Water Water Water Water!

To 8th graders in Computer Lab: Welcome back, Minions.

We can't change the world, but we can certainly imagine doing so. Someday you will have the opportunity to make an impact on the world's problems, so you want to practice the skills that will create solutions.

The last group section of our Water Crisis Unit sets a challenging goal: come up with and research the viability of some course of action that will IMPROVE water conditions in your assigned country. No solution is too crazy - until you research the practical aspects of it and determine that it's crazy. Brainstorm some ideas, then each of you research costs, actual construction/implementation difficulties that your country may have, social and geographic implications of your solution, and how you would actually go about doing it (Step 1, step 2, etc.).

Your group will present your country's water improvement solution AND SUPPORTING FACTS and discuss them with the rest of the class on Earth Day, April 22.

The future is in our hands.

Water Unit - Second Computer Day

Welcome back to our water unit, 7th and 8th!

This week in the classroom we relied on information you found online to discuss water issues facing the United States, and some of the factors involved. Now you are going to take a look at water issues in some very different places around the world. We will again share information you are gathering today, and eventually, we will discuss how our problems compare.

Learning objectives for the next few sections include: continuing discovery of facts relating to water shortages; researching water crisis conditions for a country assigned by Dr. Harnois, and recording findings on a worksheet you will be provided. You will then report your findings to the class, who will compile information on five different countries experiencing water crises.

For today, just start at http://water.org/#search.

Click on The Crisis, then look on your left hand side for the menu of water facts. Work your way through this list today, again taking notes on interesting things you learn or find out. Write down anything you might want to share. You will start to recognize some of the facts. Consider economic and children's issues. Start comparing your own water life to those of people around the world. For example: we assume that everyone in the USA has access to clean water from the tap, and everyone has toilets. Is it that way elsewhere? How many people DON'T have access like we do? How does it affect their lives? Is anyone doing anything about it? What is being done, and by whom? Click on Featured Projects to find out more about possible solutions being tried. You will begin to learn about other countries and how they are struggling to provide water for their people.

Mostly, experience and think about the different posts, images, and facts that you find today.

Next week, you will be assigned a specific country to research, so the more you learn now, the better your understanding will be of your assigned country, and the better your eventual presentation will be.

Feel free to go to the previous post and continue perusing water topics on those links, as well.

Links for 7th graders who want to complete their LRC Sleep Unit

For 7th grade students who need to complete note-taking for the LRC Sleep Unit:

Links for the Sleep Articles

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/take_care/tips_sleep.html

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/take_care/how_much_sleep.html?tracking=T_RelatedArticle

http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/studysmart/focused.html#cat20597

http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/school/test_terror.html?tracking=T_RelatedArticle#cat20597

http://www.nsta.org/highschool/connections/201312SleepingStudyingQuiz.pdf

The last one is the link for the quiz. Print it, complete it, and present it for credit along with your complete notes. This should pull your grade up, if you do a good job. If you never took the quiz, DO IT!

Good luck!

Guide and Links for Water Conservation Unit

Our most excellent IT geek, Ms. Lynch, has exterminated all bugs and we are ready for action. Thanks, from all of us!

This week both 7^th and 8^th grade will begin a Water Conservation Unit in Science.

We will spend one day a week (Fridays) on this unit in science class, and you will access this blog in LRC to direct your online learning about global water issues. We will complete some activities in class, you will do research and writing in LRC, and you may want to spend some time at home on material for your water portfolio. By the end of the unit, you will help to design and create educational materials about this topic.

Students in LRC right now – let's get started! Take some notes on whatever you find interesting, and try to answer some of the questions below while you learn some basics about water use.

Plug in your headphones and watch the TED Ed video about "Water Scarcity” at

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/fresh-water-scarcity-an-introduction-to-the-problem-christiana-z-peppard

There is a quiz after the video that might be fun to take (you don't have to) and useful links at the end of the quiz if you want to look around some more.

Go to USGS.gov site http://maps.waterdata.usgs.gov/mapper/index.html to find your own water source. Enter your location. Click on the triangles (what do the triangles represent?) for some information; click on the Map tab and click Principal Aquifer. Where does your water come from? Look up “our” aquifer and see what you can learn about it.

Look into drought conditions in the USA at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/pngs/current/current_usdm.png

Where do drought conditions exist in the USA? Can you figure out how long the drought has lasted?

What impact can you imagine on the rest of the country, from the areas that are still too dry? 

How is Illinois doing? Go to http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/ and see what the outlook for water is for us going forward. Under Programs and Services, click on Illinois Water Supply Planning. What factors will influence our water supply in the future?

Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ and take the water conservation quiz. You should be able to skip “registering” one time to take the quiz, but not twice. Ask your parents if you can register (or if they can) for NationalGeographic.com. It's a great website with tons of interesting information about everything.

Learn more about our local natural water resources at http://www.epa.gov/ Click on Learn the Issues Tab (far left) and then Water. Find your Watershed. What is a watershed?!

Go to http://school.discoveryeducation.com/ Click on Students, Homework Help, Science. Explore the information about water that you find there. Write down something new that you haven't seen on any other site so far.

Next week, we will begin to explore Water.org, and you will begin researching specific conditions in a developing country. Just look around today and take some notes on the questions above, so we can discuss them Friday in class. It will also give you the first page (or two) for your Water Portfolio!

Winter is Coming

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Time for updates...

6th grade Math has been reviewing and extending their understanding of Greatest Common Factors and Least Common Multiples, and is beginning to manipulate and compare fractions with Least Common Denominators. Our Wednesday after-school study session has only met once so far, but we practiced graphing and look forward to meeting at least twice this month. These students all worked hard to master data presentation graphs and plots in the past few weeks, which will be very useful when they complete their 8th grade Science Fair projects!

7th grade Science has been exploring heredity and the human genome this month. They recently modeled risk factors for heart disease (genetic and environmental) and found the impact of lifestyle choices to be considerable on the ultimate development of heart disease. Many were surprised that they developed heart disease despite clean living, but more were appropriately sickened by their poor "choices" in behaviors.

Seventh graders are currently thinking about ethical questions related to treatment of genetic disorders, gene therapy, and genetic engineering. Their thought-provoking discussion on where to draw the line was very impressive. These are complex ideas that they are just beginning to consider for the first time. Our chapter test on Modern Genetics is coming up Friday, December 6, so we will see what has percolated through. : )

8th grade is furiously (I hope!) finishing up their Science Fair projects and beginning the data presentation and conclusion portions of their papers. We will begin constructing the presentation boards this week during class and continue re-writing papers right up until the last minute, when they are perfect! Many students have obtained fun and informative results from their experiments. It will be a highly educational school Science Fair on January 15, 2014.

More immediately, 8th grade has been studying chemical reactions, balancing chemical equations, and learning about controlling reactions by different means. A popular "What's that White Powder?" lab gave them an opportunity to play with several household powders and liquids to test for reactivity and identity of different ingredients. They also made a mess of the class room, but science does get messy sometimes. :) They also proved that the specific zip-type bags we use in the classroom are not gas-impervious, allowing CO2 to escape when vinegar reacts with baking soda. It is either that, or Conservation of Matter is a hoax. We are going with the former.

Merry Christmas to All!

Happy Tuesday Students!

Greetings to all my Science students.

This week we will be finishing up our microscopy exploration and studying Cell Structure and Function in 7th grade. You should have finished reading Chapter 1, lessons 1.1 and 1.2. Read 1.3 this week, and 1.4 next weekend, if we are progressing according to plan. We will compare plant and animal cells as we study the basics during the next few days. Next week we will get to introductory biochemistry and then finally to osmosis!

8th will be learning Fundamentals of Matter, starting with measurements and states of Matter, continuing as soon as possible to atoms, elements, compounds, molecules, and the Periodic Table. Read Chapter One in the Chemical Building Blocks book, pages 12-36. This will cover some of the week's material. By next week we will have studied the Periodic Table in more detail.

Welcome back to school. Ready those brain cells for learning!

Hello again 7th and 8th grade science classes, 6th grade math class, and my homeroom students!

Mr. Metzler has been kind enough to set up a blog on which I may post assignments, Science Fair info, and other notable items for my students. Stay tuned (check back regularly) for useful information.

7th Grade: Ask Mom or Dad where you can set up and carry out your Egg-Speriment. The egg won't smell bad (unless you break it after a few days!) but the vinegar may be pungent for the first few days. Cover the jar to minimize odor, but still put it where your folks recommend. You don't want Fido to knock it over or little brother Herman to get into it.

To 8th graders working to understand testable questions, variables, controls, etc.: I am unable to post a link to the PowerPoint I showed in class, because it is on my computer, not on the web. I will get a Google Doc set up soon and we can possibly share documents there. BUT I have printed out the PowerPoint and can provide you with a copy if you feel it would be helpful. Please ask tomorrow in Science class, and I will print out more copies as needed.

Have a great night and start thinking about your project. Maybe you will follow the example of Watson and Crick, creating the overall shape of your science fair project in your sub-conscious! Visualize a top-notch, successful project, and you will create it.

Dr. H