Welcome to Our Science Blog!

Hey guys.  Sorry about the long update time.  I’ve still got a hole in my leg, but what can you do?  he he he.

Homework for today was to write 3 study questions over our periodic table notes and a 2-4 sentence summary.  Also, we had a periodic table worksheet.  Both are due tomorrow.  Yea!

We checked out a really awesome Element song today.  I put the link in the right sidebar for your viewing pleasure.  Just try and keep up!

We added our 7th entry in the chemistry unit in our interactive notebooks today.  Please check the interactive notebook page to make sure you’re caught up.

Today we really got into our interactive notebooks for the first time.  We took some notes and did a fun lab with a very high tech piece of equipment.  (Actually, it was an empty water bottle with holes in it, but it was still fun!)  We practiced writing hypotheses and went through the scientific method. 

If you look in the pages section on the left, you will find the “chemistry unit” page.  This page will keep you up to date on what we have entered in the chemistry section.  Keeping up with the interactive notebook is very important for your grade! 

No homework.  I must be crazy today.  Enjoy.

We put together our interactive notebooks today.  These notebooks will be used every day in class and will be our new best friends!  Yea!  The I.N. should be finished with all pages numbered by tomorrow.  We’ll have a notebook check at the beginning of class on Friday and will get a daily grade from that check.

Friday, we took our safety  quiz!  Below are the class averages so we can see which class rules the school!  After the quiz, we had two assignments that are homework for Tuesday.

1. Create a cover page for your interactive notebook with your name and pictures of science stuff or stuff you like.
2. Create a warning label for your personality like a chemical warning.  I want you to use the real colors and numbers for chemicals, but relate it to your personality instead of a chemical.

Class Averages

First Period:  89.24

Third Period:  91.37

Fifth Period:  90.56

Seventh Period:  92.86 Way to Go!  You are awesome specimens of humanity!

We finished safety today and had a little field trip to see the chemical warning label on the outside of the wood shop’s door.  Fun Fun Fun! 

Students also worked like maniacs on our Material Safety Data Sheet Scavenger Hunt.  We competed to see which group could find needed information on the given chemicals the fastest.  Winners of the competition are:

1st period: Group 5  F.O.   F.W.   N.M.

3rd period:  Group 3  J.C.   G.R.   F.C.

5th period:  No-name papers preventing me from posting yet.

7th period:  Group 3  D.H.  S.U.   V.H.

We finally got a real day of classes, so we had some fun in science today.  We started our lab safety review and investigated all the different safety features of the classroom.  Some very awesome students volunteered to demonstrate what to do if you catch on fire or get acid in your eyes!  They were very amusing.

We started a Chemical label worksheet in class and some students took it home for homework if it wasn’t finished.  It is due tomorrow.

I showed the classes the blog and gave out instructions on how to reach it.  That’s why you are here!  All classes but First period got a cool science interest survey to fill out as homework.  I can’t wait to get them back and see what interesting answers you guys wrote.  I’m very excited that tomorrow we have a long enough class to actually learn something!

Friday will be our first quiz grade.  Please make sure you know the following:

• How to get information from an MSDS
• What exactly an MSDS is
• What not to do in a laboratory
• The locations of all the science safety equipment in our classroom

One day down, 176 to go!  Today, our classes were very short, so there was just enough time to take roll, pass out some papers to sign, and say “hello” to each other.  It was a fast day and we’ll get to know each other more as the week passes.  I was very glad to meet my students!  I passed out my classroom welcome letter with class rules and the science safety contract, which are both due to be signed and returned by Wednesday. 

First Homework Grade:  Read and sign your Science Safety Contract by Wednesday for a daily grade of 100!

My lovely Pre AP science students will need:

• Two spiral notebooks–this is our interactive notebook and will be well-used. A spiral that is big enough to paste a piece of paper into is the best. One with a hard cover is even better to keep the interactive notebook from disintegrating too quickly!  Notebooks with perforated, tear-out papers are not as useful as the papers tend to tear out easily.
• One folder of any color to keep in the classroom
• One package of colored pencils–we’ll keep this in the classroom for general use.
• One box of tissues or one roll of paper towels– because my students like to make messes and keep their noses clean!
• 3 pencils–we’ll keep them in the classroom for general use.
• Glue Sticks–not required, but we’ll be glueing a lot of stuff into our Interactive notebooks, so students who prefer not to use the liquid glue should have their own glue sticks to use.
• If you have an oh-so-generous feeling, please feel free to check out our science wish list page to see if you have anything lying around that we could use. This wishlist is updated frequently and is available on the left side of the blog under the “site information” heading.