End of Year Review

We are in the big push for the end of the year! The Measures of Student Learning tests will be on May 16 for science. Students will begin bringing home some papers that are for review of the year. These papers will say "(Unit Name) TEST" at the top, but they are not tests. They are only for us to review the information we have covered this year. We will be working backwards (reviewing more recent information first and material from the beginning of the year closer to test time) and there will be one "TEST" for each section we studied this year.

 Students should also go back over information they have in their notebooks. Understanding the essential questions will be more useful than knowing facts and details.

Waves Simulation

This Week in Science

This week we are wrapping up our unit on matter with solubility and density.  Yesterday and today we read about solubility as a class and took notes as we read.

Since we are approaching the end of the unit, there will be a vocabulary quiz on either this Friday or Monday next week. I will know more once I know how much we get through tomorrow.  Students have been given a small glossary sheet and we marked the words that will be on the quiz.

They are: atom, boiling point, chemical change, chemical property, density, element, freezing point, gas, liquid, mass, matter, melting point, physical change, physical property, plasma, solid, solubility, solute, solvent, volume.

Science Homework.

The past week  we have been studying the periodic table. We have discussed metals, non metals, and metalloids. We have also been working on a study packet. Pages 35, 36, and 37 should be completed with the time we had in class. Students must finish any work they did not complete in class at home this weekend.

here is a link to an interactive periodic table.  It gives some neat facts and uses for each element.  http://www.ptable.com/ 

Planetarium show at the Concord Library Apr. 13

The Cabarrus County Library in downtown Concord will be offering a Planetarium show on Saturday, April 13, 2013.  It will be from 2:00pm-3:00pm.  This program will be part of the North Carolina Science Festival (April 5-21).  Admission is free and open to the public.  The program is titled ‘Solar System Spectacular’ and will explore the planets, asteroids, comets and other wonders of our cosmic neighborhood.

Space is limited so registration for this program is required!  Call 704.920.2054 to register.

States of matter at the molecular level

Today in class we are looking at the states of matter and how they appear at the molecular level.
We used this application in class to have some discussions.

Click to Run

Tonight's Homework

This week we are shifting gears slightly to learn some basic chemistry including: matter, states of matter, atoms, and more!

Students should finish the reading and questions we started in class today--"What is Matter? Everything is , OK!" I will be just doing a quick walk around to make sure it is done and we will discuss it in class. 

Additions to the table of Contents will be added to the webpage soon.

Vocabulary List and upcoming quiz.

Today in class we started to wrap up the unit about biomes and ecosystems, so we addressed the vocabulary from the unit.  The vocabulary sheets should be completed, and will be checked on Tuesday 2/26.We still have a couple of short topics (dormancy and tropism) to address next week.

There will be a QUIZ NEXT FRIDAY 3/1 over the vocabulary from the section. Most students seem to have a good grasp on most of these words from when we covered them in class, but should still study them a little each night.


Here is the vocabulary list for Friday's quiz.

decomposer                                producer
consumer                                   food web
food chain                                 energy pyramid
terrestrial                                   aquatic
limiting factor                            biotic
abiotic                                        biome
predator                                     prey
species                                       ecology
ecosystem                                  community
population                                 dormancy
tropism

Tonight's homework:

Tonight, students in my first and third period need to complete the in-class assignment "What's it like where you live?"  if students need a copy of the materials, it can be found on my webpage on the Document Manager page. It is titled: "Deciduous_forest_study.doc". If you do not have a printer at home, have the student do the reading on the computer and answer the questions on a blank sheet of paper.

BBC Planet Earth

This week, we have studied a general overview of diferent biomes on Earth. Today we took some time to watch Planet Earth from BBC.  We will only have a chance too watch the episode "Pole to Pole" in class. However, there are several other amazing episodes we just do not have time to watch in class. I have been told it is available on netflix and other digital media access services. The kids really enjoyed watching it today! 

Have a great weekend!

Homeork

Students need to finish the "Ecology: Organisms in their Environments" crossword from class.

Food Chains and Food Webs

Food Chains and Webs

Here is a brief tutorial for what we have been studying the past two days.  It includes a game for students to make food chains that we did in class.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/foodchain/producersconsumers.htm

Also, I am passing back the vocab quizzes students took last Friday. Students either did quite well or very poorly.  Students can write out each question they missed with the correct answer 3 times to gain back half the points for that question.  These need to be turned in by Friday.

Yesterday and today!

We have started a new unit about ecosystems. We have started by doing a reading activity that was taught in the ELA classes called chunking.  Students pause after each paragraph (or as it is called in the activity "chunk")and pause to write in a chart what the chunk is about and key details about the chunk.

If students have not completed this, the information can be found on the book website http://my.hrw.com user name: rbulldog1 password: r8x8v
The reading is pp. 538-541

Tonight's homework is that students must complete the synthesis portion of their notes.  They should tell how each chunk is related to the previous chunk in the reading.  We linked the first 3 paragraphs in class.

Flower Garden Assessment

In January we did a hands on assessment where the students were given some materials and tasked with creating a flower on a sticky note. Their flower had to include specific details of the flower, which were labeled. This may have been the funnest quiz students have had to take.

Flower Garden 2012-13 - picture slideshow

Two things:
First, On Friday students have a vocabulary quiz over the most recent unit:  Plants, Photosynthesis, and Cellular Respiration. Students were given a vocabulary crossword that had all of the words that will appear on the quiz.


Second, our next unit of study will be about ecosystems. Here is a website with a little preview.

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/play_chainreaction.cfm

Quiz Moved to Monday

We had a bit of a hiccup in that we did not quite finish the material I was planning on putting on the quiz.  Therefore, I have to move the assessment to Monday. (The students were so disappointed.)

Friday Quiz.

On Friday, we will have a quiz in science. The topic will be parts of a flower and pollination of plants. Students will be asked to explain the function of a plant part or identify a part by its description. In addition, students should know the steps in the life cycle of a plant as well as explain how pollenation happens. (We will be discussing pollenation on Thursday.)

I would also like for there to be a portion of the assessment that is hands-on for students to build a labeled model of a flower out of materials such as clay/play-doh, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, construction paper, or anything they might bring from home. If you have any of these materials around the house for students to use, I would be greatful if you would send them in with your student.

Thanks!

Welcome back!

I hope everyone had a great break.  This week we have been creating posters for the North Carolina Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. This year's theme is: "Water...The Cycle of Life". I have provided posters for the students and we have been working in class. Most students should be able to finish the poster in class, but some have requested to bring them home, but the time we have spent in class will be sufficient for most.

For more information on the rules for this contest, you can go to the NCASWCD web site.