Homework was to graph their turtle hatchings. Many finished in class.
Aquarium is up and running with pond life.
Lots of folks staying after school today finishing up their popper packets and putting together leaf albums. I was not able to individualize as much as was needed.
If the weather allows we'll be outside for a team bonding activity tomorrow p.m.- sneaks and pants.

We reviewed the metric system in conjunction with our homework which dealt with temperature.
Plugging into the formula F=( C x 9/5) + 32 made things a little more relevant.
There is no homework except what was mentioned on Mon.'s blog.
This may be redundant as I was interrupted by a fire drill.

In an effort to create closure to our popper challenge activity I have asked anyone that has more outstanding work to come in either after school Mon. or Wed., or before school to finish their lab.
The last two paragraphs can be done at home on lined paper and added to their packet.
The questions are:
-One paragraph summarizing what you did during the experiment.
-One paragraph discussing what you learned from doing this project and any new questions that were raised from doing this lab.
Quizzes from the scientific method taken Wed. were passed back today.
Weather permitting, we will take a leaf walk Fri.

We're trying to wrap up the Great Popper Challenge Lab. Hopefully everyone will be finished compiling, analyzing, and Monday we start our graphing.
There is no homework this weekend.

Students received their MCAS writing prompts back today which we used as a pre-assessment. Once we went over and corrected it they were able to review for their quizzes.
We're finishing up our popper labs but will need to work on them Friday as well.
I will be out tomorrow, but have assigned a pretest to see what their backgrounds are.
There will be no homework.

No homework tonight.

Homework due in Fri. was passed back and reviewed.
For homework an MCAS prompt was distributed and students were to write a paragraph critiquing it. This is due Tues.
They will have a quiz on Wed. covering their notes and vocab dealing with a scientific investigation. (It may be delayed until Thurs. if printing has not been completed.)

It was a pleasure meeting you last night.
Thursday's homework was passed back, Friday's collected.
There is no homework over the weekend.

Today we'll approach a scientific investigation from another perspective using groups- control and experimental to solve problems created by the "Simpson Neighborhood". Hopefully after discussing the homework in class students will enjoy this worksheet for homework!

Today we're identifying the control, independent variable and dependent variable to an in class reading. We're going to practice our vocab on a homework assignment that involves a worksheet with many hypothetical situations that will ask the student to apply their vocab knowledge and identify parts of the problems. The key is looking at the question to identify the variable!
This assignment can be modified down to one side asking only for an illustration. Standard classes need only isolate the independent variable. Honors will be asked to name a dependent variable as well.

Week 2 started with handing back their writing samples from Friday. From our work using a logical thinking process to describe a drawing of a flamingo, we segued into the scientific method. Students were asked to create a problem that interested them or simply base it on the model of a plant used in class. Giving ownership made using the scientific method more interesting and we've been sharing these in class.
Today we used a text to define factors of an actual experiment such as manipulated and responding variables.
I have heard that Staples is out of sticky 8.5 x 11 sheets for their leaf albums but A.C. Moore and Micheals still has them. Anyone who would like to take advantage of my extra binders and sticky pages should come after school Mon. or Wed. to set one up for themselves.
There is no homework for Wed.

Today we completed our mystery box lab and applied three vocab words to different situations. This is a two step process where they need to understand and use a science term. Tomorrow they will individually be asked to explain their three vocab words as they apply to a drawing on the board.
All forms should be passed in during homeroom.
Friday is NFL day and students can participate by wearing their favorite shirts. (I believe Mr Lind mentioned this in his parent email)

While I missed my Period 3 Science class, all other classes participated in a Mystery Box Lab where groups used evidence gained from sound or feel to make an inference about what was inside each of seven "mystery boxes." This led to their predictions which they recorded in their notebooks. We then referenced a discussion in our text entitled Think Like a Scientist.
There was no homework and books were used for reference only .

Welcome back parents and students!
Today we talked a little about Life Science and a lot about classroom procedure.
We'll be exploring some of the tools of science such as the microscope, metric system, and general classroom equipment. Understanding the scientific method and how it can be applied to a logical thinking process and using inferences and evidence to substantiate answers will be used in problem solving.No books will be issued but notes and handouts should be organized and saved for assessment purposes.