Day 25

We reviewed yesterday's lesson on solids, liquids and gases by completing the top half of worksheet 2-1 together at the beginning of class.  Students then worked with their partner to complete the lab on pages 2-6 & 2-7, which tasked them with discovering the mass of air.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Thursday, October 16th.

Day 24

Students presented and/or turned in their 5th week of science news articles today.  I gave students their new packet for Chapter 2, and we discussed the half of section one notes on the four states of matter- solids, liquids, gases and plasma.  Students watched a www.brainpop.com video on States of Matter and took the quiz afterwards.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Thursday, October 16th.

Day 23

Mr. Girardi was in for me today and he showed students a video from ABC News on cheating in the classroom, and how it actually hurts your chances of getting a good job or getting into your college of choice.

News article #5 is due on Monday, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Thursday, October 16th.

Day 22

Students had their Chapter 1 notebooks check today for 100 points.  During that time, we watched a Mythbusters video illustrating the proper use of the scientific method during experiments.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Thursday, October 16th.

Day 21

Students took the Chapter 1 test online using Moodle today.  All students received their test score once they finished.  They had the rest of the class time to work on their science notebook, get a news article for Monday or work on their History project.

The notebook check will be tomorrow, and the Chapter 2 test will be on Thursday, October 16th.

Day 20

To start class, I checked their homework, which was worksheet 1-19 for 15 points.  We went over all the answers.  I introduced students to the game of Jeopardy, which is my method of reviewing for a chapter test.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test is tomorrow.

Day 19

Students turned in their 4th week of science news articles.  To complete worksheet 1-16, I directed students to a link at the bottom of my Moodle site called Create-a-Graph Classic.  Students used the data sets on worksheet 1-16 to create a Pie, then Bar, then Line graph.

Worksheet 1-19 was assigned for homework, and the Chapter 1 test will be in 2 days (Wednesday, September 24th).

Day 18

We went over both density labs from the past three days of class, and we also went over worksheet 1-15 on graphing density.  That was a good transition towards today's topic of graphing.  We discussed section 1-6 notes on types of graphs and watched a www.brainpop.com video on Graphs and took the mini-quiz afterwards.  We then ended class by completing worksheet 1-17 together.

News article #4 is due on Monday, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 17

Students were asked to complete the density of solids lab from worksheet 1-13.  They were then assigned worksheet 1-15, which was creating a line graph given the mass and volume of a substance.  That worksheet must be done by the beginning of tomorrow's class.

No actual homework was assigned if worksheet 1-15 was done in class, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 16

Students finished their density of liquids lab from yesterday on worksheet 1-14.  They were also given a new worksheet 1-13 to begin after they finished the first lab.  This new lab explored the density of solids, and will be completed during tomorrow's class.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 15

Students watched a www.brainpop.com video on Measuring Matter and took the mini quiz afterwards.  Students then worked with a partner to begin the Density of Liquids lab on worksheet 1-14.  Most students got about halfway finished, and they will complete the lab tomorrow.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 14

Students handed in their Week #3 science news articles.  We went over and sampled random measurements from the students' lab this past Thursday and Friday on worksheets 11 & 12.  I introduced the topic of DENSITY to students, and they learned the formula to calculate density using mass and volume (found on section 1-3 notes).

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 13

I handed back their week#2 science news articles at the beginning of class.  Students had all the remaining time to complete the lab we began yesterday from pages 11 & 12, including the conclusion questions at the bottom of page 11.

News article #3 is due on Monday, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 12

Students had their homework (worksheets 1-7, 1-8, 1-9 & 1-10) checked for 20 points.  After going over the answers to these four pages, I introduced today's lab.  Students worked either with a partner or by themselves to measure the mass, volume, length and/or temperature of 28 items spread around the classroom.  The lab does not have to be completed until the end of tomorrow's class.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 11

Students were shown the four metric tools that we will be using this year and how to use them.  Website tutorials were also used as follows:

Metric Ruler
- http://cstephenmurray.com/onlinequizes/chemistry/measuring/MeasuringLength.htm

Graduated Cylinder - http://cstephenmurray.com/onlinequizes/chemistry/measuring/readingthemeniscus.htm
- http://cstephenmurray.com/onlinequizes/chemistry/measuring/displacementmethod.htm

Triple Beam Balance
- http://www.ohaus.com/input/tutorials/tbb/TBBins.html
- http://www.ohaus.com/input/tutorials/tbb/TBBread.html

Metric Thermometer
- http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/Lesson-1/Temperature-and-Thermometers

After viewing these tutorials and demonstrating their use and function using the actual tools at their tables, students were given the remaining 10 minutes to work on tonight's homework.

Worksheets 1-7, 1-8, 1-9 and 1-10 were assigned for homework due tomorrow, though most students got them done during class.  The Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 10

I showed students a brief YouTube video describing the phenomena known as the "supermoon" (officially called a perigee moon), which should be most visible tonight.  We then expanded on yesterday's lesson by watching a www.brainpop.com video on Metric vs Customary units.  We went over the answers to #6-9 from the top half of worksheet 1-6 that students did at the end of yesterday's class.  Students were then assigned the bottom 10 problems on that same page.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 24th.

Day 9

Students had the opportunity to give an oral summary of their Week #2 science news articles before they were collected.  I handed back their metric conversion quiz from Friday and we went over the answers to all 15 problems.  We discussed section 1-5 notes on dimensional analysis, which is when you convert a measurement from one unit to another, like meters to feet.  We did the first four problems on worksheet 1-6 together, and students finished problems five through nine within their groups.  In some classes we had time to go over all the answers, but other classes did not finish in time.  We will finish this page in class tomorrow.

No homework was assigned, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 25th.

Day 8

Friday, September 5th, 2014

My apologies for not posting this on Friday.  Students took the 15-item Metric Conversion quiz today, followed by a www.brainpop.com quiz on Metric Units.  With what time was left, students had their Week #1 news articles returned and we discussed the most common mistakes that were made in the first week of summaries.

News article #2 is due on Monday, and the Chapter 1 test will be on Wednesday, September 25th.

Day 7

Two words - PICTURE DAY!

Nothing throws morning classes into more chaos then picture day, when students are called down by homeroom during the first three classes of the day.  Depending on what class and how far into the class they are called, they could miss some very critical material.  With that in mind, we did the best we could today to get through it.  Students took a practice quiz today to determine their comfort level in converting metric measurements.  We went over all 15 problems together.  We then worked on worksheets 1-21 & 1-22 together, which tasked us with reading about three separate experiments and analyzing them for errors and determining their success.

No homework was assigned, and the Metric Quiz will be tomorrow.

Day 6

We completed worksheet 1-5 together at the beginning of class.  Students first identified the metric abbreviations for the different measurements, and then we decided which abbreviation best fit into the 20 problems on the rest of the page.  Students then worked in their groups to complete worksheet 1-3, which is similar to how Friday's metric conversion quiz will be.  We went over the answers together.  With any time left before the end of class, we answered metric word problems together using the IWB and student responders.

No homework was assigned and the Metric Quiz will be on Friday.

Day 5

Students handed in their week #1 science news articles today.  About a quarter of the students from each class opted to summarize out loud for extra credit.  We reviewed the answers to the problems on worksheet 1-4 (chapter 1, page 4) that students completed during the last 10 minutes of Friday's class.  Students put their answers into the student responders so that their answers were anonymously displayed on the board. After completing that review, we used the same method to go over some more practice problems using the Interactive White Board (IWB).

No homework was assigned, and the Metric Quiz will be on Friday, September 5th.