Week of 9/8

It was another fun filled week in science class!

The students started off the week by preparing for our first lab report of the year (Due Monday 9/15) and by planning their own research by developing and investigable question about mealworms. They then spent the entire next class actually conducting their research! The diversity of projects was amazing. Teams were testing the response of mealworms to different tastes, sounds, lighting and temperature conditions and textures. Some even developed mazes to use with their worms! What an interesting set of inquiries!!

See the short slide show to see some of the teams in action.



Next we turned out attention to the nature of life? We pondered the question, "What does it mean to be alive?" We brainstormed what living things have on common. The students then met my "sewer lice" and "glue monsters". These demos were designed to show how something can appear alive even when it is not. I hope they weren't too creepy for some students! (ask your child about them) We then examined soil samples for signs of living (BIOTIC), non-living (ABIOTIC) and once living components.

Here are two pictures from that activity.







We ended the week by cleaning up our binders a bit and reviewing the "martian and the car" HW sheet and doing our last ALIVE activity where the students separated items into categories of "living", "not living", "once living: and "not sure". In some cases it wasn't s easy as it sounds. For example, a chair is non-living unless it is made of wood that was once living. :-)

It continues to be a blast working with the new 7th graders.

All the best. Mr F :-)