Why Are We Learning This?

Last Week

Pierre reads his short story to the class.

A student holds Fahrenheit 451,
a book on the
Bucket List of Science Fiction

Because of a staff illness, we had to rearrange some plans in Science. While the students were asked to keep up with their Lesson 4 reading, we worked on building inference skills as we read They Are Made Of Meat, a short story by Terry Bisson. As we read, students were asked to write what they knew and, as a result, what they could infer, (ex: we know that the characters collect samples and study them. We can INFER that they are scientists.)

Children experience a "bomb drill" to get context about the
short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury.

We also touched on how authors have used science fiction to investigate how science and technology effects our lives now and in the future. Many science fiction stories investigate themes such as nuclear war, peace, and religion. As an exercise in narrative writing, I asked the students to write their own science fiction story. I was impressed and entertained.

I am editing them for grammar, spelling, and style. (this was a pass/fail grade. They received full points for completing it) 

As a bonus, I gave my students a 'Bucket List" of Science Fiction literature.
What would you add to the list. Feel free to comment. 

Next week

5th through 7th will focus on the WHY's of scientific research in preparation for the UNIT test on Friday. They can use previous tests and flashcards as study guides.

8th Grade will take a test on Tuesday on the history of life on earth. I predict they will do well. From there we will examine classification. They are already familiar with the vocabulary and concepts I expect them to do well.

They have already had access to the cards. I am sharing them with you.

The Best Plane EVER!

Last Week

5th, 6th, and 7th grades studied about how we get scientific

Osamu Imamura places a paper airplane in a
wind tunnel. His plan? To launch this plane
from space!

knowledge. They learned how and why we form new hypothesis and come up with new scientific ideas. As a lab, the students are working on a long-term project of testing airplanes to see which types flies the farthest.
Next week, we will be completing our experiment, looking at our result, and sharing our procedure with other classes to get consensus on our findings. 

This mosquito is trapped in amber. It may
actually have fed on dinosaurs!

8th Grade studies fossils! We talked about how fossils are formed and made our own "fossils" using Play-Doh. This lesson was important in understanding the proof behind the theory of evolution. 
     


    
Next Week

Dyson claims that its vacuum cleaners
are superior. Can we prove it?

5th, 6th, and 7th grades Will be finishing their paper airplane experiment. Can you help them by making air planes at home. What other questions can you think of that involve paper airplanes. We will also be studying and reviewing for our Unit 1 test. You can help by asking them questions about what they learned in this unit. 



8th  grade we will be learning about the geologic time scale and how we measure and record the age of the Earth and the life on it.