Tuesday December 18

Today the kids worked on learning the differences between: Compounds, Elements, Molecules and Mixtures.  We did a couple of activities with some cards and on the smartboard today.

This week: Thursday and Friday: kids will be working on their Writing Assessment for Term 2.  The rubric is online already and they will receive directions Thursday.  The paper is due on Friday at the end of the hour.

Thursday December 13

Today the kids are taking an 80% test over Act. 12-16.  They are using an online program called Socrative to take the test today.

We are then going to start Act. 17 where kids are going to be building molecules. 

Quiz for Thursday December 13

This week Thursday the kids will be having a short test that will be 80% of their grade. Hopefully the kids will do some studying and do well on the test!

Here are the concepts they will need to know for this quiz:
1. Act. 12
    What is the purpose of a materials engineer? 
    What are some advantages/disadvantages of plastic, aluminum, and glass for container use?

2. Act. 13
     What are the four parts of the life cycle diagram and know what each of them contribute to the life cycle process.

3. Act. 14
      What are the chemical and physical properties that were tested in the experiment performed?
       How would you know whether there was a chemical change or a physical change that took place?  This a from a sheet of paper we took notes on during class time (full of pictures).

4. Act. 15
        Name some physical properties and chemical properties of elements.  From the element cards.
        How do we group elements on the periodic table?
       
5.  Act. 16
       What are the parts of the elements listed on the periodic table of elements?
        What is an atom?
        

Wednesday December 5

Today kids used computers to research their element for their element report.  The rubric for the report is posted on the Science homepage your son or daughter needs another copy of it.  The quilt square they need to make needs to be 2 3/4 inches in width and 3 1/4 inches in height.

The report and the square are due on Friday. The kids do have to present their information to the class and attach their square to the paper on the back bulletin board after their presentation.

Let me know if you have any questions about the report.

How much will you eat during Thanksgiving dinner this Year?

              
Proportion Sizes for chart below
Click on Infographic for Thanksgiving Dinner

Type of Food	Servings (What is the serving size?)	How many calories?	What are they comparing the serving size to?
Vegetables
Salad
Turkey
Gravy
Potatoes
Stuffing
Cornbread
Butter
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie	1 small piece	180
Whip Cream	2 TBSP	30

Pick out which ones you will eat and then calculate how many calories you will consume in your Thanksgiving meal.  If you take seconds of any item or think you will eat more than the portion states add some more calories to your amount.

Remember this is what you are supposed to have in one day!

	Inactive	Active	Highly Active
Male 9-15	1800	2100	2600
Female 9-15	1600	2000	2400

Approximately how many calories will you consume?  
Make a list of exercises you will need to do and how long it will take you to exercise to get those calories off.
Exercise to Burn Thanksgiving Day Feast 

Give me 3 reasons why I am having you gather all of this information about Sugar, Thanksgiving Dinner and Exercise?

What type of a message can you relay to other people about the information you learned in the past four days in Science class?

Nutrition Assignment for Monday Nov. 19

 Click on Sugar Infographic to get to the site so you can answer the following questions on a lined sheet of paper.  Please try and get them finished up by Tuesday when you walk in the door because we will be doing another activity tomorrow.


Sugar Infographic:
once you get into the graphic, click on it and it should get a little bigger for you!

1. Give me three REALLY GOOD reasons why there is such a difference in the amount of sugar people consumed in 1822 and 2012.

2. Look at the US Sugar Consumption: Give me two thoughts about the progression of the sugar hill.

3. Give me the details of the average american consumption
    a. How much a week?
    b. How much in a lifetime?
    c. How many skittles is that?
    d. Or enough sugar to fill?

4. How much sugar are you supposed to have in one day?  What does that amount compare to?

5. How much does the average adult have in one day?
6. How much does the average kid have in one day?

7. What are the list of culprits of sugar?

8.  Which of those do you feel like you consume the most of?

9.  How many gallons of soft drinks does the average human consume per year?

10.  How many calories does sugar use up in your diet a day?  

11. Take the amount you found in question 10 and find your activity level in the chart along with the calorie amount that goes with it.  
    Calories from sugar/ (divided by) calories from the chart below.  Then multiply it by 100 to get the percent of sugar used up in your diet.  

What is your percent?

Calculate the percent of calories that would be according to the table below

	Inactive	Active	Highly Active
Male 9-15	1800	2100	2600
Female 9-15	1600	2000	2400

12.  What type of nutritional value does sugar have for you?

13.  Look at the disease and complications of having too much sugar/or other unhealthy habits.  Which of these diseases happen to someone in your family?
14.  How has this information changed your viewpoint about what you eat?  Will this information affect you the rest of your life?  What can you do to make your diet improve now that you know this information?

Monday November 12

Just wanted to say thank you to all the parents who came to conferences last week!

Today: kids finished their graphs and then needed to work on Analysis questions 1-5 for Act. 12.  Whatever they didn't get finished in class they will now have to complete on their own time.  Textbook is under classroom resources on website.

Started working on Act. 13 and this activity is about how companies produce the three types of bottles.  Kids went online and looked at the life cycles of soccer balls, DVD/CD, and a cell phone.  Each of the diagrams talked about how they produce, manufacture, and ship the product, what people do with the product and what happens to the product when finished with it.

Wednesday Nov.7

I have been slacking a bit on the posts I promised for my class. Life is getting in the way!!!

We started a new term and therefore started a new unit. We are working on chemistry until January of next year. Kids will be participating in many hands-on activities again. We have been working on determining which type of material would make a good drink container. They are learning all the advantages and disadvantages of plastic, aluminum and glass. The kids are now making three bar graphs of information they are learning about each product.

The bar graphs are due on Thursday for 1st hour and due Monday during class for 5/6 hrs.

Thursday Oct. 25

There are plenty of exciting things happening in Science in the coming week:

1. Writing Assessment due at the end of the hour Friday, Oct. 26.

2. Study Guide handed out on Thursday, Oct. 25 and is due on Monday, Oct. 29.

3. Written/MC test on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

4. Lab test on Wednesday, Oct. 31 and Thursday, November 1.

So please help your child prepare for the end of the term by studying for their tests they have next week!

Also, if you check the science site out on the welcome page or the science calendar page you will find a site I will start to use to send text messages to your kids/you for reminders of upcoming important events!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tuesday Oct. 23

Just posted on the website today is the study guide for our test next week and the writing assessment we will be doing in class this coming week.  Check out the calendar and make sure you have an understanding of what is going on in class for the next week and 1/2.  End of the term is next Wednesday Oct. 31.  All student assignments are due that day in all classes. 

Can't believe one term is already finished!!!

Thursday October 18

Sorry I haven't updated the site lately, I have been sick with strep and just haven't felt up to it!  But I'm back at it!!!

Today we finished activity 9, measuring the volume of the bars, cylinders and cubes.  Accurately measuring is a crucial part in finding the density of the objects.  We discussed making sure we use the measuring tools correctly and calculating correctly.

Once finished with Act. 9 we started back at activity 7 and discussed results of experiments and analysis questions.  Also discussed the same thing with act. 8 and 9. 

Friday Oct. 19: Notebook Quiz over Act. 7-9

Friday October 12

Today the kids did Act. 8, measuring the volume of rectangular solids and cylinders.  The objects are made out of different metals.  This activity will help determine the actual name of the metals in which the cylinder in the unlabeled jar are made of.  Accuracy in measuring is going to be the key today.

Just a heads up:
November 2 is going to be our written science test.
Oct. 30/31 is going to be our lab test over measuring and using the ruler, graduated cylinder and triple beam balance to measure mass and volume. 

The week before the kids will be doing a Science writing assessment but this will be done within the classroom.

The kids will be getting a study guide for both parts of the test probably the week before the actual test. 

Tuesday Oct. 9

Today we only had 5/6th hour Science classes.  We worked on using the triple beam balance to measure the mass of some items and we used the graduated cylinder to measure the volume of irregular solids.  Irregular solids are materials that you can't use a ruler to measure their volume.

We will do some more practice tomorrow!

Monday Oct. 8

For the next two weeks kids will be participating in the Michigan MEAP test.  We start tomorrow and we will be testing our first hour kids.  In Science, we will be doing some other activities in class in order to keep my classes in line with each other.  Testing takes place T/W/Th of this week and T/W of next week and possibly Th of next week.  Please make sure to have your kids get a good nights rest and a good breakfast in the morning.

Monday:
kids are working on finding the volume of some cylinders and rectangular solids to hopeful help them determine the cylinders in the unlabeled jar.  Kids will use their skills learned last week on how to measure and calculate volume but they will also learn a new process called Water Displacement.  Water Displacement is when you have an object that is an odd shape in which there is no formula to use to measure its volume.  We use a graduated cylinder to measure volume in this case. 

Friday Oct. 5

 

Yesterday and today the kids started working on measuring the volume of rectangular solids and cylinders.  They have approximately 16 items to measure.  They are practicing today because next week they will be trying to use their knowledge to find the density of the cylinders in the unlabeled container they have been working with.

No Homework this weekend:)

Wednesday Oct. 3

Today kids worked on finishing up Act. 7.  We discussed the analysis questions and the results of the activity.

We then took our notebook quiz over act. 3,5,6 and part of 7.  Grades will be posted by Friday of this week.

Tuesday Oct. 2

These are some kids working on their science experiment today to determine the names of the unknown solids in their unlabeled hazardous materials jar.

Tuesday October 2

Today the kids worked on experiments for Act. 7.  They are to determine what the solids were in the unlabeled container.  They then need to work on analysis questions and the jist.

From now on when they do the gist (three things they learned from the activity) they are supposed to look at their learning targets and determine if any of the learning targets were covered in the activity and they use that information in their gist.

REMEMBER: NOTEBOOK QUIZ TOMORROW OVER ACT. 3,5,6 AND PART OF 7

Monday October 1

Another week of Science...
today we finished and discuss Act. 6.  The kids found the liquids to be Mineral Oil and Iron Nitrate Solution.  Many of the students did an excellent job completing this lab.  Still working on some other group dynamics:).

Once we finished up act. 6 we then are moving onto Act. 7 and trying to figure out what all of the solids were in the container. 

Notebook Quiz is going to be on Wednesday over Act. 3,5,6 and a little bit of 7.  Sorry I keep postponing it!!!

Thursday September 27

We discussed Act. 5 in detail today.  Went over all analysis questions and the appearance section on the chart today.

Start Act. 6 where the kids are going to investigate what the two liquids are in the unlabeled jar.  On Friday the kids will then do 7 different tests to see if they can determine the name of each liquid. 

NOTEBOOK QUIZ HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL MONDAY: REMEMBER THEY DO GET TO USE THEIR NOTES!!!

Tuesday September 26

Today we needed to discuss how to complete homework. Many kids didn't follow the directions for their homework that was due on Friday so we needed to do a redo!  Many finished it in class and their zeros will be taken care of when I can get to the grade book.

Kids finished their plans, analysis questions 1,3 on page A-20.  Completed their homework and then read Science world magazine.

No Homework today:)

Act. 5 Separating the Substances

Today was a big day in Science class.  Kids took the unlabeled jar and used their plans from last Friday to separate the contents of the jar.  Kids soon realized how hard it was to accomplish the task.  However, I do believe they all had fun doing the experiment today.

No Homework today.

Notebook Quiz on Friday over activities 3,5,6

Thursday/Friday Sept. 20,21

Yesterday and today the kids started to make an experiment plan to separate their unlabeled mixtures.  They have to come up with a detailed explanation on to separate the contents so someone off the street could do the experiment if they came into our classroom

Kids had homework to turn in today from Wednesday. Household Hazardous Waste items in the household.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Wednesday September 19

Today the kids finished up categorizing their chemicals into different hazard classes.  They finished up Analysis questions 2 & 4 and completed the gist.  We then discussed their homework that is due on Friday, September 21. 
For their homework, the kids need to find three hazardous products within the home and answer the following questions:
Product Name:
Is it a Solid, Liquid, or Gas
What ingredients are Hazardous
What hazards are posed by the product

They can write their information on the back of the sheet I provided in class.  There are questions at the bottom of the paper the kids need to complete also.

Tuesday September 18

Act. 2 Types of Hazards

We did two demos in class today.  One to test whether some substances were flammable and the other to test whether the substances were corrosive. 

Today kids started working with Chemical Data Cards.  These cards provided the kids with names of different chemicals and hazards they pose.  The kids then had to categorize the cards and figure out what hazards they pose and write out some safety precautions that are necessary to use when handling the chemical. 

Don't forget there is a notebook quiz tomorrow over ACT. 1 and ACT. 2

Monday September 17

Today we finished up with Act. 1.  We completed in class Analysis questions 3 & 4 and finished the gist for Act. 1.  The gist is three things the kids learned from the activity.  We then started filling out our notebooks for Act. 2 Types of Hazards.  Talked about the Demo we will be doing in class Tuesday to get the kids ready!

NOTEBOOK QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19.  KIDS CAN USE THEIR NOTEBOOKS ON THIS QUIZ!

Thursday, September 13

Today we actually started into our science unit. 
We discussed the following information:
     Syllabus of the class: needs to be turned in tomorrow signed
     Learning Targets for the first unit, they are posted on the website
     Showed the website where kids can get information
  

Kids then started setting up their notebooks for our first unit: Studying Materials Scientifically
Act. 1 Handling Hazardous Materials.

No homework tonight!!!
    

Wednesday, September 12

Today the kids had to finish a bunch of their calculations for Going Bananas lab.

The kids homework was to graph the percent edible and make into a bar graph.

Bar Graph is due on Thursday, September 13 at the beginning of the hour!!

Going Bananas

Today kids watched the Chiquita Banana commercial from the 40's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE.  They watched the video once and tried to write down as many banana facts that they could.  We watched it one more time and wrote down more facts.  We then discussed how doing things over again you gain more knowledge and understanding of what you are doing.

We then started a "Going Bananas" Experiment.  Groups received a banana and has to measure the mass, measure the length in cm, check for buoyancy, and the peel it and do the same thing to the peel and the pulp.

Wednesday: we will be creating another bar graph of information which will be calculated in class from data collected.

Monday September 10

Today the kids worked on completing a quadruple bar graph (if there is such a thing:)) for some data we collected about M&M's. We have completed a sample graph within the classroom together in which they are going to be using throughout the year as a guide to complete other graphs.  This one needs to be colored according to the colors in the package of the M&M. 

If the kids don't complete the graph by the beginning of the class they will need to go to a homework lunch help session in order to complete their work.

GRAPH FOR M&M'S DUE TUESDAY AT BEGINNING OF THE HOUR

Happy Graphing!!!

Welcome to Science 2012-2013

Welcome to 7th grade Science

This year we will be working on the following units:
Scientific Method
Chemistry
Weather
Genetics
Waves

Assessments:
Unit Tests
Weekly Quizzes over the activities (they get to use their notebooks)
 Other assignments

Requirements for kids:
Each student needs to have a spiral notebook for the first term and one for the second term.
Writing Utensil
Binder to keep notebook and other papers

Here is what takes place in class:
Each day the kids will be taking notes and doing activities.  It is very important for the kids to take notes in their notebooks because the kids will then get to use their notebooks on their quizzes.

I do not give much homework.  Please just ask your child what took place in class that day.

Tuesday, May 1 Class Assignment

Today you will be using the websites provided to answer the following 19 questions.  You will have until Monday, May 7th to complete the answers to questions and turn them in.

Use this website for 1-3   Air Masses - The Basics
1. What is an air mass?


2. Where do polar and tropical air masses develop? (Give the approximate latitudes.)


3. For each of the four air masses, what is the description this website gives?


Use this website for 4: Air Masses in the US
4. Why is the United States not a great place for air masses to form?



Use this website for 5-6: Air Masses - More Information
5. What do the letters “K” or “W” mean when attached to an air mass?


6. When does America have typically have its most violent weather? Why?


Use this website for 7-8: Air Mass Visualizations
7. In the first illustration, what kind of air mass is passing over the region? What type of weather will it bring?



8. In the second illustration, what kind of air mass is passing over southern California? What type of weather will it bring?



Use this website for 9-11: Front Illustrations
9. Click on the “Cold Front.” What happens in the illustration?



10. Click on the “Warm Front.” What happens in the illustration?



11. In both the cold front and the warm front, warm air rises and cold air stays near Earth’s surface. How are they different?


Use this website for 12-14: Cold Fronts
12. What is a cold front and in what direction does one typically move?



13. How are cold fronts represented on a weather map?



14. From the chart at the bottom of the page, what happens to the wind as a cold front passes through? What about the precipitation?



Use this website for 15-17: Warm Fronts
15. What is a warm front and in what direction does one typically move?



16. How are warm fronts represented on a weather map?



17. From the chart at the bottom of the page, when a warm front passes through an area, what happens to the temperature and precipitation levels in that area?



Use this website for 18-19: Stationary Fronts
18. What is a stationary front and what type of weather does one typically bring?



19. What is the weather map symbol for a stationary front?



Use this website to take the quiz: Review Quiz
20. Go to the above website and answer all 15 questions. When you finish, write down your score as the number you got right (out of 15) and the percent (out of 100) it equals.

Monday February 13

Today kids worked on an experiment where they tested different types of food to determine whether those food products contained fats, starches or sugar. 
Analysis Questions 1-5 will be finished on Tuesday during class.

QUIZ ON WEDNESDAY OVER  PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND IT COUNTS AS 80% OF THE KIDS GRADE!

Wednesday January 25

Today we worked on Act. 42 Taking a Closer Look at Cell Parts.  We took lots of notes on cell organelles and talked about the job the organelles do for the body.  We also discussed how organelles make up cells, cells make up tissue, tissue makes up organs, organs make up organ systems, and organ systems make up the human body.

We also looked at the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells.

HW: Notebook Quiz on Friday over Act. 37 (Historians) and Act. 42 Taking a Closer Look

Tuesday January 24

Today the kids had the opportunity to finish up their Historian flipbooks.  They read information with a partner and found 3-4 facts on what the historian contributed to science and society.

They were to finish the definitions for their four vocabulary words and had one analysis question to complete.

Don't forget: Notebook Quiz on Friday over Historians and Cell Organelles

Term 3, Second Semester Starts Today-Monday January 23

Today we went over a few new rules for term 3.  Kids need to make sure they have planners in order to leave the class for any reason.  They are also required to put all of their media devices on the tops of their tables in the off position.  They are becoming too distracting within the classroom.

Also, discussed why kids need to come prepared to class.  If kids are not prepared by the time I am ready to start our lesson, they will be sent to SRC.

Today we started Cells.  Our first activity is going to be dealing with historians who contributed information about cells.

Started a flip book with all the historians names and we will continue working on it during class again tomorrow. Due at the end of the hour!

Kids who did not turn in their writing assessments from last term are still required to turn it in.  They will be heading to Mr. Tobar (our SRC supervisor) starting tomorrow during their lunch hour until they complete the assessment.