Thursday and Friday September 25th & 26th, 2014

Today's Quote:

Announcements:

All classes report to the media center today!

All classes will have their First FCA on Monday

Today's Lateral Thinking question:

What is one thing that all wise men, regardless of their religion or politics, agree is between heaven and Earth?

Now Playing During Lunch

Scientific measurement, accuracy and precision.

Today's Class:

Students were given 10 minutes to finish up their quizzes. Following that, Mrs. Drazan, our media specialist, went over the first lesson in conducting scientific research for the upcoming science fair projects. Students will use the FINDS model and should start to investigate what type of project they want to do. ALL students MUST do a school science fair project. We will use the research model Mrs. Drazan demonstrated. Every project MUST have an experiment and will be conducted on the student's own time outside the classroom. No models such as volcanoes, dams, pyramids, etc. I must approve ALL projects before students begin.

Following our research session, students continued building their Excel graphs to finish up our ball bounce lab.

Today's homework:

Watch Scientific measurement, accuracy and precision.

Free Resource!

I have purchased a Brain Pop account for my classes to use.

The user name for all students is: redshoulderhawks

The password for all students is: Horizon2014

Precision and Accuracy. This first unit is on today's topic.

Have you ever been really curious about a topic and just don't know what to believe from the internet? Try Sparticl. Students just like you LOVE Sparticl, especially when doing research. As one student said, “One great thing about Sparticl is that it includes both fun activities as well as educational resources. If you want to write a research paper, you will find great information on Sparticl, and it’s all credible,” said Hanna Endrias, 14, of Washington, D.C. Sparticl, give you access to current science and STEM activities and features really cool games in a learning platform. Try it today!

PM Update:

We spent most of our time today going over the FINDS research Model in preparation of the Science Fair projects. Students were given a copy to keep and reminded to keep it looking great as it is the one they will turn in and t matters if it looks like a hamster slept on it. Another one can be downloaded from this link: FINDS research model.

Important things to remember about your project: It must have an experiment. It must have at least three sources for the works cited page including at least one book. You will use the website Easybib to create your works cited page. If you explore that site, it can cite everything you use including websites, blogs and 60 other types of information. You must create a board if you are planning on entering the county science fair or beyond. You must meet each deadline , as each will have a separate grade. No demonstration projects such as volcanoes, and finally, DON"T BE BORING! Find something you are REALLY curious about.

FCAT Explorer is now ready for use! Go to FCAT Explorer.com. Once you get there you can sign in using the following formula for your user name and password

STUDENT LOGIN INFORMATION Student sign-ins ARE using the following formula : full last name, followed by the first letter of the first name (e.g. Alberto Rodriguez = RODRIGUEZA). Student passwords ARE using the following formula: the two-digit district ID number, followed by the first four letters of the last name, followed by the two-digit birth month, followed by the two-digit birth day (e.g. Alberto Rodriguez, Duval County [16], born on May 10 [mmdd] = 16RODR0510). Our District ID is { 42 }.

I should have your sections set up by tomorrow. Once they are in place you can work on FCAT exploerer from home. When you complete a section (for example Science Voyager), I will enter a quiz grade based on what your average score was. This will count toward your class grade, but cannot hurt your grade. (It functions like an extra credit assignment)