8th grade:
- Algebra class included learning about quadratic equations (parabolas) and the role of "a", "b" and "c" when determining the shape and size and location of parabolas. Julian D. was a great peer tutor working with the Pre-Algebra students this week. He taught them geometry basics of lines and angles.
- In Physical Science, we started our buoyancy unit, "Walking on Water" . We hope to design a device that will allow us to walk over water using concepts of Archimedes' principle, buoyant force, water pressure, and fluids.
7th grade:
- We have been brushing up on the pre-algebra concepts of percentages and probability. For the rest of the year, our math concepts will be presented using food! We have a field trip to the grocery store on Thursday to plan a meal for an end of the year beach party. Students will use their math skills to determine costs, price per serving, doubling or tripling recipes, conversion factors, etc.
- In Life Science, we learned more about food webs in the Mono Lake ecosystem. They organized individual organisms as producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and decomposers.
Both 7th and 8th graders are well into the construction phase of their Solar Oven Project. Students completed a webquest to learn about solar ovens, solar energy, transmission, absorbtion and reflection of the suns rays. In groups, they created designs for their solar oven. The next phase includes creating a marketing plan for their oven, preparing a meal and assembling a class cookbook with their recipes. It has been so fun watching the construction process. Students have gone above and beyond, even getting Skip (our resident woodworker!) involved in cutting plywood. I am interested in seeing how the reflective properties of music cds help to heat up one of the group's ovens!
