The force is with us!

Hello everyone!

The past few weeks have been BUSY! After our last unit, I spent the beginning of the Motion & Energy unit having one-on-one check-ins with each student to ask how they are doing in science, what I can do to support them, and what their goals of the future are (to get to know them all a bit better). I've learned so much about your students and they are all wonderful young people.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've investigated the topics of Motion, Speed, Velocity, Acceleration, and Energy (Potential, Kinetic, and other types of energy).

We have done a few different lab activities including our Motion lab, Acceleration lab, and Pendulums lab. We have also used University of Colorado Boulder's PhET simulations to explore topics we have been learning about.

This week we've done a lot of review and practice leading up to our Motion & Energy test (Tomorrow 11/3).

The test will cover all topics from this unit and will focus on students' conceptual knowledge of these ideas, with a couple problems focused on calculations. Students can see what will be on the test in our "Weekly Folder" in the "Week of 10/31 to 11/4" folder.

I'm offering students the opportunity to use their notes for 10 minutes of the test after a 2 minute preview of the test packet. Some students won the "Quiz Game" that we played today so they will be granted 5 extra minutes for open notes. Students can use their notes packets and our Study Guide (Review Packet) during the open notes portion.

Moving forward, students will be allowed to use a notecard with any information they put on it during tests. This will help reduce any test anxiety.

Up next in science class:

We are going to channel the Force!

Okay... okay... we will be covering the topic of Forces! This is a great topic that will use a lot of information learned during the Motion & Energy Unit. Students should see that topics we cover moving forward will just build on top of each other. This way they can make connections and expand their knowledge!

We are going to start this unit Friday (11/4). After Forces we will be covering Simple Machines (a very hands-on unit!).

Special notes:

I'm currently in the process of creating a new after school club! The Science Media Club. Students will be able to research science topics that interest them, write a video script, record on screen or voiceover, edit the videos, and then have them published on YouTube!

Broadcasting and video editing, as well as a background in Meteorology/Earth Science, allows me to share my unique skillset with students so they can explore a different side of science!

This club most likely will start in the beginning of January, as I work to figure out all the logistics.

In addition, our team dressed as the Into the Spider-Verse characters for Halloween on Monday. I was Peter B. Parker, Mr. Mumma was Miles Morales, Mrs. Stoltzfoos was Spider(wo)man Noir, Señora Frey was Gwen Stacy, and Ms. Grammer was Aunt May! I think we nailed it. Check out the photo below:

Be sure to check back on November 16th for another bi-weekly blog update! You can also follow @ScienceWithSilverwood on Instagram for photos of what we do in class. I try to remember to take a picture of lab set ups, but sometimes I forget! I never will post students' faces, so if students are in photos they will have a mosaic/blur effect over their face.

Until next time,

Mr. Silverwood

P.S. Any questions/comments/concerns feel free to email me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org