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.