Tuesday

We finished doing the Punnett Squares in most of the classes today. The students handed in their finished product. Tomorrow we will do a work sheet on Why Are We Learning All This Stuff? Then we will turn in books and clean up the room. On Thursday the kids need to be at school at the normal time. They are not to be dressed in swimming clothing, but in regular school clothing. On Friday the students report to first hour for roll-call. Following that they go to the gym for report cards and signing of year books. By 8:30 they students go to the Center Theater and watch the move August Rush. As soon as the movie is over the students go back to the school and go home.

Thursday

The animal reports were handed back today with a grading rubric explaining each grade. We also took the final exam. For the papers I saw, the students did quite well. I hope that is so with all of them.

Monday is Memorial Day. We have class on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday we will make some hypotheses on our bacteria petri dishes, finish our Oompah Loompah Punnett Square and fill in the character traits chart. On Wednesday we will check out bacteria petri dishes and see if our hypotheses were correct. Then we will hand in books and each hour will have a different room cleaning job.

Thursday, make sure you have your money for the field trip. Have a pleasant Memorial Day and remember those who came before us to make our road a little easier.

Wednesday - Incentive trip May 29th

The incentive trip is coming up to Downata on May 29th. The students need to be at the school at the regular time and will be back before the end of the day. The cost for swimming and the slide pass is $6.50. Students can either bring a lunch from home or pay $5.00 for a meal combo. They should bring, not wear, a swimsuit and a towel. If they want a locker to keep their things in that will cost an additional $3.00. This is an incentive trip available only to students who do not have more than five detentions and who are not failing any of their third trimester classes.

Tomorrow we are having a test. The students were given the questions and answers. The questions are also on yesterday's blog. These are things the students must know. They should be able to get an A on this test.

Today we used a q-tip and petri dish to find places in the school were germs and bacteria might be growing. We will let that sit over the long week-end and see what happens to it. We also compared dominant and recessive traits and finished our work on probability. Finally we started a worksheet on how to figure out recessive and dominant traits by using critical thinking skills and a Punnett Square.

Tuesday - short final on Thursday

Due to the need to have all failing grades posted by Thursday our final exam will be on Thursday. There are ten questions, many of which have been on previous exams. However, each question is worth ten points. The purpose of the exam is to review the year's work and hopefully to help grades.

Yearbooks are for sale right now, they cost $12.00. The money needs to be in immediately.

Today we talked about Punnett Squares and probability. The students did a probability chart using red and white beans. Then they did a trait chart on dominant and recessive traits and which ones they possessed. It was fun.

Test Questions
1. Define hypothesis
2. Draw an uncharged atom.
3. Name the four stages of matter.
4. What is lava?
5. Write the names of the planets in order. Earth, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Saturn, Venus, Uranus, Mercury
6. Name the three types of rocks.
7. What is one main difference between plants and animals.
8. Name one difference between a plant cell and an animal cell.
9. What is the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates.
10. Fill in this Punnett Square The character trait is for a hitch hiker thumb. TT is dominant tt is recessive You will be working with a heterozygous pairing on the top and the side. Fill in the chart completely and then write to explain what the chart means. (How many offspring will have hitchhiker thumb, how many will not.)

Monday

The last of the reports are in. A couple of students just didn't get them done, that will really hurt! Most of the students did very well. There were a few problems. The handout was very specific about what was required and some students didn't follow the requirements. A second problem was blatant plagarism. We discussed that problem today, that it is pretty obvious when a 6th grader uses words he or she doesn't even understand. I hope they get the message that plagarism is illegal and not acceptable in any form.

Today we talked about genetics. The students took notes and we talked about dominant and recessive traits. We also discussed nature vs nurture, which traits do we get genetically and which ones do we inherit from observing our parents and other adults in our lives. They should have finished reading through B83. Tomorrow we are going to work on Punnett Squares and see about our own recessive and dominant genes.

Thursday

The reports went well today, nearly every student had something to turn in. The posters were very good. Some students found pictures, others drew their own and did an excellent job.

Homework to prepare for:
Monday: read The History of Genetics starting at B72.
Tuesday: read Predicting Traits starting at B 84
Wednesday: read How DNA Controls Traits B 96
Thursday: read Using Genetics B 108

Wednesday - essay due tomorrow

After taking notes on diffusion, osmosis and equilibrium, the students had two choices. Those who were finished with their reports were allowed to watch the movie, "The Living Desert." Those who were not finished were allowed to go into the lab and work on their reports. Those who were ready to type went to the typing lab and typed their reports. Some students spent time in the library and others spent time with Mrs. Winward searching for the last bits of information on the Internet.

The students were again instructed on what must be in the report to get full points. The paper with this information was handed to the students on May 1st. There are extra copies in the file for anyone who needed a new one. Also the information is in an earlier post, possibly May 1st.

The reports are due at the start of class tomorrow. Then the students will give their oral reports and show us their visual aid.

Tuesday report due Thursday

We did a variety of things in class today. The students labeled the organelles on both an animal and plant cell and then wrote the jobs of each part. This included pages B36-B39. We finished learning about the Biomes today and filling out the sheet. These will be checked for completeness. Anyone absent today can get notes from another classmate.

Tomorrow we will be allowing time for students to do the finishing touches on their report. It will not be all of class time, but since some students do not have computers, they need the time to type. The rest of the class will finish the movie on the desert Biome.

Thursday the written reports and poster will be due as the students walk in the door. We will begin the oral reports immediately. Late reports will receive 50% credit on Monday and no credit on Tuesday. Please make sure you have them with you on Thursday morning, Losing 100 points can destroy a good grade.

Monday

We worked to get finished with the Biomes today, but due to a computer glitch, we didn't quite get done. We will finish Biomes tomorrow. We did watch a little of a movie today about the Desert. We will get to more of that tomorrow.

The 100 point paper, poster and oral report of 2-3 minutes are due on Thursday. I will make sure everyone has everything done and then we will begin. Please, don't procrastinate this.

Thursday p.s.

6th graders were given a 7th grade registration paper on Monday, May 5. They must be in Monday morning, May 12th. Please make sure you get yours signed by your math teacher, your parent and or guardian, and turn it in. Thanks

Thursday

We talked about life stages and had each student show their pictures and tell about two stages of their life, infant and pre-teen. It was fun. Since some of the students couldn't locate pictures, they drew very creative pictures of themselves.

Then we began working on a worksheet about Biomes. We are visiting, through the Internet, seven different biomes and learning about each one. The students are to fill out the sheet that tells the rainfall, temperature, animals and plant-life of the different Biomes. We hope this will be completed on Monday.

The animal reports are getting closer and closer. They need to be done on Thursday May 15th.

Wednesday and cells

Today we took notes on the different parts of the cell, then we used construction paper and made our own cells.

Tomorrow we will review the parts of the cell and then move on to Biomes.

Homework Tonight: Each student was given a paper called, "Stages of Life." With a parent's help, the students need to fill it out and return it tomorrow. The purpose of the paper is to re-teach what a stage of life is. This should help the student with their animal paper which is due a week from tomorrow.

Tuesday and back to normal

Today we discussed vertebrates - we discussed the seven classes of vertebrate, jawless fish, cartiligous fish, bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. We discussed why some eggs have shells and some do not.

The classes had about 10-15 minutes to work on their reports yesterday and today. The reports are to be a full page and are due May 15. Some students are ready to type. Doing it early is a good idea so they can see if it is full page. They are to use Times New Roman size 12 or less. It might be a good idea to practice the oral part of the report in front of their families.

There is a new link about the life cycle of honey bees. We will watch it in class, possibly tomorrow.

Monday and a bit late

Sorry this is so late, we had the Internet down at school today and I couldn't get on. Today we discussed Invertebrates. The students got to look at insect legs and eyes through a microscope. The students were given time to work on their reports which are due on May 15th. They should have a paper home to give more information on that. Tomorrow we will cover Vertebrates.

Thursday animal essay

Today the students got their assignments for the animal essay. Each one should have a paper with the requirements. Basically it is a one page paper about a specific critter. The intro is 10 mpoints and asks them to define and describe the characteristics of the animal, tell its name, what other animals are in the same class, and why, out of that phylum, did they choose that animal
2nd paragraph is 30 points and should cover what the critter lookls like, where is it found, what eats or or what does it eat, lifestyle and life cycle, how long it survives, why it is important to life on Earth, is it a pest or beneficial.
3rd paragraph is the conclusion and worth 10 points. The student should cover, if the critter is endangered, why or why not, how do humans affect this organism and how it affects us, and what was the most interesting fact learned about the critter.
There is also 25 points for a visual aid poster
Last, there will be a 2 - 3 minute oral report based on the critter and what they have learned. This is also worth 25 points.
This paper will take the place of the next test.
We also reviewed the test. Some students had commented that they couldn't find the answers, so I showed them where they were in their notes and in the book.