Grade 5: Week of April 4th to 15th

Biome posters look beautiful! They are due Tuesday for 5A and we are placing them in the classroom so all can see. 5B will have a test on Biomes and Ecosystems on Wednesday and 5A on Friday. We will begin studying niches and food chains as well.

Next week on Monday or Tuesday (weather permitting) we will plant the seeds so that many can sprout at least before the end of school, if not mature. We will fertilize during the week and monitor the garden. Thank you to all parents who are watering over spring break and tilling the soil. 6B will water the plants in the morning as well as other students with watering cans.

*We are still in need of stakes to make rows and watering cans. Thank-you!

Grade 6: Weeks of April 4th to 15th

Students have been working on stations to learn about the greenhouse effect, pollution, and environmental issues. We will prepare either an essay or poster on how to incorporate Earth Day into their daily practices at home this Tuesday. These essays and posters are due Thursday April 7th for the Earth Day contest. Students will receive a review sheet on Photosynthesis this Wednesday and have a test on Friday.

Next week on Monday or Tuesday (weather permitting) we will plant the seeds so that many can sprout at least before the end of school, if not mature. We will fertilize during the week and monitor the garden. Thank you to all parents who are watering over spring break and tilling the soil. 6B will water the plants in the morning as well as other students with watering cans.

*We are still in need of stakes to make rows and watering cans. Thank-you!

Grade 7: Weeks of April 4th to 15th

We are postponing our DNA unit to prepare for Earth Day. We are working on stations Monday and Tuesday and then students will prepare either an essay or poster on how to incorporate Earth Day into their daily practices at home. These essays and posters are due Thursday April 7th for the Earth Day contest. Students will receive a review sheet on Thursday on DNA and Heredity and have the test Monday. We usually do not have a test Monday but we are having practice EOG tests Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and some students will be out Friday before spring break.

Thank you to Mr. Watson who came in and spoke about genetics and how he uses Science in his work as a doctor. Students enjoyed seeing Science in action!

Grade 8: Weeks of April 4th to 15th

We are finishing up our chemistry unit and will have a test either Tuesday the 12th or Wednesday the 13th on Chemicals and their usage. Some topics we are covering this week are carcinogens, FAS, susceptibility, dose, potency, and concentration of chemicals. Students will have homework in their EOG book each night and have a quiz when reaching the end of a unit. We will have a quiz this Thursday on the Hydrosphere based on learning from the EOG booklet. We will have another quiz Friday April 15th on Geology.

Grade 5: Week of March 21st to March 24th

We are learning about ecosystems and their role in the environment. We have discussed abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem, and learned about smaller ecosystems including ponds, estuaries, salt marshes, and lakes. We will discuss various biomes including deserts, deciduous forest, rainforest, tundra, taiga, and grassland. I would like students to bring in a poster board to prepare for their biomes poster (done individually or in groups). 5B needs to have their poster on Thursday and 5A on Tuesday March 29th. We will paste plant and animal pictures of each biome on the poster board as well as common locations of the biomes.

In addition, Grade 5 will plant a garden with Grade 6 students to show how producers are part of our ecosystem. I would like Grade 5s to bring in seeds of their choice. We will plant them after evening frosts are through.

Grade 6: Week of March 21st to 24th

We are creating a garden to study photosynthesis first hand. Thank you for all of your seeds which we will plant in April! We modeled the chemical reaction of photosynthesis, and discussed the role of atoms, subscripts, and the nature of a chemical reaction We will further discuss the role of carbon dioxide in the environment, including greenhouse gases.

Grade 7: Week of March 21st to 24th

We reviewed certain concepts of genetics that many of the class had missed and had a retest this Tuesday. Students will receive their test back with their retest quiz attached. If students increased their knowledge on the quiz, their entire test grade will increase. We will continue to learn about DNA, its replication, and mutations. We will discuss mutations such as current nuclear reactivity in Japan.