Thursday, 30 September, and Friday, 1 October, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from internet access and classroom discussions to
-solve density problems.
-use power writing to writ up laboratory experience.

After completing the power write up, students practiced solving density problems at an online site.

Students have a problems solving set based on the covered benchmarks as their home learning assignment.

Tuesday, 28 September and Wednesday, 29 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from laboratory activities and classroom discussions to
-demonstrate that equal volumes of different substances have different masses.
-explain the difference between weight and mass.
-find the density of various rocks.

After collecting home learning, students performed the density of rocks laboratory. They also used power writing to write up the lab in their interactive notebooks.

Home learning was to update the notebook.

For students who were absent for the lab, visit the Dr. Gayden's Science Zone for Eighth Graders (drgcdms8.podomatic.com) and do the activity listed. Be sure to write out:
Title of Lab
Problem
Hypothesis: If/then statement
Variables: independent, dependent, constant, control
Data and Observations
Conclusions and Analysis by answering questions 1-7 found on page B of your interactive notebook.

Monday, 27 September, 2010

This is HL #9. Follow all written directions.


This is the do now sheet. Be sure to include it in your notebook once you finish!

Students will be able to:
use information from internet access and classroom discussions to
-demonstrate that equal volumes of different substances have different masses.
-explain the difference between weight and mass.

Students submitted and reviewed HL 8.

Students explored their weight on different planets. First, they converted pounds to kilograms by multiplying the pounds by 0.4536. Once you have the kilograms (kg), plug that number into the different planets/heavenly bodies on the do now handout found at the top of this blog. Then, record your weight for those places. You can find the website at: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/ or you can go to Dr. Gayden's Science Zone (drgcdms.podomatic.com) and click the first link under today's date. Be sure to complete the table, because you will need it to do tonight's home learning, which can also be found at the top of this blog.

Friday, 24 September, 2010

This is HL #8. See below in the blog to head your paper correctly and how to answer questions.


This is the do now page. Please bring to class on Monday.

Students will be able to:
use information from baseine examination and classroom discussions to
-debrief he exam.

Students took a quiz on food chains and food webs, dealing with interpreting graphs and feeding relationships.

Students then completed debriefing of the District Baseline examination.

Students were issued a do now sheet, which we were not able to do in class. They should bring that sheet to class on Monday for completion. It can be found at the top of this blog.

Students also received home learning 8 (Properties of Matter). It is also located at the top of this blog. It should be done in blue/black ink on loose leaf notebook paper, and headed correctly in the UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER ABOVE THE FIRST LINE (last name, first name; Date; Period; HL# 8). For numbers 1-4, only place the answers on your paper. For question 5, make a two column table and write the five changes for each:

Chemical........................Physical
1
2
3
4
5

Wednesday, 22 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-review arrangement and motion of particles in matter as it relates to the states of matter.
-make observations and compare different states of matter.
-distinguish between physical and chemical properties.

Students did the do now from BrainPop about ranking different items based on their mass, volume, and density. You can find the handout at the top of this blog.

Students then viewed BrainPops on measuring matter, states of matter, and matter changing state.

Students used the remainder of the class period to prepare a student lead presentation on the states of matter, which will be presented on the next class.

Tuesday, 21 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from textbooks, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-review arrangement and motion of particles i matter as it relates to the states of matter.
-make observations and compare different states of matter.

Students received the safety contracts, which server as home learning 7. These should be completed and brought back tomorrow. You can find the contract at the top of this blog.

Students spent the remainder of the class making graphic organizers that showed the difference between solids, liquids, and gases.

Interactive notebooks were collected.

Monday, 20 September, 2010

Lab Safety Do Now


Ethics paper for notes


Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-identify industry accepted standards for safety in the laboratory.
-identify, describe, and explain high quality and ethical scientific practices.

The do now was a SpongeBob lab safety sheet. Use page C in the back of your notebook to find all the errors SpongeBob, Gary and Patrick made while in the lab. You can find it at the top of this blog.

Students reviewed home learning 6.

Students reviewed what is necessary for notebook check 1. Students should have ALL pages pasted in, which includes inside front and back cover, pages 1, 5-10 and a-o. They should have table of contents completed, and paste in the last page of the table of contents. All notes should be done, including the three questions, the highlighted answers, and the summary at the bottom of the page. All home learnings should be pasted in. FInally, they should teach one of the concepts to an adult, and have the adult write what they learned on page K of the notebook, and sign in the appropriate place.

Students watched a short video on lab safety. You can watch also by visiting the following sites:http://designsuperhighway.com/Flash/flash_files/labsafety.html or http://wn.com/Lab_Safety_Video and click on the second video, ultimate lab safety.

Students then worked on a handout that stresses ethics in the laboratory, which can be found at the top of this blog.

Students worked as a team to come up with other examples of unethical behavior in the lab.

The home learning is to get the notebook ready.

Since I have not posted pages a-q before, please look under Saturday, 18 September, 2010 to find all pages a-q.

Saturday, 18 September, 2010

Here are the handouts for the back of the notebook!

Friday, 17 September, 2010

This is HL 6. If you use a different color to make the graph, be sure to note the colors you use. You are turning this sheet in on Monday.


This is the do now sheet.

Students will be able to:
use information from the internet, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-investigate feeding relationships and determine the food chain.
-use bar graphs and line graphs to show changes in populations in an ecosystem over time.
-utilize the metric system for scientific measurement and be able to convert measurements within that system.

The do now was a handout sheet on feeding relationships. You can find a copy at the top of this report. Also, find the home learning #6 at the top of this page.

Students discussed and wrote notes, which include:

Food chain- a series of graphs showing the flow of energy from one organism to another.

Food web - two or more related food chains.

producer-a plant that makes its own food using energy from the sun; is the first step of a food chain.

consumer-an organism that eats other organisms.

herbivore-an organism that eats only plants or producers.

carnivore-an organism that eats only other consumers, or other animals.

omnivore-an organism that eats both plants and animals, or producers and consumers.

primary consumer-eats producers or plants.

secondary consumer-eats primary consumers.

tertiary consumer-eats secondary consumers.

quaternary consumer-eats tertiary consumers.

predator-a consumer that hunts other animals, or prey, for food.

prey-animals that are hunted and eaten by predators.

scavenger-an organism that feeds on dead organisms.

decomposer-organisms that break down dead organisms, such as earthworms, fungi, and bacteria.

Thursday, 16 September, 2209

Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-investigate feeding relationships and determine the food chain.
-use bar graphs and line graphs to show changes in populations in an ecosystem over time.
-utilize the metric system for scientific measurement and be able to convert measurements within that system.

Students practiced graphing for the do now. They surveyed the room to find out the colors of the shirt. Students then made a pie or circle graph.

Students took notes on graphing:

A line graph is used to show relationships between two sets of number or rates.

A bar graph shows how sets of

A circle graph shows percent of the whole.

Students also did some metric practice.

Science Fair plans are due tomorrow.

Tuesday, 14 September and Wednesday, 15 September, 2010

This is HL #5. It is due on Thursday.



These are the science fair planning sheets. Please write legibly.

Students will be able to:
use information from lectures and the internet to
-understand how to research a problem.
-write a reference using the ALA or MLA styles.
-write a science fair plan.

Students were in the media center learning about the difference between plagearism, quoteing, and paraphrasing. They also learned how to cite references. All this preparation is to get ready for the Science Fair project. Science fair plans are due Friday.

Students watched a BrainPop movie on Wednesday on Citing Sources.

Students submitted HL 4 on Tuesday, and received HL #5 on Wednesday. It is due on Thursday, and can be found at the top of this blog.

Monday, 13 September, 2010

Answers only on correctly headed loose leaf paper.

Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet, supplemental texts, and classroom discussions to
-investigate feeding relationships and determine the food chain.
-use bar graphs and line graphs to show changes in populations in an ecosystem over time.
-define the difference between accuracy and validity in measurement.
-utilize the metric system for scientific measurement and be able to convert measurements within that system.

The do now was to complete the Little Millie Metrics handout, which can be found at the top of this blog.

Home learning 4 can also be found at the top of this blog.

Students watched a BrainPop movie on metric units and discussed the content.

Students also received the remainder of the pages for the interactive notebook. Because the pages are so numerous, they will be posted on a separate day (Saturday, 11 September, 2010). If you loose them, you can check that date to print out new ones. I will stay after school this Thursday to help anyone needing help assembling their notebook.

Friday, 10 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from hands on activities and classroom discussions to
-design an experiment, collect, and analyze data from the experiment.

Students did an individual investigation using Mexican Jumping Beans. Students made sure to answer the following for the investigation:

-Question: What do you want to find out?
-Hypothesis: What do you think will happen?
-Procedure: Design your experiment. Write the steps for your experiment in the space below.
-Safety Rules: What safety rules do you need to follow during your experiment?
-Data: Create a table, chart, or graph to record your data.
-Conclusions/Analysis: What did you find out? Did your results support your hypothesis? Are your results reliable?

Students must draw a representative of the activity done in class. They should then complete the notes by writing what they learned.

Tuesday, 7 September and Wednesday, 8 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use prior knowledge to
-take a baseline assessment in science.

Due to a mistake on my part, the 7th graders short story information was incorrect. As a result, they were given an additional day to work on their stories. The same courtesy is extended to you. Your stories are due tomorrow, with no penalty. However, be sure to adhere to the rubrics you received.

Students took the first half of the baseline assessment today and will complete the exam tomorrow.

Students will submit short stories tomorrow.

For home learning, design an experiment that would test the observation that an object tends to move more when its warm.

Friday, 3 September, 2010

Be sure to follow all directions carefully!

Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet and classroom discussions to
-differentiate between controls and constants.
-compare observational, comparative, and manipulated variable experimentation.
-recognize the difference between precision and accuracy.

Students took a quiz covering materials covered in class so far, which include the scientific process.

Students received instructions for writing short story one, which is due on Tuesday. The instructions and rubrics can be found at the top of this blog.

Students addressed the concepts of precision and accuracy via BrainPops. The variables home learning sheet and the observation, opinion, and inference sheet were reviewed to determine when accuracy and when precision were displayed or should be displayed.

Students also grouped experiments and instances from these sheets into categories based on the type of experiment, which include manipulative variable, observational, and comparative.

Students updated their interactive notebooks. By now, notebooks should include:
The Scientific Process notes, questions and summaries, cartoon, home learning 1.
Variables notes, questions, summaries, home learning 2, handouts on inference, observation, opinion.
Precision and accuracy, notes, questions, summaries, home learning 3.

Students completed their investigation sheets. These will be exchanged with another group and completed after the baseline assessment some time next week.

Remember, your short story is due on Tuesday!

Thursday, 2 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from videos from the internet and classroom discussions to
-differentiate between controls and constants.
-compare observational, comparative, and manipulated variable experimentation.
-recognize the difference between precision and accuracy.

Students submitted and reviewed home learning 3.

Students then completed any notes on controls and constants and worked in the interactive notebook.

Wednesday, 1 September, 2010

Students will be able to:
use information from texts and classroom discussions to
-identify different variables.
-compare observational, comparative, and manipulated variable experimentation.

The do now was to complete steps one through four of their group experimental design.

Students received home learning 3, which can be found at the top of this blog. Since you will turn in one of the pages to me, you have an extra page to keep as your own. Remember, your home learning should be written in blue or black ink or pencil.

Students reviewed the concept of variables. A variable changes in an experiment. The independent variable, or the manipulated variable is the variable that the investigator changes.

Dependent variables, or the manipulated variable, is the variable that changes due to the independent variable.

Groups planned and executed their experiment. They recorded data. All groups should write out the procedures so that another group can perform that experiment with exactly the same results!