Parent Conferences

Parent conferences will be

November 19 (Monday) School as usual    8:10AM-2:50PM Conferences        4:30PM-7:30PM

November 20 (Tuesday) Conferences  8:00 AM – 11:00 AM                     12:00 PM – 3:30 PM                           5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

 
A reminder slip will be going home soon. Please look for it.

Test Retakes

Amazed again! About fifty six students came in either early before school or stayed after school to take another chance to improve their test scores. I am so very proud of them all.  :)

Test Retake Info

If a student earned a "D" or "F", they will have an opportunity to study again and retake the test. The higher of the two grades will be retained. A note will be sent home that looks like the following:

Dear parents,

Your child needs to retake a science chapter test so as to improve their current grade.

Your child has chosen to come

BEFORE school @ 7AM or

AFTER school @ 3PM to take this test

on Thursday (11) in my room 113.

Thank you,

Kari Spellman

503-399-3446  _____: Your child attended

                                     and left at _____.

If there are any complications with your child attending, then an alternate solution can be discussed.

First Six Weeks.. Here And Gone.

Well, we have hit the first grading period. Hopefully students are staying on top of homework and not letting it get away from  you.

Let's review what is and is NOT working for you so that at conferences in November both parents and students will be happy.

Cell Cycle Retakes

I am most impressed with my students!

There were 17 students that showed up at 7AM to retake a chapter test. Another 32 students came after school that were not able to attend the morning retake.

WOW!!  49 students......

Truly, these students have the initiative and drive needed to be successful in life.

 I have AWESOME students.  :)

I've moved!

I just realized that my blogging page had not been updated to note the changes that occurred over the summer. This year I am teaching seventh grade science. Students will be in my class for only a semester.

Once Dreamweaver has been loaded on my new room computer, parents will be able to download the class syllabus; district scope and sequence; as well as any other documents that are handed out to students.

Coming home soon will be informational papers regarding students helping to create videos demonstrating projects and after school retraining (for those that are struggling with completion of classwork and/or behavior).

It's going to be an excellent year of learning and growing as students learn not only about science but necessary life skills.

Class Homework Page Down

A tech-support request has been submitted to the district for the necessary program to be loaded on the computer in my new room. Just as soon as it is, I will be able to post specific assignments.

Our first set of grades will start being entered Friday September (22). Students are peer assessing work in class and then I will start entering grades. It might take me two nights to get everything entered.

Thank you for your patience.

Robotics Challenge 2012: Senior Challenge

Ready? Set? Go!!

The new challenge is here for us to solve. Take the time to view the rules and watch YouTube videos . There are many more videos to watch! Just search around. The main webpage for First Lego League (FLL) can be found by clicking herehttp://www.firstlegoleague.org/

Parent consent slips are due September 25. As soon as we are assigned a competition date, I will send home papers to notify families.

We're off to a great start!!!

Oh no! Not Kermit the Frog!

For those that are interested to know what a frog looks like on the inside but don't want to dissect the frog, you may visit the virtual dissection websites.

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=26

http://www2.ofsd.k12.wi.us/science/frogdiss.htm


Student grades are graded based upon participation, such as observations, asking questions, etc. Respect for the once living animal is expected. This is an opportunity to learn about nature and yourself.

Wetlands Visit, Dissections & Library Books

We have a full week ahead of us! Make sure that you are ready for action, packed days.
 
Wednesday    (5/30/12)
We will make another trek to the wetlands to see what changes have occurred since our last visit. The ground has had time to dry out since the last bit of precipitation fell last Thursday, so we don't need to worry about muddy shoes.

Thursday   (5/31/12)
Remember what team you were placed during class on Tuesday. Review the materials list that you wrote in your spiral on page 122, along with the frog picture identifying the internal parts that we will locate.

Time is limited, therefore it is important that you pay attention.

Friday   (6/1/12)
ALL library books are to be returned to school. If you do not return the books, you will soon receive a bill charging you for lost/not returned books, which will impede your ability to receive your yearbook on
Tuesday (6/12/12).

As we draw near the end of the school year, make sure that all missing/incomplete work is turned in
by June 1, 2012.

Transpiration

We used the wetlands as an outdoors lab to test the transpiration process of plants.

We bagged portions of various plants to see how much water vapor we could collect during a 24 hour period. Some students gathered quite a bit, and others not as much.

 Students were amazed that plants could give off that much water vapor! I was too.  :)

Locked Out!

Sorry about the hiatus, but I got locked out of my blogging page.   :(  Just enough to drive a teacher crazy this time of year.

So let's get caught up on what we've done since the middle of April.

Science Expo

Today from 5:30PM - 7:30PM at Willamette University's Spark Center, students will be demonstrating their roller coaster models.

Students are invited to stand next to their engineered projects and be proud of what they have made.

I am very proud of you all!

Replacement Parent Conferences

Dear parents,

I apologize for the last minute notice. As of yesterday, the district has asked teachers to schedule a day of conferences to replace the day that was lost due to the snow on March 22, 2012.

If you would like to conference with me regarding your child’s grades, I will be available on the following days at the following times from  7:00 AM- 9:00AM or 3:00PM-5:00PM. Please make arrangements with me as there are times that I am in a meeting or might be meeting with another family.

		April
Sun	Mon	Tues	Weds	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		17		19
		24		26
		May
Sun	Mon	Tues	Weds	Thurs	Fri	Sat
		1		3
		8		10

Presentations

Thursday and Friday we finished making roller coaster presentations. This week we are completing the write up portion. Students will be quietly writing in class on the three pages to log the data regarding their project.

I hope that you all rest and enjoy the weekend. According to the cherry trees, it is suppose to  be Spring. Hopefully it will warm up soon!

New Due Date For Roller Coasters

HA! Spring break and it snows 4-6"! Not what we all had planned, but such is life.

Roller coasters will now be due on Monday April (2) and Tuesday April (3).  If you didn't complete it already, consider this a gift from God. (LOL) Make wise use of this time and get the project done.

 If you have any questions or issues, send me a comment through this site. 

Rest up and enjoy the time off.

:)

It's Time!!

Time for roller coasters to be turned in! You have from now until 8PM on Thursday (22) before I lock up the room for Spring break. Yahoo!!

Enjoy your time off and I'll see you in April.

Parent Conferences

Parent conferences are scheduled for next week and reminder slips went home with students yesterday.

Wednesday (21)

 8:10AM - 2:50PM       Students attend school
4:30 PM - 7:30 PM       Conferences

Thursday (22)

8:00AM - 11:30AM Conferences
12:00PM - 3:30 PM Conferences
5:00PM - 8:00 PM Conferences

My goal is to keep it fairly brief, since I know that you need to chat with other teachers.

If you have any concerns, we can schedule for a later time when we may meet after school.   

Roller Coasters

Students are well under way to creating this year's crop of roller coasters, and what fun we have been having! Some teams are meeting in my room on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00pm - 5:00pm to construct their project.

Twelve days to go and all projects should be done. Remember to bring them to school on either Wednesday (21) or Thursday (22) during parent conferences.

Keep up the good work!

View the video of students working at a workshop.

Check ... Check... Double Check

Spring break is a month away. YES! A month. It seems to have snuck up on all of us.

Make sure to be checking posted grades regularly so that any missing work gets completed and any work that you did complete gets entered into the gradebook.

If you haven't made your atom model and still need help, see me after school Thursday (2/23). We'll brain storm and see what we can create with the supplies that are in the classroom. It's much better to turn something thing in than nothing at all. Right?  :)

Round Two

On Thursday (2/23), we will take the second round of testing of the Periodic Table.

Study... study.... study!

:)

Time's A Fleeting!

We are nearing the end of February. Where did the month go?

Friday (17) Jack Whiting visited our classes to talk to us for engineering month. He works for Daimler/Freightliner in Portland. Students had fun assembling a spaghetti bridge to test the compression and tension of both spaghetti and linguine.

Thank you ! We had a great time.

We have finished the first of three attempts to pass the Periodic Table quiz. The second attempt to with be Thursday (23).

This week students will also be receiving the roller coaster packets for our state work sample. Please visit our class webpage that offers additional information. Roller coasters will be due on either Wednesday (3/21) or Thursday (3/22) during parent conferences. More information will follow.

Second Semester

It's here!! The second half of the school year.

Remember that there is no school on Monday because of Grading Day.

On Tuesday you will go to the gym to pick up your blue schedule. Look to see if any of your classes have changed. You will still be in my science class, but possible in a different period than when you have been attending.

You're half way through the year.  :)

Periodic Table

Students are fininsing their created Periodic Table. It is colored with eight different metal/ nonmetla "families" and four font colors representing the physical state. On a separate piece of paper, students are writing the full name of the element and its mass.

Next we will look for a pattern to help us be able to calculate how many protons, neutrons and electrons are found in each element.

For fun, listen to different vesions of songs listing the elements  plus one that lists them in order.

See! Learning is possible via music.  ;)

Go to the class homework page for the list to memorize. Remember. LOOK for patterns.. ;)