FEEL THE HEAT!

Hello everyone!

As we returned to school after the break, students started their Weather & Climate Unit. To start the unit off we've covered Modes of Heat Transfer (conduction,

convection, & radiation), States of Matter, Phase Changes, and currently discussing the Water Cycle.

We have done a bunch of different activities! I've done heat transfer demonstrations, we have danced like the way matter moves on a molecular level, completed a Phase Change Lab, played a Water Cycle Dice game, and have used online PhET simulations to explore these topics.

This week, students will complete a Water Cycle Diagram that will count as a quiz/summative grade.

Next week, students will start a 5-day Heating & Cooling Inquiry. They will create their hypothesis, their own procedure, identify the scientific variables, collect data, and graph their data.

They will explore the heating and cooling of soil and water to see how these substance heat and cool when exposed to the sun... a lamp for our purposes.

After our heating and cooling inquiry, we'll get started with our 3-week forecasting project. I will provide details on that in my next update. I realize I said this last time, but I forgot we have 2-days off next week so timing was changed just a little bit!

Regardless, I'm really excited for that project once we get to it.

As always, if there are any questions you can email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

WINTER BREAK CHECk IN!

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the Winter Break with your student at home. I know it was needed after how hard everyone worked through the Simple Machines unit! Students did absolutely fantastic on their Rube Goldberg Machine designs and did a great job on the building performance based assessment. Grades are now up for both of these assignments.

See photos below of some stand out Rube Goldberg designs.

Next week, when we return from break, we will be starting my favorite unit! Weather & Climate! I'm excited to start this. We will be having a 3-week long project coming soon... in my next blog post there will be more details about that.

I wanted to keep this short and sweet. Students who read this, be sure to check your grades! Parents/guardians, if there is an "X" in the grade book that means your student has not turned in an assignment. If a student's grade is low then they most likely have missing assignments. If they turn them in, even late, they will get partial credit which can boost their grade.

Enjoy the rest of your break!

Mr. Silverwood

'TIS THE SEASON... FOR SIMPLE MACHINES

Hello everyone!

It's been a minute since the last blog post, but that's because of the Thanksgiving break. I wanted to wait 2 weeks after break to send out a new update. During the past two weeks, students have been hard at work learning about Simple Machines.

The 6 Simple Machines that students have learned about are: Levers, Pulleys, Inclined Planes (Ramps), Screws, Wheel and Axles, and Wedges. Out of those 6, students have done labs and have been practicing building Levers (First and Second Class), Inclined Planes, and Pulleys (Fixed, Moveable, and Compound).

Pictured below: a photo of some lab materials used to build inclined planes.

Overall, students have really enjoyed the hands-on nature of this unit.

In the past two weeks, I have been out 3 days for a conference/training. During those days, students watched videos on the Maya, Aztec, and Inca. These videos were a crossover with what they were discussing in their Civics/History class. The focus on these videos were on the impressive nature of these ancient civilizations' building techniques.

Tomorrow (12/15), starts our 5-day testing period. HOLD ON, 5 days?! Well, it won't be as intense as it may sound. This is how it'll work:

• Students will be building ONE pulley, ONE lever, and ONE inclined plane. They will choose and decide which one will have an ideal mechanical advantage (IMA) of 1, 2, and greater than 3.

• Students will be rotating throughout the 5 days on who is building. Only 7 students per day can do the building based on the set up of the classroom.

• While some students build, the students who aren't will be designing a Rube Goldberg machine using 4 of the 6 simple machines we've learned about in class.

Overall, it is a very relaxed atmosphere for a test. Everyone will have all the formulas they need to do their calculations, and they will be able to go home each night and review their notes if needed.

This testing is Performance-Based, meaning that they are mostly being tested on their knowledge of how the simple machines work and their ability to build them.

Students will be working on the testing independently.

The Simple Machines testing period is how we will be finishing out the month ahead of the Winter Break!

When students return in January, we will be starting the Weather & Climate unit! This unit is one of my absolute favorites. For those who may have struggled with the math during the fall, will find that the units moving forward are not very math heavy. *cue sigh of relief!* 😅

Pictured below, a wasp/hornet's nest (Bald Faced Hornet) donated by a student and their dad, it's really cool! If you have cool science-y things you'd like to donate to the classroom feel free to reach out 😁

As always, if you have any questions/comments/concerns you can email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Sincerely,

Mr. Silverwood