8th: We went over some of the material that I will quiz them on tomorrow and then practiced drawing moon phases.  The first section of the guided reading over section 1.3 is what they need to know.

7th: We reviewed the section 1.3 guided reading after reading out of the book and practiced drawing convergent, divergent and transform boundaries.  Tomorrow’s quiz will be over section 1.3 and Alfred Wegener.

8th: We started drawing the phases of the moon with protractors, which I was a little dismayed at.  The kids didn’t seem very engaged with it, and they’re going to have to know how to do it real soon!  We also have a guided reading over section 1.3 in the book tomorrow.

7th: We started drawing convergent, divergent and transform boundary lines and worked through more of Wegener’s theory of plate tectonics.  More tomorrow.

In 8th we worked through a short review of what we did last week and then started in on moon phases.  THis will be a short week, but we will still have a quiz!  THe material from last week will be included as well.  The review questions on page 19 are due as homework!!

In 7th we started in with section 1.3 on continental drift and Alfred Wegener.  The guided reading is homework.

Yet another Friday quiz day in both 7th and 8th grade.  I’m not exactly pleased with the performances I see, so I’m making some adjustments to how I do things and I hope I can encourage my kids to do the same.

Today in 8th we reviewed some concepts form last week about the seasons and axial tilt, as well as reviewed the concept of gravitational pull on celestial objects.  We did this by looking at a gravity interactive found here: http://www.nowykurier.com/toys/gravity/gravity.html.  After that we worked through calculating out gravitational pull in Newtons.  Tomorrow we have a quiz over this week’s material, section 1.2 in the text.

In 7th grade we did a density lab with food coloring and worked through procedures, predictions, data collection and conclusions.  We also have a quiz over section 1.2 in the text.

Today in 8th grade we did our Skittles lab and worked on how to conduct an experiment.  (We need some more work)

In 7th grade we explored how a lava lamp works and completed our section 1.2 guided reading.

No homework.

Today in 8th grade we reviewed how an object’s mass affects it’s gravity and in 7th grade we studied how density changes the behavior of certain substances.  Cool stuff.

Today we started off warming our brains with some logic puzzles and then dove straight into the next section of our text.  In 8th we’re beginning to study gravity and its effect on celestial objects.  In 7th grade we’re working on convection currents.  THis next we’ll have some cool demonstrations and labs to work with as well.

Today we took our first quiz over the first section of the first chapter in the text.  For 8th grade it was the Earth in Space section and for 7th it was Exploring Inside Earth.  All of the questions are derived from the guided reading and what we talk about in class.  Each quiz will get progressively longer and harder as we work through the chapter.  For those that didn’t finish on Friday, they can finish it Monday.

Today was picture day, which always brings out some funny behavior in the kids.  We also spent time finishing our section 1 artwork project and worked on a reading from a book called Bones, Rocks and Stars, along with some questions over the reading.  Tomorrow is out first section quiz as well as a vocabulary pretest.  The quiz is summative and the vocab test is not.  Study hard.