished by making a bubble map to tie together (and added to some) the ideas that we have been talking about on page 8 until 26 in our notebook. This went on page 27 of our notebook.

Oct 13 - 7th

We started class by sharing what we had found in our research yesterday. Students shared with the class (after sharing quietly with a couple classmates):
1) What type of cells were attacked by their virus
2)How the virus was spread from one host to another

After that, we discussed the social media virus assignment. Students should come back tomorrow with some ideas for how to complete the assignment.

Finally, students went to the computer lab to look at how viruses spread. Students played the online game pandemic 2. We discussed how different traits led to virus spreading or being cured.

Oct 13 - 8th

We started by going over the Atomic Dating Game WS from yesterday. We also added to it by determining the type of bonding that would be going on (ionic or covalent)

Next, students put materials into their notebook for page 25 (Atomic Dating game) and 26 (Lego foldable assignment).

We then went over the covalent packet that didn't make any sense a week ago...and now it makes sense!

Students (not period 3) were assigned problems 2-5 on the Identifying Ionic and Covalent bonding sheet.

Oct 12 - 7th

Students put the virus notes into their notebook.

We discussed the notebook check assignment that needs to be completed this week. Here is the checklist.

We finished discussing viruses and put a diagram of how they attack cells into notebooks.

Students did some independent research on virus outbreaks in history.
Link

0ct 12 - 8th

We started by going over our covalent and ionic notes.

We then got quizzes returned and had help from classmates to understand our mistakes.

We finished by working on the atomic dating game...

And we had a black and gold card winner.

Oct 11 - 7th

Students checked grades and wrote in their data notebook.

Students and I went through page 10 - 22 and made sure that everyone knew what should be on each page. Students will receive a checklist tomorrow and will have their notebook graded this week to make sure everything is in their notebook before we take a test on this material.

We finished up class discussing viruses. Our big question revolved around how viruses harm us.

Oct 11 - 8th

Whew, it was good to be back in front of students today.

We started by going over pages from the notebook as a refresher/check to make sure everything was in there (pages 18-23).

We finished by going over correct answers to Thursday's assignment (notes page). We did not get all the way done, but will finish tomorrow.

Oct 5 - 8th grade

To start class students put their PT trends paper into their notebooks.

We then discussed the answers to the electron WS from last weeks hallway activity.

Students then worked to gain an understanding of elements, compounds, and mixtures using legos!

oct 4th - 7th

Use the following site to read about the two types of cells. Read here
You may also watch the video by the Amoeba sisters at the bottom of the reading.


Left hand page for timeline.

Right hand page for timeline.

oct 4 - 8th grade

Students took a quiz over Mass Number and Atomic Number.

We completed our periodic table trends graphic. Students should have color coded: metals, nonmetals, and noble gases. They should have circles the elements that appear as liquids (under normal conditions. Also they highlighted or wrote in trends of the table.

We began going over the covalent bonding packet from last week.

oct 3 - 7th grade

Students put grades in their data notebook and wrote that there will be a cell parts quiz on thursday.

Students then worked on placing the scientists and their descriptions in their notebook in the form of a timeline.

link to timeline

oct 3 - 8th

Students checked grades and received their Atomic Mass and Atomic Number worksheet back.

Upcoming events: Quiz Tuesday (notebook page 16-19) and Quiz Thursday (page 8-18)

Students had time to finish working on their packet from friday (about 15 minutes).

We started working on our periodic table trends.