Friday, October 29, 2010

Students began their second day of the voicethread project.  Some students who may have been absent one or more days over the past two weeks may still not have started their VoiceThread, but hopefully by Monday they will be all up to speed.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

While some students were still finishing the end of their online lab, the majority of students began the creation of their VoiceThread project by uploading the pictures of their three graphs.

No homework was assigned, but this project is due on Friday, November 5th.  The Chapter 2 test is on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Most students should have spent today finishing the final pages of the online lab that explored the relationship between the volume, temperature and pressure of a gas.  If students have fallen behind due to an absence from school or due to working at a slower pace, they may either get caught up at home or use more class time to complete this assignment.  They need to have the online lab completed before they can begin the VoiceThread project that starts tomorrow.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is one week from today.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mr. Girardi was in for me today and will remain in my room through November 5th, as I had surgery to have my thyroid removed this morning.  Students begain lesson # 3 of the online lab today.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Monday, October 25, 2010

We began today by listening to the 8th edition of science news article summaries.  I then explained to students about their upcoming VoiceThread project, which is due on Friday, November 5th.  I described in great detail to them how they are to take the three graphs from their online lab and upload them into their project.  They each have in their possession the rubric by which they will be evaluated on this project.  The rest of the time in class was used to complete lesson # 2 of the online lab.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Today was Day 3 of our 6-day exploration of the pressure, volume and temperature of a gas.  Students continued to use the online lab link in Moodle to explore the relationships between those three properties of gases.  We began lesson #2 today, and I told students that they should be done with lesson 2 (and therefore, worksheet "I" also) by the end of class on Monday.

News article #8 is due on Monday, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today was Day 2 of the online gas lab, relating the pressure, volume and temperature of a gas.  By the end of class today, students should have been done up to and including page E.

No homework was assigned, and the chapter 2 test will be on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I was out sick today.  However, in my absence, Mr. Rosamilia led student through the beginning of a 6-day online lab that explores the relationship between the volume, pressure and temperature of gasses.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is exactly two weeks from today, on November 3rd.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

We began class by looking at the moodle main page.  I discussed the due dates of some upcoming events, and the different links that are available to help them prepare for the upcoming Chapter 2 test.  We then moved to today's lab, which was comparing the temperature and pressure of a gas.  Students used the lab sheets from pages 2-8 & 2-9 to finish this assignment.  Towards the end of class, we watched a brief 15-minute video on matter and energy.  Students completed worksheet 2-11, which coincided with the video.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test will be Wednesday, November 3rd.

Monday, October 18, 2010

We began today by listening to our 7th week of science news article summaries.  We then finished the notes in Chapter 2 by going over section 2-3 notes on chemical properties and changes.  I compared them to physical properties and changes.  I used sodium+chlorine as an example of chemical change.  BrainPop.com had a great video on physical vs chemical properties that we watched after discussing the notes.  Students logged into the students responders for the first time and took a 10-question quiz worth 20 points.  When students were done with the quiz, they worked on pages 2-3 & 2-4 with a partner or in their groups.  We reviewed these pages at the end of the period.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Today in class we discussed section 2-2 notes on phase changes in matter.  Students used a phase change diagram that was in their packet to follow along with the powerpoint presentation.  We watched a BrainPop.com movie on the same topic, "Changing States of Matter", and took the quiz that followed.  Students then worked in their groups to complete and review worksheet 2-2 by the end of the period.  Period 3 also had time to work on worksheet 2-12, but did not complete it.

News article # 7 is due on Monday.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The main focus of today's class was to differentiate between a direct vs inverse relationship.  For about 10 minutes we brainstormed different examples of variable pairs with direct and inverse relationships.  I did this to introduce Boyle's Law and Charles' Law, which both describe the behavior of a gas.  We then watched a BrainPop.com video on States of Matter.  The remaining class time was used to complete a Gas Laws Lab on worksheet 2-10. (don't forget to increase the volume set in steps 2 & 4)

No homework was assigned.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Mrs. Jones and I worked as a parallel teaching team today.  We split the class in half and we each taught the same lesson to our half.  The lesson was taking the data from yesterday's lab (worksheet 2-6 & 2-7) and creating a graph online.  Students saved that graph to their "Science 8" folder in "My Documents".  Students were the shown how to place that graph onto their science wiki page.  In the later classes, students also attempted to create a new Glog specifically for their science wiki page that contained their new graph.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test is scheduled for November 4th.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

It's all around us and we need it to survive. What is it? Air! Air really seems to be weightless...or is it? That's what we had to find out. In today's lab, students investigated how much, if anything, air weighed. They performed the lab from pages 2-6 and 2-7 and discovered that air does, in fact have mass, albeit VERY VERY little. They discovered this by forcing (pumping) small amounts of air into a sealed 2-liter bottle and measuring the change in mass from the empty bottle.


No homework was assigned.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Students handed in their scoring rubric for their wiki frontpage assignment.  We then listened to oral summaries for the Week #6 news articles.  Students were given their new Chapter 2 packets and we discussed section 2-1 notes within.  A powerpoint for those notes, as well as the notes themselves, can be found on the Moodle site.  Finally, students worked in their groups to complete worksheet 2-1 before the period ended.

No homework was assigned

Friday, October 8, 2010

For our fifth and final day of Tech Week, students were given their own VoiceThread account.  From the computer lab, I demonstrated to students how to access VoiceThread, how to upload and/or find pictures, how to comment on their pictures, and finally, how to share and post online.  Students were also encouraged to leave commnets on each other's finished products.

News article #6 is due Monday, along with the wiki/glog assignment.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Today was Day 4 of Tech Week.  We had shortened classes due to a clubs schedule and an afternoon assembly to watch "The Outsiders".  Since classes were only 27-20 minutes long, students were allowed to use this time to put the finishing touches on their glog/wiki assignment.  Today was the last class time that will be used for this assignment.  Tomorrow, the last day of Tech Week, will be used for introducing VoiceThreads.

Glogs/Wiki assignment is due on Monday.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Back in the computer lab for Day 3 of Tech Week.  So Friday they learned about Glogs, and yesterday they got their own wiki page.  Today was the day that they combined the two of them together by embedding their glog into their wiki.  It sounds more complicated that it really was, and students did an outstanding job with it.  I also handed out the rubric for how they will be graded on this web assignment.

The wiki frontpage is due by the beginning of class on Monday.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

We were back in the computer lab today to begin Day 2 of Tech Week.  After hearing some out-loud summaries from out 5th week of news articles, students opened up their glog and my wiki page.  Students were instructed on how to login and create pages in their wikis.  I then demonstrated how to embed their glog into their wikis, along with how to link to different pages in their wiki.  We will be working more with this in future days.

No homework was assigned.

Monday, October 4, 2010

I was out today, and Mr. Girardi was in for me again.  He collected news article #5 from students.  He then showed an ABC News Primetime special called, "Caught Cheating".  This video dealt with teenage issues such as plagiarism, copying homework and even illegally downloading digital music.  Students had to write their opinions/views on each topic as the video progressed.

No homework was assigned.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Today began "Tech Week".  Students will be learning three different web 2.0 technologies over the next five days.  Today's topic was creating a Glog.  Students were directed to a link on my Moodle site that will lead them to Glogster, a website that allows students to create a poster on their wiki (which they will create on Tuesday).

News article # 5 is due on Monday (Mr. Girardi will be in for me).