Looking Forward to an Exciting Finish!
Well, with one about one month left to go, it should be a wild ride as we finish out the year! Both the 7th and 8th graders have some units that are hands-on and high energy!
In 7th grade, we are continuing on in our unit of force and motion, and the students were given the task of developing their own controlled investigations to put the laws of motion to the test! We had a variety of investigations happening around our classroom: ball drops from the upstairs to downstairs, students building and testing ramps, adaptations of our catapult lab from last week, and even one group of boys who made a bow and arrow out of a clothes hanger. It was great to see the level of problem-solving that the students were doing as they realized some aspects of their investigations would need adjusting in order to meet the constraints of the investigation! Of course, there were a couple of groups that needed some steering in the right direction, but once they got the handle of it they carried out their plans in stride. The only thing to see now is how well they all utilize the lab report checklist...
8th grade this week brought about the end of our chemistry unit and the beginning of biology. To finish out the chemistry unit, the students did an investigation involving exothermic reactions by combining yeast with varied strengths of hydrogen peroxide. The combination creates a rather foamy chemical reaction (with the help of some hand soap), and the students had looks of amazement when they felt the warmth of the soap that was also produced from the chemical reaction. Our biology unit began with a little review of the hierarchy of life (the growth and complexity that develops as life changes from the structure of a cell up to life on our planet as a whole) that the students learned in 7th grade. We will use this as the backbone of our unit to refer back to when we are learning cell structures next week and body systems in the following weeks. Should be a fun learning experience!
Mindfulness thought for the week: Be who you want to be, not what others want to see.
In 7th grade, we are continuing on in our unit of force and motion, and the students were given the task of developing their own controlled investigations to put the laws of motion to the test! We had a variety of investigations happening around our classroom: ball drops from the upstairs to downstairs, students building and testing ramps, adaptations of our catapult lab from last week, and even one group of boys who made a bow and arrow out of a clothes hanger. It was great to see the level of problem-solving that the students were doing as they realized some aspects of their investigations would need adjusting in order to meet the constraints of the investigation! Of course, there were a couple of groups that needed some steering in the right direction, but once they got the handle of it they carried out their plans in stride. The only thing to see now is how well they all utilize the lab report checklist...
8th grade this week brought about the end of our chemistry unit and the beginning of biology. To finish out the chemistry unit, the students did an investigation involving exothermic reactions by combining yeast with varied strengths of hydrogen peroxide. The combination creates a rather foamy chemical reaction (with the help of some hand soap), and the students had looks of amazement when they felt the warmth of the soap that was also produced from the chemical reaction. Our biology unit began with a little review of the hierarchy of life (the growth and complexity that develops as life changes from the structure of a cell up to life on our planet as a whole) that the students learned in 7th grade. We will use this as the backbone of our unit to refer back to when we are learning cell structures next week and body systems in the following weeks. Should be a fun learning experience!
Mindfulness thought for the week: Be who you want to be, not what others want to see.
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