Week 12, 11/19 to 11/23

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012, 4:09pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today teams will finish graphing their Inquiry 6.1 data and answering some questions about it.  Then we will move on to the second experiment, Inquiry 6.2, where students will change the weight to see how it affects the friction force of the block. HW - None Tuesday - Today student teams will collect data on the effect of weight on friction, Inquiry 6.2. Then we will prepare for 6.3 where students will change the surface areas to see how that affects the friction. HW - None Wednesday - Today we are on an early release schedule, with all six periods. Today 6th graders will take a 10 week check-in survey to see how they're doing. Then we are going to do some blogging work, catching up for those who need it and commenting and working on the blogging challenge for those who are all caught up. HW - None Thursday - No School Today for Thanksgiving Break! HW - Have a great Thanksgiving! Friday - Same as yesterday! HW - None

8th grade Science Monday - Today students will respond to a prompt on microscopic life on their blogs. Then teams will whiteboard their responses to share with the rest of the class for discussion. HW - None Tuesday - Today teams will take turns sharing their thoughts to the microscopic life prompt. HW - None Wednesday - Today we are on an early release schedule, with all six periods. Today 8th graders will take a 10 week check-in survey to see how they're doing. Then we are going to do some blogging work, catching up for those who need it and commenting and working on the blogging challenge for those who are all caught up. HW - None Thursday - No School Today for Thanksgiving Break! HW - Have a great Thanksgiving! Friday - Same as yesterday! HW - None

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Week 11, 11/12 to 11/16

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Thursday, Nov 15, 2012, 2:06pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - No School Today - Veteran's Day Observed. HW - Thank you to all the Veterans out there! Tuesday - Students were supposed to finish their EMM Lesson 5, Inquiry 5.1 and 5.2, reflection questions for homework this weekend if they didn't finish in class (many students did not use their class time wisely). If everyone got done then today we can read each other's work and leave feedback in the form of comments. Once we are done we will begin Lesson 6 on the Force of Friction. HW - Here's the link to the Verizon App Challenge if you're pursuing this. Wednesday - Today we will start EMM Lesson 6 on Friction. We will do the lab prep work. HW - Meeting for those interested in the Verizon App Challenge will be tomorrow from 2:30 to 3:10pm in my room (604). If you can't make it be sure to have a representative from your team who knows who all wants to be in your team and can pitch your idea. Thursday - Today we will finish the Lesson 6, Inquiry 6.1, prep so that teams can start the first friction lab. Verizon App Challenge meeting today after school! HW - None Friday - Today teams will finish collecting their surface type friction data. They will graph their data and answer some questions.  HW - None (If students want to meet today after school to work on their Verizon App Challenge I will be available. I can write bus passes too.)

8th grade Science Monday - No School Today - Veteran's Day Observed. HW - Thank you to all the Veterans out there! Tuesday - Today I will give students more time to upload and put their photo and/or video evidence on their brine shrimp blogs. HW - Here's the link to the Verizon App Challenge if you're pursuing this. Wednesday - Today teams worked on their brine shrimp blogs. Students got to practice a little bit of html coding. HW - Meeting for those interested in the Verizon App Challenge will be tomorrow from 2:30 to 3:10pm in my room (604). If you can't make it be sure to have a representative from your team who knows who all wants to be in your team and can pitch your idea.  Thursday - Today we will use the compound microscopes to take a closer look at plant cells using elodea plants. Students will be using p. 15 from the Diversity of Life Notebooks. Verizon App Challenge meeting today after school! HW - None Friday - Today we are going to work with paramecia using the compound microscopes and pg 16 from the Diversity of Life Notebooks. HW - None (If students want to meet today after school to work on their Verizon App Challenge I will be available. I can write bus passes too.)

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Week 10, 11/5 to 11/9

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Friday, Nov 9, 2012, 3:29pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today 6th graders need to finish the first half of lesson 5, Inquiry 5.1, on the elastic force exerted by a rubber band. Then we will start preparing for the second half of lesson 5, Inquiry 5.2, comparing weight to mass (gravitational force). HW - None Tuesday - Today teams will work on Inquiry 5.2 by doing an activity comparing the weights of objects of different sizes.  Then teams will begin writing procedures to explain how they will do the Inquiry 5.2 lab. Yes, they get to write their own procedure! HW - None Wednesday - Once teams get their procedure and data table approved they will get their materials and start collecting data on the mass versus weight experiments. HW - None Thursday - Today students will finish graphing their data so they can write their conclusions. We are using Inquiry Boards to help us write up and structure our labs! Then students will answer some reflection questions. HW - None Friday - Today students will work on blogging. Everyone needs to complete his or her EMM Lesson 5, Inquiry 5.1 and 5.2, reflection questions. HW - Finish your reflection questions if you did not finish in class.

8th grade Science Monday - Today student teams will finish their Food Miles activity, yes, many teams are still not done. Then they will reflect on what they learned by completing their Food Miles blog assignment. Once done with the above students need to peer review each other's work by reading and commenting to another student's blog. HW - None Tuesday - There are still many students who aren't done with the Food Miles activity so they need to finish so they can get their Food Miles blog assignment done.  Then we will start investigating single-celled microorganisms. My 5th period class will be setting the fish traps today. HW - None Wednesday - Today teams will share their food miles results so that we can see what different lunches do to the total distance traveled. Then we will work with our brine shrimp using our digital microscopes! My 5th period class will retrieve the fish todays so they can identify and count any fish we catch. They will, of course, return the fish they catch to the creek. HW - None Thursday - Today we will finish the food miles presentations. Then students will use digital microscopes to look at our brine shrimp (Ms. Cordz got a good amount of brine shrimp to hatch so we've been caring for them to get them to adulthood).  HW - None Friday - Today teams will use the digital microscopes again to find evidence that our brine shrimp are in fact alive (they'll be looking to see which of the eight characteristics of living things they can observe the brine shrimp doing). Students will then take pictures and/or film video of that evidence of life to put up on their blogs. HW - None

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Week 9, 10/29 to 11/2

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Thursday, Nov 1, 2012, 5:30pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today we will take time to finish any last blog posts. More importantly, because students can make up missing blog posts at home, at the library, or after school by making an appointment with me, we will be working on giving feedback by having students read each other's work and leaving comments. We will also go over the lab safety contract. HW - None Tuesday - Today students will be updating their goal planning sheets to write what they learned about energy and what they want to learn about forces.  Then we are going to start EMM Lesson 5 on Forces. We are going to start with elastic force. HW - None Wednesday - Today we will continue working on EMM Lesson 5 as we investigate the elastic force of a rubber band. HW - None Thursday - Today student teams will start the actual lab and collect data on the elastic force of a rubber band. HW - None Friday - Today teams will finish their elastic force lab by graphing their data and answering some questions. Then we will start part 2 of Lesson 5 by learning about mass vs weight. HW - None

8th grade Science Monday - Today we will continue to work on our microscope lessons on pages 11 and 12. Students will then complete the microscopes blog. Then we will work a minipond safari. HW - None Tuesday - Today we are going to try the minipond safari. (My 5th period class spent the whole period doing this because we were finding so many cool little critters in there!) Then students who aren't done with their microscopes blog can work on that while others work on getting their biome badges (they will check their biome project notes and compare them to the standards we targeted to see which standards they learned best and that will be the badge or badges they get!). My 2nd period class went down to the creek to set fish traps today. HW - None Wednesday - Today students who aren't done with their microscopes blog can still work on that while others work on getting their biome badges (they will check their biome project notes and compare them to the standards we targeted to see which standards they learned best and that will be the badge or badges they get!).  Then we will watch an ocean acidification video and discuss the implications (this is another example of human impact, this time on the marine biome). My 2nd period class will be visiting the creek again today to see if we caught any fish, identify them, then return them to the creek as we add the counts to a spreadsheet for the Jefferson Conservation District. HW - None Thursday - Today we are going to finish discussing ocean acidification. Then we will work on a Food Miles Activity where 8th graders will calculate how many miles an average lunch travels. The miles will be converted to carbon dioxide to see the carbon footprint of our lunches. HW - None Friday - Today student teams will finish their Food Miles activity. Then they will reflect on what they learned by completing their Food Miles blog assignment. HW - None

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Week 8, 10/22 to 10/26

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012, 4:00pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today 6th graders will be working on an energy activity to learn about the different types of energy.  HW - Progress Reports are online if you want a preview of what we'll be talking about at the conferences this Thursday or Friday. Tuesday - Today students will have time to complete their Lesson 2, Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 blog assignments. Those who have time can work on the Week 6 blogging challenge as well. HW - None Wednesday - Today we're going to finish what we started yesterday with an emphasis on commenting. Students need to read and comment on each other's work today. HW - None Thursday and Friday - No school Thursday or Friday. Please plan on attending conferences this Thursday, Oct 25, or Friday, Oct 26! There are no regular classes on those days. All teachers will be set up “arena style” in the middle school commons. Stop by, pick up your child’s midterm progress report, and visit with any or all of the teachers. We do ask that you limit your conversations to five minutes per class. Here’s the schedule: Thursday, October 25: 8-11:30am, 1-4pm, and 5:30-7:30pm Friday, October 26: 8-11:30am only

8th grade Science Monday - Today we are going to start learning about our microscopes so that we can start investigating the microscopic world!  We will be using our compound microscopes with 40, 100, and 400 times magnification (if anyone knows someone who can fix our broken microscopes for us please email me!). Students will practice looking at some prepared slides. HW - Progress Reports are online if you want a preview of what we'll be talking about at the conferences this Thursday or Friday. Tuesday - Learning about microscopes continued! We will be using the Diversity of Life Notebook on the iPads. We will start with page 9 then work on pages 11 and 12. HW - None Wednesday - Today we are going to continue working on the microscope lessons, specifically pages 11 and 12. Then students can reflect on what they've learned about the microscopes. HW - None Thursday and Friday - No school Thursday or Friday. Please plan on attending conferences this Thursday, Oct 25, or Friday, Oct 26! There are no regular classes on those days. All teachers will be set up “arena style” in the middle school commons. Stop by, pick up your child’s midterm progress report, and visit with any or all of the teachers. We do ask that you limit your conversations to five minutes per class. Here’s the schedule: Thursday, October 25: 8-11:30am, 1-4pm, and 5:30-7:30pm Friday, October 26: 8-11:30am only

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Week 7, 10/15 to 10/19

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Thursday, Oct 18, 2012, 2:06pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today 6th graders will complete a Healthy Youth Survey. HW - For those who want a letter grade on the midterm progress report please get me the information on the Midterm Grade Negotiation Sheet. You can email me or submit the filled out form on paper. Please have the sheet turned in to Mr. G by Thursday at the latest. After that and you'll probably only see the P on the progress report.  Tuesday - Today 6th graders will be answering the reflection questions for the Energy, Machines, and Motion lab we did last Friday. We will go over their answers in class. HW - Here's an EMM website for enrichment ideas in case you want to learn more! Wednesday - Today we are going to start Lesson 3 on Rechargeable Batteries. HW - None Thursday - Today teams will finish yesterday's lab by testing out their motors. Then they will answer the reflection questions. HW - None Friday - Today we will go over the reflection questions. Students also learned about energy transfers and they diagrammed a few energy transfers. HW - None

8th grade Science Monday - Today students will work together in small teams to complete an assessment on what is living. Then students will finish their Biome Reflection blog assignment as well as their What is Living blog and their Is it Living Lab blog (if they have not done so already). Those who are done can work on commenting on kids from other schools to connect with other kids. HW - For those who want a letter grade on the midterm progress report please get me the information on the Midterm Grade Negotiation Sheet. You can email me or submit the filled out form on paper. Please have the sheet turned in to Mr. G by Thursday at the latest. After that and you'll probably only see the P on the progress report.  Tuesday - Today student teams will see how well they did on yesterday's assessment. Then we will watch some videos on the flow of energy in food webs. HW - None Wednesday - Today we are going to follow up on what we learned yesterday from the videos to practice drawing energy transfer diagrams. I will also show teams how to start putting achievement badges on their blogs. HW - None Thursday - Today we continued to work on energy transfers. Students also had more time to get their achievement badges on their blogs. HW - None Friday - Today students will complete two blog assignments, the Energy Transfer assignment and the Human Battery assignment. Then we will take some time to visit our creek to collect some water for class miniponds today as well. HW - None

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Week 6, 10/8 to 10/12

(This may change from day to day depending on how much we actually get done in class so check back often to make sure something wasn't changed at the last minute.) 

 Last updated on Thursday, Oct 11, 2012, 3:41pm 

 Daily Schedule 

1st per - 7:45am to 8:37am 

2nd per - 8:41am to 9:33am 

3rd per - 9:37am to 10:29am 

Eagle Time - 10:33am to 11:00am 

Lunch - 11:00am to 11:32am 

4th per - 11:36am to 12:28pm 

5th per - 12:32pm to 1:24pm 

6th per - 1:28pm to 2:20pm

6th grade Science Monday - Today students will have some time to work on their Week 3 and Week 4 blogging challenges and the Mt Saint Helens blog. The Week 5 blogging challenge is also available for students to work on. HW - None, unless you are falling behind and want to catch up. Tuesday - Today students will finish what they were working on yesterday. I will show students how to put achievement badges on their blogs so they can start putting the badges they've earned so far. Then we will focus on commenting on each other's work as a form of peer assessment. HW - None, unless you are falling behind and want to catch up. Wednesday - Today students will write new goals on their goal sheet for our upcoming work on Energy! We will start by seeing what kids already know about batteries. This is officially lesson 2 in the new book we will be using (we are skipping lesson 1). If students have time they can work on any work they have to finish from earlier this week. HW - None Thursday - Today we are going to start a new unit on Energy, Machines, and Motion. We will begin by learning about energy. Students will discus their answers to the lesson 2 battery blog as well as prepare for tomorrow's lab. HW - Here's an EMM website for enrichment ideas in case you want to learn more! Friday - Today students will complete the first lab where student teams make a battery from copper and zinc strips with copper sulfate solution. HW - None

8th grade Science Monday - Today we are going to watch more of the student biome movies and give those teams feedback.  HW - None Tuesday - Today we are going to watch more movies in period 2 (period 5 still has teams who need more time today to complete their movies). Students need to upload their movies to share them on their biome blogs. If we have time students can work on their their Week 3 and Week 4 blogging challenges. Week 5 is also available for students to work on. HW - None  Wednesday - Today the teams that are still working on finishing up their movies worked the whole period in both 2nd and 3rd period. The rest of the students worked on uploading their movies to share them on their biome blogs. Students can also work on their Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 blogging challenges. HW - None Thursday - Today we will finish watching the rest of the biome movies. Then students will finish their biome, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 blogs. Those who are done will continue to practice commenting on each other's blog posts as a form of peer feedback and assessment. HW - None Friday - Today students will work on a Biome Reflection blog assignment as well as finishing their What is Living blog and their Is it Living Lab blog (many have not completed these blog assignments). Those who are done can work on commenting on kids from other schools to connect with other kids. Then we will take a what is living review quiz to see what students know. HW - None

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