Miss McCormick's Science News

8M is working on a lab report on the pressure pumper lab and weighing air lab. They are doing better with focus in class.

8H has not had class for almost two weeks consequently they just started the lab series that 8M just completed. They will catch up quickly I am sure.

Both 8th grades took home an informational letter on Cow Chip Bingo and two books of tickets to begin selling over the weekend. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time.

7th grade began field work on collecting the data that is significant to proving whether or not you have found a specific species of plant or not. They found that work to be a little bit more involved than they expected. Their work with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute is an excellent opportunity for the students to work with scientists from Maine and across the North East.

6th grade is back after a long break from testing and continue to impress me with their attention to detail and quality of work with their habitats. They are working hard. They should go to the 6th grade blog and do the next article response. If it is in by Thursday of next week they get ten bonus points. Regular credit is Friday. To access the article they need to just click on the instructions.

5th grade is working on animal classification. We are also reading aloud and discussing animal behavior through the book “Never Cry Wolf,” by Farley Mowat. They have been having some rich conversation.

5th grade is struggling again with organization. Please encourage them to keep all of their papers in their binders. It would be very helpful for each student to have their own supply of hole reinforcements as well. Any papers that your child has from science at home need to come back to school tomorrow. Thanks.

6th grade is not having class this week due to testing schedules.

7th grade continues to work on field study prep.

8th grade is working on fixing the writing of their lab reports. They are also beginning to cover the concepts of Boyles and Charles Laws.

7th grade: http://vitalsignsme.org/top-ten-observations we went to this site to view what good work looks like for the vital signs listing today. Students will be in the field working very soon. This activity needs to be completed for homework if not completed in class http://vitalsignsme.org/species-focus-photo-critique-activity .

8th grade is working on behavior of gases. 8H does not have class this week because of testing. 8M had a quiz today, they have a lot of work tonight including, finishing a lab report (if it is not done). Redoing page 220, page 228, and make corrections on today’s quiz to use as a study guide. It is time to buckle down for this group. I continue to see behaviors that are just unacceptable.

6th grade is also not meeting this week due to testing.

5th grade has to define 1. herbivore, 2. carnivore, 3. omnivore, 4. vertebrate. All of these terms should be defined using their new text books. They should also get their binders organized tonight with the papers that they have. Those papers that they need to get from school can be added tomorrow.

8th grade has to work hard on those lab reports.  There will be additional work tomorrow.  They are quick to ask questions or state that they don’t “get it,” but struggle with looking back at directions and notes that hold the answers.  This is going to be a hurdle that we all have to overcome.  Frustration levels may get high before it gets better, but they HAVE to begin to use the resources that they have in front of them!

7th grade completed their science journals.  They look great.  Today we began looking at a study of a specific invasive species that we are going to look for in the field very soon.  They have been working on interpreting the data given on graphs and are doing a nice job.  The remainder of the current events work will be due tomorrow.

6th grade continued to work on their habitat worksheet.  Their current event response to the oil spill should be done for tomorrow at the very latest.

5th grade is working on sorting and classifying.  They still have a little bit of trouble with following directions and staying focused.

8th grade is working on their lab report.  They are having great difficulty with finding the confidence to put ideas together to formulate a purpose.  I really want to work on this concept with them.  I am walking them through this one, but need to see this ability increase asap.

7th grade is in a huge rush to get out in the field to look for invasive species BEFORE we get a big frost and miss our window of opportunity.  I think we can do it.  They are doing a nice job in interpreting their graphing data.  I am impressed with their skill and retention from ecology last year.

6th grade is working on habitat design.  They are great to work with.  The fruit is starting to make ME sick.  I think that the rotting window is soon to close, don’t worry I won’t send the specimens home.

5th grade did a shoe sorting activity today.  They will continue with classification for a bit.  They are still struggling with organization and routine.  Please remind them about their assignment notebooks.  ALL work that is below an 80 (with the exception of quiz and test grades) has to be redone and passed back in.

8th grade is finishing up the lab and working on the report for lab 19.  They will become very familiar with this format and should follow it exactly.  I have changed a few things to help them prevent common mistakes in their work.

7th grade played another several rounds of Oh Deer today.  Ask them what the difference between an invasive and a non-native species is.  They have no homework tonight.  Their first current events report is due on Friday.

6th grade has to be ready for a binder grade on Friday.  This requires them to spend some out of class time on standards tracker pages.  Their first article response is also due on Monday.

5th grade had a lab that we were planning on doing today, but it involved using peanuts.  Despite having checked in the office earlier this year, I found that we have a student who is allergic to peanuts, so we scratched that.  The students are working on some scientific methods work about Sponge Bob for tonight.  That work should be ready for tomorrow.  A lot of children forgot their binders today, please remind them to bring their stuff to school.  It is very important that they are ready for class each day.

8th grade continues to work on their lab #19.  Mr. Howell’s group did not have lab today because of the magazine drive assembly.  They will catch up with us tomorrow.  8M will begin working on analyzing data and writing lab reports tomorrow.

7th grade began working on current events/ article analysis today.  Tomorrow we are working on the Oh Deer Activity again.

6th grade started their binder outline #2 and will start with Making a place for Wildlife lesson #1 tomorrow.

5th grade began discussing classification.  Their homework, if not done in class today, is to read pages 709 and do vocabulary and numbers 1-3 on page 9 for tomorrow.  Please make sure that they are using complete sentences for this work.

I hope to see you all at the open house on Thursday!!!!!

8th Grade- Began working on Lab 19 the Behavior of Gases Lab today.  They completed part A and will work on Part B tomorrow.  Then they will begin learning the lab report format.

7th Grade began the invasive work today with an activity called Oh Deer.  We are looking at the interactive of Invasive Species vs. Non-Native Species and how they compare in an ecosystem.

6th Grade has a blog assignment involving current events that is due by Friday.  Since they can’t bring their computers home, it is important that they make the best use of their time during class and any free time that they have here.

5th grade worked on standards trackers again trying to get the binders all set.  This is a very new concept.  They have no homework as it is a brand new thing for them, it took a little longer to get started.

8th grade needs to do page 220 2-4 and read lab #19 for Monday

7th grade should record the standards on their new standards sheets if they have them for Monday, otherwise they can pick those up on Monday and get them done for Tuesday.

6th grade can find the site on the blogroll that connects to the article that they need to post about.  We talked a little bit about it today.  They will have more instruction about it next week but can begin this weekend if they would like.  I will check in this weekend and give feedback on what they’re doing, the assignment is due next Friday.

5th grade is working on their standards tracker.  Please make sure that none of their papers stay at home.  It is essential to tracking progress that all papers are kept in their binders.  Keeping these allows us to get a great picture of growth during their middle school years.  It is super helpful for me as well as for the students to be able to see this.  You are welcome to look at and go through their binders at any time.  I absolutely encourage that, however, please leave the papers there so that when we need to work with them we have access.  Thanks so much.  No homework this weekend.

8th grade has finished the metric unit and is starting a new unit on the behavior of gases.  When this unit is done, we will begin our first health unit of the year.  This year will continue like that, one unit of health, one unit of science.   However, since the metric unit was a short review unit and the behavior of gases is a short unit as well, we are going to clump those together.  No homework tonight unless the standards tracker averages are not completed.

6th grade made some interesting discoveries on day two of the fruit observations.  Bananas definitely seem to rot fast which, for some reason, surprised some of us.  However, oranges showed little change in 24 hours.  I am a bit concerned with the carryover of concepts that we have been learning in the metric system.  Some students will be asked to return to science during a morning study hall next week for a refresher on converting metric units.  It becomes very clear in testing who spends too much time working together on homework.  It is essential that this practice gets done individually as that is how the concepts are transferred to long term memory.

7th grade is ready to start the invasive species work now!!!! I’m so excited!!!!!!

5th grade is going to have their very first lesson in standards trackers tomorrow.