Spring Semester Week 5 February 7, 2019 - Describing Motion

This week we will taking a closer look at speed, distance, and time. We will use a class activity to learn how to perform speed calculations. We will also cover acceleration and velocity. Students will have the option to work additional problems at home.

Below are the notes for this week's upcoming class:

This week we began class by watching a video on speed, distance, and time as an introduction. See video below:

This gave us the basics of how to calculate speed using the speed = distance/time equation. We then continued the discussion in class where we learned that the basic speed equation breaks out into two additional equations: distance = speed x time and time = distance/speed. We created a graphic organizer to help us remember each of these three formulas and we did some introductory word problems to ensure a basic understanding.

Next, students broke into groups and applied what they learned to a class activity where a group of teachers leave a school and arrive at different times based on the route they took and the speed they drove. Each group was assigned two teachers and had to determine the amount of time it took their teachers to reach the restaurant. 
Speed Distance Time Class Activity

This activity proved to be a challenging application for most of the students so we did not get to complete the activity and discuss our results. However, this is an important topic that I want the kids to grasp, therefore we will continue working on the activity and conclude our discussion this week during class.

I will not be covering acceleration formally in class, however I did provide the notes above for students to record. I also provided practice problems that they are to glue into their interactive notebook. Below I have provided the answer key for those who desired to attempt the problems (which were pretty straight forward). 

Additionally, here are two videos on velocity and acceleration. 

Spring Semester Week 4 - Januray 31, 2019 Newton's Laws of Motion

This week we will start the physics portion of Physical Science. I wanted to start off physics with some hands-on lab stations therefore we will be starting off our unit with Newton's Laws of Motion. Below are the notes and a short video to help students prepare.

Newton's Laws of Motion Notes

We began class with a discussion of Newton's Three Laws of Motion and a graphic organizer that reviewed this information.

We had a fun time in class with lab stations that covered Newton's three laws of motions. At the first lab station covering Newton's Law of Inertia, students used their fingers to knock a penny into a stack of pennies and observe what happened. 

Next, they knocked a pie pan with an egg on top off of a jar of water. In both instances, student's observed that objects resisted changes in motion. 

At the second lab station, students reviewed Newton's second law which covers the Force = mass x acceleration equation. Students rolled a large marble and a smaller marble down an inclined plane. They also dropped the large marble and a smaller marble from the same height into a pan of flour and observed the impressions that were made by the marbles.  In both cases they observed that heavier objects require more force to move the same distance as lighter objects. 

At the third station, students launched a balloon rocket and made observations as to how the momentum of the rocket changed in response to a change in the starting height of the rocket. 

They also made a Hero's Engine which models how rockets are propelled into space. Both of these activities illustrated Newton's Third Law which says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reactions.

The fourth and final lab station had students review all three laws and then sort a series of pictures according to which Newton's law it illustrates. We enjoyed Newton's Laws of Motion and these concepts will help us as we take a closer look at motion in the upcoming weeks.

Spring Semester Week 3- January 24,2019 Acids, Bases, and Salts

This upcoming week

This week we will learning about acids and bases. We will learn what acids and bases are, what properties are associated with acids and bases, and what is produced in a neutralization reaction when acids and bases are reacted together. Additionally, we will be using red cabbage indicator to identify common household acids and bases and defining their strength based on the pH scale. 
Below are the notes for this week as well as an introductory video:

During class students used cabbage juice indicator to identify whether common household items were acids and bases. The cabbage juice indicator changed the household items to various shades of pink and green. We discovered that chemicals that resulted in pink/red colors were acids and chemicals that turned blue/green/purple were bases. 

Next, we used pH paper to test a second set of the same household items in order to assign a pH number on the pH scale to each item. Finally, we developed a pH scale of common household items that we placed in our interactive notebook. We also identified strong acids/bases and weak acids/bases.

Below is the link to the graphic organizer:
pH Scale Graphic Organizer

Spring Semester Week 2- January 17, 2019 Balancing Chemical Reactions

Now that we have covered the Parts of a Chemical Reaction and reviewed Counting Atoms, we are ready to learn how to Balance Chemical Equations. Below are the notes for this upcoming week to prepare:

Balancing Chemical Equations Notes

I was so proud of how readily the kids understood the principle of balancing of chemical equations. We briefly reviewed the Law of Conservation of Mass and then began to learn the steps of balancing equations. We began by counting the atoms on the reactant side and the product side of the equation. We made note of which atoms were unbalanced. We then used coefficients to balance the equation, understanding that adding coefficients to certain compounds in order to balance 1 specific atom also required us to re-count and adjust the other atoms in that particular compound. Once the equation was successfully balanced, we then practiced reading the chemical equation with the new coefficients. 

Students were then broken up into groups of three. They were given banner paper with two chemical equations and manipulatives they could use to visually see a color-coded version of the individual atom counts. The groups worked to balance their two equations, then presented their results to the rest of the class.

Below is the answer key to the graphic organizer we completed in class as well as blank additional copies just in case someone needs an extra.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a8wsTIlewZmxXb-SZ9Pey7Dma80AUOfl/view?usp=sharing

Spring Semester- Week 1- January 10, 2019 Parts of a Chemical Reaction

This week we will be reviewing a few of the concepts we covered last semester in order to build up to this week's unit covering balancing chemical equations. Therefore, I thought it would be best to provide some preliminary notes and review material for students to study prior to class this week.

In the above video, I cover how to differentiate between elements, the parts of a chemical reaction, and how to count atoms. Additionally, the link to a worksheet on counting atoms that we did in class, but will be helpful when we balance equations.

Counting Atoms

Lastly, below are the notes for this week that need to be included in student's interactive notebook. The first two pages of notes are for Parts of a Chemical Reaction. The last page of notes covers Balancing Chemical Equations.

Chemical Reactions Notes page 1

Chemical Reaction Notes page 2

Update:

We had an awesome class last week! We started the class with a video that introduced The Parts of A Chemical Reaction (see below):

Then we used gum drops to build molecules so that we could have a visual of how basic chemical compounds are structured. This also helped us as we reviewed counting atoms.

Next, we went over the parts of a chemical equation and how to read a chemical equation. We used the graphic organizer page in our notebooks shown below to cover the states of matter, reactants, products, subscripts and coefficients.

Here is the link to additional copies of the graphic organizer for those who missed class or need an extra copy.

Parts of Chemical Reaction Graphic Organizer

November 29, 2018 - End of Semester

It's time to celebrate! We've reached the end of the first semester of Middle School Physical Science! We've covered so much material this semester! It is my hope that this class has been fun and interesting, but most of all I hope students have become comfortable and been exposed to many of the concepts they will see again in High School Chemistry!

Below is a video I have recorded where I discuss the Interactive Notebook for this class and how it can be used to evaluate what has been covered during the first semester and how to assign a grade for this class, should parents desire a letter grade.

Additionally, linked below is a rubric that students can use to evaluate their interactive notebook (a hard copy was given to students in class) and parents can use as a guide to assign a letter grade.

Interactive Notebook Rubric

Next semester, we still have a few more topics in chemistry that we'll cover before continuing on to Physics. Those topics will be:

• Parts of a Chemical Reaction
• Balancing Equations
• Acids and Bases

Enjoy the holidays and see everyone next semester!

Week 14 - November 1, 2018 Periodic Table Practice

So, last week, I had to cancel classes because my dog was injured at the Doggy Day Care. I took him to the vet during the only time I had available (class time--boo!), but I'm glad I did because he had to get stitches on his lip and along his gum line! His little nose has discoloration from his injuries, but he his recovering nicely.

This week in class, we became more familiar with the periodic table by playing Periodic Table Battleship and by doing a Periodic Table Scavenger Hunt. The kids REALLY got into Periodic Table Battleship!

 

Here is a link to Periodic Table Scavenger Hunt worksheets that we did after we played Periodic Table Battleship. We also colored a periodic table graphic organizer in preparation for next week's discussion on atomic bonding. 

Completed Periodic Table Graphic Organizer

Here is the link for those who may have been absent.Blank Periodic Table Graphic Organizer   

Next week, we will discuss Atomic Bonding. Below is a short video for students to watch that discusses the basics of ionic and covalent bonding.

Additionally, students can get a head start on the notes for the next lesson which I will be referring to heavily.

Notes page 1

Notes page 2

Looking forward to next week!