Sept. 28, 2012

Sept. 28, 2012

Another week has past. We started the week with Parent Teacher Conference. Thanks to all parents who took time out of their busy schedule to stop by and visit with us about their students. 

We don't have any pics of this weeks activities. We reviewed on Monday for a test we took on Tuesday. On Wednesday we started a video "Mixtures: Together but Separate" that introduced us to mixtures. We completed a worksheet while watching. Lots of new information. On Thursday we completed the video. The test had been graded so they were given back to the students. They had some class time to make test corrections (students with Ds or Fs must complete test corrections, students with As, Bs or Cs have the option of doing test corrections to raise their grade.)

Today is Friday and a day off from school. It is in compensation for the extra hours teachers put in on Monday and Tuesday. I hope teachers and students both enjoy the long weekend. 

Hopefully, more pics next week as we will be studying suspensions, colloids and solutions. See you then.

Sept. 21, 2012

Another Friday and some more pictures.

I realized that I had never shared pictures of our class room pets. Here they are -
the biosphere with two shrimp,

 our newest addition, neon tetras,














A fire bellied toad (we did have two but one escaped and was found deceased in another room),














and our Beta.

And here are pictures from the lab that we did this week, "White Before Your Eyes"
We took four white powders and determined their chemical properties to identify them.

First we made sure everyone understood the procedure.

 Then we gathered the necessary materials.

 

One of the four white powders in a test tube.

Adding iodine to see if it would change color.

 It sure did!

Comparing the results of three test solutions.

 We also used the Gizmo "Mystery Powder" to help us understand the concept of creating a reference guide and using it to identify a substance.  When we finished the lab, we complete a lab report using a template on BuhlerDocs. It was a busy week.

Just a reminder - Parent Teacher Conferences on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 24 and 25. Test on Tuesday over Scientific Method, using equipment, and physical and chemical properties and changes.

Aug. 31, 2012

Wow - I can hardly believe we have finished two weeks of school. We have busy studying matter. We created a graphic organizer that lists four of the states of matter and some info about each. We also did a few simple demos changing matter from one state to another, looking at liquids - volume and viscosity. Here are some pics of what we did.

Hope you enjoy the long weekend and have a safe Labor Day. See you next week.

 

 

Changing from solid to liquid state.

Condensation.

Liquids have a definite volume.

Looking viscosity.

Outside of the graphic organizer.

Notes inside the graphic organizer.