2018-2019 7th Grade Science Archive Post

Here is the archive page for 7th Grade Science from the 2018-2019 school year:

Week of 6/10/2019 – 6/17/2019: Life Science: Microbiology & Body Systems, Finishing 7th Grade

Monday 6/10: Osmosis

Tuesday 6/11: Sugar & Yeast

Wednesday 6/12: Growth & Repair

Thursday 6/13: Intro to Mitosis

Friday 6/14: Physical Response to Activity

Monday 6/17: Last Day of 7th Grade Science – Until We Meet Again

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Last Day for Make-Up Work for Solar Cars or Life Science Friday, 6/14, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 6/14 to fix anything from the Solar Cars or Life Science Units in their notebooks.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to the last full week of 7th Grade Science!  It is hard to imagine that we have completed a full year together, and that this is the final Science Newsletter of the school year.  It feels like just yesterday that your students walked into my classroom for the first time.  As I mentioned previously, we are only halfway through our time together as I will teach 8th Grade Science next year as well as the 8th Grade Pilot Leadership class.  The time has already passed quickly, and it will go even faster next year.  Next year our major topics are: Earth Science – Plate Tectonics; Chemistry – Intro to Organic Chemistry; Life Science – Genetics; Physical Science – Forces & Motion.  We also incorporate Solar Cars into the physical science unit and focus on the other two types of cars that students did not build this year: the Hill Climbing Car and Science Concept Car.  In fact, Kelly Middle School has won the Science Concept Car competition at the Solar Car Challenge for the last 4 straight years (my 8th graders have won it twice, and Dawson’s 8th graders have also won it twice).  We should keep this streak going, and I have no doubts that our students will do so.  This year we had a group place 2nd overall in the Art Concept Competition.  My goal for 2019-20 is to build on the great foundation that we built this year by showing students that they are capable of doing amazing things and that we consistently will set the bar of excellence for how science is done in 4J.  Some of the additions that I have made to our 8th grade units – such as the STEM project portion of the Earth Science unit that we will do on earthquakes, building retrofitting and earthquake-safe design, and disaster preparedness – were lessons and activities that I built several years ago when I was part of a grant program through the University of Oregon (this is why we currently have several seismometers setup in the science wing).  These activities and projects take our curriculum and provide a hands-on lab/project experience and direct application to our lives here in the Pacific Northwest.  I hope you all have a wonderful summer, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again in the fall.  Take care!

KK

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Week of 6/3/2019 – 6/7/2019: Life Science: Microbiology & Body Systems

Monday 6/3: Microscope Use & Cell Samples

Tuesday 6/4: Investigating Pond Water & Microorganisms and Systems

Wednesday 6/5: Digestive System

Thursday 6/6: Circulatory System

Friday 6/7: Circulatory System

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Last Day for Make-Up Work for Solar Cars or Life Science Friday, 6/14, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 6/14 to fix anything from the Solar Cars or Life Science Units in their notebooks.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are going to start our short life science unit on microbiology and systems of the body.  We finished up the Solar Cars unit last week, and the students made a lot of really cool cars.  I am excited to see what they are able to do next year when they make science concept and hill climbing cars.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 5/27/2019 – 5/31/2019: Finishing Solar Cars

Monday 5/27: No School – Memorial Day

Tuesday 5/28: Solar Cars Modifications

Wednesday 5/29: Solar Cars Preliminary Races & Art Car Judging

Thursday 5/30: Solar Cars Races & Interview

Friday 5/31: Solar Cars Races & Interview

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM, Last Day for Make-Up Work for Solar Cars or Life Science Friday, 6/14, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 6/14 to fix anything from the Solar Cars or Life Science Units in their notebooks.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are finishing Solar Cars, and going to be heading into our final short Life Science unit on Microbiology.  The Solar Car Challenge is this Saturday at Cal Young MS from 9:30-3:00, and only a couple cars from each class are able to go based on speed and artistic representation.  I registered those who are going, and will send a supplemental email to those groups this afternoon.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 5/20/2019 – 5/24/2019: Solar Cars

Monday 5/20: Gears Ratio Lab & Build Day

Tuesday 5/21: Motor Placement & Build Day

Wednesday 5/22: Solar Cars Experiment Design

Thursday 5/23: Solar Cars Experiment & Build Day

Friday 5/24: Solar Cars Build Day

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 5/24 to fix anything from the Earth Science Unit in their notebooks, test or model corrections.

Homework: None

Announcements:

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Week of 5/20/2019 – 5/24/2019: Solar Cars

Monday 5/20: Gears Ratio Lab & Build Day

Tuesday 5/21: Motor Placement & Build Day

Wednesday 5/22: Solar Cars Experiment Design

Thursday 5/23: Solar Cars Experiment & Build Day

Friday 5/24: Solar Cars Build Day

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 5/24 to fix anything from the Earth Science Unit in their notebooks, test or model corrections.

Homework: None

Announcements:

KK

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Week of 5/13/2019 – 5/17/2019: Solar Cars

Monday 5/13: Solar Cars Lab Safety

Tuesday 5/14: Solar Cars Final Drafts

Wednesday 5/15: Solar Cars Initial Build

Thursday 5/16: Solar Cars Initial Build

Friday 5/17: Solar Cars Roll Down Tests

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 5/24 to fix anything from the Earth Science Unit in their notebooks, test or model corrections.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are full-on into Solar Cars (and will be for the next couple of weeks).  Students will start building their cars this week, and testing them. Not a lot of announcements today.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 5/6/2019 – 5/10/2019: Solar Cars

Monday 5/6: Solar Cars – Introduction, Goals, and Gears

Tuesday 5/7: Solar Cars – the Chassis & Chassis Design

Wednesday 5/8: No School

Thursday 5/9: Solar Cars – Bearings, Axles, and Wheels

Friday 5/10: Solar Cars – Group Formation, Rough Draft, and Installing the Bearings

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Districts Track Meet Friday 5/10, Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Students have until Friday 5/24 to fix anything from the Earth Science Unit in their notebooks, test or model corrections.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  Solar Cars is here!! This unit tends to be one of the kids’ favorite in all of middle school.  Students research, plan, and construct a working solar-powered car using a variety of parts, and race them in competition with each other. Students can create a speed car or an art concept car.  “Winners” will have the option of competing in the Solar Car Challenge at Cal Young MS on Saturday, June 1 – more details later.  A couple very important announcements about mid-trimester grades: Students have until Friday, May 24 to fix anything from the weather unit towards their grades, and student weather models and their weather unit test were NOT calculated into the mid-trimester grade.  My student teacher and I did not feel that  it would be fair to the students if their mid-trimester grade included these in the first half of the trimester when students did not have time to fix their scores if they needed the opportunity.  Weather model scores and test scores will be posted by mid-week this week so that students will have at minimum a full two weeks from the posting date to fix any items that need to be corrected.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 4/29/2019 – 5/3/2019: Finishing the Weather Unit

Monday 4/29: Heating & Cooling of the Earth

Tuesday 4/30: Meteorologist Presentation & Unit Review

Wednesday 5/1: Weather Unit Test

Thursday 5/2: Proficiency Improvement & Appreciation Activity

Friday 5/3: No School – Mid-Trimester Grading

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Sub-Districts Track Meet Thursday 5/2, Last day for make-up work for Mid-Trimester Grades Thursday 5/2, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 5/3, Districts Track Meet Friday 5/10, Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Notebooks grades were updated through page 63 at the end of last week.  Weather Models graded over the next couple days.  Students have until Thursday 5/2 to fix any missing/incomplete items that have already been scored and entered into Synergy from the weather unit for mid-trimester grading.  Models & Test will only impact 2nd half of trimester. Next update will occur after mid-trimester grading.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are going to finish the weather unit. Monday will be our last full lesson where students will discover the cause of temperature and weather variance on Earth.  Tuesday, one of my friends who is a meteorologist for KEZI News will be coming to spend the day with us.  He is going to talk about what he does for his job, show the students how he uses scientific models to help predict the weather, and the types of math that he uses to do so.  The kids are also going to be doing their unit review on Tuesday before we have our test on WednesdayThursday I am gone due to the sub-districts track meet.  Coaches will be gone in the morning to meet and setup the meet, and then will be back during 2nd period to pick up the students.  If you have a student on the track team we will be giving them more details at practice this week.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 4/22/2019 – 4/26/2019: Finishing the STORM Model

Monday 4/22: Storm Models

Tuesday 4/23: Weather Maps

Wednesday 4/24: Storm Data Analysis

Thursday 4/25: Using a Model to Explain Storm Data

Friday 4/26: 7th Grade Field Trip

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Spring Afternoon Celebration Wednesday 4/24,  7th Grade Field Trip Friday 4/26 to Portland Gardens & Portland State University, Sub-Districts Track Meet Thursday 5/2, Last day for make-up work for Mid-Trimester Grades Thursday 5/2, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 5/3, Districts Track Meet Friday 5/10, Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Notebooks grades are being updated through page 63 this week.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will get close to finishing our earth science unit.  Next week we will have our last lesson on the variation of temperature and daylight hours, our review, and then our test on Wednesday.  The test will not impact the grade for the first half of the trimester, and will instead impact the 2nd half.  As soon as we are done with the weather unit we will begin our unit on solar cars.  While we are working on Solar cars we will mix in some work on our life science unit.  When we finish with solar cars we will go through the main points & investigations of the life science unit before ending the school year.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 4/15/2019 – 4/19/2019: Weather Clouds & STORMS

Monday 4/15: Convection Models

Tuesday 4/16: Cloud in a Bottle

Wednesday 4/17: Cloud Types & Storms

Thursday 4/18: Storm Model

Friday 4/19: Weather Maps

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Spring Afternoon Celebration Monday 4/22, National Poem in Your Pocket Day Thursday 4/25, 7th Grade Field Trip Friday 4/26 to Portland Gardens & Portland State University, Sub-Districts Track Meet Thursday 5/2, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 5/3, Districts Track Meet Friday 5/10, Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Earth Science notebook scores have been updated through page 49.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are going to be finishing up our scientific models for the weather unit that we have been working on and adding to for several weeks.  Mid-Trimester grading is coming up in just over two weeks.  I submitted the order for our last student workbooks over the weekend on Solar Cars & Life Science, and they should be here in the next week or two.  It’s hard to believe that we’re almost done with our first year together – I did get confirmation that I will be teaching 8th grade science next year even though this was never really in doubt.  I am ecstatic to have the same group of kids for another year.  Overall, the kids are doing the best work they have done all school year in science, and I am thrilled to be able to see what they can accomplish next year.  I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 4/1/2019 – 4/5/2019: Weather – Air Masses

Monday 4/1: Weekly Forecast, Winter Trimester Reward Lab

Tuesday 4/2: Conduction Investigation

Wednesday 4/3: Heating & Cooling of Soil & Water Investigation

Thursday 4/4: Analyzing Ocean vs. Land Temperature Data

Friday 4/5: Investigating how differences in temperature affect air masses

Upcoming Calendar Dates: International Day Friday 4/12, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 4/12 @ River Road Elementary 5:15-8:30 PM, Spring Afternoon Celebration Monday 4/22, National Poem in Your Pocket Day Thursday 4/25, 7th Grade Field Trip Friday 4/26 to Portland Gardens & Portland State University, Sub-Districts Track Meet Thursday 5/2, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 5/3, Districts Track Meet Friday 5/10, Memorial Day Monday 5/27, Solar Car Challenge Saturday 6/1 @ Cal Young MS 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, 8th Grade Promotion Monday 6/17, Last Day of School for 7th Graders Tuesday 6/18, End of Trimester Grading Wednesday 6/19.

Science Notebook: Weather Notebook will have first grading during upcoming week.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  I hope you all have had a wonderful spring break.  I spent most of my time getting some projects done around the house that I am unable to attend to during the school year – and of course got ahead on some planning and prepping for the term.  This weather unit will be quite quick – especially in comparison to the chemistry and physical science units that we have completed, and then we will dive right into solar cars.  I will have a lot more details to give about solar cars when we get close to starting the unit.  I have already started prepping and testing the materials for their kits – I have about 45-50 made so far, and will be making about 30-40 more before the unit starts.  Kids often say this is one of their favorite projects that they completed in all of middle school.  Reminder that if your student needs to catch up or get extra help from me during this term that I am unavailable after school due to track practice/meets, but they can come in before school or at lunch to get extra assistance from either me or my student teacher.  I would love for this trimester to be your student’s most successful so far in middle school – in my class, and in others. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 3/18/2019 – 3/22/2019: Weather!!

Monday 3/18: Appreciation Activity, Go over PS2 Unit Test, Weekly Forecast, Energy Unit Application, Clouds & Weather

Tuesday 3/19: Heated Air Models, Conduction

Wednesday 3/20: Heating & Cooling of Soil & Water

Thursday 3/21: Ocean vs. Land Temperature

Friday 3/22: No School – Winter Trimester Grading Day

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Deadline for Winter Trimester make-up work Thursday 3/21, Winter Trimester Grading Day Friday 3/22, Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Last day for students to turn in make-up work from trimester is Thursday 3/21.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will immerse ourselves in the first part of our unit on weather.  One of my teammates on my summer baseball team is a meteorologist for KEZI, and he’s excited to be able to come into class after spring break for an experiment or two.  I input the scores from the physical science unit test.  If your student scored below a 12/15 on it (80%), then they can do test corrections to earn back up to the 80% mark.  To do this they take their tests home with them, and for every wrong answer they write a short “explanation” that explains what they got wrong, and on a scientific level why the correct answer is indeed correct – typically with a scientific principle to support them.  For example, if I put on my test that a battery uses gravitational energy to create electricity in a closed circuit, I would write, “the battery actually uses chemical energy to create electricity.  When the circuit is closed a chemical reaction happens in the battery that sends electricity through the circuit.”  This process takes a little more effort, but if students are willing to put in that effort, I am very happy to reward them with earning some points back.  If your student’s score says “missing” then they either have to finish it, or need to take it altogether.  I left it up to the students until now to come in and finish, but now I will be making sure they finish it over the first few days of the week.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 3/11/2019 – 3/15/2019: Finishing Wind Turbines, Start of Earth Science Unit

Monday 3/11: Wind Turbine Blade Design

Tuesday 3/12: Wind Turbine Efficiency Investigation

Wednesday 3/13: Introduction to Earth Science Unit: Weather

Thursday 3/14: Wind Turbine Models & Reflection

Friday 3/15: Weather: WET

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Deadline for Winter Trimester make-up work Thursday 3/21, Winter Trimester Grading Day Friday 3/22, Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Last day for students to turn in make-up work from trimester is Thursday 3/21.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th grade science!  This week has been an interesting one so far.  You might know about this because I told the students, but my father-in-law passed away on Monday evening.  The kids were very kind and supportive when they found out, and I really appreciated how they responded.  Also, I had a conference in Colorado Springs that I was supposed to attend, but they as our flight landed in Denver we encountered a blizzard.  Having snow hitting your face at a steady 50 mph with gusts in the 80s is something that I never thought I would experience; yes, I got pictures, and we’re expected to be able to fly back on Friday evening.  We had a great experience with the wind turbines, and the kids did a great job working on them.  We will use our experiences with the turbines when we start talking more about wind and air masses.  Due to the reclaimed snow days the end of the trimester is next Thursday, 3/21.  Students can turn in any make-up work that they have until the end of the day on Thursday.  I hope you all have had a wonderful week, and that you have a pleasant weekend.  Take care!

KK

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Week of 3/4/2019 – 3/8/2019: Wind Turbines!!!

Monday 3/4: Pulleys – Measuring Watts & Joules

Tuesday 3/5: Measuring Wind Velocity, Calculating Wind Turbine Efficiency 

Wednesday 3/6: Wind Turbines Investigation Part 1

Thursday 3/7: Wind Turbine Blade Construction & Turbine Investigation Part 2

Friday 3/8: International Day Event

Upcoming Calendar Dates: First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Deadline for Winter Trimester make-up work Tuesday 3/12, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15. Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Notebooks were graded up to the PS2 Unit Review recently.  PS2 Test and remainder of PS2 Notebook to be graded by upcoming weekend.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will be working with Wind Turbines, and applying the concepts that we learned in our physical science unit on energy on this world world apparatus.  We are going to be the first class in all of 4J to use this new iteration of the Wind Turbine project sponsored by EWEB.  I have several hands-on investigations and experiments that I designed for the students to complete that culminates in them creating several different types of wind turbine blades and a competition to see who can create the most efficient wind turbine.  This project might take us into the following week – as it is the first time that we’ve done this project in the current iteration time is more variable than typical. Either way, I expect that this project will be one that students remember for quite some time.  Also, track practice starts on Monday, March 4.  If your student is still working on getting their packet turned in, I hope that they will do so soon!  I would love it if the 7th grade was the largest represented grade on the team.  It should be an exciting and fun season, and I’m looking forward to working with your kids out on the track.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 2/25/2019 – 3/1/2019: All. The. SNOW.

Monday 2/25: No School – Snow Day

Tuesday 2/26: No School – Snow Day

Wednesday 2/27: No School – Snow Day

Thursday 2/28: No School – Snow Day

Friday 3/1: Electric Cars

Upcoming Calendar Dates: First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Deadline for Winter Trimester make-up work Tuesday 3/12, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15. Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Notebooks were graded up to the PS2 Unit Review last week.  PS2 Test and remainder of PS2 Notebook to be graded by upcoming weekend.

Homework: None

Announcements:

KK

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Week of 2/18/2019 – 2/22/2019: Finishing Physical Science Unit

Monday 2/18: No School – President’s Day

Tuesday 2/19: Spinning Coil Motors

Wednesday 2/20: PS2 Unit Review

Thursday 2/21: PS2 Unit Review

Friday 2/22: PS2 Unit Test

Upcoming Calendar Dates: President’s Day Monday 2/18,  Physical Science Final Test Thursday 2/21, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Deadline for Winter Trimester make-up work Tuesday 3/12, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15. Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Notebooks graded on a rolling basis starting Wednesday 2/20.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we finish up physical science with our review & test, and then we will only just start our Earth Science unit.  On Wednesday I have a workshop for Wind Turbines, but my student teacher will be able to run the review without issue along with the support of my guest teacher.  We will get to use the wind turbines in the coming weeks as yet another way of connecting our physical science on energy and the earth science unit on weather.  If your student applied for Pilot Leadership, please expect a notification about the decision on their application by Friday 3/1; I expect to send out notices early that week.  At that time, I will create another “page” on my blog that is specific to Pilot Leader activities and announcements.  Those notices will be sent periodically, and will increase to once a week in frequency next year along the same lines as my science newsletters.  We are also only two weeks away from the beginning of track season!  I hope to see a lot of 7th graders on the team, and am excited to work with this group for yet another season as their sprinting and relay coach.  Our first practice is Monday 3/4, and students need to have their paperwork (including physical) completed and turned in to the office before they are able to participate.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 2/11/2019 – 2/15/2019: Investigating Electrical Energy

Monday 2/11: Measuring Current

Tuesday 2/12: Measuring Voltage

Wednesday 2/13: Kordon Gone – Child Illness

Thursday 2/14: Measuring Voltage, Magnetism & Electricity

Friday 2/15: Spinning Coil Motors PILOT LEADER APPLICATIONS DUE BY 4:00 PM!!

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Kordon Gone Tuesday 2/12, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, President’s Day Monday 2/18,  Physical Science Final Test (Wednesday 2/20 – give or take a day), First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15. Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Most notebooks were updated this weekend.  The remainder will be graded & scores updated on Synergy by Tuesday.

Homework: None

Announcements:  Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will be finishing up our investigations with electrical energy.  We end this portion of the unit by building what’s called a Spinning Coil Motor.  It is fairly simple to make, and is a lot of fun to watch and model.  The kids will have fun making them on Friday.  On Wednesday 2/20 I have a workshop that I am attending so that we can get the new and improved Wind Turbine lab materials.  We should be one of the first classes in the entire district that gets to work with the new Wind Turbines which is pretty neat.  The EWEB coordinator was hoping that she would be able to get us access to the materials before or right as we ended the physical science unit, but was not able to.  The wind turbines still have a fantastic application to our Earth Science unit on Weather, so it will not be a lost opportunity in the end.  Also, I have been reminding the kids over and over that Pilot Leader Applications are due by Friday at 4:00 PM.  They were given about a week longer than we’ve given previous groups.  Please help me remind the students, daily if necessary, to get these turned in.  The leadership program at Kelly is one of a kind – so much so that other schools from across the district and state have come to us for ideas on how to setup and improve their programs at their schools.  I have a lot of ideas for our leadership program next year with this group, and this group of kids has the ability and opportunity to set a new standard by which future groups will be held to, and that’s an awesome spot for them to be in.  I hope you have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 2/4/2019 – 2/8/2019: Chemical Energy & Electrical Energy

Monday 2/4: The Paper Cup

Tuesday 2/5: Introducing Electrical Energy: Circuits

Wednesday 2/6: The Wet-Cell Battery

Thursday 2/7: Batteries & Hydrogen Cells

Friday 2/8: Measuring Current

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Kordon Gone Tuesday 2/12, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, President’s Day Monday 2/18, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15. Spring Break 3/25-3/29.

Science Notebook: Notebooks updated on rolling basis Tuesday-Friday this week.  Previous update was week prior to mid-trimester grading.

Homework: None

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will finish up our investigations about Chemical & Thermal Energy and jump into the last portion of our unit which is on Electrical Energy before a final project on Wind Turbines.  I have been emailing back and forth with the EWEB Coordinator who manages the wind turbine project, and it sounds like we will be able to work with the wind turbines just before we finish our unit in a couple of weeks.  I am almost done with our Earth Science student notebook; they should arrive at school fairly soon.  Over the last week and a half, students have been filling out Pilot Leader Applications.  They are due on Friday, February 15, and we typically take about a week to make a decision.  I would say that you should receive a decision notice during the last week of February, and it will come from me.  Once a decision has been made I will send decision notifications from the Committee via email and physical mail to the address listed in Synergy.  Thereafter, those accepted should expect fairly regular emails from me/Miller on events for the Pilot Leaders, and they will begin to receive the advisory emails that I send to the existing leaders as well so that they can start to help their 8th grade leaders in advisory each morning.  Also, I will help all students print out their grades this week for Winter Mid-Trimester Progress Reports to attach to their applications.  Not that they don’t already, but remind your student to take it easy on me early this week; I had a minor surgery on Friday, and I am still pretty sore.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 1/21/2019 – 1/25/2019: Thermal Energy

Monday 1/21: No School – MLK Jr Day

Tuesday 1/22: Thermal Energy in Liquids

Wednesday 1/23: Happy & Sad Spheres

Thursday 1/24: Thermal Energy and Happy & Sad Spheres

Friday 1/25: Thermal & Radiant Energy, Pilot Leader Applications Available

Upcoming Calendar Dates: MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Kordon Gone Wednesday 1/23, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Friday 1/25, Kordon Gone Period 1-3 Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: Notebooks have been updated through page 96.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  Last week we took a little longer to dive deeper on our Thermal Energy Models.  I felt that it would be beneficial for the kids and their understanding on how to effectively create and evaluate the models that we create in class.  This week I know that I will be out on Wednesday 1/23, but my student teacher will be able to effectively guide the lesson with the assistance of the guest teacher I have coming in.  Also, I will be gone for a couple class periods in the morning on Monday 1/28 due to a meeting that I have to attend.  We will be further investigating the effects of Thermal Energy on different types of energy that we have studied and will also introduce a couple of others along the way.  The next couple weeks are heavy on the number of investigations and experiments that we will be doing. Pilot Leader Applications will be made available on Friday 1/25 this week after I make a short presentation about them in Science class.  Students will have until Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM to turn them in either to me or Miller.  Track Packets are also going to be made available later this week.  If your student is interested in joining, and they have not had a physical in the past two years, they should have one done soon.  For those students who are interested in joining, but are nervous, please know that we encourage students to try a wide variety of events, and that we as a coaching staff promote hard work, sportsmanship, and improvement before anything else.  We care far less about what “place” they get in their events, and instead focus on persisting to attain “personal records” – or improving in their own personal times, heights, and distances in their events.  Regardless of place, we try to push our athletes to make these personal gains, and along the way if they place 1st – great; 4th – great; 8th – great.  This is the positive team culture that we try to establish, and is one reason why we have such a high percentage of students participate, and have had such great continuity on the coaching staff.  Please let me know if you have any questions about track, pilot leader applications, or anything in between. I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 1/14/2019 – 1/18/2019: Thermal Energy

Monday 1/14: Modeling Colliding Spheres

Tuesday 1/15: Thermal Energy Sand

Wednesday 1/16: Thermal Energy Models

Thursday 1/17: Evaluating Thermal Energy Models, States of Matter Review

Friday 1/18: States of Matter & Thermal Energy

Upcoming Calendar Dates: MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Kordon Gone Wednesday 1/23, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Monday 1/28, Kordon Gone Period 1-3 Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: Notebooks were graded through page 70 prior to break.  Next notebook update is this week.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are focusing on Thermal Energy – how it works and interacts with other energy types.  For the next several lessons into next week we examine how Thermal energy impacts several different energy types and increases/decreases the rate of transfer.  The kids have done a pretty good job reacclimating to being at school after the extended break, and our investigations & discussions have gone well the past couple of days.  Their thermal energy models have been excellent this week! Whereas announcements were long last week, they are short this week.  Lastly, remind your student about Pilot Leader Applications and Track Packets.  Both will be available soon – I just put the finishing touches on the Pilot Leader Application at the end of last week – and we would love to see a high percentage of participation in both programs again. I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 1/7/2019 – 1/11/2019: Introducing Energy Transfer

Monday 1/7: No School – Teacher In-Service

Tuesday 1/8: Engineering Design Challenge: Energy Types Refresher

Wednesday 1/9: Revisiting the Bouncing Ball, Introducing Energy Transfer

Thursday 1/10: The Domino & Trampoline Effects

Friday 1/11: Introducing Thermal Energy

Upcoming Calendar Dates: MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Kordon Gone Wednesday 1/23, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Monday 1/28, Kordon Gone Period 1-3 Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: Notebooks were graded through page 70 prior to break.  Next notebook update will be week of 1/14-1/18.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  I hope that you all enjoyed winter break.  I am excited to get back to the classroom, and to see all of my 7th graders.  Believe it or not, we are about 4 weeks away from the middle point of middle school for your students.  It goes by so fast; I feel like I blink and I am already saying goodbye to them as the move onto high school.  We have a couple of major deadlines/events happening over the coming weeks.  On Monday 1/28 Pilot Leader Applications will be made available.  The applications are due to me or Mr. Miller by 4:00 PM on Friday 2/15.  This is a program that Mr. Miller and I run together; students often say that the experience was the most impactful one they had in their entire middle school experience.  Other schools have come to us to setup their leadership programs in a similar fashion, and just this past fall Miller and I received an invitation to come to the UO to present to the pre-service teachers (graduate students who are studying to become teachers) on how to setup an effective leadership program – we’re just trying to nail down a date and time right now.  I have been pumping the kids up for this since the first day of science, and I hope that they decide to apply.  The requirements/qualifications will be made readily available on the application, but some of the basic ones that we have are students need to be passing their classes (specifically we will look at the mid-trimester report for trimester 2 of this school year), no level 3 referrals, must have regular attendance, and be exhibiting the PILOTS attributes in their classes and in their social interactions.  There are a variety of questions/essays/teacher recommendations that they need to collect as part of the process, so we give students nearly three weeks to finish it all and turn it in.  Due to the fact that we give students this extended length of time to complete and submit it, we do not accept late submissions.  Also, because I am one of the committee members making the decision on whether or not they are accepted into the program, I am not allowed to provide a recommendation for them – same with Mr. Miller.  Lastly, track season is coming up!  If your student wants to participate we will have track packets ready to go very soon.  Mr. Miller, Mr. Douma, and I are the track coaches along with Mr. Longoria – who is a teacher at another school in Eugene.  If your student has not had a physical during the last two years they may need to have one done in order to participate.  The office has a record of those physicals that they have on file.  Doctor’s offices tend to book quickly for physicals, so if you know your student has not had one get it scheduled soon so they can participate right away at track.  Sorry for the long announcements this week – there’s a lot going on!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 12/17/2018 – 12/21/2018: Finishing Elastic Energy, Mid-Unit Test

Monday 12/17: Paper Catapults

Tuesday 12/18: Mid-Unit Review

Wednesday 12/19: Mid-Unit Test

Thursday 12/20: Engineering Design Challenge: Catapults

Friday 12/21: Fall Trimester Reward Lab

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Last Day Before Winter Break Friday 12/21, Winter Break 12/24-1/7, MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Kordon Gone Wednesday 1/23, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: Will try to have grades updated through mid-unit assessment (page 70) by start of winter break.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  A big thank you to all of those who were able to make it for the OMSI event last Friday.  It was nice to see so many families enjoying themselves, and I got to talk to quite a few of those who came.  We hope to have more events with OMSI and other STEM partners in the future.  This week we will hit the mid-point of our physical science unit.  While I enjoy the entire unit, the second half is incredibly interesting as we get to dive deeper into different energy types, increase our understanding about energy conversions, energy transfer, and get to do numerous investigations with all of them.  We will have our mid-unit test towards the middle of the week.  It’s a short test covering the three energy types that we have studied so far: gravitational, kinetic, elastic, and covers the basics on energy conversions.  Based on what I have observed in class, I expect the students to do quite well overall on it.  That having been said, if your student has missing/incomplete work (any assignment that they scored less than a 4 on) then I would like to suggest that they take their notebook home over break to fix.  Please see their scores on ParentVue if you have any questions about whether or not they have items to improve. Also, over the winter break I will be finalizing my workbooks for our last major units on earth science, life science, and solar cars.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 12/10/2018 – 12/14/2018: Energy Conversions & Elastic Energy

Monday 12/10: Investigating the Pendulum

Tuesday 12/11: Revisiting the Rolling Can

Wednesday 12/12: Kordon Gone

Thursday 12/13: Elastic Energy

Friday 12/14: Investigating Elastic Energy

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Kordon Gone Wednesday 12/12, Kelly MS STEM Festival with OMSI Friday 12/14, Last Day Before Winter Break Friday 12/21, Winter Break 12/24-1/7, MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Kordon Gone Wednesday 1/23, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: First grades of winter trimester posted by end of week Friday 12/7.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements:

KK

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Week of 12/3/2018 – 12/7/2018: Kinetic (Motion) Energy & Gravitational Energy

Monday 12/3: No School – Fall Trimester Grading Day

Tuesday 12/4: Engineering Design Challenge

Wednesday 12/5: Introducing Gravitational Energy

Thursday 12/6: Relationship Between Gravitational Energy & Kinetic (Motion) Energy

Friday 12/7: Investigating the Pendulum

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Kelly MS STEM Festival with OMSI Friday 12/14, Last Day Before Winter Break Friday 12/21, Winter Break 12/24-1/7, MLK Jr. Day Monday 1/21, Pilot Leader Applications Given Out Monday 1/28, Mid-Trimester Grading Day Friday 2/1, President’s Day Monday 2/18, Pilot Leader Applications Due Friday 2/15 by 4:00 PM, First Day of Track Practice Monday 3/4, Benito Juarez Celebration Friday 3/8 @ 5:30 PM, Winter Trimester Grading Day Thursday 3/14, Teacher In-Service Friday 3/15.

Science Notebook: First grades of winter trimester posted by end of week Friday 12/7.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  It’s hard to believe that we’re already 1/3 the way through the school year.  This week we started with an Engineering Design Challenge today, and will continue our exploration of energy in our physical science unit as we start investigating different energy “types” and transformations.  I hope to have the first scores of the winter trimester posted by the end of the week.  Saturday I will be working with the Pilot Leaders at our Barnes & Noble fundraiser.  As I have been telling the kids periodically, the time to impress their teachers is now if they are considering applying to be Pilot Leaders.  I will be giving out the Pilot Leader applications on Monday 1/28, and students will have just over two weeks to complete them.  The 8th grade leadership program at Kelly has no parallel throughout the district: they get volunteer/mentoring experience every day, they get to work with 3rd graders at Howard, numerous volunteer & community events, and get to make a significant impact on our school and community through a variety of other activities.  Several other schools have come to us over the last few years seeking advice on how to start/run an effective program.  It also gives students another opportunity to work with Miller and me in a completely different arena.  Students who are part of the program often remark that it was the highlight of their middle school careers.  Please consider pushing your student to apply!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 11/26/2018 – 11/30/2018: Starting Physical Science

Monday 11/26: Radiometer Demo & Newton vs. Goldberg

Tuesday 11/27: Observing Surprising Devices, and Perpetual Motion Machines

Wednesday 11/28: Perpetual Motion Machines, Objects in Motion

Thursday 11/29: Impact Craters, Predicting Amounts of Kinetic Energy

Friday 11/30: Finish Predicting Amount of Kinetic Energy

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3. Kelly MS STEM Festival with OMSI Friday 12/14, Last Day Before Winter Break Friday 12/21.

Science Notebook: Chemistry Science Notebooks grading is complete.  Students have until Friday 11/30 to make-up any missed material/points since mid-trimester grading.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will be starting our physical science unit.  We will start things off by making some observations of some “surprising” devices, and talking about the concept of a “perpetual motion machine.”  Thereafter we will begin our investigations into different energy types.  We will also have an engineering design challenge in class on Friday of this week.  Students also have until Friday 11/30 to fix anything in their notebooks or other assignments they may have missed or lost points on; they can make up material since the start of the 2nd half of the trimester.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 11/19/2018 – 11/23/2018: Finishing IC2

Monday 11/19: Conservation of Matter: Open System

Tuesday 11/20: IC2 Final Assessment

Wednesday 11/21: Conservation of Matter: Closed System

Thursday 11/22: Thanksgiving Break

Friday 11/23: Thanksgiving Break

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3. Kelly MS STEM Festival Friday 12/14.

Science Notebook:

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we will be finishing up our chemistry unit. We have our last investigations regarding the Law of Conservation of Matter and our final assessment.  For the assessment, students will be writing a scientific explanation (claim, evidence, reasoning) that answers the question “Did we make soap when we mixed sodium hydroxide and fat?”  Students conducted investigations and presented their findings over the last week and a half, and they will use the collective data to answer the question with a scientific claim, supported by the gathered evidence, and explain with scientific principles through reasoning as to how/why this happened.  The last scientific explanation I scored out of 10 (Claim = 4, Evidence = 4, Reasoning = 2), and this one will be scored out of 11 (Claim = 4, Evidence = 4, Reasoning = 3).  I do this so that students know exactly what the expectations are for “reasoning” from the get-go, but scoring is scaffolded based on their experience writing them.  Going forward, the reasoning will be out of 4.  I will accept make-up work from the 2nd half of the trimester through Friday, 11/30.  The work that we do in our physical science unit after Thanksgiving Break will not impact the fall trimester grade, but will instead be the first scores that I use for the winter trimester.  This allows students to really concentrate on getting any make-up work in for me.  I also let the students know that we were able to get OMSI on the calendar to come to Kelly.  I have been working with them since the start of the school year, and we have them on the calendar for Friday 12/14 starting at 5:00 PM.  They will bring 12-15 tables or stations for students and families to investigate in one of our gyms, and will also have a large-scale demonstration by one of their educators.  Being that we are starting a physical science unit, I requested that most of their material be physics related.  We are partnering with the KMS Title Program’s Math & Engineering night for the evening.  It should be a fun event – free to the public, and dinner will be provided by the Title program.  I hope you’re able to come. I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 11/12/2018 – 11/16/2018: IC2 Final Projects, Finishing Chemistry

Monday 11/12: No School – Veteran’s Day

Tuesday 11/13: IC2 Final Project Part 2 

Wednesday 11/14: IC2 Final Project Part 2

Thursday 11/15: (Finish IC2 Final Project Presentations) Flubber Investigation

Friday 11/16: Seltzer Tablet Investigation

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook:

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we wrap up the final project of the unit, have one or two last investigations to put the finishing touches on, and then start to get ready for our end-of-unit assessment.  We will review on Monday 11/19, and will test on Tuesday 11/20 before breaking for thanksgiving.  There were several students who did not turn in the Investigation Design; this is reflected in Synergy.  Students can still make it up, but this needs to be turned in by Friday 11/30 to receive credit – which will also be the last day to turn anything in for make-up for the fall trimester.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 11/5/2018 – 11/9/2018: IC2 Final Projects

Monday 11/5: IC2 Final Project: Investigation Design

Tuesday 11/6: IC2 Final Project: Investigation Design, SLC Final Prep

Wednesday 11/7: IC2 Final Project Investigation

Thursday 11/8: No School – Conferences Evening Prior

Friday 11/9: No School – Teacher In-Service

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Student-Led Conferences Evening of Wednesday 11/7, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Scored through page 94 end of this week.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we have Student-Led Conferences on Wednesday, and students will be showing off the soap they made in class, and some other work from our chemistry unit.  This week we are also starting our final project, where students design their own investigations, for the unit before our end-of-unit test which we will take in the next week or two.  We finish the unit with 2 lessons to tie everything together at the end before we jump into our physical science unit on energy.  If you need any accommodations regarding your conference day and time, please inform your student’s advisory teacher.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.  Take care!

KK

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Week of 10/29/2018 – 11/2/2018: CSG #2, SLC Prep, Conservation of Matter

Monday 10/29: CSG #2 Prep

Tuesday 10/30: CSG #2 Presentation & SLC Prep

Wednesday 10/31: Pathogens Lab

Thursday 11/1: Conservation of Matter Investigation

Friday 11/2: Conservation of Matter Investigation

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Student-Led Conferences Evening of Wednesday 11/7, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Make-up deadline for pages 45-68 is Friday 11/2.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week we are working on another Collaborative Study Group, and are getting close to being done with our chemistry unit.  I will get my physical science notebook to the print shop by the end of the week so that we have it in time to start physical science on time.  We will have our end-unit assessment in about a week or two, and will also be conducting an investigation design that will take a couple of days.  We should be able to get a good chunk of the way into physical science before leaving for winter break.  I updated notebook grades this past weekend, and will do so again once we are done with the unit.  I hope that you all can make it to Student-Led Conferences.  More information will be sent home about it soon, but it will follow the model that it has in the past in the evening hours on Wednesday 11/7.  Students will be able to take their soap home at conferences.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 10/22/2018 – 10/26/2018: Water Properties, Making Soap, Conservation of Matter

Monday 10/22: Water Properties: Adhesion & Cohesion

Tuesday 10/23: Water Pressure Investigation 

Wednesday 10/24: Soap Lab

Thursday 10/25: Properties of Water – pH Investigation

Friday 10/26: Guided Work Time: Soap Making Lab Results, Mixtures vs Substances, Soap Making Lab Text Annotations

Upcoming Calendar Dates: No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Make-up deadline for pages 45-68 is Friday 11/2.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  This week is a very interesting one for our class.  We have 4-5 labs that we are going to do, and the highlight is the lab that I am planning on doing on Wednesday: making soap.  The soap lab is one of the most difficult labs for us to pull off for the entire school year.  It requires that the students do an excellent job of listening, following instructions, and minimizing most side conversations.  Making soap involves mixing sodium hydroxide with coconut oil and crisco.  Because sodium hydroxide is an extremely powerful substance I will be the only one to handle it.  The students will be able to do everything else with the lab.  After a week or two students will be able to take their soap home with them – I will keep about 1/3 of what they make so that we can use it in the rest of the investigations of the unit.  I will record a video of the soap-making process to show the kids so that they know ahead of time what this lab looks like.  I have never had an issue with the soap lab, but I really want it to go smoothly.  I will be doing the next notebook grading over the course of this week.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 10/15/2018 – 10/19/2018: Electrolysis, Phase Changes, Substances vs Mixtures

Monday 10/15: Conductivity Investigation

Tuesday 10/16: Kordon Gone 

Wednesday 10/17: Electrolysis of Water vs Boiling

Thursday 10/18: Differences between Mixtures & Chemical Reactions

Friday 10/19: Differences between Mixtures & Chemical Reactions

Upcoming Calendar Dates:  Kordon Gone Tuesday 10/16, KMS Diversity Event Evening Friday 10/19, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Notebook grading updated through page 68.  Make-up deadline for pages through 44 is Friday 10/19. Make-up deadline for pages 45-68 is Friday 11/2.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science!  We have a couple investigations that we are going to do this week, and we’re going to fit them around when I have to be gone.  Friday 10/19 is the last day that students can fix anything in their notebooks through page 44.  I am done grading notebooks through page 68, and the make-up deadline for those pages is Friday 11/2.  Not this upcoming week, but the following week we will be doing what I consider to be the most interesting lab of the unit: we are going to make soap.  This lab will probably occur on Monday 10/22 or Tuesday 10/23, and I need help getting the kids to understand that if there was ever a lab that lab safety procedures need to be followed to the letter, it’s this one.  The lab involves a very strong chemical reaction between Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Crisco, and water.  I’ve done this lab several times with 7th graders, and there has never been an issue.  Furthermore, we haven’t had any problems in any of the current classes in regard to lab materials & equipment misuse, and I want to continue to ensure that students do an excellent job in that sense.  After we make soap, we have about a week or two left in our unit, and then we will be moving on to our physical science unit on energy.  Lastly, I met with OMSI a couple of weeks ago, and I am currently having discussions with them and our administration about arranging to have OMSI come to Kelly for a day event or an evening event.  I will keep you posted as this develops. I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 10/8/2018 – 10/12/2018: Acid Rain Investigation

Monday 10/8: Classroom Circle: First Impressions, Collect Acid Rain Investigation Data

Tuesday 10/9: Kordon Gone

Wednesday 10/10: Evaluating Acid Rain Investigation Explanations

Thursday 10/11: No School – Mid-Trimester Grading

Friday 10/12: No School – State-wide Teacher In-Service

Upcoming Calendar Dates:  Kordon Gone Tuesday 10/9, Mid-Trimester Grading Thursday 10/11 (No School), State-wide Teacher In-Service Friday 10/12 (No School), KMS Diversity Event Evening Friday 10/19, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Notebook grading update through mid-unit assessment over the next couple days.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th Grade Science! This week is an odd one as the kids only have three days of school, and I can only be there for Monday & Wednesday.  I found out late on Friday that I would be required to be absent on TuesdayToday I went over in detail with the students about how and why 1st impressions are so important as they will be making a first impression with my guest teacher on Tuesday.  It just so happens that the person who is going to be my substitute is someone who was a teacher of mine from high school, and is one of a handful of people who inspired me to become a teacher.  Due to the extended illness from last week, I decided to push the last assessment we did to only impact the 2nd half of the trimester.  This will allow students the opportunity to make up some of the points (up to an 80% on the assessment) if they decide to do so; the students should not be penalized for the delay in getting their scores back due to me having been sick.  When I return on Wednesday we will analyze the data from our Acid Rain Investigation, and evaluate a couple of explanations as we keep moving through our chemistry unit.  It was nice to see so many of you at Open House this last week!  I hope you all have a fantastic week. As always, please let me know if you need anything.  Take care!

KK

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Week of 10/1/2018 – 10/5/2018: Chemical Reactions, Substances, and Properties

Monday 10/1: Finish Scientific Explanations Review Activity

Tuesday 10/2: Inquiry in a Bag

Wednesday 10/3: Burning & Chemical Reactions

Thursday 10/4: Acid Rain

Friday 10/5: Riverwalk – Science Does Not Meet

Upcoming Calendar Dates: Open House 5:30-8:00 on Wednesday 10/3, Riverwalk Friday 10/5, Mid-Trimester Grading Thursday 10/11 (No School), State-wide Teacher In-Service Friday 10/12 (No School), Kordon Gone Wednesday 10/16, KMS Diversity Event Evening Friday 10/19, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Notebook grading pages 9-44 is DONE.  Make-up deadine is Wednesday 10/10. Recent assessment on IC2 Mid-Unit should be graded in the next couple of days.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements:

KK

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Week of 9/24/2018 – 9/28/2018: First Assessment, Creating New Substances

Monday 9/24: School Pictures, Collaborative Study Groups (CSG)

Tuesday 9/25: CSG #1 & Mid-Unit Review

Wednesday 9/26: Mid-Unit Assessment

Thursday 9/27: Calcium Carbonate Lab

Friday 9/28: Finish Calcium Carbonate Lab, Magnesium Oxide Lab Demo

Upcoming Calendar Dates: School Pictures Monday 9/24, BEST Program Starts Wednesday 9/26, Open House 5:30-8:00 on Wednesday 10/3, Riverwalk Friday 10/5, Mid-Trimester Grading Thursday 10/11 (No School), State-wide Teacher In-Service Friday 10/12 (No School), Kordon Gone Wednesday 10/16, KMS Diversity Event Evening Friday 10/19, No School Thursday 11/8 & Friday 11/9, Veteran’s Day No School Monday 11/12, Thanksgiving Break Thursday 11/22 & Friday 11/23, Fall Trimester Grading Day No School Monday 12/3.

Science Notebook: Notebook grading pages 9-44 is DONE.  Make-up deadine is Wednesday 10/10.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to another week of 7th grade science!  At the end of last week we finished up the first major section of our chemistry unit on the properties of substances.  We will do some AVID-style review of the material on Monday (after navigating picture day in science) and Tuesday before having our mid-unit assessment on Wednesday and then we will dive into the 2nd part of our unit on what happens when we combine different substances.  Students will be crafting a scientific explanation for their assessment on Wednesday that answers the question “Are fat and soap different substances?”  They need to make a scientific claim, support it with evidence from the labs and investigations that we have completed so far this unit, and explain their answers with scientific reasoning which needs to be supported by scientific principles.  The rubric that we in the science department created a couple of years ago is in the resources section of the website, and is also in their notebooks as both a resource and on the same page as their assessment.  Because we focus on scientific reasoning so much in 7th grade for this first assessment I score the reasoning out of 2 (even though they can still earn up to a 4 on it) because they are still really learning what good reasoning looks like.  On the next assessment it will be out of 3, and we won’t even get to the full points required for it until the physical science mid-unit assessment.  Overall, I’m really pleased with how the notebooks and student performance has been going.  Students have until the day before mid-trimester grading (10/10) in order to fix anything in their notebooks from this most recent grading update.  After they fix what was missing/incomplete they just put a sticky note on the scoring sheet of their notebook, write on it what they fixed, and submit their notebook to the turn-in basket for regrading.  I typically have it back to them the next day.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Week of 9/17/2018 – 9/21/2018: Investigating the Properties of Substances

Monday 9/17: Solubility

Tuesday 9/18: Melting Point 

Wednesday 9/19: Hardness & the Amount of Substances

Thursday 9/20: Density

Friday 9/21: Density of Soap & Fat

Upcoming Calendar Dates: School Pictures Monday 9/24, BEST Program Starts Wednesday 9/26, Open House 5:30-8:00 on Wednesday 10/3, Riverwalk Friday 10/5, Mid-Trimester Grading Thursday 10/11 (No School), State-wide Teacher In-Service Friday 10/12 (No School).

Science Notebook: First Science Notebook grading this upcoming week.

Homework: None assigned.

Announcements: Hello, and welcome to 7th Grade Science!  For most of you, this is your student’s first year having a class with me, but there are a few of your families that have older children in high school or have already graduated who had my class in middle school.  Please expect an email like this nearly every week.  I like to let people know what is going on in class so that it can start a conversation about what is going on at school.  Sometimes we will go a little faster than the schedule I send, sometimes a little slower – it is 100% dependent on the students, what they need in order to be successful, and how I can support them to get there.  Unless something drastically changes, your student will have me for both 7th and 8th grade science.  This looping principle has led to many fantastic learning outcomes for my past few groups that I had for several years.  I have spent this last week getting to know my students, providing a foundation of expectations (both for them and of myself) so they know how to function in our classroom, and getting started on our chemistry unit on the properties of substances, chemical reactions, and the conservation of matter.  I realize that I sent the syllabus home with students, but I also have attached it to the email in case you have not seen it or if you would like a copy for yourself.  Please look for these emails (typically) around the weekend for the following week.    I might miss one or be a bit late during track season, but I will do my best to make sure they happen with regularity.  I hope you all have a fantastic week! Please let me know if you need anything.

KK

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Welcome to 7th Grade Science!  Use this page to keep up on what is going on in class.  I will post assignments, resources, and helpful links on here so that you can have a successful year.

KK