FIRST TEST COMING UP!

Hello! The past two weeks we've been in the new building and enjoying having a regular schedule. It has been great to build more consistency in each of your students' days. Over the last two weeks, we've been focused on the Measurement & Density portion of our first unit.

We've done practice with Metric Measurement Conversions and have done a lab using different tools like balances, spring scales, graduated cylinders, thermometers, rulers, stopwatches, and more to measure mass, weight, volume, time, and temperature.

Students who did not finish their Measurement & Density lab should have it completed and turned in on Tuesday, October 11th.

Next week, we will have a Density Column Lab where students will calculate densities of different liquids and create a density column to see how the layers form in a jar. It'll be a fun, review lab for their unit test on Measurement & Density that will be next Friday.

PLEASE NOTE: Students were assigned Nature of Science & Measurement IXL Assignments on September 21st that are due October 12th. These are 10 point homework assignments. A good amount of students have begun these, but there are also a good portion of students that have not even started. Please check with your student to make sure they complete these. I appreciate your help with this.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Measurement & Density Lab - due Tuesday, October 11th

Nature of Science & Measurement IXL Assignments - due Wednesday, October 12th (SOME STUDENTS HAVE NOT STARTED!)

Measurement & Density Test - Friday, October 14th

After we move on from Nature of Science & Measurement, we'll be starting our Motion Unit the week of October 17th. We'll focus on acceleration, speed, and velocity.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions about your students' grades or coursework. You can email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

P.S. Below is a photo of a custom poster I created that students see every day walking into my classroom!

CLASS AT THE IU SO FAR...

Hello!

I'm so happy that we've been in-person the past couple of weeks. It has been great meeting and working with each of your students.

We are currently in our Nature of Science & Measurement Unit. We finished with Nature of Science last week and learned the parts of an experiment and the Scientific Process. At the IU, since we do not have lab space, we did a virtual Plant Growth Lab Simulation. This is something students worked on as a group to practice the parts of an experiment.

Students have had two quizzes. One on Observations and Inferences and the other on Parts of an Experiment and Graphing.

This week (9/20), students started learning about the Metric System and Metric Measurement and Conversions. We are focused on practicing how to measure and convert using the base units of meters (length), liters (volume), and grams (mass).

We should be in the new building very soon, so below is an image of the science classroom as I continue to prep it for students! I'm so excited to have this large space to work with all of 8 Gold.

After our Nature of Science and Measurement unit we will be moving onto Motion.

As a reminder, if you ever have any questions regarding your student's work or progress in my classroom feel free to reach out via email at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

twisting and turning (From virtual to in-person)

Good evening,

The past few weeks have had its ups and downs, but our team has been MAGNIFICENT navigating the transition of the virtual start to being in-person at the IU. I have to say, we have a great group of students and they have been focused and doing wonderful in class! I've been impressed by their hard work.

To recap:

While we were on virtual, we went over Classroom Expectations and the rules for our classroom. You can see those rules that the students came up with and agreed to here: https://www.sciencewithsilverwood.com/class-rules

We also reviewed Lab Safety. Students received the Lab Safety contract on Monday (9/6) to have signed by Friday (9/9) by a parent/guardian and by them. This is to ensure that students understand that safety is my #1 concern during any lab activity and that I want them to realize that it is important to follow all precautions to prevent any accident.

Students MUST have the Lab Safety contract signed before they can participate in any lab once we are in the new building.

On our last day of virtual, we started to discuss observations and inferences.

This week at the IU (9/6 to 9/9):

We have continued practicing observations vs. inferences, and started to discuss the Parts of an Experiment and the Science and Engineering Practices. Thursday and Friday of this week, we will be practicing writing procedures with a fun drawing activity!

Next week:

Students will practice graphing and work on a lab simulation assignment in groups. There will be two quizzes. One quiz will be on Monday 9/12 on Observations and Inferences. A second quiz will be given on our Early Dismissal day Friday 9/16 on the Parts of an Experiment and Graphs.

Looking forward into the future:

I hope that you feel included in the classroom by knowing what your student is doing! My goal is to keep this line of communication open so you know what your student is learning and doing in the science classroom!

I'm enjoying getting to know all of 8 Gold! This year is going to be great! Below is an image of our science classroom part of the shared space between Math and Science at the IU.

In science, I like to have students grouped in pods. This way students can work together, collaborate, and learn from each other. Students will be seated similarly once we are in the new building!

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

P.S. New blog posts are posted bi-weekly. Bookmark this page so you can keep updated with what's going on in our classroom!