Science 7 – Most of last month’s
crayfish have found their way to happy new homes, and the few remaining are
settling in nicely as classroom pets. In class, students are finishing up the
Nature of Science unit, and moving into our study of Ecology. The interesting
organism for this month is the Sebastiania seed, otherwise known as the Jumping
Bean. Ask your student what makes it jump! By the end of the month, all 7th grade
students will have designed and run a controlled experiment to test various hypotheses about
factors that affect the jumping rate, so they will have some evidence from independent research to
back up their claims.
All the 7th grade teams have been taking fall field trips,
so students are getting some field experience looking at the relationships and
structure of ecosystems, from small to large. By the end of the month, we will
be wrapping up the Ecology unit, and taking our first big unit exam. Students
should be checking their ring binders and folders every weekend to make sure
their science papers are organized and complete.
Science 8 – In 8th grade science, our tables were paired up
almost every day with all sorts of crazy measurement labs. These labs led to
using the balances to measure mass and spring scales to measure weights of a
variety of objects. We also found the volume of objects by direct and indirect measurement—Barbie
went swimming in a graduated cylinder! At the end of class, we found ourselves
all standing around a table trying to balance a giant binder with action
figures and weights. These partner labs have been complemented with the
occasional individual
assessment to see how we’re progressing on our own, varying
from a worksheet to using specific tools to measure mass, weight, and volume.
We’re also getting LOTS of practice with the metric system, applying different
measurements to all kinds of things around the room, and converting millimeters
to centimeters, kilograms to grams, and so on, in daily worksheets and
activities.
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