Hello Awesome Freedom Falcons!  I am including below our daily agenda with homework.  This may help you if you were absent, forgot to write down homework, or if parents want to check on what their students are doing.  I also keep Aeries (our computer grades) up to date.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at stephensond@luhsd.net.  I am available during 1st lunch, thursday advisory or after school for questions.

College Night is Thursday, October 17th at 6PM in the FHS Gym.  It is an excellent opportunity to learn about colleges!

CALCULATOR REMINDER: Students need to bring a calculator to class.  We are using them.  They can not use a cell phone on a test given that cell phones also take pictures, text friends, etc.  A $10 or less calculator is sufficient.

What we are doing in class:

October 14 & 15, 2019

• Students receive Periodic Tables to glue into Notebooks
• Notes and Class Practice: How to use the Periodic Table to Identify the Parts of an Atom (Protons, Neutrons, & Electrons)
• Small group practice with kits on parts of the atom
• HW: Neutral Atoms Worksheet

September 26 & 27, 2019

• Submitted Midterm Test Review
• Took Midterm

September 24 & 25, 2019

• Experiment: Specific Heat of Metals
  • Perform Trial 2
  • Complete Math to calculate Specific Heat and Percent Error
  • Answer questions on the back
• HW: Midterm Test Review
  • Test Next Class!  BRING YOUR CALCULATOR!

September 20 and 23, 2019

• Review any questions from the Specific Heat Practice Problems
  • Turn in homework
• Experiment: Calculating the Specific Heat of Metals
  • Complete 1 of 2 trials today.
  • Do the math to see if you can fix anything for the second trial
  • HW: Work on Trial 1 Math and Question 1 on the back for homework.

September 18 & 19, 2019

• Submit HW (Earthquake Investigation and Homework)
• Specific Heat and Q = m•C•ΔT equation
  • Notes
  • Discussion
  • Practice Problems
• HW: Specific Heat Practice Problems (Students started questions in class)

September 16 & 17, 2019

• Notes and Videos: What evidence do we have of plate tectonics and what causes their movement?
• Earthquake Investigation on the USGS website
  • Complete Questions and Submit the paper
  • If you do not finish the questions in class, they become part of your homework.
• HW: ClEveR Question: Are the plates moving and how do we know?
  • If you do not know how to write this in the ClEveR format, write a paragraph to a page answering the question in any format.

September 12 & 13, 2019

• Review Density Questions
• Quiz: Density (you need a calculator)
• Use the USGS website to look at locations of earthquakes as evidence of plate tectoni movement

September 10 & 11, 2019 (I was at a meeting all day on the 10th)

• Review Density Questions with the Sub or classmates (or me on the 11th)
• Read and answer questions in Section 2.3 of the textbook (due to my absence on the 10th)
• Quiz next class.  Study your example problems.  Bring a calculator to class.

September 6 & 9, 2019

• Review Density homework questions
• Check data from Density Measurements that were collected last class.  Are we close to their actual densities?
• Video: Convection Currents in the Atmosphere, Ocean, and Mantle
• Activity: Make our own Convection Currents
  • Model the Convection Currents
• HW: Density Practice Problems (3 Levels again like last class)

September 4 & 5, 2019

• Review what we learned or remember about density from past years in science class
• Do 3 Density practice problems from the textbook
• Measure the mass and volume and calculate the density of 3 objects of your choice.
• HW: Density Practice Problems (Students can pick from 1 of 3 options.  They are organized from Level 1 being easier to Level 3 being most challenging).

August 30 & September 3, 2019

• Instructional Segment 1 (IS1) Test Review Questions and Collect
• Return Snack Food Energy Transfer ClEveR to discuss
• IS1 Test (This is also a LUHSD District Assessment)
• SSR Reading until all students are finished.  I have reading material available to share with students.

August 28 & 29, 2019

• Analyze data and graph from the "Snack Food Energy Transfer" Experiment
  • Is there data we can not use?
  • What is the relationship between mass of chips burned and the temperature change of the water?
• Write your ClEveR for the experiment.
• Return and review Physical and Chemical Changes Quiz.
• Work on test review for next class.
• HW: Study for the test next class!  Complete the Study Guide and go through your notebook.

August 26 & 27, 2019

• Model the Snack Food Energy Transfer (Burning Cheetos) experiment
  • Modeling is drawing what we see, what we don't see (like energy) and explaining how the process works.
• Check our data in Table 1 of "Snack Food Energy Transfer"
• Share our data with classmates.
• Graph the data.
• HW: Finish the graph, if you did not do that in class.
• Heads Up! Test on August 30th (A) and September 4th (B).
  • The test includes graphing, modeling and writing a ClEveR, which are all things we have been practicing in class.

August 22 & 23, 2019

• Review Graphing Practice HW and turn it in (if you didn't finish it or got it late, bring it to me next class)
• Experiment: Snack Food Energy Transfer
  • We will burn Fritos, transfer the energy to water in a can above the Fritos, measure the change in mass of the Fritos and temperature of the water
• HW: No homework.  Lucky you.  Try to stay cool this weekend!
• Next Class: Modeling the energy transfer, graph the data, write a ClEveR

August 20 & 21, 2019

• Use our heating curve of water graphs that we made and the heating curve graph from page 77 pf the textbook to model what is happening during the changes of state of water.
• Review examples of physical and chemical changes (page 35 of textbook)
• Quiz: Physical and Chemical Changes
• HW: Graphing practice for our next experiment: "Burning Snack Foods"

August 16 and 19, 2019

• Students turned in Candle ClEveR (Claim-Evidence-Reasoning)
• Experiment: The heating curve of water
• Graph the data
• Model what energy (heat) is doing to matter (water) at the molecular level to better understand physical changes
• Students will get textbooks and take out pages 32 to 35 to use to study for their quiz
• HW: Study for a quiz next class on the difference between physical and chemical changes.

August 14 and 15, 2019

• Read articles if you need additional explanation about how a candle works.
• Write the 1st or 2nd draft of your ClEveR answering the question: "Is using a candle a chemical reaction, a physical change or both?"
• Re-read, ask a classmate to revise your writing or ask the teacher to revise your writing.
• Work on revising your ClEveR.
• The teacher checks your models of the candle.
• Homework:
  • Complete the 2nd draft of your ClEveR.

August 12 and 13, 2019

• Experiments to understand how a candle works
• Discuss our observations
• Determine what this tells us about how a candle works
• Include this information in our model of the candle
• Homework:
  • Write an outline or rough draft for our question about how a candle works.
  • ClEveR Question: Is using a candle a chemical reaction, a physical change or both?