8th Science 15-16 Spring Archive Page
Week of 6/6 – 6/10: Human Growth & Development
Monday 6/6: Pre-Assessment, Puberty Notes
Tuesday 6/7: Anatomy & Physiology
Wednesday 6/8: (Kordon Gone) Guest Teacher 1-Day Lesson
Thursday 6/9: Anatomy & Physiology
Friday 6/10: Pregnancy, Fetal Development, & Pregnancy Prevention
Announcements: Hello and welcome to the last full week of 8th grade science! This week we will finish the Human Growth & Development unit that we started last year. As a reminder, I sent home a physical newsletter with each student a couple weeks ago about the unit, and emailed the form to all of you in the last e-newsletter. Mid-week we will have a guest teacher as I will be out of the building with the other science teachers throughout the district for a required training. The guest teacher will deliver a lesson unrelated to our human growth & development unit. Next week, we will have one or two more lessons to finish the human growth & development unit before the final science lesson on the 15th before promotion the next day. I will update the website/blog as necessary throughout the next couple of days. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 5/30 – 6/3: Solar Cars Completion
Monday 5/30: No School – Memorial Day
Tuesday 5/31: Solar Cars Modifications & Write Ups
Wednesday 6/1: Solar Cars Modifications & Write Ups
Thursday 6/2: Science Class Solar Cars Competition
Friday 6/3: Solar Cars Reflection Interview
(Saturday 6/4: Solar Car Challenge at Cal Young MS 9:30-2:30 Lunch Provided!)
Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week we will be finishing the solar car project. We will have two days for final modifications, and Thursday all cars will be competing to see who gets to go to the Solar Car Challenge at Cal Young MS on June 4. The Solar Car Challenge will be from 9:30-2:30. Regardless if it is sunny or rainy, the Challenge will commence – it will simply be held indoors if the weather is poor. Lunch will be provided for all participants at Cal Young. I will be there the entire time, but feel free to come by and see all of the car projects that students have been working on. Some of the science concept cars – especially – are really cool this year. The following week, we will be finishing our Human Growth & Development unit that we started last year. I sent home a form that described what would be discussed in the unit. I will include a copy of this to make sure that you get it. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 5/23 – 5/27: SLC Prep, Solar Cars
Monday 5/23: SLC Prep, Roll Down Tests, Explanation of Scientific Principles, Initial Testing, and Solar Car Modifications
Tuesday 5/24: Solar Car Building & Modification
Wednesday 5/25: Solar Car Building & Modification
Thursday 5/26: Solar Car Building & Modification (Student-Led Conferences 5:00-8:00 in Library)
Friday 5/27: No School – Conferences prior evening
Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week will be heavy on solar car construction, modifications, and preparation for Student-Led Comferences. 8th grade conferences will be held in the library at the time indicated on the yellow notification form sent home with students this last week. Please make sure that this form is signed and sent back with your student to their advisory teacher. Check in with your student’s advisory teacher if you have questions about conferences. Announcements are short this week, but let me know if you need anything. I hope you all have a fantastic week!
KK
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Week of 5/16 – 5/20: Solar Cars & STEM Project Individual Work
Monday 5/16: Drive Gear Ratios & Distance per Revolution, and Solar Car Plan & Procedures
Tuesday 5/17: Solar Car Final Draft Design
Wednesday 5/18: Building Materials & Proper Use, Build Day 1
Thursday 5/19: Build Day 2
Friday 5/20: Build Day 3, Friction and Roll-Down Tests
Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week the focus is on Solar Cars as students will be doing the principle design and construction of their cars. This year, we are focusing on hill-climbing cars, and science concept cars. The physics are entirely different for hill climbing cars versus speed cars like last year, and the proposals the students submitted that I have been reading for science concept cars have been incredibly interesting. The best concept cars & hill climbing cars from each class will have the option of going to the Solar Car Challenge competition at Cal Young MS on Saturday, June 4. At the same time, the STEM project that students have been working on will be presented at the STEAM Showcase – also at Cal Young. Mr. Malcolm and I presented the project at Lane ESD this past week to other educators from elementary and middle schools in the Eugene/Springfield area as well as the University of Oregon. The project, and what the students have done, was incredibly well received. This last week, students also helped a Geophysicist from the UO to construct two working seismometers in the science wing. Both are currently functional, and are already collecting data in my classroom and the storage room across the hall. I will have to post some pictures of the seismometers below. We are just one of two schools in the entire state that have these – which is incredible! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 5/9 – 5/13: Intro to Solar Cars
Monday 5/9: (Kordon gone due to out-of-state family business) Solar Cars Pre-Build Worksheet
Tuesday 5/10: Solar Cars Pre-Build Worksheet
Wednesday 5/11: Solar Car Initial Rough Draft
Thursday 5/12: Districts Track Meet – at Hayward Field (Kordon gone due to meet), Who Killed the Electric Car?
Friday 5/13: Building & Room Inspection Checklist, and Individual STEM Project Requirements
Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week is a bit of an odd week as I am going to be gone two days this week – on Monday & Thursday. We are getting ever closer to finishing the instruction portion of our STEM project as well. Once the instruction portion is complete, students will be given the specific instructions for each of their individual contributions to the final report. These final reports will be due on/around June 10 with checkpoints along the way in order to give myself and Mr. Malcolm ample time to score them prior to the end of school. This week the focus will be shifting to Solar Cars as the Solar Car Challenge is less than a month away. The majority of class time going forward will be spent working on Solar Cars with days sprinkled in here and there to provide work days on the STEM Project. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
Week of 5/2 – 5/6: STEM Project continued, Intro to Solar Cars (Hill Climbing Version)
Monday 5/2: Salt & Ice Lab
Tuesday 5/3: Simple Seismometer Construction & Initial Investigation
Wednesday 5/4: Simple Seismometer Initial Investigation, Earthquake Waves and Seismograms
Thursday 5/5: Track Sub-Districts Track Meet (Kordon gone all day due to meet), Earthquake Triangulation Lab, start Solar Cars Pre-Build Worksheet if time
Friday 5/6: No School – Mid-Trimester Grading
Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week we return to our STEM Project with one of the last group-guided activities of the unit. Students will be building simple seismometers, and will be learning how they detect the different types of earthquake waves. We will then use this information to determine the location of different earthquakes using data from multiple seismometers. On Thursday, I will be gone for the entire day. Thursday is the sub-districts track meet at Churchill HS. All of the coaches need to be out of the building in order to setup for the meet prior to returning to school to get the student athletes ready to compete. My plan is to have my guest teacher introduce the solar car unit. We will be focusing closer on Solar Cars in class as the Solar Car Challenge is 4 weeks away. Last year, we focused on speed cars, and this year the focus will be on hill climbing cars & science concept cars if students pitch me a viable idea. We are nearly done with the instruction portion of our STEM project – students will soon be tasked to work on their individual aspects of the project on their own time (with some activities to still be conducted in class). There is no school on Friday due to mid-trimester grading. When we return from the extended weekend, we will introduce the individual component of the STEM project where students will be focusing on their individual tasks. More details on this to come soon. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 4/25 – 4/29: Science OAKS State Testing
Monday 4/25: Science Concepts Review Activity
Tuesday 4/26: Science Concepts Review Activity
Wednesday 4/27: Science OAKS Testing Day 1
Thursday 4/28: Science OAKS Testing Day 2, Track Meet @ NEHS vs Madison at 5:00
Friday 4/29: Surprise Lab Activity
Science Oaks Review Material: Multiple Choice Science Oaks Practice Test, 2016 8th Science Oaks Comprehensive Review, 2016 Science Oaks Review Worksheet, Science Oaks Online Practice Test
Announcements: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week our focus is on Science OAKS testing. The test covers concepts & material learned throughout middle school, and we will split testing over two days. Monday and Tuesday we will be doing a partner review activity that I have been working on assembling. Testing will occur on Wednesday and Thursday, with a lab activity to finish out the week on Friday. I have also posted some of the review material for the test in case students want to take a look at it over the weekend, or during the week before the test itself. The multiple choice review test is in powerpoint format as is the comprehensive review. They should be viewed through either Powerpoint, keynote, or powerpoint viewer as a slide show. Each slide of the multiple choice review test includes the question, and then the answer once you progress in the slides. There is a worksheet to go along with the comprehensive review. It covers all of the concepts that could be on the test. I have also included the link for the online Science Oaks Practice Test. I will grade Notebook 3 early this upcoming week. Because of testing, Notebook 3 might be the last notebook grade entered before the mid-trimester grading period. Check back later for any updates. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 4/18 – 4/22: STEM Project and Genetics
Monday 4/18: Earthquakes, Soil Types, and Liquefaction
Tuesday 4/19: Earthquakes, Soil Types, and Liquefaction
Wednesday 4/20: Earthquakes, and Building Structure/Construction
Thursday 4/21: Earthquakes, and Building Structure/Construction
Friday 4/22: Inherited Traits & Punnett Squares & Practice Test
Announcements: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week we will investigating how different soil types affect buildings during major earthquakes, and then we’re going to switch gears and talk about how we get the specific traits that we inherit with some activities involving recessive and dominant traits. The week of 4/25 – 4/29 is the week that we will be doing the state testing for science that is done at 8th grade. My initial plan is to have Monday & Tuesday for in-depth review of material & concepts, and then have testing on Wednesday and Thursday – with make-ups to be conducted later for those who are gone during these days. The UO will be coming in the next couple weeks to have students help setup the seismometers that will be placed at Kelly to be part of their data collection network. To prepare for this, that week we will be learning about the different waves that occur during an earthquake by building some simple seismometers in each STEM group, examine different seismograms, and then learn how to find the location of earthquake epicenters through triangulation. In short, we have a lot going on with all of these projects – in the middle of track season, no less! I am also in the middle of planning promotion activities & the field trip for the last couple days of school. More to come on this soon. I hope you all have a fantastic week. Check back throughout the week for any updates. As always, let me know if you need anything.
KK
Week of 4/11 – 4/15: Second track meet, Earthquake Machines
Monday 4/11: STEM Project
1st & 3rd: Initial Building Analysis
4th & 6th: Initial Earthquake Machine Setup & Modeling
Tuesday 4/12: (Kordon gone for the day) HS Class Signup
Wednesday 4/13: STEM Project
1st & 3rd: Initial Earthquake Machine Setup & Modeling
4th & 6th: Initial Earthquake Machine Simulation
Thursday 4/14: Track meet vs Roosevelt @ North Eugene HS (starts at 4:45), STEM Project
1st & 3rd: Initial Earthquake Machine Simulation
4th & 6th: Earthquake Simulation Scientific Explanation
Friday 4/15: STEM Project
1st & 3rd: Earthquake Simulation Scientific Explanation
4th & 6th: Earthquake Simulation Scientific Explanation
Announcements: Welcome to another week of 8th grade science! This week we will be focusing on our Earthquake Machines. We will be investigating how strain builds in tectonic plates prior to an earthquake, and what effects the earthquake has on different models of buildings. After some initial investigation, students will learn more specifically about the different waves in an earthquake and the different architectural/construction methods used in the construction of modern buildings. After this, they create their own investigations to test how earthquakes of varying relative levels of intensity affect their building structures. This will lead into the work that we will do the following week when we will build some simple seismometers and look at different seismograms created by different earthquakes – more to come on this later. As a reminder, I will not be at school on Tuesday this week. Students will be signing up for their fall trimester classes with the help of Mrs. Hornsby, and will be given time to work on their projects if there is time. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 4/4 – 4/8: First track meet, Start of STEM Project, and HS Forecasting
Monday 4/4: Activity 1.2: What traits do humans have?
Tuesday 4/5: Activity 1.3: Trait variation in humans.
Wednesday 4/6: Introduction to STEM project, STEM Project Preassessment
Thursday 4/7: NEHS Forecasting, Track meet vs. Cal Young @ Sheldon HS (starts at 4:45)
Friday 4/8: Finish STEM Project Preassessment, Introduction to Earthquake simulation machine
Announcements: Welcome to another week of 8th grade science! We have a lot going on this week with finishing up the first part of our life science unit, introducing the STEM project with our earthquake machines, and the NEHS counselors coming to Kelly for 8th grade forecasting for high school. That, along with the first track meet of the season Thursday after school, it should be a very exciting week. Also, I will be gone for the day on Tuesday, April 12. I was invited to pilot a web-based communication program along with other teachers in the district, and will be at a training for it that day. Also, I am planning on having someone from the University of Oregon come to Kelly the week of April 25 to help setup the seismometers. One of these will be housed in the Science wing, but as of yet, we have not selected a location for the 2nd one. I am also working at planning the end of year field trip for the 8th grade. I will have more details on this at a later time, but we are looking to have it the last week of school. Lastly, the first notebook grade for this final trimester will only be out of 5 points rather than the usual 10. Most of the material from the first 10 pages are resources I gave students, or work that we transferred over from our last notebook, so it will only be worth 5 rather than 10. Thereafter, notebooks should still be worth 10. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if you need anything.
KK
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Week of 3/28 – 4/1: Start of Spring Trimester
Monday 3/28: Finish Moth Activity on Natural Selection, Scientific Argumentation Part 2
Tuesday 3/29: Setup Spring Term INB, Goal Setting, LS Preassessment
Wednesday 3/30: How are we similar and different?
Thursday 3/31: Introduction to traits
Friday 4/1 (Early Release, Periods 4-6): Introduction to traits
Announcements: Welcome to the start of the spring trimester! If you’re looking for any and all information from the last two trimesters look here at the archive pages:
8th Science Winter Term Archive
At this beginning of the new trimester we will be starting two units: the primary focus for the first half of the term will be the STEM project that we will start the principle work on next week (April 4-8), but we will also be working on a unit on heredity and natural selection that will be intermixed in between projects for our STEM unit. The first focus of our STEM project will be on earthquakes; we will build earthquake simulation machines, and do a variety of investigations using them. I wanted to setup our spring interactive notebooks before we left for spring break, but that was not possible. If students have not already brought their spring term composition book to school, they need to do so by Tuesday of this week when we setup notebooks. We will be putting 10 pages into our notebooks on Tuesday, so it is vital that students bring their notebooks. If students cannot bring in a composition book for their spring INB, I will gladly trade them one of mine for a spiral notebook or $1. Just an FYI, the guidance counselors from North Eugene will be coming to Kelly on Thursday, April 7 to help 8th graders with signing up for fall classes, and answer questions about high school in general. Even if your student is not planning on attending North in the fall, this session will be great information for them. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Stay tuned for frequent updates this term as we progress in our STEM project. Please let me know if you need anything.
KK