Investigations in Science 7 – January 12, 2018

Announcements:
We will be doing dissections in the near future and we go through a large quantity
of hand soap. Any donations of liquid hand soap are appreciated. I also appreciate
the large refill bottles.

Throughout the systems of the body unit, we will have frequent mini quizzes as the
main form of assessment outside of labs. Mini quizzes are meant to be a quick
check for understanding. They are not meant to be challenging if the student had
been completing their work and engaged in the class. They are very low in points,
take about 5 minutes of class time and are NOT retakeable unlike the other
assessments we have had this year. I encourage the students to look over their
work briefly each night so that they are prepared for the mini quizzes. The
format will be either selected response, fill in the black, labeling, or a combination.
There will not be any short answer.

Graded Assignments Turned in this week:

 Lab: Skeletal System
 Warm Ups: January 2-12
 MiniQuiz: Boney

Coming Up:
Topics:
 Muscular System
 Nervous System

Dates:
 January 12 – PJ Day
 January 22 – Carderock Field Trip for Invention and Engineering 7 Class
 January 25 – End of 2nd Quarter
 January 25 – Early Release
 January 25 – PTA Winter Dance
  January 26 – No School
 January 31 – Town Hall Meeting period 2
 February 5 – Report Card Distribution
 February 13 – PTA Meeting @ 7:00 pm in the Media Center
 February 19 – No School
 February 21 – Chick Fil-A Dine Out Night!!!!
 February 22 – Student vs. Staff Basketball Game at 3:00 pm

What we did this week:

This week we began learning about the skeletal system. Students completed
a lab where they tried to see how many textbooks an empty paper cup could hold
before it got damaged. Then, the students had a new cup that they filled with
beans. They looked to see how many textbooks that the solid cup could fill. Most
groups found that the solid cup could hold more textbooks. However, the amount
of weight of the cup compared to the amount of weight it could hold, was much
higher for the empty cup which led us to a discussion of why our bones have the
structure that they do. We talked about how our bones are light weight because
the bones are not solid all the way through but filled with a light weight substance,
marrow.

We looked at the different functions of the skeletal system as well as

looked at different parts of the bone. Students saw how birds, land animals, and
fish’s structure of their bones is very different because of the different types of
movement they have. We also looked how animals use their bones in different
ways. We took our first mini quiz of the year. A description of mini quizzes can be
found in the announcement section.
Thursday and today, we began looking at the muscular system. We started
by doing a few stretches to brainstorm what muscles they thought we were using
to see what background knowledge we had. Then they used different resources to
be able to explain the differences between the 3 different types of muscles:
skeletal, smooth, and cardiac.
Today, Mr. Ingram will also come in to talk to my classes about registration
for next school year. Please ask your child to see the information that was
provided about registration.
Have a great weekend!