Weekly Science News 4/29 - 5/3

I'm trying not to look at the calendar too much.  If I do, like my students, I think that summer break is upon us!  It's fast approaching and we've still got so much left to cover!  With that knowledge, we're wrapping up our units to prepare for two final science explorations.  Next week we dive into the world of electricity and magnetism, but first let's finish these units off strong:

In 6th grade, we just finished a mini-unit on ecosystems and how organisms interact within an ecosystem.  It was short, as we're cutting things close here at the end of the year, but we hit the essentials for 6th graders.  We spent time in our MRA Garden as well as playing a fun simulation outside called, "Oh Deer!"  Be sure to ask your 6th grader about it.  

The 7s have been hard at work to wrap up our Climate Change unit.  We did some amazing experiments on air testing for Carbon Dioxide.  We even "borrowed" a staff member's car to see how much CO2 they emit.  We've been using the dangerous chemical, BTB (bromothymol Blue Solution) to detect levels of carbon dioxide in samples of air.  Be sure to ask your 7th grader what happens when BTB comes into contact with CO_²!  

The 8s just finished up a quick mini-unit on Plate Tectonics.  We've been hitting a lot of standards this year to cover any and all holes these 8s had from switching from Theme based with mixed ages to content based at grade level instruction.  We had some interactive notes that helped us explore the theory of plate tectonics.  We also spent time looking at the most recent earthquakes (in the past week) and where they fall on the earth.  Thanks to our tablet computers donated through DonorsChoose, we were able to get real-time data in our classroom.    I didn't get as many pictures from this unit, as we were a bit more "book focused," but I will make up for it in the unit coming up!