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Lower Campus K-2
2900 W. 44th. St.
Phone: 612.920.9075
Fax: 612.920.8504
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Upper Campus 3-8
3210 W. 51st. St.
Phone: 612.927.8673
Fax: 612.927.7426
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May 10
Welcome back to the banders!!! We're anxious to hear about the
highlights of your trip as well as sharing the details of our field
trips.
Students are working in pairs on mineral testing. We should be
close to finished tomorrow, Wednesday, then begin identification.
There is no specific homework. Students are filling out details on
in-class charts.
April 29
Students need to check Cornerstone for missing or low work.
Several forgot to hand in the "Quake!" packet. Work on redoes
and finding the missing pieces. We are working in groups on
mineral testing - luster, hardness, streak, breakage, specific gravity,
and 10 other minor tests. This will probably take another week of
class time, making our identification of minerals over into the week
AFTER the band trip.
April 27
We are beginning testing of minerals. Students have all directions
for conducting the tests on 7 major characteristics and 5 minor ones.
This will continue into next week and possibly after.
April 18
The entire Quake! packet is due by tomorrow - all charts filled in
and all questions answered. Most finished today during class time.
We are now working on Earthquake locations throughout the world.
April 14
THE ENTIRE EARTHQUAKE PACKET is due Friday, April 15.
We have been working on it for several days in class, and they need
to make sure all parts including the Speed and Waves questions are
finished and turned in tomorrow. Most finished this in class today.
Secondly, read pages 60-65 in the Earth's Interior textbook and answer
the questions on page 65. Several also finished this in class.
April 11
Students located the epicenter of the Wattsville earthquake based
on eye witness observations from townspeople. Next, we will
be using graphs and seismograph readings to calculate epicenter
distances, then triangulating those distances from selected cities
to determine the location of the earthquakes.
The entire earthquake packet will be due by the end of the week.
April 5
Students are finishing up the cutting and pasting the continents
to represent the original continent of Pangea - the theory that all
land was once joined together. If all parts are not glued to the
board, that is homework. We will finish discussion and questions
tomorrow.
March 28
We finished the chemistry unit, presenting information about
radioactivity. Today we started "Inside the Earth", learning
the layers from the crust to the core, plate movement, and formation
of the Hawaiian islands caused by the movement of the Pacific
plate. Students should finish the chart showing
the movements and speed of those islands. We'll continue tomorrow
figuring out the speed of the two Atlantic oceanic plates.
March 15
Students are working with a partner to inform the rest of the group
about one small aspect of radioactivity. Each pair has a different
topic: nuclear power, instruments, or uses/dangers of radioactivity.
They will each prepare a short oral presentation, a visual (simply a
picture from the book or off the internet) and 3 test questions -
2 subjective (multiple choice, true/false, etc.) and 1 essay.
February 15
No homework, HOWEVER, some are bringing home the remnants
of our Oobleck lab to "play" with at home. They had such fun, while
learning about a polymer called a colloid. But what a mess! In the
short clean-up time they did a good job and I vacuumed the floor.
To make at home, it's just corn starch and water. For a small amount,
just put about a cup of corn starch in a cup and add maybe four
tablespoons of water - add more water bit by bit till the desired
consistancy.
February 14
No homework, unless the chromatography questions are not
answered and turned in. We'll start studying polymers tomorrow
with three labs that investigate characteristics of polymers.
February 10
No homework. We're working on a lab about chromatography of
marker ink. We will summarize and do conclusion questions
tomorrow.
February 9
Most go the in-class worksheet finished, but students need to finish
the hydrocarbon worksheet, if not alreadycompleted and turned in today.
They learned about alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons,
and substituted hydrocarbons. You should be impressed!
January 12
Continue to study the element symbols. We have a quiz every
day through next week. Any missing and/or redo assignments
need to be in by Wednesday, January 19th. We are currently
studying the Periodic Table and the elements.
October 19
Sorry about being so far behind. My fault. Test on Chapters
Two and Three was today - I was impressed with the amount
of knowledge the students exhibited and the ability to write
concrete and complete essay answers.
Tomorrow students will visit with the librarian from the
Minneapolis library in connection with History Day, so we will
begin our investigations into oceans next week.
October 4
Students are putting the finishing touches on their presentations
for chapter two. I have been quite impressed with their ideas.
Teaching will begin on Tuesday or Wednesday
and continue throughout the week. Students have made up their
own test questions. All questions will be provided as a study guide
and the actual test will be taken directly from those questions.
September 29
Students are covering Chapter Two and Three in the text by
teaching the sections themselves as part of a group. They are planning an oral
presentation, creating a visual piece, and conducting in-class
labs for the others. Below are the directions that each student
received. All students in the group will receive two grades for
this project - an individual grade for their particular section and
an overall grade for the entire group. We will begin presentations
as early as next Tuesday (Oct 5) or Wednesday (Oct 6).
CHAPTER TWO/THREE GROUP TASKS
PLAN After reading all these directions, you need to decide how to divide up the work
in your group so that everyone is contributing. Your group is responsible for ALL FIVE PARTS
of the assignment. Plan in some checking-with-each-other time so that everyone knows what
everyone else is doing and who is finished and who might need help.
You will be graded both individually on YOUR part AND as a group.
1. WRITTEN you have been given 2 worksheets - both must be
completed and turned in with everyone’s name on them
2. ORAL You (one or more members of the group) will present the
information in your section to the class. This presentation to the class may be:
a. you lecture and the class takes notes.
b. you lead the class in reading the section, discussing it, and taking notes
c. you use diagrams, the overhead, or the board to highlight important info
d. the class reads the section and the presenter quizzes the class
e. your choice of a different method
3. VISUAL You (one or more members of the group) will create something visual. Possibly:
a. pictures or diagrams or notes on the overhead
b. a poster with info
c. a handout students can just read or fill in
d. a printed outline
e. your choice of a different visual (computer?)
4. ACTIVITY You (one or more members of the group) will plan an activity.
You may do this as a demo only OR as a class lab (higher point value).
You will need to obtain all materials ahead of time and maybe practice the activity
so you know what to expect. You can use these ideas found in the text:
a. Section 2:1 - pages 42, 45, or 46-47
b. Section 2:2 - pages 53, 57, or 58
c. Section 2:3 - pages 59 or 61
d. Section 2:4 - pages 65 or 67
e. Section 2:5 - pages 68, 70, or 72
f. Section 3:1 - pages 80, 82, or 86
g. Section 3:2 - pages 90, 92, or 93
h. OR make up your own demo or activity - there are a multitude of suggestions on the web
TEST QUESTIONS make up 5 objective questions (multiple choice, true/false,
fill-in, matching) and 3 essay questions. Questions should NOT be copied from the text.
September 23
TEST FRIDAY
Notebook check completed - any redoes or finding that
missing work, mark with a post-it flag and turn in.
We did review in class, but here is the review directions:
Discuss/quiz each other on these sections and tasks. You decide if you
want to just do it orally or write short answer questions. Make SURE
your answers are correct before proceding to the next section.
I do not need to see written work, but as I come around you need
to be able to report on correct answers and definitions of vocabulary questions.
Section 1 review page 22 Section 2 review page 29
Section 3 review page 35 Key terms and all 3 sections, page 37
AND all review questions pages 38 and 39.
September 14
Students are working on a lab to investigate
capillary action in paper towels. We will finish
questions and analysis on Wednesday and discuss
and test water's dissolving properties. Friday we'll
be at the lower campus in the morning meeting our
kindergarten buddies and participating in the annual
special friend olympics. Please remember to drop
8th grade students off at the lower campus on Friday.
September 8
All water tallies from home and school are due on
Friday. No good copy required - we'll be totalling
and tabulating and creating a chart for all data.
Groups of 4 or 5 must finish the "Surf and Sand"
questions on their own, if not already done. Each
group has designated their own method of getting
this done, also by Friday.
We have begun investigating specific water qualities -
surface tension and cohesion to begin with. We will
move on to adhesion, polarity, and capillary action
next.
August 31
Homework in science is not typical - we usually finish
labs, investigations, and activities in class. Occasionally
there will be regular homework - all assignments should
be in the planner and 8th graders are usually diligent.
To begin our study of Earth Science we have started with
fresh water. Students listed water uses and "played" with
water to determine characteristics. We will be continuing
water characteristic labs for a week or so.
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