ALL
I will collect textbooks at the end of class tomorrow.
EARTH SCIENCE
Last week's models were tremendous! The grades are entered and updated. Please check your grades to see if anything is still missing. Two weeks ago, I handed out copies of assignments still missing from students, and have not received any back.
This week, students are working on their skits in class. They will present on Thursday.
LIFE SCIENCE
I have ordered live protists to be delivered tomorrow afternoon. We will have a microscope lab on Wednesday to view these. In the mean time, students are taking notes on, and learning about protists. The notes will be finished in class tomorrow and due Wednesday if not completed in class. Students whose notes are not complete will not be allowed to do the lab.
Students should have finished the Kingdom Protista and Animal-like protists notes sheets today. Tomorrow, they will complete the Plant-like protists and Fungus-like protists notes organizers.
text reference: Ch 7
EARTH SCIENCE
The RAFTS were due today, and most students turned theirs in. Many also chose to present their papers. There were many great projects handed in. Several were not completed, though, so be sure to complete these and turn them in Monday for a late grade.
Next week, students will have class time to work on their models. Please bring in materials to work on these in class. Of course, any spray painting or other such elaborate ventures will have to be done at home. MOST OF THE WORK SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE DONE IN CLASS. The models are due Friday.
LIFE SCIENCE
I postponed the open-little-book test intended for today to Monday. Instead, students broke into groups and worked on a skit representing the immune system. The skits will be finalized and presented on Tuesday. Text reference: Chapter 19.
ALL
All grades are in and updated with the most current information. Please review your grade on iParent to make sure I have updated everything correctly and to look for any work you may be missing. MOST WORK IS ACCEPTED LATE.
EARTH SCIENCE
We are continuing with our Astronomy Choice Board activities. Today was our second day in the media center, doing research and beginning work on projects in earnest. Remember, the RAFT is due Friday.
Download outer_space_choices.doc
I encourage students to be gathering materials for their models and any props for their skits. Several have already brought in items to work with.
LIFE SCIENCE
Today, I reviewed endocrine system information and took a homework grade on the completion of the notes for that systemDownload endocrine_systemnotes.doc . We then switched to the immune system, with a brief discussion, followed by note-taking in an organizer which I handed out.
HW: Complete Fighting Diseases notes Download immune_system_notes.doc Text reference is the Fighting Diseases chapter.
ALL
Progress reports went out yesterday. If you haven't yet returned yours signed, please remember to bring it tomorrow.
EARTH SCIENCE
After reviewing and collecting yesterday's notes from the Solar System video, I passed out an outer space choice board. This will guide students from now through the end of the year with three projects of their choosing. The choice board allows students to choose one written, one modeling, and one skit activity to learn about three different areas of space science. The choice board also details due date and times when students will work independently in class. NONE OF THE WORK ON THESE PROJECTS IS INTENDED TO HAVE TO BE WORKED ON AT HOME. If students use their time effectively, they should have plenty of time in class to complete their work.
Home involvement should only extend to getting supplies together for the students to bring in and work on in class. Supplies should not cost a lot of money, but may consist of items found around the home. Don't discount the value of food items in model making!
LIFE SCIENCE
We are continuing our studies of the Human Body Systems.Yesterday we completed notes on the muscular system and started the skin (integumentary) system. Today we completed notes on the skin and started into the nervous system. We'll complete the nervous system, then endocrine, and finally the immune system in the next couple of weeks.
HW: Students should review and complete their notes every night and make sure the keep up the chart in the middle of the booklet as we cover the systems.
EARTH SCIENCE
After a review of the seasons today, we continued with the study of the phases of the moon.
HW: Students should complete the moon phases worksheet started in class.
LIFE SCIENCE
We are continuing with the human body systems and the Human Body Little Book.
Quiz tomorrow on the 20 bones we have been practicing in class. Everyone should get 100. There will be no word bank, and spelling counts for partial credit. Text reference p. 481. Instead of skull, we used cranium. Pelvis instead of pelvic girdle. Mandible instead of jawbone.
EARTH SCIENCE
After catching up with Spring Break highlights, we completed and reviewed the Storms worksheet that students started before Spring Break.
There will be a test on Winds and Weather Wednesday. I will pass out the study guide Download winds_and_weather_study_guide.doc and review tomorrow. After that, we go into outer space to study the seasons, moon phases, planets, solar system and stars!
LIFE SCIENCE
We are continuing our brief overview of the human body systems, taking notes in and adding diagrams to the Human Body Little Book. Today, we reviewed the forms and functions of blood vessels, and I started teaching about the heart and two loops the blood makes. Text reference for Circulatory System is Chapter 17.
I will be giving quizzes on the individual body systems daily, and adding them all up into a test grade. Tomorrow, there will be a Digestive System Quiz. Students should review their Little Book notes for this. Wednesday, the quiz will be on the Excretory System; Thursday's quiz will be over the Respiratory system; and on Friday, a Circulatory System quiz, if all goes according to plan. Next Tuesday, the quiz will be on the Skeletal System to wrap up our five-quiz test.
EARTH SCIENCE
I checked the AIR MASSES notes classwork/homework completion today. Many students had not finished their work.
We are trying to pull together all the accumulated kowledge of air pressure, density, moisture, winds and fronts to understand how the different elements of weather are formed. I rought in weather maps from the newspaper today to have students investigate all the diferent pieces of information they can get from these charts. We will continue this process tomorrow.
LIFE SCIENCE
We reviewed the three systems covered so far: digestive, excretory, and respiratory. Students then took notes in their little books about the Parts of Blood. Tomorrow, I will give a few notes and informations about the three types of blood vessels: arteries, veins and capillaries, and how they circulate through the body. We'll play the body systems matching game to finish the week and send off to Spring Break.
ALL
Have a great, relaxing and refreshing break!
EARTH SCIENCE
We reviewed Friday's concepts again today. After the activity on Friday, I wasn't sure the students got out of it what they should, so I spent part of today again going over how clouds form, and the effect of temperature on humidity.
We then watched the Bill Nye video on winds, and students took notes.
Tomorrow we will begin discussing Air Masses and Fronts, Ch 17-1.
HW: review winds (text ref. 16-3) and clouds and humidity (16-4).
LIFE SCIENCE
We are continuing our Human Body unit with a Little Book. Friday, students colored and labeled digestive system organs, and copied the definitions into their Little Books. Today, after reviewing the digestive system, students took notes on the excretory system in their booklets.
Text references: Digestive system: 16-2 & 16-3; Excretory system: 18-3
HW: Keep up with notes. Complete any coloring or labeling done in class so far. You should have completed so far the cover page, with title, diagram and name; the digestive system, with color, labels, and definitions, and most of the excretory system.
Tomorrow, we will complete the excretory system notes, and move on to the respiratory system, text ch 18-1
EARTH SCIENCE
We reviewed the Winds organizer students did for homework the night before. We discussed the meanings behind some of the global wind terms and went on to lacal winds. To hear an eerie version of a sea breeze, click on this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5705284
For extra credit, some students will type papers (minimum 1 page, double spaced, Times New Roman #12 font, with normal margins) summarizing information about the history of the term "horse latitudes". To receive credit, this paper is due Monday.
LIFE SCIENCE
After the test yesterday, students started working on an organizer for the human body unit. This organizer will ultimately go into a human body booklet students started in class today. This will be their notes-taking format.
Later, students broke into groups to work on a human body systems/organs matching game. No groups finished, and we will start class with this activity tomorrow.
HW: none
EARTH SCIENCE
Students handed in their weather logs.
We began discussion and learning about winds today. Students worked on an organizer relating to the information in Chapter 16, section 3.
HW: complete organizer, both sides
LIFE SCIENCE
Evolution review. I handed back graded work on the evolution unit. We reviewed concepts. Students should refer to their journal entries and the text book, chapter 5, to study for the test. In addition, they may review the film clips whose link is on a previous blog from Friday, 3/14.
Practice writing answers to the warm-up questions, as well. See Susan Ridgeway's blog for notes on the evolution topics.
Test is tomorrow.
