The last week of the year is about to begin, and it's a very full week!

Monday and Tuesday mornings students will be taking their fourth and final CBMs (Curriculum Based Measurements), so please send them to school with a full night's sleep and having had a nutritious breakfast.

Tuesday afternoon the 8th graders will be rehearsing for graduation.

Wednesday is Field Day for the 6th-8th grades; students may not wear bathing suits, but shorts and a t-shirt are appropriate; also, students should bring a towel, and apply sunscreen before school!

Thursday the 8th graders will have their graduation ceremony at 10 am at Grace, and finally

Friday 28 May 2010 is the last day of school-- it's a half day, and students will receive their report cards at the end of the day.

While the 8th graders were on their trip, the 7th graders made Flubber! If your student would like to make more Flubber at home, this website has an excellent recipe.

Thank you, and your students, for a great 2009-2010 school year, and I hope everyone has a safe, enjoyable summer.

It's two weeks into May already, and the students are very busy finishing out the year.

8th graders have been learning the bones and muscles of the body, and this week will learn about the skin. Their very last Science test for 8th grade (!) is on Friday, 14 May, and will cover the skin, muscles, and bones. It is open note, but students still need to study and keep up with their vocabulary!

7th graders did a wonderful job on their Biome projects, and have moved on to learning about resources allocation and biodiversity. They have a short project at the end of the week in which they will choose an animal that has gone extinct in the last 300 years, and write a 1st person account of its existence-- this project should not require very much out-of-class time, but I know your student would appreciate your supportive interest! Remember to ask them about it Friday.

Students received an updated grade today (as they do every Monday). While the quarter will continue through the last week of May, Monday 17 May is the last day I will be accepting late work. Please remind your student that they only have one week to take care of any outstanding tests or homework!

The last five weeks of school are upon us, and they'll move fast!

The 7th graders have a biome project this week:

In groups of 1-3, they chose a biome and a specific geographical location to research. They need to find:

*the major native species of the area (flora (plants) and fauna (animals))

*any human activities that are impacting the area

*the climate of the area (specifically statistics on rainfall and temperature)

They also need to create food web of a minimum of 5 organisms (more is better) in their area, including:

*at least one major producer

*at least one major first level consumer

*at least one major second level consumer

*at least one major decomposer

All this information needs to be presented on a small poster board-- larger than a piece of construction paper, smaller than a desk top-- that can be displayed in the classroom. Some groups have already asked to do a diorama instead of a poster board, and as long as all of the requested elements are present, that's fine with me.

Students need to be prepared to present their research, food web, and poster in a 5 minute presentation Monday 3 May.

The 8th graders are learning about the skeletal system and muscles of the body. They'll have coloring sheets and lots of practicing to do to remember the names of the major bones and muscles, so please help them by quizzing your student at home! They will have a project assigned to them next week, due before the 8th grade trip, so keep an eye out for the requirements as we move through the unit.

The next exam for the 8th graders is Friday 14 May, and the 7th graders have a test Wednesday 5 May.

The Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) will be in the mornings of 12 April - 19 April. The schedule is as follows:

Day 1 (12 April-Monday): 7th grade takes the writing exam

Day 2 (13 April-Tuesday): 7th and 8th grades take Part 1 of both the reading and math exams

14 April-Wednesday: Regular Wednesday schedule, no AIMS

Day 3 (15 April-Thursday): 7th and 8th grades take Part 2 of both the reading and math exams

Day 4 (16 April-Friday): 7th and 8th grades take Part 3 of both the reading and math exams

Day 5 (19 April-Monday): 8th grade takes the science exam

Students need to arrive as promptly as possible on these days, well-rested, and having had a nutritious, delicious, breakfast!

In the afternoons of this week, 8th graders will continue their AIMS review, focusing especially on the Scientific Method, while 7th graders will begin studying ecosystems and energy roles. Homework will be extremely light, if there is any at all.

After AIMS, 7th graders will be picking a biome to study in-depth (in a group), focusing particularly on the food webs and resources present in their biome, while 8th graders will be learning the names of the major bones and muscles of the body.

Progress reports come out 20 April (Tuesday), and students will have some time in class to make sure they're all caught up as we head into May!

The fourth quarter is underway, and the 8th graders have been finishing up their Heredity and Genetics unit, and will be studying for the upcoming AIMS. The 7th graders have started an Ecology unit, and are learning about ecosystems and biomes. Please remember to check in with your student about assignments and projects-- both grades had an opportunity for extra credit before the April break, and the 7th graders will have a Biome project after AIMS that will require them to do a little outside-of-class research.

These are some pictures from a recent 8th grade lab, where the students were modeling the structure of DNA.

The last quarter of the year is starting, and we have lots of fun work ahead of us in Science!

8th Grade: We've started our Genetics unit, and are diligently studying the principals of heredity. Ask to see your students' pedigree charts in the next couple weeks-- students will be tracing the inheritance of various traits through families of pandas, pea plants, and puppies (and various other creatures real and imagined). Homework will include Punnett Squares and AIMS review, so dig out those old Science notebooks.

7th Grade: We're studying fossils and geologic time at the end of our Earth Science unit; the last (and upcoming unit) will be Environmental Science. We have a couple of large projects coming up, so remember to be consistently keeping up with your daily assignments.

3rd quarter report cards come out on Thursday, 11 March. All assignments for the 3rd quarter, including the extra credit assignment, were due Friday, 05 March. All assignments beginning Monday, 8 March are counted in the 4th quarter grade.

All third quarter work needs to be turned in by Friday 5 March, which is the end of next week! To that effect, while you are enjoying your long Rodeo weekend, please use your time wisely...

8th grade: Remember to review your diagrams of a cell from this week, as well as the steps in the cell cycle. You have a labeling and vocabulary quiz on Tuesday.

7th grade: Your homework over the weekend is to write one paragraph describing a feasible (i.e. realistic and reasonable) way to protect stone monuments and structures from weathering.

Extra Credit Many students have asked for extra credit this quarter. Extra Credit will not make up more than 10% of a student's overall grade. If you want extra credit for the third quarter, please research a scientist and either write a one page paper OR create a timeline with at least ten relevant dates (birth, education dates, import and and relevant scientific contributions, death, etc.). Some suggested scientists:

8th Grade: Newton, Einstein, Hooke, Watson and Crick, Franklin, Darwin, etc.

7th Grade: Copernicus, Galileo, Brahe, Kepler, Newton, Wegener, Darwin, etc.