Mr. Blythe

Friday

Test Day. It looks like we may have to go back and revisit today's test. Remember to study for these tests'; there was nothing on the test that we had not covered and reviewed before it was given. You will need to complete the lab we started today over the weekend. If you missed the test, makeup will be Wednesday 9/5 at 8:15. Alien Periodic Table on page 104 in your textbook. You will need to use pages 89-103 for clues. Complete this in your composition book and only the procedure. I will be posting websites occasionally for further information on things that we are studying but the best resource is your text and the work we complete in class. Have a great three day weekend!

Thursday

Test Tomorrow, Friday 8/31/07

Need to know:

Terms: atom, compound, electrons, elements, mass, matter, mixture, neutral, neutrons, protons.

How to determine what is a chemical and what is a physical change

How to calculate density.

How to determine the atomic number, atomic mass, protons, electrons and neutrons of elements.

How to draw a given atom.

We have covered all of this material in depth so you all should do very well!

Wednesday

We worked on drawing the different elemental atoms today using the energy levels. We will review tomorrow for Fridays test. Keep up with your work and you will be fine.

Tuesday

Why would an electric charge on an atom be neutral? When an atom has the same amount of electrons as protons then the charge will be neutral. We looked at the evolution of the structure of the atom today and then learned about the information contained in the periodic table such as the atomic number and atomic mass. We then applied that information by identifying various elements by these numbers. Test will be on Friday, 8/31.

Thursday

Today we spent time learning about Archimedes and his discovery of water displacement to find the volume of irregularly shaped objects. We then were able to complete a lab where we were able to find the mass, volume and densities of objects of the same size and discover that densities changed according to the material that the object was made of. We are preparing to move into studying the periodic table and the make-up of atoms. I am still listed on the McCleskey web page as sixth grade and hopefully we will get that changed soon. Thanks for letting me know!

Wednesday

It was great meeting so many parents last night and I look forward to working with them all to make this a successful year. Why do we use the metric system of measurement in science? It is much easier to use since it is based on the number 10 and it gives us a common language to speak with other scientists around the world. We created a small table to help us with our metric conversions and then practiced them in class. We started with our first pop quiz. Remember that these are open notes so make sure you keep notes in class and if you have any questions, please see me.

Tuesday

Tonight we are having open house and I hope that I get an opportunity to meet the parents. This has been a great group to work with already. We are examining the scientific view of the nature of matter and spending time this week on measurement using the metric system. The focus is on getting a better understanding of mass and volume so that we have a better grasp on the importance of density.

Thursday

This week we have started to get to know each other and I'm really excited about this year. We spent a great deal of time reviewing procedures but were able to also complete a "Gobstoppers" lab, an intelligences survey and work with the triple-beam balances. Keep up the good work!

Welcome Back!

It is so exciting to be back in the eighth grade this year! I get to teach many of the students I had in sixth grade two years ago and get to meet many students that I was not fortunate to get to know. Also, we are starting a new curriculum for eighth grade which is physical science. This is a great science to teach because there are so many hands-on activities and labs that we can do to understand how so much of the universe works. I'm looking forward to getting started with this great group of students; congratulations on making AYP. The eighth grade year is a great year with many fun activities but we also need to focus on what is most important which is to be academically successful. Make sure you get a composition book for the class.