Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend! It's nice to have that third day off. Hopefully we'll have great weather all weekend! Progress Reports went home on Friday and should be returned on Tuesday with a parent signature for a homework assignment. There will be no late work this marking period so REMEMBER to bring it back.

Next week, we will be returning to the Reproductive Health Curriculum. The kids seemed to like the work with Sustainable Systems that we did, but they are really motivated to be in Reproductive Health, imagine that.

There are also lots of different activities happening at Milwood and field trips coming To the best of my memory, here is the list:

May 29th - Speaker for Repo. Health and Last day of Homework Hub
May 30th - Milwood Talent Show 1:30 to 2:20
June 2nd or 4th - Field Trip to WMU for student who purchased tickets (100 Milwood Tickets
and Tier 1) 9:00 to 2:00
June 5th - IMAX theater in Lansing for Tier 1 and students with official ID. Shows "Amazon"
and "Hurricane on the Bayo" we will be watching to go along with our Biotechnology
theme.
June 5th - All work should be turned in.
June 10th - Farewell Awards Ceremony from 6:00 to 7:00. Students must report by 5:45 or
they will be seated in the bleachers so they do not interrupt the ceremony.
June 10th - Farewell Dance to immediately follow the Awards Ceremony. STUDENTS MUST
BE IN SCHOOL ALL DAY TO ATTEND THE DANCE!
June 11th and 12th - Exams!!!! 1/2 day schedule.
June 12th - Last day of school! Hurray for summer!

Hope this helps!

Science
Tuesday, May 27th

Return signed Progress Reports for homework grade. Finish lesson-"Not Everyone is Having Sex". We will finish the reasons why chart with 2nd period. Then we will discuss what influences these decisions. Students will create a list of ways to show affection without having sexual intercourse. Then students will be given the homework assignment: Then and Now.

Homework: Then and Now (work with a parent or guardian).

Wednesday, May 28th

Session 5 "The Safest Choice: Deciding Not to Have Sex". We will discuss "norms", list 4 characteristics of a clear "No" statement, distinguish between ineffective and effective No statements, and use clear "NO" statements effectively.

Thursday, May 29th

Speaker, Tiffany Ankley, Family Court Referee, will be speaking with the classes today.

Friday, May 30th

Session 6 "Saying No to Having Sex". Give examples of alternative actions and delay tactics, respond to pressure with clear "NO" statements, and identify refusal skills.


Ecosystems

Tuesday, May 27

Students will be conferencing with me to show me how much they have completed of their Ecosystem ABC book. Meanwhile, they will be working on completing their book pages.

Thursday, May 29

Students will work on their books.

Time is really getting the best of us here. We really need more of it. This coming week, the talent show will be viewed by Tier 1 students on Friday. On Monday, we will be having our team's Spring Fling for Tier 1 students. Also, remember to have your ID to attend either activity.

We had quite a few visitors to our school last week and our teachers celebrated having completed one of our new biotechnology units to submit to the government for the Magnet Grant. Now we are on to writing the next 5 units. It may be a very short summer!

Students seemed really excited about their high school Open House visits and shared in Advisory class about them.

That's all that I can think of for now. Keep watching for changes during the week.

Science
Monday, May 19

Students will finish their brochures in class and have them printed up to present tomorrow to the class.

Tuesday, May 20

Students will present their brochures and get feedback from peers and me. We will then begin to look at "What buildings/homes in Kalamazoo County are sustainable? " We will look at the Gibbs House and Manitou Ecovillage.

Wednesday, May 21
Monday's lesson took longer than planned so we are completing Tuesday's lesson today.

Homework: Talk to your parent or guardian about how many miles you travel per year in a vehicle that uses gasoline. We need this information for Friday.

Thursday, May 22
We will review the three elements need to maintain a sustainable system. Then we will brainstorm what we have learned so far about sustainable housing and create our own sustainable home blue print.

If you are looking for the PowerPoint lesson from Wednesday to be down loaded, for some reason, it still will not download. Come see me tomorrow for the handout version. Sorry!

Friday, May 23
Students will spend a few minutes finishing their blue prints (15 minutes). Then we will take our Ecological Footprint on line.
http://www.myfootprint.org/en/
Tuesday, May 20
Students will continue their research on their Ecosystem.

Thursday, May 22
Students will continue their research on their Ecosystem.

We've had a good week with in Reproductive Health. Lots of good discussions going on. Be sure to look for some homework from your child on Monday. There will not be a lot of grades when it comes to this class, I'm hoping to get one per week. We will be dispersing some of our learning about sustainable systems throughout these lessons also for our Biotechnology Unit to begin.





Science

Monday, May 12

Objective: Students will discuss ways to show love and affection without having sex.

Objective: Students will begin to look at what a sustainable system is and create a collage to show their understanding.

We will be finishing lesson 4 "Not Everyone is Having Sex". Then we will be moving on to learning about Sustainable Systems. We will discuss the definition and then work in groups to create a collage of what a sustainable system is.







Tuesday, May 13

Objective: Students will discover what Green building is and describe how Brown building affects the environment and human health.

Students will read about Green building and then begin to work in teams to research the effects of buildings on the environment and human health. They will be on a team that is going to create a public service announcement to inform the public about how buildings affect 1)energy and water consumption, 2)amount of land use and 3)atmospheric alteration.

Wednesday, May 14

Continuation from Tuesday. Students will use the lap tops to research their topic.

Helpful sites:

http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/caq/ Go current issue on stands and look through pages 12-24.

http://greenbuilding.com/

http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/whybuild.htm

http://www.globalgreen.org/greenbuilding/index.html

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes.aspx

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-02/americas-50-greenest-cities?page=1

http://www.sciam.com/search/index.cfm?q=green+building

http://css.snre.umich.edu/

http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS01-08.pdf- Very specific!

Please feel free to find others and share them with us!

Thursday, May 15

Continuation from Tuesay. Students will be putting together their final piece to present to the class tomorrow. This should be a publishable piece of work.

Brochure template: http://h10050.www1.hp.com/activitycenter/us/en/maker/brochure.html

brochure%20template.doc

Assignment: Project%20Day%21.ppt

Friday, May 16Students will present their promotional pieces and the class will give feedback through the Carousel Feedback process.

Ecosystems

Monday, May 12

Students will view Blue Planet part II to observe the interaction of producers, consumers and decomposers in the ocean. They will then complete the "Who Eats Who in MI Ecosystems" project from last week. Due today.

Wednesday, May 14

Students will go over the Ecosystems ABC project. We will answer any questions in class. Then we will get into groups and students will choose the ecosystem they would like to work on. We will begin work today.

Friday, May 16

Students will have today to work on researching their ecosystem.

Wednesday, May 14

Objective: Students will examine

Here we go, the last marking period for the 2007- 2008 school year. The weather is improving too. This is so exciting. All the end of the year plans are coming together too.

We did begin Reproductive Health last week on Thursday. The kids are so excited.:) We went over the classroom ground rules and I am encouraging them to go home and talk to you about what they learned in class each day. It is so important to know where our kids thoughts are on these topics and sometimes in a classroom some students will not share their thoughts on the matter.

Have a great week!

Science
Monday, May 5 -Happy Cinco de Mayo

We will be reviewing the ground rules for Reproductive Health and voting on Peer Leaders. Then we will begin the video, The Miracle of Life.

Tuesday, May 6

We will be finishing the video, The Miracle of Life.

Wednesday, May 7

Today we will be reviewing the Male and Female Reproductive System. We will review the function and the location of each and place it in the correct location on the worksheet.

Thursday, May 8

Today's lesson is, "Not Everyone is Having Sex." Students will be listing reasons why teens choose not to have sex and identify other ways of showing love and affection without having sex.

Homework: Then and Now worksheet p. 3. Due May 9th.

Parents/Guardians, please note that this worksheet is only asking for you to return the bottom section of the worksheet saying that you and your child discussed the questions. What a great opportunity for you and your child to talk. If it is uncomfortable looking at one another, may I suggest completing this while riding in the car. No eye contact needs to be made, but you have a captive audience.

Friday, May 9

Collect homework sheet p. 3. Today's lesson is, "The Safest Choice: Deciding Not to Have Sex".
We will be discussing what a "norm" is and its effect on personal decisions. Then we will be discussing characteristics of NO statements, effective NO statements, and how to use NO statements effectively.

MI Ecosystems

Tuesday, May 6
We will be welcoming back students who have been working with Mr. Koch on a short project for WMU today. We will review what has happened while they have been gone and pick up lesson 2 on "It's All Connected". Students will be using Lancer notes.

Thursday, May 8
We will be finishing up lesson 2 and actually finding food webs on the DNR posters that show MI Ecosystems.