Week of Dec. 16

Hello and Merry Christmas!!!

I cannot believe that the first semester is almost over!  We will have been in school for 18 weeks come this Friday!!!  Our Christmas break will last two weeks, so students will not come back to school until January 6, 2014!  Enjoy the time off!!!

I have extended the time to finish the atoms test.   Some students did not get finished, so many will be working on it today and maybe even tomorrow.  We are having some technical issues with the laptops in my room, so not everyone can be on the computer working.  I will be giving out the list of labs that students can turn in for extra credit today, too.  They will be due on Thursday!  I did not get this list to my 1st period class, so they will get it tomorrow and will have till Friday to turn it in.

We will be having a pizza party on Friday.  I will bring in chips and Pepsi and Mountain Dew.  If your child wants something else, then they are more than welcome to bring it in to the party.  We are going to make Friday a party day with our homerooms.  There will be movies and games, if my Wii will hook up to my Smart board! hee!  Well, I think that is all for now.  If I think of anything else, I will put another post on here.  Have a great Christmas!!!  See you next year!!

Test date correction!!!

I have had to change the date for the test this week. I will not be here on Thursday, so I need to move the date of the test on atoms to Friday.  This will give students an extra day to study.  I will have my sub reviewing the terms with them, too.  I hope this does not cause too much trouble with anyone.

We are working with various stations this week that allow students to practice mass, volume, and density.  They are also working with their terms in these stations, so they are getting some help for their test.  It will be an interesting Thursday, since the students will be going to Secret Santa, too.  I have sent home a letter today with your child from the PTO telling about Secret Santa.  The 6th grade will be going during their science class.  Have a great week!  One more till Christmas break!!!

Friday, Dec. 6

Wow!!!  How time flies when you are having fun!  I cannot believe how this school year is flying by!!!  We have been working on a couple of different things the past couple of weeks.  We finished up the soil activity and got to use a new computer tool - the wiki!  The kids liked it, but didn't like getting up in front of the class to talk.  They would rather record their information and have me play it for the class.  Speaking in front of a group of people is a skill that is hard to get comfortable with and some do better at it and will end up feeling more relaxed at it then others.  Some are just born public speakers and that is okay.  I just want the kids to have a little experience talking in front of a group.  I tried to give them a few tricks of the trade to help them - like looking at the tops of peoples' heads or the tops of their ears, walk around the room, and the popular dramatic pause!  This helps you to gather your thoughts and the audience to think about what you are saying.  The kids laughed when I told them this.

We are working on atoms right now.  They will be going through seven stations next week and then we will be ready for the test.  This test will be different because it will be on the computer.  I will have them create a glog poster with the required information on it.  It is really cool and a creative way to assess what the kids know.  Right now, I am planning on the test taking place on Thursday.  This will give us time to get all the stations completed and review for the test.  Well, have a great weekend.  Christmas is almost here and we will get a nice break.  Talk to you next week!!

Friday, November 8

Wow!  We have been very busy the past few weeks!  Students have been learning about metamorphic rocks and the rock cycle.  They even wrote a song about it!  We have started soil this week.  Yesterday, they worked on a lab activity on soil types.  I gathered three types and had them look at the characteristics, then identify them.  We will finish that identification today.  It will be our LAB #4.  This lab will be worth more extra credit at the end of the grading period, since it is so big.

Today is our veteran's assembly.  I will not get to see my last two periods, so we will have to complete their activity on Monday.  It will not be a problem, though.  I gave the students copies of information on soil that I got off the internet.  This way, they would not have to write all those notes off the board.  There is nothing in our textbooks on soil.  These papers should be in their folders.  They need to keep these so use for reference and to study for their test.  We will finish going over those on Monday, too.  I have a really exciting project for students to complete on soil.  It will be a small group project.  They will start it next week.  Once I give them all the details, I will put it on here for you.  I want it to be a surprise!!!  Well, I guess that is about it for now.  Have a good weekend!

Wednesday, Oct. 23

Hello!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be having a test over metamorphic rocks this coming Friday, October 25.  The kids will need to study their notes, LAB #1, and bellwork over metamorphic rocks.  I have been telling them since Monday about the test, but wanted to make sure that I got this test put on the blog site.  The test will not be a very long one, since there were not very many notes we took on this rock.  Thanks for helping out with the test!!!

Monday, Oct. 21

Hello!

I am so sorry that I have not been on here sooner.  Time is just going by so quickly and we are so busy in class.  The kids are working very hard to learn the three types of rocks.  We are now working on metamorphic.  We had the test last week over sedimentary.  So far, grades are looking pretty good.  I will let them correct these, just like I did the igneous rocks test.  We are starting the project for metamorphic rocks today.  I hope 7th period will be able to, at least.  They are a little behind with all the other activities going on at school.  We have missed a couple of class periods and are just getting to view their voicethreads.  Oh, the voicethreads turned out really good!  I am so excited about them.  For the metamorphic project, we will be using the glogs again.  The project is a small one and the glog is very well suited for it.  I put the students into pairs and gave each pair a mineral that helps to create metamorphic rocks.  The pairs will find out how the mineral is formed, what we use the mineral for in our lives and get some pictures.  This just screams glog, since it is so much like a poster.  I am thinking that the test over metamorphic rocks will be on Friday.  The last part of rocks to cover is the rock cycle.  We need to see how these rocks are all connected.  Well, I guess that is all for right now.  Have a great week!!!

Thursday, October 3

Wow!  How time flies by!  It has been a very busy week for us.  We finished up the notes on sedimentary rock and I even put them on this blog.  They are on the home page listed under link "Sedimentary".  Just click on the word and all the notes will come up.  You can print them off, if you need to.  We, also, completed Lab #5, so the students will have this sheet in their folders.  They can use this for extra credit at the end of the grading period AND we will be using it as part of their study notes, when we take the test over sedimentary rocks.

Today, we started our projects for sedimentary rocks.  Each group of students will be researching something related to that type of rock.  I have not decided what computer tool I want to use with this project.  I want the kids to focus on the research first and not the tool to put the research on.  I hope that makes sense.

We are going to be starting science fair projects, too.  These projects are voluntary.  I do NOT make then a requirement.  Students get extra credit if they complete a project and follow the scientific method.  I will be talking to the students to get a count of how many will be completing one and give them the packet.  I have additional information to give them, as well, when I find out how many are completing a project.

We are still doing bellwork at the beginning of each class, so you should be seeing bellwork in your child's folder.  I collect those at the end of the week.  Oh, don't forget that we need the entrance money for the Bob Evan's field trip next Friday.  The money is due by next Thursday. That is one week from today.  We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

Well, I think that is about it for this week.  Talk to you next week!!!