friday, september 25, 2015

This is truly an appropriate day for endings.  While it is obviously the end of the week (number 5 if anyone is counting) it is also the official end to our forces and motion unit.  It was also more of a celebratory day because so many of the kids have shown mastery on BOTH assessments (the quiz and the test), meaning that they scored at least an 80%.  

While I did my best to prepare them for the big assessment,I still feel that so much of the credit goes to the parents for their encouragement and to the students themselves for making the effort.  

On Monday we will begin the unit Matter:  Properties and Change.  This is a long unit and will last all the way until Tuesday, November 24th, which is the day before Thanksgiving Break.  

Why so long?  It has three components and each one has a lot of content.  In a nutshell, here is what the students will be learning for the next unit:

1. Physical properties of matter (hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct heat, ability to conduct electricity, etc.
2. Minerals and how they are both identified based on streak, luster, color, hardness, and cleavage
3. The three main types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic), examples of each, how they are formed, and the rock cycle.

As was before, I will be posting extensive notes and practice tests online to prepare for the quizzes and tests.  I am still working on the syllabus and I will likely have it posted on Monday morning.  However, I would like you to note that it will still be a work in progress and subject to numerous revisions and additions.  While I do my best to plan things out, there are many times when I will come across an experiment or activity that I haven't done before and I think that the students would benefit from.

Since this was the final day of the unit, we still had the following warm-up first thing:

I did a final demonstration (for two classes there was a second and I will get to that class on Monday) of magnetism but with a tie-in with energy transfer.  I used what is called a magnetic cannon.  Basically, it uses a magnet to attract a steel bearing.  As the bearing slams into the magnet, the energy transfers down the line until the final bearing is shot outwards since its energy has nowhere else to go.  

We then did JA Biztown's second unit on communities and will go more in depth about rights and the responsibilities that accompany one's rights.

My weekly parent email has gone out.  We decided to combine ours into one email with Mr. Thompson's and Ms. Fletcher's newsletters attached.  This will cut down on the amount of emails that parents get but will keep the amount of information the same.

Lastly, mid-quarter progress reports have gone home with students.  Parents:  please sign and have your child return it as soon as possible.  Thanks!

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