Here we are in October already. Hopefully we will have a sunny, comfortable month. There has been an issue with the printer working so progress reports are running a little behind. Please remember to check your child's grades online and email me with any questions that you may have. If all goes well with getting the printer fixed, progress reports will go home this week. I am also working on calling everyone who needs some extra support in bringing those grades up. Mr. Korchnak and I have called three classes and are still working on getting through to the rest. If your phone number has changed, please contact the office so we can make note of it.

Also, all grades are closed on October 8th. Remember that I am here on my lunch time to help students who ask and there is Homework Hub for more help on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week.

Have a great week!

Science

Monday, October 1st

Today we will be going over the Paper Airplane Lab data sheet. We'll be talking about how we use the data to support our hypothesis and answer our question stated in the purpose. We'll also talk about how to write a conclusion and work with d=rt.

HOMEWORK (Due Oct. 4 Thursday):
1. Paper Airplane Lab Handout
2. Data sheet with 10 missing rates filled in.
3. Typed or handwritten conclusion answering the six questions on the data sheet.

Tuesday, October 2nd

Students will be working on practicing the formula for speed (D=rt). The rest of the hour will be spent on finishing this section's vocabulary.

Homework: d=rt worksheet is due on Wednesday

Wednesday, October 3rd

Today we will start learing about vectors and how they convey both magnitude and direction. Mr. Korchnak will give a short presentation about vectors and the remender of the time we will spend working on problems as both a class and in our A-B pairs at our tables.

Thursday, October 4th

We will be working on this unit's vocabulary. We will use the entire class time to complete the Word Boxes.

Homework: Word boxes due tomorrow, October 5th.
Homework: Questions 1 and 2.

Friday, October 5th

Quiz today over speed and vocabulary. Collect Word Boxes. We will begin to read about Velocity and Acceleration in the text book. We will finish this on Monday.

Ecosystems

Tuesday, October 2nd

Today we'll be talking about all of the different types of consumers in an ecosystem and how they relate to eachother. We'll be working at our tables with the Michigan Ecosystem posters filling out the It's All Connected worksheet (This will be turned in at the end of the class period). We will also start working on our Ecosystem Character. Each student will be assigned an organism within the poster they were working on. They will have to fill out a question sheet and tell a story about a day in the life of the organism they selected.

Thursday, October 4th

We'll start the period finishing up our Ecosystem Character stories and then the rest of the period we will present them to the class.

September is quickly coming to a close. Can you believe it? Hopefully it will cool down a little bit so it is slightly more comfortable in the classroom. We took our second metric conversion quiz this week and we will be moving on to Linear Motion this week.





I have had several students who have come in during their lunch time to receive more help with metrics last week and to retake last week's quiz on Thursday. I wanted to say, "Good Job Guys!" I am really proud of your hard work. Homework Hub also started this week and many students attended. Students can attend Homework Hub on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights after school. I am there on Wednesday nights, but students can get help with any subject every night.





Open House was a great evening and I enjoyed meeting all of you. I am looking forward to seeing all of you again mid-October for conferences. If you need to get in touch with me, please email me using the Milwood Magnet School site or leave a voice message at 337-0670 ext. 236.





Let's have a great week!





Science





Monday, September 24th





Students will be reviewing their quizzes that they took on Thursday. Then we will review the team procedures for taking a reflection. We will then work on Scientific Notation. Students will take notes in their journals about the steps needed to do this and then be given some practice.





Homework: Complete Scientific Notation practice sheet.








Tuesday, September 25th





Students will be going over their homework with Mr. Korchnak as their lead teacher. They will work in groups to be sure everyone understands how to do Scientific Notation. Then students will be given a card that has a number or a number in Scientific Notation. They will be given some think time to figure out how the number could be written in the other form. Then they will do a Kagan structure called "Find Someone...", to find the other student who has the number that is the same as their own. We will practice this several times and with different cards.

HOMEWORK: The Conversion Factor worksheet from last week will be handed back. Students will be asked, if they choose, to correct their mistakes and turn it in on Thursday to get some points back.

Wednesday, September 26th

Mr. Korchnak will be teaching about how distance, rate and time relate to each other. We'll explore this by doing a quite introduction in front of the classroom and then start a two day lab designed to look at how distance, rate and time relate to each other. We'll also work with the scientific method.



Thursday, September 27th

Mr. Korchnak will continue from the previous days activities by conducting our paper airplane experiment from the day before. We'll collect our data and on Monday we will be graphing and working with the data. Students should begin to think about their conclusion for the lab because after we look over the data they will be turning in a short write up on the lab. Making sure to relate it to the relationship between distance, rate and time.



Friday, September 28th

Students will arrive in class and then be taken to work in the Library Classroom! We will be taking our quiz and then working on vocabulary words. Students will then be taken in small groups to work on their Interest sheet to find an article or two that is about the science of the item of interest that they chose.


Ecosystems

Monday, September 24th

Today we will be going outside to do a scavenger hunt in the 8th grade courtyard. Students will be asked to fill in a sheet by finding examples of what we have been talking about in class over the last few weeks.

Wednesday, September 26th

Today we will be using the Michigan Ecosystems posters to solve riddles about plants and animals that are found in each ecosystem. Students will walk around the room going from station to station trying to solve their riddle cards. Afterwards we will take a few examples from the cards and do a short exercise about how populations change based on changes within the ecosystem.



Friday, September 28th

Today we will be exploring the idea of life out of balance. We will watch a few short clips from the documentary Koyaanisqatsi and writing about the contrasting images of nature and human civilization.

HOMEWORK: Students will be asked to write a short story about how live on plant Earth is out of balance and relate it to the images they saw in the clips from the film.

Well, we made it through our first full 5 day week of school. Thankfully it has also cooled off and it is easier to be in school. Planners should be coming home this weekend to be signed by parents and returned to school. Planners should be checked to see homework, work done for the week and when assessments or other important events will take place.

Student IDs will come out on Monday. Students must always wear them for security reasons.

We are having our Open House on Thursday, September 20th from 6:30 to 8:00. During this time we will have a ribbon cutting to open the new library at 7:30. It is truly a beautiful room.

Remember that students do not have school on Friday, September 21st. Teachers will have all day professional development.


I will also be listing the weeks lessons slightly different. The week will be by subject and Advisory can be checked by going to the Advisory blog @ http://milwoodmiddle.org/staff/blogs/advisory/ .


Science

Monday, September 17th

Students will see their quizzes that they took on Friday. We will then work with the planner for the week. Next, we will be looking at practicing using graduated cylinders and beakers. The rest of the hour we will complete a "Metric Smile" lesson using the Kagan structure "Rally Coach".

Tuesday, September 18th

Mr. Korchnak will be working with the class on metric conversions using algebra. We noticed that not all students understood the Metric Staircase/Ladder method so now we will introduce conversions in this manner.

Homework: Try to complete a couple problems off the metric conversion worksheet and we will work on the rest in class tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 19th

Students needed more time to work on doing the metric conversions algebraically so we will work on them again today.

Thursday, September 20th

We will be working on scientific notation. Students will list the steps to scientific notation in their science journals. Then we will practice with a partner. We will use the Kagan structure Rally Coach. Students will share their answers with the class.

Quiz over metric conversions.


Friday, September 21st

NO SCHOOL!


Ecosystems
(Mr. Korchnak)

Monday, September 17th
Today we will be discussing food webs and chains. I will also be introducing the class word wall. During the lesson we will work in both table teams and as a whole class. The first activity is built around understanding food chains by demonstrating the food chains involved in eating a chicken sandwich. The second activity will be done with the whole class. Each student will have a specific name card representing their role in an ecosystem. We will then use string to show how interconnected an ecosystem is.



Wednesday, September 19th
Today’s lesson will revolve around how energy flows through out a system and how it is returned. We’ll go over cycles that work within a system and the parts of an ecosystem that are responsible for the cycles.

Homework: Pick 10 words from the word wall and be able to explain what they mean and how they help define an ecosystem.

What a great week we had here. I am so happy to have met everyone and excited about what our future year will hold for us. This week, we are beginning to work on the Skills Development unit which will last three weeks. Along with skills needed, we will also be working on classbuilding activities and team building activities. These should be fun! I am also going to begin to slip in activities to get everyone ready for our Science Night coming in March. Have a great 5 day week!





Monday, September 10th,





Advisory





Monday will be a class meeting. Discussion will include announcements about the week, discussion of the weekend, Kids Chat question and the video announcements. We might also have time for the quote of the week.





Science





Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the threshold activity, complete a team building activity called, "One Million Bucks" (Rally Table structure), and finish their project "Welcome-to-Science" collage.

Homework: Finish collage. Students checked out any materials they needed. Due tomorrow.




Tuesday, September 11th,





Advisory





We will be watching video announcements. Students will finish announcing their goal for the week and do a Hands up, pair up, share activity with it. We will work on getting an 8th grade representative and discuss the Kids Chat question.





Ecosystems (EOD)





(Mr. Korchnak)


We will be exploring what an ecosystem is and some of the elements that compose one. Students will be working in groups to construct an ecosystem that they are familiar with and may be asked to present their system to the class and explore the parts of their team's system.





Science





Students will begin with demonstrating their knowledge of the threshold routine. We will be using our text book Chapter 2 lesson 2 on the Metric System. Throughout the reading, we will see short segments of a video on metrics. Then we will practice measuring with metrics in the classroom.







Homework: Complete Metric Worksheet p. 11. Return tomorrow.






Wednesday, September 12th,





Advisory
Students will receive their planners and have their first video lesson on using it. Our Advisory Representative will go to their school meeting today (Holden).








Science




The Threshold activity for students will be a hands on review of metrics. Then students will work in their groups to go over their homework before turning it in. Then we will work on the Metric Staircase and how to convert metrics. We will then discuss using beakers and graduated cylinders. Students will be given the opportunity to read liquids in both.

Thursday, September 13th,

Advisory
Planner scavenger hunt. Also, go over student handbook.


Ecosystems

We will continue to work with the idea of what an ecosystem is and work from the ideas we brainstormed on Tuesday. Today we will be looking at specific examples of ecosystems around Michigan and using those to continue building understanding of the components of an ecosystem.

Science

Students will review measurements we have been studying during their threshold activity. Students will learn a mnemonic device to help them to remember the order of metrics. We will practice metrics with different bases, practice using graduated cylinders and beakers also.

Homework: Reading Graduated cylinders.

REMEMBER THERE IS A QUIZ TOMORROW OVER WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT THIS WEEK!

Friday, September 14th,

Advisory


Science

Students will take a quiz over this week's work. There will be a short review. After the quiz, students will complete an activity called,"What's your interest?" Then students will work in teams to complete a teambuilding activity called "The Perfect Weekend" (Round Table).