Monday-Wednesday in Science

Today we are putting the finishing touches on our lab test from last week!   We will then begin a short inquiry to gain insight about nuclear energy and how that relates to energy from the sun.

Fission and Fusion are specific topics we will try to learn more about!  Have conversations about those to help gain understanding!

Here is the Link to the activity we are going to complete.

Understanding Nuclear Reactions

We are coming up on a gradebook deadline for the semester.  I will grade anything students submit up until the deadline!   While I don't go begging for students to hand in work, I will work with them up until the last possible second!  If they don't reach the deadline, we will work to cover a standard they felt they missed in the next semester if need be.  It is my goal to be fair, honest, and flexible with grading while still encouraging accountability.

This week in Science

We are finishing up our mystery powder lab that helps us to understand physical and chemical properties of compounds.  We will have a lab assessment later this week.  Below are a couple of links to help students understand the physical and chemical properties of substances.  These will be used in lab and also are great for review.



Physical Property Examples...Remember this includes shape and texture for our class too!

Chemical Properties of Matter

1st and 2nd Hour Tuesday

Tuesday Second Hour....Airplane Design Challenge

Instructions:

Each student will the following materials...

• Four Pieces of Paper
• Four Staples
• Three Drops of Glue....On their Honor....
• 3" of masking tape
• NO SCISSORS OR CUTTING!!!  torn paper is fine...
• Fold n' Fly Website

Students will design their two best airplanes.  They may choose to make the planes out of one or two pieces of paper.  Below are the rules and research article.  Have students pick up material after they have read this blog entry.  Students will design, create, and test in the room today.  Tomorrow they will be judged on distance as well as time in flight to determine the champion.  

Aerodynamics

What makes a paper airplane fly? Air — the stuff that's all around you. Hold your hand in front of your body with your palm facing sideways so that your thumb is on top and your pinkie is facing the floor. Swing your hand back and forth. Do you feel the air? Now turn your palm so it is parallel to the ground and swing it back and forth again, like you're slicing it through the air. You can still feel the air, but your hand is able to move through it more smoothly than when your hand was turned up at a right angle. How easily an airplane moves through the air, or its aerodynamics, is the first consideration in making an airplane fly for a long distance.

Drag and Gravity

Planes that push a lot of air, like your hand did when it was facing the side, are said to have a lot of "drag," or resistance, to moving through the air. If you want your plane to fly as far as possible, you want a plane with as little drag as possible. A second force that planes need to overcome is "gravity." You need to keep your plane's weight to a minimum to help fight against gravity's pull to the ground.

Thrust and Lift

"Thrust" and "lift" are two other forces that help your plane make a long flight. Thrust is the forward movement of the plane. The initial thrust comes from the muscles of the "pilot" as the paper airplane is launched. After this, paper airplanes are really gliders, converting altitude to forward motion. Lift comes when the air below the airplane wing is pushing up harder than the air above it is pushing down. It is this difference in pressure that enables the plane to fly. Pressure can be reduced on a wing's surface by making the air move over it more quickly. The wings of a plane are curved so that the air moves more quickly over the top of the wing, resulting in an upward push, or lift, on the wing.

The Four Forces in Balance

A long flight occurs when these four forces — drag, gravity, thrust, and lift — are balanced. Some planes (like darts) are meant to be thrown with a lot of force. Because darts don't have a lot of drag and lift, they depend on extra thrust to overcome gravity. Long distance fliers are often built with this same design. Planes that are built to spend a long time in the air usually have a lot of lift but little thrust. These planes fly a slow and gentle flight.

Monday Class

Today we did an experiment on surface tension to ease back into teamwork, the scientific process, and following procedures!

Penny Lab Handout

Update and Explanation of Grading From Mr. Wandel

Greetings!

A Family Update For The Wandels:

I hope everyone had an enjoyable time of rest over the Holidays.  We encountered some family health issues at the beginning of break but everyone has pulled through.  My wife's father was able to get an emergency surgery to clear the blockage in his heart and save his life.  He is out of the hospital and doing better while undergoing treatment.  My wife's grandmother has gotten over influenza and is now in a rehabilitation center to regain strength.  My wife was able to have the esophogeal obstruction cleared and is receiving ongoing treatment that will help that to not occur in the future!

Wow, a lot going on but we can't ask for better results right now.....


On to grading....

I came in today (Saturday) and graded everything I could find here in the classroom.  If your child has a 1(m) in the gradebook that means I have not located that assignment.  That may or many not impact the final grade as the grades are set to take the "Best of" from each standard rather than an average.

The missing assignment could be from....
1.  Not handed in or not done.
2.  Handed in without a name on it.
3.  Handed in but I cannot find it here in the room as it was misfiled.

When the students get back we will put everything into portfolios and sort out any work that is left without names or has been misfiled.  

Students may turn work in when they get it finished as they choose.  I am flexible on that but won't go begging for their work either.  Students and Parents are invited to log into Powerschool Gradebook to follow and maintain their work submission.

Looking Ahead....

When we return we will continue our study of how the sun's energy impacts living and non-living factors here on earth.  We will see quite a few standards coming into the grade book over the next three weeks.  Some of these will come from written assessments.  Some of these will come from traditional standard assessments (Quizzes).  Some of these will come from student projects.

Continue to check into the blog as I post all of the material for the class as well as the links to grading rubrics.

Enjoy the rest of Break and I will see you Monday!