Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Week of 5/14

The eighth graders built some awesome roller coasters!  Look for pictures to be posted soon. We will be wrapping up Chapter 9 this week.

Seventh grade finished their sex ed unit and their chastity paper is due Thursday.  The class handled this topic very respectfully and asked lots of questions.  I hope the dialogue continues at home as parents are always the best resource for their children.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Week of 5/7

Seventh grade will be wrapping up their human body presentations and will finish their study of the human body with our sex education unit.

Eighth graders continue studying energy and its forms and transformations.  We will be building roller coasters to watch some of these transformations in practice.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Week of 4/23

Great sunny week ahead with cool temperatures!  Super week for lots of learning to take place.  Eighth grade continues to study energy and forces by doing some research on simple machines.  They will be creating a short podcast to share their knowledge of one simple machine and will present it to the class on Wednesday.  Test will probably be early next week.

Seventh grade will be wrapping up their group work and body presentations will start on Wednesday with the Urinary System.  I can't wait to see all of the creative ways the students will share their knowledge about their assigned system.  I am always surprised (and entertained) by the results!

Music Festival on Friday will give us a day off from science class as the students showcase their musical talents.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Back from Spring Break!

Hope you all had a very restful spring break and a blessed Easter holiday!  We are in the home stretch now with the end of the year fast approaching, but there is lots to accomplish before we enjoy summer.  Seventh grade will be spending the next couple of weeks preparing a presentation on a human body system.  There is lots of class time to get work done, but staying organized and on task will be very important.  See ebackpack or the middle school calendar for due dates.

Eight grade is finishing up a chapter on fluid forces and will have a test on that next week.  We plan on doing lots of hands on activities to see these forces at work.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Week of 3/26

We are starting the 4th qtr this week.  Wow - the year has sure flown by!  Seventh grade will be wrapping up their study of the animal kingdom with birds and mammals this week.  Eighth grade will continue their study of forces, but will now be focusing on the forces that fluids can make (air and water pressure).  We will be doing a lot in the lab so they can see these forces at work.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Week of 3/13

Eighth grade is continuing investigating Newton's Laws of Motion.  We will be ready for a test on Friday of this week.  Seventh grade will be doing its second dissection:  a frog!  I love this dissection.  There is a lot of information online for those of you who want to see a little preview.

The end of the qtr is Friday the 23rd.  With achievement tests next week, there is little time to take care of wrapping things up and finishing missing work.  Check your grades and make sure everything is in.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Greetings from Science Teachers' Conference

Hello students!  Seventh graders - hope the test went well today.  Eighth graders, I hope you saw all of your instructions on the St. Lorenz Middle School site.  I will update all of the assignments on the sidebar also.  No excuses that you didn't know what to do.  I will see you on Monday.  Hope you have a great end to Lutheran Schools week!  Being here with all of these public school teachers makes me even more thankful for the students I have at St. Lorenz.  You guys are awesome!!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Update to Week of 2/27

Yeah - we got our snow day!  Schedule has shifted a bit - make sure you note the changes in the sidebar for 7th and 8th grade science.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

2/22 - 2/29

Seventh graders are learning about invertebrates.  Did you know that 97% of all animal types are invertebrates? On Friday, the entire 7th grade will do their first dissection as a science class. I have some experienced dissectors from my life science mini, so I'm counting on them to be good guides.  We will be dissecting an earthworm.  There is a lot more in that squishy creature than you would imagine!

Eighth grade is beginning their journey into physics, and we have been studying all kinds of motion.  To work on keeping this new vocab in our heads, we are going to be creating short video descriptions of our vocab terms and putting them together into one vocab video extravaganza!! Ok - maybe I made that sound more amazing than it really is, but whatever it takes to get those ideas to stick in their heads!! :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Week of 2/14

Thank goodness for the four day scheduled break!  I'm sure the students were just as ready for an extended break as I was. :)  Seventh graders are wrapping up their introduction to animals chapter by dissecting an owl pellet.  Don't know what an owl pellet is...?  Ask your child.  Most of them didn't know what one was before they started their dissection.  Pictures will be posted soon.

Eighth graders are moving on from chemistry. Today we began our physics half of the school year.  We will be studying forces and motion for the next several chapters.  Lots of good experimenting ahead!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Week of 2/7

Eighth grade will be wrapping up their study of chemistry as they finish Chapter 15 this week.  Test on Thursday before the four day weekend!

Seventh graders are beginning their study of the animal kingdom which will cover the next several chapters.  We will come back to the plant kingdom when we have some colorful live ones to observe!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Week of 1/30

Groundhog comes out this week!  Boy is he going to be confused - I can easily handle six week of this kind of weather!  But....still hoping for a snow day :)!!!

Seventh graders have closely examined a mushroom this week and now know more than they ever thought they would about a fungus.  I can't wait to see the poems they come up with by Friday.  We will also be preparing for our chapter 11 test on Friday.  Eighth grade will be doing a lot of investigating of acids and bases.  By the end of the week, they should be experts!  Test on this topic will be sometime next week.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Week of 1/23

I can't believe it's the last full week of January and I'm still waiting for snow that piles up and lasts!  I think we're due a snow day!!

Seventh graders are learning about the protist and fungi kingdoms.  We will be working on a small writing project at the end of the week.  Eighth grade is wrapping up a challenging chapter 14!  They have risen to the challenge though.  Last Friday, we had a "snowman challenge" of balancing chemical equations.  I'd bet they'd beat most of you parents at balancing those equations.  Anyway,  test will be on Thursday of this week and will require some study time to be successful!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Week of 1/17

So...I'm full of new ideas after two days of Apple iLife training!  Maybe now I can do as much with iMovie, Garageband, and iPhoto as my students can! :)  Seventh grade finished up their bacteria lab.  Where in the school did we grow the most interesting looking stuff?  Ask them!  We will have a test on Friday of this week
   
Eighth grade continues working on chemical equations.  This is some challenging material.  I bet most of the parents will struggle to remember how to do some of the work.  I have added lots of links to websites that will help practice these steps.  Also on my page on the middle school website, I have two movies talking through the steps of how to balance equations.  Please take advantage of these!


Monday, January 9, 2012

Week of 1/9

This unseasonably warm weather is great for recess duty, but, being a die-hard Michigander, I miss snow!!  However, with no possible snow days in the foreseeable future, we are going to get a lot of learning done!

Seventh grade is starting a chapter on bacteria.  Where do you think bacteria thrives the best in our school?  Seventh graders will know after they conduct their lab this week.  Eighth grade will be learning more than they probably wanted to know about chemical formulas and equations.  Get ready parents - do you remember how to balance chemical equations? :)

If you are struggling to find out what your child has to study or wonder just what a certain project entails, I always post notes, review games, and project details in ebackpack.  Don't let your child tell you he/she doesn't know what that is - they do! And they know how to access all of it.

Reminder - 2nd quarter ends Friday, Jan. 20.  Keep an eye on your child's grades and missing work.

God's Blessings,
Mrs. Baarck

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Week of January 3

Happy New Year - a fresh start in some ways, but we are actually wrapping up 2nd qtr in the next several weeks.  Seventh grade is beginning their studies of the six kingdoms of life.  Next week we will jump into the world of bacteria.  Eighth grade is working on programming their own computer animations.  Their animations will show some topic about the periodic table that they have learned in the last six weeks.  I can't wait to see what they create!