Week 6, 4/29 to 5/3

(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, May 2, 2013, 2:10pm

Midterm Progress Reports are ready!

 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 - This week students are working on the Salmon Webquest to learn about salmon life cycles. All students have chosen their water quality jobs. They will collect data and learn about their parameter so that we can learn how Chimacum Creek is doing. Last week I started training teams so this week I will continue training the teams that are left so that we can start going down to the creek. Our schedule will be different because starting Wednesday we will begin MSP testing every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the next three weeks. HW - If you have not finished your macro comic book or your tree planting blog or your water pollution public service announcement  then it's homework. Tuesday - Same as yesterday. HW - See yesterday. Wednesday - No testing for 6th graders today so classes will be doing the same thing as Monday and Tuesday. HW - Same as Monday. Thursday - My 4th period class will be testing today at the time set aside for Science so they won't have Science today. 1st and 3rd period are trying to finish up their Salmon Webquest project. They are almost ready to start going down to the creek to test the water quality! HW - Same as Monday Friday - Today 1st and 3rd period will be going to Chimacum Creek, right by our campus, to test their water quality parameters. My 4th period class is still learning how to do their water quality jobs (we need to finish nitrates (NO3) and ammonia (NH3) today. HW - See Monday.

8th grade Science Monday - Eighth graders have been working on plant projects for the past three weeks. This week they will finish preparing their research and their conclusions presentations! Today I will do some more test prep practice then I will share with students three ways they can present their experimental conclusions. Our schedule will be different because starting Wednesday we will begin MSP testing every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the next three weeks. HW - Anything you need to do to be ready to present next week. Tuesday - Same as yesterday. HW - It's looking like teams will start presenting this coming Monday. Wednesday - No testing for 8th graders today so both my classes will continue working on their project presentations today. HW - Same as Monday. Thursday - Last day, in class, to get your plant project presentations ready for Monday! HW - Whatever you need to be ready to present. Friday - My 2nd period class will be testing during our Science class time so they will need to finish preparing for next week's presentations for homework if they didn't finish in class. My 4th period class will be working today on getting their presentations done, typing or writing their notecards, and rehearsing for Monday. Here is a copy of the criteria we are using to evaluate the presentations next week. HW - Anything you still need to do to be ready to present next week is now homework.

Email me with any questions.

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Week 5, 4/22 to 4/26

(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 Thursday, Apr 25, 2013, 4:40pm 

 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 - This week students are working on the Salmon Webquest to learn about salmon life cycles. Those who STILL haven't finish their benthic macro comic book last week or the week before that, and STILL haven't finished it for homework, are still working on that. HW - Any missing work. Contact Mr. G to double check what you're missing. Tuesday - Same as yesterday. Today I will also be giving teams their water quality jobs so each student can choose which job he or she will be responsible for.  HW - Check Monday. Wednesday - Same as Monday. Then I'll start training kids so that we can begin going to the creek and testing the water quality parameters! HW - Same as Monday. Thursday - Same as yesterday. HW - See Monday. Friday - Kids should all be working on the Salmon Webquest project. I am still training groups on their water quality jobs before we can start going down to the creek to test the quality. HW - If you have not finished your macro comic book or your tree planting blog or your water pollution public service announcement  then it's homework.

8th grade Science Monday - Today we will be going to the computer lab to take the practice Science MSP online test. This will be in preparation for our REAL Science MSP! HW - Only whatever you need to do to complete your plant experiments or research. Tuesday - We will spend some time going over some of the practice Science MSP questions in class. This is also the third, AND LAST, week 8th graders are working on their plant projects. By Friday all teams should be done collecting data and teams should be done taking all the research they've been doing for the last two weeks and prepare their presentation to teach the class what they've learned. HW - Here are links to the resources and Google documents teams are using to plan their projects. If your research is not done, catch up at home! Wednesday - Today the high school counselor, Barb Fogerson, and our middle school counselor, Shiobhan Fitzpatrick, will be visiting both my 8th grade classes to talk to students about high school registration. They will get a packet of information! If there's time students can check their experiments and/or work on their research and presentations. HW - See Monday and Tuesday. Thursday - Today we will get back to work on test prep, going over the practice Science MSP questions, and working on plant projects as students prepare for their presentations. HW - See Monday and Tuesday. Friday - Today teams should be done collecting data and done with their research. By now all teams should be putting their final presentations together.  I am also going over practice Science MSP questions to prepare kids for the Science MSP, which they will all take on Wednesday, May 8. HW - Anything you need to do to be ready to present. We will be starting presentations by the end of next week.

Email me with any questions.

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Week 4, 4/15 to 4/19

(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, Apr 18, 2013, 5:04pm 

 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 Jac and Anna came by to teach students a lesson describing why we are planting trees this Thursday. Students about freshwater ecosystems and how all the living things are interrelated. HW - Turn in your tree planting permission slip in order to be able to go on Thursday's field trip.  If you are behind, catch up at home. Tuesday - This week students are working on the Salmon Webquest to learn about salmon life cycles. Those who didn't finish their benthic macro comic book last week, and didn't finish it for homework, are still working on that. HW - Any missing work. Contact Mr. G to double check what you're missing. Wednesday - Student-Led Conferences today so classes are not in session. Just come for your appointed conference! See you there (if you're in my Eagle Time Advisory)! HW - Same as earlier this week. Thursday - Same as Tuesday. Fourth period won't have Science today because we will all be going tree planting 4th, 5th, and 6th period at the Irondale log dump area with North Olympic Salmon Coalition and the conservation corps. Friday - Today kids are reflecting on yesterday's tree planting field trip. Then students will continue to either finish their comic book or work on their Salmon Webquest. HW - None if you're all caught up.

8th grade Science Monday - This is the second week 8th graders are working on their plant projects. Those teams who didn't get to start their experiments last week need to start them this week! That way each day students can collect data then get back to work on their research topics. HW - Here are links to the resources and Google documents teams are using to plan their projects. Tuesday - Teams are still working on their research. Those who have their experiments running are also collecting data daily. HW - Check your plan to see what, if anything, needs to be done at home. If you're getting items for your team's experiment, do so! Wednesday - Student-Led Conferences today so classes are not in session. Just come for your appointed conference! See you there (if you're in my Eagle Time Advisory)! HW - Same as earlier this week. Thursday - Same as Monday and Tuesday. While students are working on their plant projects and experiments I also give them short assessment probes to gauge their plant knowledge. This week we are working on whether students know where a tree, the wood, gets its mass. Friday - Same as yesterday. HW - Same as earlier this week.

Email me with any questions.

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Week 3, 4/8 to 4/12

(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, Apr 11, 2013, 4:03pm 

 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 continue to work on their benthic macro comic book story. HW - Have your parents sign the tree planting permission slip and turn it in this week! Finish your water pollution public service announcement and your benthic macroinvertebrate activity questions if you haven't already! Tuesday - Today students should finish their macro comic books. I will show them what to do with their finished product so they can share it on their blogs! HW - Turn in your tree planting permission slip if you haven't already. See Monday for the rest of this week's homework message. Wednesday - Today is the day to upload and share the comic books. Those who aren't done by today will have to finish at a later time or they can postpone the next part of this project to finish their comic books. HW - Same as yesterday. Thursday - Those who are finished with their benthic macro comic book will begin the next project in this series, The Salmon Webquest! Those who aren't done with the comic book will still be working on it. HW - Same as earlier their week. Friday - Same as yesterday. HW - Same as earlier their week.

8th grade Science Monday - Students are working on the research for their plant projects. Some are also working on their experiment. This is the week to start the experiment and start collecting data while they are working on their research. Here's a link to the Google documents teams are using to plan their projects (plus much more). HW - Get the materials you will need for your plant experiments. Tuesday - Same as yesterday. 5th period will be setting the fish traps today as we start collecting data for spring! HW - Same as yesterday. Wednesday - Plant projects continued. By today everyone should start their experiments so that they can share their conclusions by the time we're ready to present.  We may delay presentations so that all teams can collect enough data to draw a conclusion. 5th period will retrieve the traps to id, count and release the fish. HW - Same as Monday. Thursday - Same as yesterday. HW - Same as Monday. Friday - Same as yesterday. HW - If you started your experiment this week either arrange to take it home to water it daily or leave it setup with plenty of water if it's a seed that hasn't sprouted.  If you haven't started your experiment yet, make sure you get all the materials you'll need so that you can start on Monday.

Email me with any questions.

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Week 2, 3/25 to 3/29

(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, Mar 28, 2013, 3:20pm 

 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 continue to work on a Benthic Macroinvertebrate Activity in preparation for a guest presenter from the North Olympic Salmon Coalition who will be coming this Wednesday. HW - Finish your water pollution Public Service Announcement at home if you have Internet. If you don't have Internet then just finish it on paper. Tuesday - Today students should finish answering the seven Benthic Macroinvertebrate Activity questions. We will spend some time this period preparing for tomorrow by learning how to use the digital scopes and figuring out how we're going to score Chimacum Creek using benthic macros! HW - See Monday. Wednesday - Today Jac from North Olympic Salmon Coalition will be visiting all the 6th grade classes bringing samples of benthic macros from our creek! We will use those samples to have students identify them and determine the biological integrity of our creek. HW - See Monday. Thursday - Today we will debrief yesterday's experience and continue working with the topic of biological integrity as students make stories with benthic macros and salmon as the characters and Chimacum Creek as the setting. The end product will be a comic book story (Benthic Macroinvertebrate Activity). HW - See Monday Friday - Today students will continue to work on their benthic macro comic book story. HW - Finish your water pollution public service announcement and your benthic macroinvertebrate activity questions if you haven't already! Have a great Spring Break!

8th grade Science Monday - Today students will finish their SpongeBob genetics activity so that we can check the answers. HW - Finish your Genetics Blog Assignment at home if you didn't finish in class last week. Tuesday - Today I will introduce the next unit of study on plants! Then we will take a quick probe to see how students determine whether something is a plant or not. HW - See Monday. Wednesday - Today students will form teams and start planning their plant projects. Students will be conducting research as well as designing experiments to conduct. HW - See Monday. Thursday - Students are finishing up their plans and beginning their research for the plant projects. Some are also working on their experiment plan so they can collect what they need over spring break. Here's a link to the Google documents teams are using to plan their projects. HW - See Monday Friday - Today teams will be working on their research. HW - Work on any part of your plant project or experiment that you need to work on over the break! Have a great Spring Break!

Email me with any questions.

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Week 1, 3/18 to 3/22

(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, Mar 21, 2013, 4:21pm 

 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 - Students are working on writing a public service announcement blog.  For the last three weeks of class students read about water pollution and took notes to be able to write a scientifically accurate piece. Those who want more experience points can take more notes at home and turn them in to me via email or google doc or on paper. HW - None if you're all caught up (see previous three weeks). Tuesday - Today we're on an Early Release schedule for periods 1, 3, and 5 (each period will be about an hour long). Today students should finish their rough draft, have a teammate read it and provide feedback, edit their work and publish or republish it.  Students also need to put a picture on their blog with a title. Using pizap.com to put the title on the image and watching my video tutorials numbers 7 through 10 will show kids how to do it all. HW - Finish your water pollution Public Service Announcement at home if you have Internet. If you don't have Internet then just finish it on paper. Wednesday - Today we're on an Early Release schedule for periods 2, 4, and 6 (each period will be about an hour long). Today students should finish their rough draft, have a teammate read it and provide feedback, edit their work and publish or republish it.  Students also need to put a picture on their blog with a title. Using pizap.com to put the title on the image and watching my video tutorials numbers 7 through 10 will show kids how to do it all. HW - Finish your water pollution Public Service Announcement at home if you have Internet. If you don't have Internet then just finish it on paper. Thursday - Today we will begin to make the transition to the next topic of study: Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Biological Integrity of Rivers, Streams, or Creeks. HW - See Wednesday. Friday - Today students will be working on a Benthic Macroinvertebrate Activity in preparation for a guest presenter from the North Olympic Salmon Coalition next week. HW - See Wednesday.

8th grade Science Monday - Today students worked on their Punnett Square drawings. They chose traits from two parents, made Punnett Squares to find the probability of the offspring's traits and they draw one possible offspring showing the genotype of the traits and the probability of the offspring actually having those traits. HW - None Tuesday - Today we're on an Early Release schedule for periods 1, 3, and 5 (each period will be about an hour long). Today students will finish the Punnett Square drawing activity and share their offspring and genotype results on their Genetics Blog Assignment. HW - None Wednesday - Today we're on an Early Release schedule for periods 2, 4, and 6 (each period will be about an hour long). Today students will finish the Punnett Square drawing activity and share their offspring and genotype results on their Genetics Blog Assignment. HW - None Thursday - Today students will finish their Genetics Blog Assignment.  HW - Finish your Genetics Blog Assignment if you didn't finish in class. Friday - Today students will do a Spongebob Genetics activity to review everything we've been learning about Mendelian Genetics. HW - Same as yesterday.

Email me with any questions.

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Week 13, 3/11 to 3/15

(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 Wednesday, Mar 13, 2013, 4:27pm 

 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 - If you haven't finished your Water Pollution notes, we worked on them for the last two weeks in class, you should have finished them for homework. Today students should begin to draft their public service announcement blog. Once done with that they will get more experience points from me. HW - None, unless you are still taking notes. Tuesday - Same as yesterday. Those who are still in the research, note-taking phase, need to catch up because we need to be drafting our public service announcement blog this week (this is the 3rd week of this project!). HW - None if you're all caught up (meaning you are done taking notes). Wednesday - Same as yesterday. I moved students who are very behind on their notes to the water pollution preventions section and I've offered my room after school on Tuesdays. Mr. Meacham's room and Ms. Shea's room will also be available for after school catch up work Wednesdays and Thursdays.  I'm trying to help everyone get to work on their public service announcement blog. HW - None if you're done taking notes. Thursday - Today is the last day of the 2nd trimester! I have asked everyone to start working on their public service announcement blog regardless of how many notes they've taken. To get more experience points for notes taken students can work on their notes after school and show me to get more points (points, or lack thereof, are not being used for grading purposes but only to show how much is getting done). HW - If you prefer a letter grade instead of a Pass on your Skyward report card, fill out and turn in, on paper or electronically, a Final Grade Negotiation Sheet. It's due Monday, Mar 18. Friday - Trimester Break - there will be no school today because we didn't need a snow day (this would have been our snow make-up day). HW - None if you're all caught up!

8th grade Science Monday - Today we will continue working on our Gregor Mendel pea plant experiments. Students will learn what Mendel learned when crossing green peas with yellow peas. HW - None Tuesday - Today we will continue our genetics explorations by crossing carnations! Then we will practice some more Punnett squares. 2nd period set the fish traps. HW - None Wednesday - Today we are going to learn which traits are dominant and which traits are recessive so that we can practice using Punnet squares on human traits. 2nd period will retrieve the fish traps today to id and count any fish we trapped. HW - None Thursday - Today is the last day of the 2nd trimester! Eighth graders are still working with Punnett squares and human traits. HW - If you prefer a letter grade instead of a Pass on your Skyward report card, fill out and turn in, on paper or electronically, a Final Grade Negotiation Sheet. It's due Monday, Mar 18. Friday - Trimester Break - there will be no school today because we didn't need a snow day (this would have been our snow make-up day). HW - None if you're all caught up!

Email me with any questions.

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