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.