Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Hello!

The students have been working on their voice threads all week and let me tell what a wild trip that has been. My laptops are so old that they have a tendency to just shut off in the middle of whatever the students are doing. There is only one PC that the students can record on, so we have to use three of those old laptops. I hate it, but we use what we have. When the students really focus, they can put together some very nice threads. I am curious to see what they come up with. Next week, we will be starting a new project, but it will be an individual one. I think it will be easier because they will not have to worry about another person or people in the group. I will give you all the information on it one day next week and put up the directions for it on the home page as an additional page you can just click on and see. We still have seven vocabulary terms to finish up from our big master list. I need to get those in next week and the week after, so that they have them all before the OAA. There will not be an OAA test in science this year. They are only tested in the 6th grade in Math and Language Arts. Well, I guess that is all for now. I will talk to you again next week. Please email me or call me, if you have any questions. Have a good weekend!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tuesday, March 22

Hello!!!

I have put up a new page today. It has on there the directions I gave the students for their energy project that will be completed using a voice thread. This is a very cool computer tool where they will be recording their information, instead of typing it. I need to go get the paper copied for them, so I am getting off here, but I will be back.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Monday, March 14

Hello!

Here is an update on what is going on in our class. We are having a test Wednesday over physical and chemical changes. I put the review notes on the previous posting. Today, I gave the students the list of labs that they can turn in for extra credit. It is the same list we discussed and looked at on Friday. The labs are due on Wednesday. We started a new project today. I put the students into eight groups and gave each one a topic on energy. If you want to know your child's topic, just let me know and I can tell you. I will be showing them how to use the voice thread on Thursday. We saw a few examples today and discussed what a good one sounded and looked like and what a not so good one sounded and looked like. We talked about making sure that they keep things on their level and not try to say the big words that they can't pronounce and don't know what they mean. We, also, talked about not plagiarizing or copying things right from the computer or book. The students will be working at the site www.voicethread.com/. We are using my email address from school and the password falcon to get onto the site. I look forward to letting you know how things are going. Have a great week!!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hello, on this Sunday afternoon!

I need to put on here that there will be a test over physical and chemical changes on Wednesday, March 16. I told the students about it last week and we have been working on various examples of these. There were some slides I created and went over with them to review a view key points that I want to share here, too.

1st slide:

4 states of matter:
1. solid
2. liquid
3. gas
4. plasma

2nd slide:

Physical changes:
these are changes in size, shape, and state of matter; can sometimes be reversed; examples include melting, freezing, boiling, slicing, chopping, coloring, cutting. For more examples, please see the paper we worked on in class Thursday.

3rd slide:

Chemical changes:
these changes involve a reaction and cannot be reversed; a new product is created; signs include bubbling, fizzing, foaming, heat, and a gas created; examples include burning, rotting, rusting, baking (cooking), baking soda and vinegar. For more examples, please see the paper we worked on in class on Thursday.

The paper from Thursday should be in the students' folders. On, Monday, I will be giving the students the list of labs we have completed this grading period that they can turn in for extra credit. These labs will be due on Wednesday at the beginning of the class period with the student's name on the first one. I want the labs put in order starting with number one and going to number seven. They cannot be out of order or they will not get credit for them. Students get five points for each lab they turn in to me. Students are only allowed to turn in the labs late, if they have an excused absence. We looked at the labs on Friday and most students got them together then, but a few were still looking for some.

We are going to be starting a new project on Monday. It will be over energy - renewable and nonrenewable. For this project, the students will be using a new computer tool called a voice thread. It will be a lot of fun for them because they will be recording their voices and saying their information, instead of typing it. I am excited to teach it to them. I will keep you up to date on how things are going with it. Hope you are having a good weekend. Talk to you soon. If you need anything or have any questions, please let me know.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Monday, March 7

Hello!

Today some of the classes had to finish the activities from last week where they got behind because of the testing during the morning. The other classes watched a couple of videos on matter. Tomorrow, we are going to get those classes all caught up, so we can all watch the physical/chemical changes demonstrations on Wednesday. The classes not getting caught up will be working on a couple of worksheets dealing with these changes and maybe even some matter and mass. I will be giving some notes for their test on Thursday, if things go like I hope. If we don't get to start them on Thursday, then it will be on Friday. I will put the notes we take on here, so that the students will have access to them, if they loose what they write down in class. The test will be one day next week. It depends on the day we take the notes. I don't like to give tests on Monday, so I know it won't be then. More than likely, it will be Tuesday or Wednesday. I will put on here as soon as the kids and I decide which day would be best. We will be ready to start our next topic from here. It is renewable and nonrenewable resources. I will probably have them do this as a group project. I have a new tool available for them, in addition to their wikis and power point. It is a voicethread. They will put in images and then record their voices with the information needed. Others can respond to their project with recordings of their own, therefore creating this voice thread. The students have never created one before, so I will have to teach them how. It will be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to it. Well, if you need anything, please let me know by emailing me or calling me here at school. Have a great week!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Hello, to all!

I am sorry that it has been so long since I last was on here, but we have been taking the InView and Terra Nova test this week. With the test going on, the two morning periods have had to alternated, so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I did the other classes. We finished up our study of rocks and minerals and reviewed matter, mass, and volume, then began physical/chemical changes. We have been using Smart board lessons to review and cover these topics. The students have been taking notes off the board and keeping them in their folders. Here are the notes on "Equal Volume Different Mass" that they took off the board. The classes are in different places, so some classes took these notes on Wednesday, some on Thursday, and some will on Monday. The learning goal is "Objects with Equal Volume CAN have different mass". There are five facts on matter has volume:

1. Volume is the amount of space that an object takes up.
2. Things with volume cannot share the same space at the same time.
3. When you measure the volume of liquid in a cylinder, you should look at the meniscus (this is the lowest point of the line on the cylinder).
4. A liquids volume is usually expressed in liters (L) or milliliters (mL).
5. 1 mL = 1 cm3

Gas = cannot really find the volume of a gas because it expands to fill the container. We usually measure the container and the pressure inside the container.

Matter has mass - put these into order from least mass to the greatest:

hamster
elephant
skyscraper
moon

The difference between mass and weight:

1. All matter experience gravity because all matter has mass.
2. The force of gravity is greater when two objects get closer together.
3. Weight = A brick weighs less in space than on Earth because the gravitational force pulling on the brick decreases as it gets farther away from the Earth.
4. Mass is not the same as weight. Mass is not dependent on gravity.

Students created a table with 9 rows and 4 columns. The headings of the 4 columns are materials, mass, volume, and density. Under the materials is listed AL, Brass, Copper, Steel, Wood, Acrylic, Nylon, and PVC. We filled out the table together as a class. The volume is the same for each material - 14.71. The mass for AL is 44g., Brass is 50g, Copper is 80g, Steel is 13g, Wood is 13g, Acrylic is 19, Nylon is 18g, and PVC is 22g. We discussed where steel and wood are the same and how that does not seem right. I got these numbers off the internet and I don't think that the steel one is for a one inch cube, so it is going to be off. I gave each group a calculator and they divided mass /volume to find the density. We were very close to the known densities, except for brass, copper, and steel.

After we completed this activity, we looked at physical and chemical changes and examples of those. Once that was done, we completed an activity on the four states of matter and examples of those and more examples of physical/chemical changes. The students wrote down the four states of matter, which are solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. Then, the class would decide on what a physical and chemical change is and how to know. Each class's definition looks a little different from the other. I will have to put those on here next week, because those are not all done, yet.

That about covers all that we have been doing. If you need anything, please let me know. Hope you have a great weekend!