Wednesday Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful time with family. Merry Christmas!

Tuesday

Those students who have not had their parents sign the permission slip for Project Northland need to get it signed and turned in.

Today we corrected E48-E49. Students then worked on finishing their biomes and started on the periodic table.

Tomorrow students will have a movie and a dance. It will cost $1.50 for any student who would like pop and a candy bar.

Monday

We are working on finishing up a few things. First, we went to Plato and finished the presentation and worksheet. Next students worked on pg E48-49. When that is done they were to finish their Biomes. And finally, students started working on their periodic table. They are coloring it to show the different properties of each section.

The final decision for activities on Wednesday has not been made yet. I will post that as soon as we are sure. School on Wednesday will get out at 1:00 p.m.

Thursday

Students began working on answering questions on pg 48-49. Complete sentences are required. This is NOT homework as I am sure everyone will be too busy this week-end. We will complete it on Monday. We also went to askteacher.blogspot.com and reviewed the songs; A Mole is a Unit, Acids and Bases, and Something Called S.I.

The only homework is for students to notice physical and chemical changes happening around them. Physical changes, as I am sure you remember, are when the substance keeps its identity. But a chemical change is when a new substance is formed. Be ready to discuss this on Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday the substitute showed the student a Plato lesson on Atoms Elements Compounds and Mixtures. On Wednesday she helped the students make an atom and, if there was time, they should have started on coloring in their periodic table of elements. They also watched the high school play on Wednesday.

Monday

Today students had the chance to show what they knew about atoms. We discussed the parts of an atom, energy levels, how to draw an atom, and reviewed covent, ionic and metallic bonding. Then we reviewed acids and bases in the song and S.I. measurements.

I will be gone for two day. Students will study tomorrow using Plato and a worksheet. And, if I can find enough pipe cleaners, they will be making atoms and making a periodic table of elements on Wednesday.

Check out my links. A Mole is a Unit, Something Called S.I., and Acids and Bases are good songs to review your knowledge,

Thursday - bring back parent signed paper on Monday

We covered a lot of ground today. We lost the fight with the Internet and so went through the song, "Acids and Bases," by talking through it. Then we went and looked at our acid and bases experiment from yesterday. We observed chemical changes including color change and a precipitate was formed.
Then we came back to the class and learned about the parts of an atom, electron clouds and their energy levels. Then we talked about valences, which led into covelent bonding, ionic bonding and just a brief minute on metallic bonding. We will review this information on Monday.
Students have an opportunity to earn 10 points of extra credit on Monday only. They were all given a paper asking permission of the parent to allow them to participate in a survey. If it is returned on Monday 10 points, Tuesday 5 points, Wednesday 3 points Thursday 1 point. We really need the permission slips back.

Wednesday

We learned about Acids and Bases today. We watched a video on youtube to teach about acids and bases. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF40cI2O16U
We learned that acids turn blue litmus paper red, acids are sour and they neutralize bases. Bases turn red litmus paper to blue, is slippery and bitter to the taste.

Then we went into the lab. We had a pH solution made of the water from boiled red cabbage. We poured different substances into the pH solution to see if they were acids, bases or neutral. It was especially interesting to watch Tide detergent change the purple liquid to yellow and orange juice changed the purple liquid red. Students would guess which color the pH solution would turn. They filled out a sheet to help them learn to recognize the pH scale.

Tuesday

We reviewed physical properties and physical changes today by correcting the assignment from class yesterday. Then we finished the ppp on atoms and elements.

Tomorrow we will be doing a rather interesting experiment on acids and bases.

Please remember to contact your family and friends to sign up for the school fund raiser. It is a nice way to do it just before Christmas as people will be shopping anyway.

Monday

We spent today reviewing the physical and chemical changes and physical properties of matter. Students completed a worksheet reviewing these concepts. Most of the students finished them in class. If they did not, the homework should be written in their planner.

Students also started a power point presentation on Atoms and Elements. We will finish that tomorrow and begin on pages E16-E27. This should take until Wednesday.

Students will be watching a play today, "The Christmas Carol."

Thursday

We discussed physical properties of objects. Physical properties are properties observed through the use of our senses. Some physical properties are color, hardness, luster, density, odor, conduction of electricity and sensitivity to magnets. We played a game, "I spy with my little eye," using the physical properties of objects.

Next we went into the lab and studied the difference between physical changes and chemical changes. Physical changes mean that the object does not lose its identity. Ice cubes melting, water boiling into steam, water freezing, tearing paper, drawing on paper, all of these are physical changes because the object is still paper or is still water.

Chemical changes create a new identity. Metal rusting, rust has different properties than metal, it is less dense and it changes color. We put baking soda in a bottle and vinegar in a balloon and then attached the balloon to the bottle. It was fun to see the balloon grow as a gas was given off. Then we answered the question, Why is the gas given off by boiling water not a chemical change, but gas given off by the baking soda and vinegar was a chemical change. Go to My Links on the right side and review the links of physical and chemical changes.

Please remember to get your fund raiser emails done. All people have to do is shop at the places listed and the school will earn money. It is so much safer than going door to door selling wrapping paper!

Wednesday

Today students were to bring in their fixed test. If you were ill yesterday, it is due tomorrow. Students whose grades were below a C came in during study academy to start work on their paper to assure they were doing it correctly.

Today we began studying on mixtures. We saw different mixtures and how they interacted with each other. Students then read in their teams about the physical properties of matter.

Report cards were handed out today. Students will also be taking home information on a fund raiser. I believe it is the one where you can register at specific sites and they will give money to the school.

Tuesday - homework - fix test

Students received their corrected tests back today. Those who are not pleased with their grades may correct each wrong answer to earn back half of their points. However, the answer must be correct, it must be a complete sentence, (a, b, c, d, t, f are not complete sentences) The sentence must be very specific. The work must be on a new sheet of paper and stapled to the test. Spelling must be correct. These rules help the student remember the material that they did not learn for the test.

Today we corrected homework, handed out oops cards and then played with the density of liquids. To see what we did you can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3kodeQnQvU and watch a similar experiment. We also discussed mass, weight, density and volume.

Homework for tonight will be to fix your test. The fixed test must be turned in at the start of class Wednesday to receive credit.

Monday - test and homework - Good grief!

As students came into class today we began to review for our test. We went over all the vocabulary words and did the actions to help with any memory loss that occurred over the Thanksgiving Holidays. Students then took the test. We corrected the tests in class. I will review them and then hand the tests back to the students tomorrow.

On Tuesday students will take the tests home and fix them using correct spelling, correct answers and, as always, they must have complete sentences. True and false will not work. A B C D will not work. Each answer must have a complete sentence. The purpose of this is to teach the student the answer they did not know.

Homework tonight is reading E 2 - 15 and doing, in complete sentences, 1-5 on E 15. This is due at the start of class tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

Since school was cancelled yesterday due to the blizzard, I wanted to let you know that we will be having the test on Monday after a review session. Grades had to be in by this Saturday so the test will be on next trimester's grades. I spent yesterday finishing the grades so the grade that is posted is your grade for the trimester. If you like it, remember next trimester to work just as hard. If you are unhappy with your grade, please make sure that next trimester you study more and come in for our study sessions. It is your life, and your future is determined by your actions today. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Monday - Cells and Biomes test tomorrow

We reviewed for the test today by having a matching game, one with the cells and one with biomes. Then students finished drawing their biomes. The test will be tomorrow. Students that have told me that they will be gone have been allowed to take the test early.

Thursday - test on Tuesday

Today we reviewed yesterday's information on a power point presentation. To review this read through pages B 71 - 128. This information is not on the test, but it is really interesting and good information to know.

We also reviewed the cells and biomes in preparation for the test. On Monday we will do a complete review for the test. Then the test will be on Tuesday.

Students will be out of school for Thanksgiving break starting on Wednesday next week. Go and do something kind for the people who take care of you everyday.

Wednesday + Homework

Students took home a paper tonight to check with family members of different genetic characteristics. They are to write down how many family members participate in seeing how many can roll their tongue or have a short first toe. There are ten or eleven things to test.

We discussed genetics today. We filled out the punnett squares and learned about genes, alleles on chromosomes.

The test on cells and biomes will be on Tuesday Nov. 23rd.

Tuesday - test in one week

Today we learned about mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis is when the nucleus of the body cells divide creating two daughter cells exactly like their parent cell. The daughter cells, in humans, have 46 chromosomes. Meiosis is when the nucleus of sex cells divide. But, since they can only have 23 chromosomes, they must divide twice leaving each with 23 chromosomes. To read about this go to pages B58-64.

We also broke open one of the eggs in each class. We could see the membrane and the nucleus.

Please work on knowing the parts of your biomes and cell organelles. These will be on the test.

Monday

The upcoming test will be on Tuesday, November 23rd. It will cover B1-B66.

Today we checked out our eggs. On Thursday we exchanged the corn syrup egg with the salt egg to see what would happen. The salt egg was down to 44 grams from 100 and the corn syrup egg was up to 99 from 38. Tomorrow we will break open one egg in each class just to see what the inside is like.

When we returned to class students began making charts to graph the progress of each egg in color.