Reviewing what we went over Wednesday:

Arrangements of particles in solids, liquids and gases.

A nice image of what sublimation might look like at the atomic level:

One way to draw the molecules of solids, liquids and gases:

Another way to visual s, l and g:

Notes from B2W3D1 - States of matter

Here are Monday's notes. As always, be sure to check out the speaker's notes, which contain important extra info!

By popular demand

I'll start making the weekly syllabi available the previous Friday.

Here's the B2W3 Syllabus (along with the rubric for J). Enjoy.

Notes from B2W2D1

On Monday, before starting in on assignment "H," we went over the basic definitions of chemical elements and compounds.

Elements: the ancient Greeks thought that there were only four elements: earth, air, fire and water. They thought that every substance was made of some combination of those four.

However, thousands of years of chemistry experiments showed that those four "elements" weren't as simple as the Greeks had thought; water, air, and earth, for instance, could all be broken down into simpler "ingredients."

However, as chemists worked, they built up a list of materials that couldn't be separated into more basic ingredients. They called these materials the chemical elements. It turns out that there are 92 naturally-occuring elements that are the building blocks of all matter. There are 92 naturally-occuring kinds of atoms, and all matter is made of some combination of those kinds. (There are also elements beyond 92, but those are artificial - made if physics and chemistry labs.)

You can think of elements as tiny "Legos;" there are 92 kinds, all different from one another. Everything made of matter - all solids, liquids, and gases - are made of these elements, in different combinations.

A compound is a material whose molecules are made of more than one kind of element. A compound is still a pure substance - it's NOT a mixture. Every molecule of a compound is like every other molecule. But each molecules is made of more than one kind of element.

H2O (water), for example, is a compound. Each molecule of water is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one of helium.

In project H, you'll be investigating other compounds.

Another write-up on elements can be found at here, at Chem4Kids.

Here's the syllabus for this week.

Here's assignment H (and the rubric)

Here's assignment I (rubric included).

Assignment F

The in-class worksheet for Assignment F is here.

If you're out sick this week, you can still do assignment F; you won't have the actual substances, but you should be able to use yesterday's notes to identify the substances on the list.

Notes for B2W1D3

The notes on "Pure Substances and Mixtures" are up.

Please don't forget to look at the Speaker Notes! There's lots of helpful info there.

Also, check out the last page: a list of helpful web links!

Notes for W1D2

The notes from Tuesday are here.

I highly recommend you look over these and fill out anything you're missing or were unclear on. These notes should give you all you need to do Assignment E.

Materials for Block 2, Week 1

Syllabus of this week's assignments.

Lab Safety Rules.

Rubrics for assignments E, F and G.

Please note: Assignments E and F will mostly be done in class; so take good notes and use your time wisely!

Also please note: from now on, assignments that are marked "N" ("needs revision") on the rubric will be marked as "Incomplete" in Snapgrades. This should make it easier for you to keep track of work you need to do.

Converting C to F and back again.

If you didn't get the formulas yesterday:

F to C:

(F-32)(5/9)

C to F:

C(9/5) + 32

Rubric for Assignment D

Rubric for Assignment D

I'll pass these out today (W5D3), but if you don't get it...

http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddsm58ms_369fzdwq6dm

Notes from W35D5

Today's notes are here. Don't forget to check the speaker notes for extra info!

Corrected - Assignment D is here.

Here's the Syllabus for Week 5.

Please note that if you scored below 65% on the quiz, you will be doing a makeup assignment for me during IWT this week!

Here's Assignment D. (Sorry for the previous link to the rubric!)

Need help?

Here's a very helpful page that summarizes a bunch of what we've done so far, including practice with conversions.

Here's a page from PBS on buoyancy and density.

W4 Syllabus and Assignments

W4 Syllabus. Note that there are no key questions this week.

Assignment C.

Notes from W35D5

Notes from W3D5: density.

Notes for W3D3

Wednesday's notes. Don't forget to turn speaker notes on, as I've put extra info there.

The Google spreadsheet where I'll be posting your measurements of water mass; the final average (mean) values should be up by noon today (W3D3).

W3 Syllabus and rubrics

W3 Syllabus. Please note that the questions on the syllabus replace the Key Questions from now on! (They're actually mostly the same, but there are some important changes.)

Rubrics for the W3 assignments.

More documents!

Week 2 Syllabus.

The rubric for Assignment A (for if you lost it). This is due Tuesday: W2D2

The rubric for KQ part 2. This is due Thursday: W2D4

The rubric for Assignment B.

And also the Assignment B lab sheet with the two questions.

Improved link to class biometric data: requires a gmail account.

Directions and QUESTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT A

Here is a slightly revised version of today's handout with directions on how to make the scatter plot.

THE QUESTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT A ARE AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT!

The science calendar is online!

The first bunch of documents!

Here's where you can find copies of the first week handouts.

Here are the Key Questions for Block I.

Here is the Week I Syllabus.

Here's the explanation of the grading system.

Here are the grading rubrics for the first two assignments

Welcome Back, Me (and you)

Greetings, oh students! (And parents!)

The new year is almost upon us, and so I'm blowing the dust of this blog, clearing out the cobwebs, and shooing away the summer spiders. Please, 8th graders, do your best to let your 7th-grade friends, associates, and mentees know about the existence of this blog, since, just like last year, I'll be posting links to notes and info up here.

Rather than have this come incompletely through the grapevine, I thought I'd go ahead and let you know some very sad personal news from me. My father, Edward Twining, died very suddenly and unexpectedly this summer. I've spent most of the summer in Denver, trying to be as much of a comfort and help to my mom as I can. I'm doing OK, but this is obviously a very hard thing to go through; I loved my dad a lot, and we kept in close touch. So I may get a little weepy from time to time this fall.

I am very much looking forward to seeing all of you people, though; you are, as I have had opportunity to say to a lot of friends this summer, an amazing bunch of students, and I mean that in a good way. Just being around you-all is going to cheer me up. Especially if you do your homework ;)

See you soon!

--Matthew

Completely Frivolous Post

Some former students have posted a dramatized documentary about what I do in my spare time.

Block VI project

Block VI project information.

Some sources:

A good site on animal feed. (Not unbiased, but basically accurate.)

An interesting article on some of the ingredients in cattle feed.

Good information from Consumer Reports.

W35D2 Notes are here.

Click here for Tuesday's notes.

Parasitic goodness!

Great article about behavior-controlling parasites, including some familiar faces and some amazing new ones, in Mental Floss.

Read 'n' enjoy. Would make some good quiz. questions, wouldn't it?

(There's also this photo-essay from Discover, on the same topic.)

W35

W35 Syllabus, with rubric for the final poster.

Notes from Monday.

Portfolio peer checklist

Portfolio peer checklist is here.

W34 Stuff

Week 34 Syllabus

Monday's notes.

Assignment X: Evolution articles

Directions for Assignment X, plus grading rubric, in case you lose your copy.

If you're still confused

By some of the main ideas so far this block, this may be of help; it's a very nice pamphlet discussing some of the major issues. A big download, but worth it.

W33 Syllabus. Includes directions for assignment W.

Links for assignment W:

Natural selection.

Survival of the sneakiest.

Notes for W32D5

Friday's notes. Enjoy. Don't forget to check the speaker's notes!

The online natural selection blog.

Directions here.

Simulation website here.

Lab "U"

The bead lab is here.

W32 Stuff

Notes for W32D1 - Darwin and Wallace.

Syllabus and grading rubrics for W32.

By popular demand

A quick way to get to the links for assignment R.

A good place to get started for the land biomes.

Other sites:

For the deep ocean - read down a bit for adaptations.

Good info for coral reef organisms.

How oysters survive in the changing conditions in estuaries. (Also look at the general estuaries page)

More good coral reef info.

But wait, there's more!

Here's a copy of Assignment R.

And here's the biome info sheet - remember you'll need one for each biome (you can also just write this info on note paper; just be sure to include everything from this sheet.)

And here's a blank world map to put the biomes on.

Welcome to Block VI!

Monday's notes can be found here. (Don't forget to read the "speaker's notes!")

Syllabus for this week can be found here.

Checklist for Science portfolio.

If you didn't get a copy of the Science portfolio checklist, you can pick one up from my desk tomorrow (Tuesday). If you can't wait to get started organizing your work, you can also get it here. Enjoy.

I'll be checking portfolios through Thursday, and possibly Friday morning, but the sooner you can get your portfolio to me the better.

Peer Review

Here's what we're going to be doing with the rough drafts on Friday (4/3). If you're out tomorrow, please do this at home, using a parent or sibling as the "reviewer." It should make your finished product that much better.

Stuff for W29

W29 Syllabus

Assignment P, including the checklist for evaluating web pages.

Rubric for Assignment Q, the genetics articles summary.

A bunch of good places to look for genetics news articles

Greetings!

As you know, on Tuesday, you'll be turning in Assignment O, where you pick a topic having to do with genes, genetics, DNA, genetic engineering, genetic research, genomes, genomics etc. (Hey look! I just gave you a good list of search terms!). For assignment O, you'll turn in an explanation of the topic, why you think it's interesting, and citations for two news articles about that topic. (You'll be finding even more articles on the topic next week.)

To help you find articles, here are some good places to look:

• Search Google News or Yahoo News for any of the search terms above
• Science News, the weekly science magazine.
• Articles collected by the NPR science news show Science Friday.
• Biology news from Scientific American.
• Science Daily.
• Science stories from the New York Times. (Try the "browse topics" menu on the right - the "genetic engineering" topic has lots of good stuff!)
• Articles from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

This week's stuff

Syllabus for this week.

Assignment N.

Notes for Monday - Protein synthesis.

A good animation showing protein synthesis

Here's a good video of protein synthesis. Make sure you listen to the narration.

Another one, with more realistic molecule shapes and showing the process in real time, can be seen here.

If you lost this week's syllabus, here's a copy.

The extra credit song...

...is called "That Spells DNA" by Jonathan Coulton and you can stream it for free (and it looks like you can download it for free, at least for now on his home page. Just look for DNA on the page.