Monday, September 25th

8th Grade Science

Finish extension/enrichment activities from last week. Students will then have a study guide to help them prepare for Friday, September 29th's vocabulary quiz. Turn in completed enrichment work from class.
Vocabulary Words for this week:
interdependence
herbivore
omnivore
carnivore
prey
predator
decomposition
decomposer
food web
food chain
consumer
producer

7th Grade Science

Students will be working using relief maps to work on scale. This is lesson 2 in their journals.


Tuesday, September 26th

8th grade Science

Students will be viewing a PowerPoint presentation to learn about energy flows through simple food chains and webs. They will be identifying and categorizing organisms as producers, consumers and decomposers. They will also be predicting possible consequences of removing one component of the food web. Students will be using the MDNR posters and video to reinforce these concepts.

7th grade Science

Students will be given a paper outline of the United States and resources in order to research and locate on the outline where specific landforms are located to transfer to their three dimensional map.

Connections

Students will have reading modeled through the story, The Skin I'm In. They will then answer questions about the story that focus on the setting.

Wednesday, September 27th

8th Grade Science

Continue lesson from Tuesday, September 26th. Students will then use a web to guide them through writing a paragraph on how change in an ecosystem will affect the food chain. This is due tomorrow.

7th Grade Science

Students will take the research information that they gathered on Tuesday, September 26th and use it to build their three dimensional model and label each surface feature.

Thusday, September 28th

8th Grade Science

Students will turn in their writing assignment from Wednesday, September 27th. The class will then play "Hot Seat" to review for tomorrow's vocabulary quiz. Enrichment/extension will be given for Lesson 2 the rest of the period. There will be an Energy Scavenger Hunt, Who Am I game and a MDNR poster activity to help students locate consumers, producers and decomposer in different Michigan Ecosystems.

7th Grade Science

Students will work in their journals after a teacher led demo on the different forms of water on Earth and how much is actually available for human use.

Connections

Students will have The Skin I'm In modeled by the teacher. Students will then be put into groups to begin using the Read Naturally program and to pick out appropriate reading leveled books for their literature circles.

Friday, September 29th

8th Grade Science

Students will have a vocabulary quiz on lesson 2. Students will then continue to rotate through the Enrichment/extension activities.

7th Grade Science

Students will learn about what an oceanographer is and learn about glaciers and ice caps using their journals.

Monday, September 18th

8th grade Science
Students will continue working on what an ecosystem is and taking notes in an outline. All work is being put into the student's journal and will look like the teacher's journal. We will begin the period with a vocabulary matching game, working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) posters to look at the interaction of living (biotic) things with one another and non-living (abiotic) things. Students will also work with a partner to designate what is an ecosystem and which ones are managed by humans.

7th grade Science
Students will be working with topographic maps to read the contour lines, use a three dimensional map, and discover what uses there are for them. Students will be shown a three dimensional model to learn about contour lines and the elevation.
The second part of class, Mr. Burtis will be assisting students to make dough for the topographic maps that students will be creating this week.

Tuesday, September 19th

8th grade Science

Vocabulary quiz on the following words: species, population, organism, community, habitat, abiotic, biotic, ecosystem, biome, biosphere.

Then students will be using their learned knowledge about ecosystems to go into the courtyard with Mr. Burtis to complete and Ecosystem Scavenger Hunt. The rest of the class with Mrs. Kahler will be working on lesson 2 vocabulary creating a flip book and also reviewing their knowledge by working on Wildlife Habitat Riddles.

Vocabulary words for lesson 2 are: interdependence, producer, consumer, decomposer, food chain, food web, and scavenger.

7th grade Science

Mr. Burtis will be working with students to describe and identify the surface features of Earth in lesson 5. Journal pages 11- 14 will be used. Students will work with a partner to complete two surface features and then share with the rest of the class.

Connections

Students will listen to a read aloud and have good reading modeled. Learning the routine for using Read Naturally will also be taught. All About Me Cubes are due.

Wednesday, September 20th

8th grade Science

Students will learn about how living things obtain the energy needed to live. We will be finishing the activities from Tuesday and then going on to a presentation on lesson 2. Students will also be using the MDNR posters to locate food chains and food webs with yarn. They will then remove species from the yarn web to explore what happens with the loss of a species.

7th grade Science

Students will work with a partner to create a model of the United States using dough that they made on Monday. Students will be responsible for making correct surface features on their topographic map.

Thursday, September 21st (Open House 6:30-8:00)

8th grade Science

Vocabulary quiz lesson 2.

Students will continue to finish the presentation on energy levels and then begin enrichment activities. Mr. Burtis will begin another courtyard activity called, "Energy Flow Scavenger Hunt". Mrs. Kahler will work inside with the rest of the class on an activity called, "Who Am I?" that reinforces students' knowledge of producer, consumer, decomposer, predator, prey, and food chain.

7th grade Science

Finish the topographic maps from Wednesday. (See lesson on Wednesday).

Connections

Students will be put into smaller groups and be guided on using the Read Naturally materials. They will also be choosing books to begin their literature circle groups next week.

Lesson: 7th grade Lesson 2: “Some Things You Need to Know to Read a Map”

Objective: TLW…describe directions using a map.
TLW…use relative location to orient themselves and the map.
TLW…use latitude and longitude to find absolute location on a map.
TLW…discuss the relationship between distance on a map and distance on
the ground (scale).
TLW…describe the difference between maps with “large scale” and
“small scale”.

Anticipatory Set: “Look up here at the bulletin board with the maps on it. Tell me about some of these maps.” Students respond. “Today we will be looking at things that we need to know to be able to read these maps.”

Materials:
Science journals
Globe
Map packet from the science kit 6c
Teacher’s Guide 6c

Procedure:
1) Have students turn in their journals to lesson 2.
2) Review the cardinal directions with students. Use the globe for reference.
3) Pass out map packets. Help students to orient themselves to the picture of a place. Use the shaded relief map.
Guided Practice:
4) Have students practice finding locations using directions by answering the questions in lesson 2. 5 minutes. Teacher observes students and assists with any questions.
5) Discuss relative location. Finish questions from lesson 2. 5 minutes. Teacher observes students and assists with any questions.
6) Review latitude and longitude with the topographic maps. Have students answer questions in journal. 5 minutes. Teacher observes students and assists with any questions.
7) Explain scale to students. Use the shaded relief map to answer these questions. 5 minutes. Teacher observes students and assists with any questions.
8) Define small and large scale. Have students locate objects on the topographic map. Then have them look at the road map and find the same buildings. Discuss the differences.
9) Discuss distance scale. Help students to answer questions on distance from the lesson worksheet.


Closure: “Talk to me about things you need to know to be able to read a map.” Students share.

Lesson: 7th grade: Lesson 1 “What Do Maps Show?”

Objective: The Learner Will (TLW) recognize different types of maps.
TLW…demonstrate prior knowledge of the unit concepts by taking a
pretest.

Anticipatory Set: “Today you are going to be receiving your journals for the first unit. Go ahead and look through them.” Allow students to browse. “Are there any questions or comments?”


Materials:
Science journals
Pretest
Letter to parents
Social Studies books
Vocabulary Boxes paper
Teacher map poster from science kit 6c

Procedure:
1) Review testing norms. Hand out pretest. Give students ~ 15 minutes to take
it.
2) Collect tests.
3) Have students brainstorm types of maps that they have seen or used before. Write it on the board.
Guided Practice:

4) Hand out social studies books, one to every two students. Have them list the types of maps that they find in their journal. 10 minutes.
5) Share information as a group.
6) Discuss why there are so many types of maps.
7) Use the Teacher map and on the ELMO guide students through the different maps.
Independent Practice:

8) Have students write in their journals, one or two things that they can learn from each of the three kinds of maps discussed on the poster (road, shaded relief, and topographic).




Closure: “Today we discussed the three different types of maps that we will be looking at for the next few lessons. Who can tell me what they are?”


Extension/Enrichment: Students can look at the bulletin board in room at examples of maps and how to use them.

Lesson: 8th Grade: Lesson 2 part II “It’s All Connected!”

Objective: TLW… demonstrate how living things obtain the energy needed to live.
TLW… demonstrate knowledge of important vocabulary by taking a
quiz.

Anticipatory Set: “Today we will begin our period with the assessment of the important vocabulary for this week and then finish our lesson on obtaining energy. Who wants to tell us about what they had to eat last night and talk us through the pathway back to the sun?” Allow a student to demonstrate for the class and then have the students pair/share this information at their tables.

Materials:
Vocabulary quiz
Same materials from yesterday’s lesson
Who Eats What in MI sheets

Procedure:
1) Review norms for taking an assessment. Give students the vocabulary
assessment.
2) Collect quizzes. Give only 10 minutes for quiz.
3) Pass journals out. Have students turn to page they left off on.
Guided Practice:
4) Review the concepts of producer, consumer, and decomposer from yesterday. Pass out the DNR posters.
5) Introduce the concept of food chains. “What is the feeding relationship of the organisms on the DNR posters?” Review ecosystem and then introduce the concept of food chain.
6) Pass out yarn, scissors, “Who Eats What in MI” sheets, and tape to each table.
7) Demonstrate how to use the “Who Eats What…” sheets along with the posters. Have students then find their own food chains. Teacher walks around and assists. 5 minutes.
8) Have students share their food chains.
9) Introduce the concept of food webs. “Are there any organisms on your poster that are part of more than one food chain?”
10) Have groups now connect food chains to one another through an organism to demonstrate the concept of a food web.
11) Discuss with students, “What they think would happen if one species in a food chain was eliminated or killed?” Have them pick a species from their poster and discuss it with their table. “What do they think will happen to the populations of the affected species, will they increase or decrease?”
12) Have students clean up posters for the next class.




Closure: “Who can tell me what the difference is between a food chain and a food web?” Students respond. “On Monday, we will have an Energy Flow Scavenger Hunt to demonstrate the concepts of food chains and food webs.”

Lesson: 8th Grade Lesson 1 extension (Finish) and Lesson 2

Objective: TLW… continue the objectives from yesterday for Lesson 1 extension.
TLW…demonstrate how living things obtain the energy needed to live.

Anticipatory Set: “Last night for dinner, your teacher had spaghetti and meatballs. Yum, yum! Where did the spaghetti noodles come from?” Students answer. “Where did the sauce come from?” Students answer. “Where did the meatballs come from?” Students answer. “Today we will be discussing how living things get the energy they need.”

Materials:
journals
15 feet of yarn per group
DNR posters
Scissors
Transparent tape
Sticky notes
(Materials from yesterday’s list to finish yesterday’s lesson)

Procedure:
1) Have students report to the group from yesterday that they were unable to
complete. Spend 15 minutes finishing this activity.
2) Bring class back together at their assigned seats. Collect the Scavenger Hunt
sheets and return the Riddle cards and dictionaries to their locations.
3) In their journals with the teacher modeling the traditional style of note taking,
the teacher will help to develop understanding of the sun as the source of all energy in the ecosystem.
4) The teacher will introduce the concepts of producer and consumer.
5) Hand out the DNR posters to each table. Have students identify producers and then consumers from the posters.
6) Teacher will then introduce the concept of decomposition. Students will continue to take notes. Students will then locate decomposers or scavengers from their posters.
Guided Practice:
Students will locate producers, consumers and decomposers from the DNR posters while the teacher observes.

Closure: “Tonight, think about what you have for dinner or what you ate for lunch and identify how the energy from that food came from the sun. We will continue this discussion tomorrow. Remember that your Vocabulary Word Boxes are due tomorrow and you will be having a quiz on them.”

Extension/Enrichment: In pictures, draw a path of what you eat for dinner and how it can be traced back to the sun.

Lesson: 8th Grade: Enrichment to Lesson 1

Objective: TLW…actively use their acquired knowledge from lesson 1 to complete
an Ecosystem Scavenger Hunt in the school courtyard.
TLW…answer and create Wildlife Habitat Riddles with a partner to
demonstrate their knowledge from the prior two days.
TLW…work to learn their vocabulary for the week which will be tested
on Friday.

Anticipatory Set: “Today we will be working in three different groups to demonstrate what we have learned about MI ecosystems during the last two days.”

Materials:
Ecosystem Scavenger Hunt copies, 1/student
Clip boards, 1/student
Wildlife Habitat Riddle Cards
Wildlife Habitat Riddle answer sheet, 1/pair
Vocabulary Word Boxes paper
Dictionaries
Timers (2)

Procedure:
1) Divide class into 3 groups depending on the number of students.
2) One group goes with Intern Teacher to complete the Scavenger Hunt in the courtyard.
3) Two groups stay in the room. One group works on their Vocabulary Boxes that are due on Friday. They will work independently. The other group works on the Wildlife Habitat Riddle game with the teacher. Set timer for 15 minutes.
Guided Practice:
4) With the Wildlife Habitat Riddle group, the teacher will read one of the riddle cards and then ask the students to answer the riddle. If students need help, they are to look at the DNR posters for help. They should give the animal and the habitat that it is found in.
5) Divide the Riddle group up into three groups. Hand out the rest of the Riddle cards and the Riddle answer sheet and have each group answer the Riddle on their paper.
6) After 15 minutes, the Scavenger Hunt group should come in, the Riddle group should go to work on their Vocabulary Boxes and the Vocabulary Boxes group should go to the Scavenger Hunt group.
7) There will only be time for two rotations. The groups will finish tomorrow.


Independent Practice:
Remind students to continue working on their Vocabulary Boxes at home.


Closure: “We still have one rotation to complete with each group tomorrow. Are there any questions about what you did today?”


Extension/Enrichment: Today was extension and enrichment in the classroom.

8th Grade
Lesson: Lesson 1 part II- “Ecosystem Basics”

Objective: TLW…answer what an ecosystem is and what types of ecosystems are in Michigan.

Anticipatory Set: “Yesterday we discussed why MI is a special place to live; today we are going to look more in depth at ecosystems.”

Materials:
Journals
Pencils
Overhead
Transparencies
Globe
Levels of Interactions
DNR posters
MI Land cover poster
“Is That Really an Ecosystem” card set
MI land cover poster, desktop size

Procedure:
Guided Practice:
1) Students take notes with teacher using traditional note taking method. Work
through PowerPoint with teacher.
2) Hand out card sets “Is That Really an Ecosystem” when the PowerPoint indicates to. Have students work in pairs at their tables. PowerPoint will help students along with their work. 3) When PowerPoint comes to the land cover slide, hand out the desktop land cover posters and allow students to follow along with the PowerPoint
presentation.
Independent Practice:
4) Last slide on PowerPoint asks students to generate three questions of their own about ecosystems for homework. Bring to class tomorrow


Closure: “Today we discussed the specific ecosystems in MI. Who can name one?” Have students recall all of them. “Remember to keep working on your Vocabulary Boxes which are due on Friday.”

Extension/Enrichment: Students can bring in books they have found that are about different ecosystems from around the world to share with others.

8th Grade
Lesson: Michigan Ecosystems

Objective: The learner will (TLW) show knowledge of the Michigan ecosystems
and what an ecosystem is.
TLW… take a pretest on MI ecosystems.
TLW… work to gain knowledge of appropriate vocabulary.



Anticipatory Set: “How many people have taken a short trip somewhere in
Michigan before? Where did you go? What did you do there?
Michigan is unique and has many special places. Today we
are going to talk about some of those places.”


Materials:
Journals
Pencil
Pretest
CPS system
Powerpoint from DEQ, Lesson 1 “What Makes MI a Special Place?”
Overhead projecter
Extra screen
Word Boxes Paper
Dictionaries

Procedure:
1) Go over norms for taking a pretest on CPS system. Give students the pretest.
2) Show Powerpoint on “What Makes MI a Special Place?” and with overhead, help students to take notes in traditional method in their journals. Discuss each Powerpoint slide with students and help them to bring their personal experiences into the lesson.
3) Collect journals.
4) Give students paper and show them how to divide the paper into 1/6ths. Show students the Word Door and review the vocabulary words for this week. Demonstrate how they will make Vocabulary boxes.
Guided Practice:
5) Allow students to work on the Vocabulary boxes the rest of the period while
the teacher monitors and assists.
Independent Practice:
6) Advise students that their Word Boxes will be collected on Friday and they
will have a short vocabulary quiz that same day.


Closure: “Who can tell me one thing that is special about MI?” Students respond. “Please be sure to work on your Vocabulary Boxes for Friday. Tomorrow people will be going outside for an Ecosystem Scavenger Hunt so please dress for the weather.”

Extension/Enrichment: Students can research the MI ecosystems and create a collage of them to present to the class.

Hi Milwood Students and Families!
Welcome Back to School! I am looking forward to an exciting year in Science. The 8th graders will begin with "Ecosystems and Biodiversity". It is a truly interesting unit and I enjoy it. The 7th graders will begin with "Our Earth and Beyond". They will begin working with maps and we will eventually create a topographic map of the U. S. out of dough. This will be messy fun!
I am looking forward to meeting you all at the Open House on September 21 from 6:30 - 8:00.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Kahler