Week of November 29, 2010

This week sixth grade is studying Bones, Muscle and Skin as part of the Human Health and Biology curriculum that will see us through the end of this semester and all of second semester.  This unit involves a long-term group project in which students research, plan, and model one of four joint types.  Each groups ability to work together as a team will be assessed and included in the final project grade.

Seventh graders dissected earth worms yesterday and will test over Sponges, Cnidarians, and Worms tomorrow.  The lectures for this unit can be found here and here.  We will continue on this week studying Mollusks, Arthropods, and Echinoderms and will be dissecting squid, grasshoppers, and starfish.

In eighth grade we began a short unit on electricity.  We will also continue working on science fair projects.

Week of November 8, 2010

Sixth grade took an exam over the solar system and traded in their astronomy books for human health and biology texts.  Dissections here we come!

The seventh graders received a crash course on the evolution and biology of plants.  We don't have time to study botany in depth, which is disappointing since it is my person favorite subject in biology.  The kids, however, enjoy learning about animals, especially since we will dissect several species along the way.

We started our unit on electricity and magnetism in the eighth grade.  I was astonished at how engaged and interested in magnetism the students were.  Today we discussed the earth's magnetosphere and how it helps to create the aurora borealis.  Time for an Alaskan field trip!  We also continued to work on science fair topics.  Preliminary research should be completed and the first draft of the Review of Literature section of their paper is due on Monday, November 15.

Shabbat shalom!

Solar System prezi

Week of November 1, 2010

The 8th grade continued work on their science fair projects this week.  Most have establish topics and are enjoying the research process.  Today I provided them with a timeline of when different sections are due.  Although the poster and paper are not due until January 31, they will be working diligently on their projects up until that point.  My expectations of them are high.  We will also be working on a unit covering electricity and magnetism for the remainder of 1st semester.

Seventh grade had an exam on protists.  Today we started a crash course in botany but will not be able to spend much time or test do to time constraints.  Next week - on to sponges and cnidaria!

We continued our tour of the solar system in the 6th grade.  We will be modeling the solar system next week and will have our second exam on Thursday, November 11.  We have been addressing study and test-taking skills this week and are hopeful students will be able to use skills learned.

Have a great fall weekend!