Zoom!

The formula for acceleration.

6th and 7th grade have been learning about motion. There are MANY types of opportunities for experimentation. This week, in our study on acceleration, we learned how to calculate acceleration. It's SO easy! 

Students make observations about
mass and acceleration by pushing each other down
the hall. Mr. Raines is next!

Just take the velocity (speed in a direction) at the end of your trip, 
and subtract it from the speed at the beginning of your trip. Then divide that from the time of your trip. 
Now you know your acceleration! 

According to our last test, we've also had to work on interpreting graphs. This is also a good skill to brush up on before testing begins. We did an exercise in class where we had to look at a graph and tell a story based on the data in the graph. 
Here is an example:

The graph to the right shows Zahi's Bike Ride. Zahi got on his bike for the first time this spring. The gears were rusty and stiff and it was very hard to pedal at first. The more he pedaled, the more rust that fell off the bike. After 4 seconds the bike was much easier to pedal and he went faster and faster. Eventually, he was moving at 20 meters per second! Like the Flash!

Here are some web sites that will give your student some practice in graph interpretation.

Data and Graph Practice

Khan Academy Graph intuition



8th Graders are studying the wonderful world of evolution and adaption. This week, we've studied the work of Charles Darwin (Chuck D). We are also using him as a model as we study our own ecosystem at Darwin Pond. In this lab, we are studying a virtual pond. The students get to create their own micro organisms and study how they evolve and adapt. They are recording their observations in a lab journal. Click here to download the free software at home and run tests on your own. 

Read me, Please!

First, I want to openly thank you for your support and flexibility. As I listen to my "teacher friends" complain about the lack of parental involvement at their schools, I can't help but brag about my dedicated and involved parents. As of the writing of this letter, we have secured two of the trips to the museum. Mrs. Ferguson has dontated money to cover one bus trip and The CPC has dontated money for another trip. The museum wants two more additional sessions and have offered us a bus scholarship to cover two of the trips. I am awaiting further confirmation and details. You all have come through in the best way!

Science

6th and 7th are moving from chemistry to physics! Newton, Einstein, forces, motion, simple machines, electronics.... I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it! Please make sure your child is reading the chapters. I've noticed that many of them simply answer the study questions without reading the text. They are not seeking understanding of the text and this shows in their assessment. Some of the errors that I notice on tests are less about cognition and more about work habits. This is an area of concern for all of us who care about the education of these children. Let's hold our geniuses accountable. Read with them. 

8th graders learned about Gregor Mendel's pea experiments. We even did a virtual simulation in class. We will be planting some potatoes in class turn learn about the different ways some organisms reproduce. 

Please make sure your children are watching Cosmos every Sunday at 8pm. It is a science documentary that is well produced. It is educational and entertaining. (click on the word Cosmos in this post to see the last episode).

It Was Fair!

Science

I am writing this entry of the Dali at the awards ceremony of the  Regional Science Fair Awards ceremony. Nikkia Ferguson, Joshua Lambert, and Azia Papillon participated and made Cambridge Proud. 


Nikkia Ferguson received a participation award in Chemistry and was elected to the Science Fair Board as the Student Ambassador.
Azia Papillon placed silver in Electronics. Joshua Lambert placed Gold in Physics and received a Silver Award for his paper.

This has been an educational experience for all involved. I want to thank the students and parents for all of their hard work. The experience we've gained this year will make us a stronger and more effective team next year.

Gregor Mendel, father of
modern genetics

6th and 7th grade will testing on Thermal energy, tomorrow. From there we will be moving from Environmental Science to Forces and Motion. I am still providing tutoring on Thursday, after school.  

8th Grade will test on sexual and asexual reproduction. We will plant some clippings  We will get into the work of Gregor Mendel. He was a clergyman who did experiments on pea plants that are the foundation of everything we know about genetics. If you had the opportunity, would you "design" your perfect child from scratch?


History

There is a four-page (hand-written) rewrite of our persuasive papers due next Friday (03-14-14). We learned about the different categories of paper 

We are preparing for another debate. We have been learning about violent and non-violent revolution. We will be debating the merits of violent uprising over non-violent protest. This subject has been prevalent in the news for the last two years. What do you think about the effectiveness of non-violence resistance on the face of violent oppression. 

Doing Great Things

So Much To Say!

So much has happened. So let's get caught up.


History

"What's up with all of the papers, Mr. Raines?" 

I understand that it seems like the students have been doing a lot of writing. I and Mrs. Johnson have been trying to make writing "the new normal". The amount of writing the students are doing is normal for students who excel at writing. The only way to make better writers is to make them write. They should be writing short essays daily in order reinforce skills learned in grammar and vocabulary.  

6th and 7th Grade
We are moving into lessons on ENERGY. Students will be responsible for reading Unit 2 Lesson 1 in their textbooks.

Turn on all of your TV's and games
and watch how much your
meter speeds up

I will break reading assignments into small chunks with longer due dates so that the reading gets done. Since gaining information from text is an area of need for our students, this is something that they  must practice at home as well as at school. You will see an incredible improvement in comprehension if you read and discuss the text with your child. 

Last week's assignment asked that you review your household energy usage with your child. Please share  that knowledge with them by allowing them to see the energy report on the electric and gas bill. Show them where the energy meter for the house is. It is important that they become aware of how  their daily activity effects energy usage. It would be great for them to keep a record of the car's fuel and odometer readings before and after commutes to school. Who knows? It may even get your child to TURN THOSE LIGHTS OUT!


8th Grade
We are picking up on our studies of genetics. We've started by reading about Mitosis. This week, we will be learning about Meiosis. In meiosis, we discuss the

Here is an example of triplets.
Does one of these triplets stand out
to you?

creation of sperm and egg cells which sets us up for understanding the roles that chromosomes and DNA play in heredity. 

Since we will be discussing the reproductive process, it would be wise to talk your child about the finer points of human reproduction. If they have not had "the talk" then some of subjects discussed in class may become confusing. (I have an excellent film that I can share with you if you find the subject difficult. It is tasteful, age appropriate, and fun to watch) 

Talk about genetic trends and traits in your family. Discuss your thoughts on the behavior of your family members and whether those behaviors are learned or genetic. 




Below is a quick lesson on Mitosis created by Trinity. 



Let's get caught up with what we've been doing.

Joshua learns to make servos move with Arduino

Kennedy adds clamps to nail polish shelf that she designed
and manufactured

Raymond puts the finishing touches on his sculpture
designed to remind him of home

Amar jumps rope to get
his heart rate up

Cambridge brainstorm ideas for devices to
help the disabled

Students try out the Innovation Studio at MSI

Students dissect pig hearts. Then it's time for lunch!

Science Fair!

Micah presents his project.

Showing Off!

This last week has been sooooo busy with science business. First, of course, we had our yearly science fair. Every year I ask for a little more from my students, and every year they don't disappoint. The science party started with a cool (and cute) performance from the pre-school class. They taught us about DNA and how it works in the body.

Imagine the sinful amount of pride I experienced when one of the judges told me how inspired she was by the children's experiemnts. Below  are some photo highlightts from this week and the names of all of the winners from this years science fair. 

1st	5th
1st-Cosby McDowell	Zakiya Nickson
2nd-Michael Brewer	Selah Payne
3rd-Kami Davis	Christina Harris
2nd	6th
1st-Raelyn Marshall	1st-Joshua Lambert
2nd-Kaeden Buford	2nd-Azia Papillon
3rd-Eric Werner	3rd-Marquan Wordlow
3rd	7th
1st-Nicole Sanders	1st-Kennedy Springfield
2nd-Morgan Springfield	2nd-Zari Nickson
3rd-Tryphena Guice	3rd-Kourtni Barber
4th	8th
1st-Nailah Lewis	1st-Nikkia Ferguson
2nd-Pierre Papillon	2nd-Trinity Thomas
3rd-Cameron Pickett	3rd-Micah Payne

Students watch the Shop Bot cut out their name plates

Students solder potentiometers as they prepare for the next week's project. 

Careful, those irons are hot!Safety first.

Students show off another great project!

Kennedy is learning to program an Ardruino

Adding code to Micah's project allows it to move

Joshua learns to make his servo "walk"

It's Been a Long Time

Missed You  All... 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. So much has happened!

I enjoyed talking to all of you on Monday. Meeting and talking with parents who are so passionate, involved, and invested in their children's education renews my faith in my student's future. 

Students hold up their sculptures and chains.

We've made another visit to the FabLab. Students made linked chains with pendants on the end. They also made 3D sculptures of themselves using an Xbox Kinect. 

Last Week(s)

Students took a LOT of approaches to learn content

Christian examines two mixtures. One is a mixture of yeast and sugar.
The other is a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water. He wants to
see if there will be a different type of reaction. 

6th and 7th grade learned to improve their study skills. We learned how to "unpack" and "deconstruct" our tests so we can get clues on how we can do better next time. We also created different types of mixtures and substances and talked about their qualities.  

Donovan uses post-it notes to write down questions,
vocabulary, and thoughts about the text

 I've noticed that many of my students have some poor study habits. They haven't learned how to "interrogate" a text. They don't seek understanding of what they have read. This poor practice results in poor reading comprehension leading to critical understanding. So I've taught them to notate text with questions and comments. We also used the "four-square" method to create vocabulary with context. The study week ended with group presentations by the students. 

Kennedy and Azia record a spoken word that was used to teach about
pure substances and mixtures click here to hear it.

The 8th grade decided that they wanted to be teachers. So I gave them a crash course on lesson planning, we discussed what would be taught, and I gave them a week to educate themselves and another week to teach me. I will grade them based on their knowledge of key subject matter. In the meantime, they are having fun learning and teaching me about new subjects. 

Nikkia scoops pumpkin seeds out of her pumpkin.
 Besides being a fun activity, this is an opportunity for me to teach knife safety
ahead of our first dissection. 

This Week

6th and 7th grade will be learning about changes in matter. This makes for a lot of fun demonstrations and labs.

8th grade will be teaching me about homeostasis. Pray for us. 

I am available for any questions you have about Science Projects. I am looking forward to seeing the fruit of some of this work.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

We Work Even Harder 

Students show their coins at MSI's Fab Lab.

Our student's visit to the Museum was so exciting. They actually had a chance to get see their first 3D prints. They made custom coins. This week, they put those coins on chain. I can't wait to see the finished products. 

This week: 

Experimenting with mixtures.

The 6th and 7th graders continued their study of Pure Substances and Mixtures. I've increased the number of formative assessments (those are like non-graded pop quizzes) to get a better picture of their daily development. I've increased the amount of support that I've given the class. Unfortunately, the classes test average was very low. My formative assessments showed me that the students were struggling with basic vocabulary. Yet, my students had little to no inquiry about what they were reading about. I felt their was little ownership of the material and all of the efforts seemed focused on a rote memorization of the vocabulary. The poor reading comprehension stems from poor reading habits that we are working on breaking. 

8th grade pretend to be ribosomes producing proteins.

8th grade spent this week visualizing the cell and it's organelles as a city: ComEd = the mitochondria, UPS= the Golgi Complex, factory workers = ribosomes. We even made an assembly line to represent the production of proteins. Most of the class did an exemplary job on their assessment. Please check Engrade and congratulate them on their excellent scholarship. 

Next Week:

6th and 7th grade will practice independent study in class. They will be broken into study groups and given study tasks that will start with creating an experiment and end with a presentation. I'm am concerned that many of my students are not "leaning in" and taking the initiative to understand ideas. One of the skills they will practice is called interrogative reading. They will be given text, they will have to read a portion of the text and use post-it notes to "ask questions" of the text. These questions can range from vocabulary to passages that are confusing or unclear. Then the student will have to answer that question. This is a skill that all readers have. If you are not asking questions... then you are not reading. 

8th Grade will build upon their knowledge of the cell to learn how they build organisms. They will also be doing specialized projects to visualize and understand how cells, tissues, and organs are related. 

Look out for information about Science Fair research papers.