8th: Today we started designing a Rube Goldberg machine.

7th: Today we cultured our bacteria samples.

8th: Today we did a quick review over the six simple machines and started in with Energy.  Physics demos are cool.  Today’s was on pendular motion!

7th: Finished Typhoid Mary and completed two review sheets of bacterial structure and function.  Tomorrow is our bacterial growth lab.

8th: Today we reviewed what work is, and then went over all six simple machines in class.  They are expected to know how to identify them and how they help us create force, move objects or change the direction of forces.

7th: Yesterday we had a lab and planted vegetables for the You Urban Farmers club and we will be planting them in the Community Garden behind the school.  Today we talked about the Andrew Wakefield paper, as well as started talking about the story of Typhoid Mary.

8th:  Today we registered for High School in room 106!! Looking forward to the future!

7th:  Today we read through the case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield and how his research affected public health, scientific research and the media reaction to sensationalism.

8th: Today we worked through some work problems after we reviewed the formulas for force, work and power.

7th: Finishing up our Bacteria/Virus posters and starting our writing assignment.

8th: Today we started studying “Work” and how simple machines operate.  Guided reading is due over pages 108-113.

7th: Today we worked some more on our Bacteria and Viruses Poster Project.  Some kids were able to start reading the Case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield and begin writing.  I also have a a lesson on Typhoid Mary coming up!

8th: Forces test today!!

7th: Today we started our poster project comparing bacteria to viruses.  Tomorrow we will start a writing assignment over the story of Andrew Wakefield.

8th: Today we worked through a series of Force, Speed and Acceleration problems that employed the skills and formulas we used in our Newton Scooter build.  Tomorrow we have test of Forces, and the kids should have a cheat sheet written out that they will be able to use.

7th: Today we tried to get a jump on the impending Snowocalypse, and get some curriculum done.  We read pages 48-57, and completed the guided reading.  After that, we started a project comparing viruses to bacteria.

8th: Today was a quick review over what we did Friday with speed, acceleration and force.  They will be expected to be able to calculate these figures if I give them numbers to work with.  Soon we will have a test over forces,and move onto simple machines!

7th: Today we reviewed last week and began working with bacteria!  No homework.

8th: Today was our awesome Newton Scooter Race Day!  The kids compiled speeds, acceleration times and force numbers as well as the mass of their vehicle to calculate the speeds, acceleration and forces of their runs.  Great stuff!  We should finish it up tomorrow and build upon it more next week.

7th: Today we calculated how many viruses fit on the head of a pin, at 1mm per pinhead and 200 nanometers per virus. Lots of fun and challenging math!!  They have a take home quiz over viruses that needs to be handed in tomorrow.