Oct. 18, 2012

Sorry about not posting last week. I was at a STEM symposium on the Bethel College campus. I met some nice people and made new connections. Hopefully it will result in some fun at PHMS.

The last two weeks have been spent working on atoms. We created a pyramid shaped graphic organizer with information on subatomic particles. The students thought the organizers looked like hats - thus, the "Hats of Atomic Knowledge"!

Some students getting smarter thanks to the "hats."

One interactive periodic table showing the electron orbitals. 

Neutrons are what's left when you do subtraction.

Are you sure that's how many protons there are?

Neutrons and protons in the nucleus, electrons in the shells.....

I think I get it!

To watch one of the classes sing the Atom Song click here. 

A low pressure front came through this week and the classroom barometer did a great job of demonstrating air pressure.

We'll be studying the periodic table next. I always enjoy sharing a few alternate forms that appear on the web. So look for some of those in the next post.

October 5, 2012

Physical changes, chemical changes, mixtures, Goop and Oobleck.

We did two labs this week, added to our large graphic organizer on matter, did a mix and match review of vocabulary, and had a quiz. We kept busy adding to our knowledge.

I forgot to take pictures as we did a lab to demonstrate that mixtures could be physically separated. I gave the class small samples of a mixture of sand, salt and iron filings. They then used their knowledge of the physical properties of these items to separate them. A magnet removed the iron filings. Water put the salt into solution allowing the sand to filtered from the salt water solution. The water was then boiled away and the students were left with salt.

 Here is a pic of some students during the Mix and Match. The yellow cards had the vocabulary words and the blue cards had the definitions.

Verifying that the matches were correct.

We've been studying mixtures, so we made some this week.  Students enjoyed exploring the unique properties of Oobleck., a homogeneous mixture of cornstarch and water.

Materials for Oobleck.

It has the viscosity of water sometimes.

When you apply pressure it becomes solid.

 Students enjoyed viewing these videos from the website "Instructables" which show people walking on Oobleck and how it responds to sound waves.

We also made Goop, which is made from a white glue and water solution that is combined with a suspension of water and Borax. This mixture creates a new substance that stretches, bounces and picks up colors from paper and ink.

Measuring the white glue solution.

Mixing after adding the Borax suspension.

This is where you hear "Gross!"

Having fun.

We took a quiz over mixtures and colloids today. We'll be moving on to substances next week. Stay tuned.

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.

 

Welcome!

     Welcome to the 2012-13 school year! Lots of new things will be happening this year. We will be having a longer school day. We are adding a 30 minute seminar at the end of the day. We will have a shorter school year, due to building remodel during next summer. I'm soooooo excited as the science classrooms will receive complete overhauls. More space, better design, and freshening up.

We are starting this year with Physical Science. We began our weather journals today. A LiveBinder will be keeping track of the many web sites and web cams we will be using for this. 

We also set three personal goals today which will be revisited during the year. When doing this we discussed SMART goals - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. 

This is the plan for the week:

Monday 8/20 - Agenda, goals & weather journal

Tuesday 8/21 - Overview of the year using the video "Powers of Ten"

Wednesday 8/22 - Safety notes and a worksheet

Thursday 8/23 - Review measuring of mass, volume, length and temperature

Friday  8/24- Log on for Gizmos (an online simulation) and working with triple beam balances

I'm looking forward to a grrrreat year with grrrreat students.

This week we've been going in "cycles." Rock and Water cycles that is. Used several interactive sites to help us learn.

Rock Cycle:
http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/diagram.html

Water Cycle:
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/watercycle/

Also have Gizmos on these and will be using these on Monday.

Best Wishes! to Greensburg, KS on the 5 year anniversary of the tornado and their green recovery.