February is National Engineering Month. To celebrate, Michael Pranger, an engineer with Daimler Mercedez, came to talk to the 8th grade.

The problem the 8th graders were working on

Dear Parent and Guardian,

                  First semester is officially over! Finals were tough, but they were a great learning experience.  A few updates are needed in the science room:

                  6th graders will be finishing the Dust Bowl this week before moving on to Earth’s History and the Geologic Time Scale.

                  7th graders are moving to a short section on cell division and cancer to heredity. Heredity will include probability and DNA, before moving on to genetics.

The 8th graders are working hard on acids, bases, and solutions. Included in this chapter will be the pH scale. A new update for the 8th grade is they just got their Science Fair packets Feb. 1st. We will be working on the science fair on and off throughout the months leading up to the Science Fair.

The Science Fair is April 18th, 2012 from 6-8pm at St. Andrew’s Gym. Please make a note of this on your calendars as we would love to have you attend! The 8th graders are required to be there and the 6th and 7th graders will be asked to participate as well. If you would like to volunteer for the Science Fair, please let me know. Also if you have any connections from your past school, I would love to know any ideas you have.

The can and bottle collection is going really well still! We have raised over $50-thank you again for your support.

Blessings, Ms. Miller

PSU Green Team Trip:

                  The Green Team will be going to Portland State University on February 6th, 2012 until lunch.

                  Currently there are 9 students on the Green Team from the 8th grade girls, 7th grade girls, and 7th grade boys. They have been hard at work with milk cartoon recycling and making a video about composting for the school.

                  If your student would like to join, please have them write a letter to me or Ms. Benware about:

• What Green Team is
• Why they want to join
• What they want to do

Thanks!

 Reading Strategies in Science

                  Throughout the year, students learn different reading strategies in science class. These strategies are intended to help students learn to read a textbook, especially a science textbook.

                  Different strategies work better with some units than others. Here is a list of the following strategies we have used:

• Text coding: students use symbols while they are reading to indicate their thinking. For example, stars are used to indicate important sentences, question marks are used to show there was confusion, and a boxed word means the word was unknown.
• SQ3R or ‘squeeker’: Students survey the section of the textbook before they read looking at pictures, titles, and graphics, next students turn titles into questions, after that students read to answer their questions, recite which involves lots of different options including making up a song, and reviewing.
• Clustering: students use a web-like design to take notes on a specific topic,  creating a web of interconnecting topics and ideas, the end product looks like a graphic organizer or concept map
• DEJ or Double Entry Journal: students split their papers into two columns, the 1st column is notes that come from the book, ie definitions and important passages, the 2nd column comes from their minds, such as questions they have or comments.

Each strategy can be used in all content areas. Ask your student about them today. More to come for second semester.

Clackmas firefighter, Mychal Costanzo, presents about fire and fire safety to the 8th grade.

Finals, finals, finals…that’s all everyone is talking about! The science final is this Thursday, so here are some pictures throughout the semester.

One final piece of advice? Get plenty of sleep, eat well, and start studying asap.

Some students based theirs off a popular song, while others wrote an original piece.

Here are some samples of the lyrics and a few pictures:

“Hop out of bed, turn my light source on/

Look through my lens and say whats that”

“Wake up in the morning feeling like Van Leevwenhoek/

Grab my lenses I’m out the door, I’m a fix my device/

when its ready its finally goin’ to be able to use”

“Microscope, microscope hold it at teh base with the arm around your waist”

“Scope scope scope scope scope scope scope now stop! and turn the coarse adjustment knob like whoa. Dia-dia-diaphragm. Now lets get on stage and do our dance.”

Here are the rough draft study guides for science finals. More will be added to the study guides as we continue through January.

6th Grade Study Guide for Finals

7th Grade Study Guide for Fall Finals

8th Grade Study Guide for finals

Hello!
The newsletter will be sent home in Friday, the 13th’s, folder.
There is an update on each class, as well as a coupple of things about Green Team. Green team is now accepting application (letters to Ms. Miller). Please encourage your student to talk to me about this opportunity.