Mr. Hale's Blog

Study Group blog

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Almost There!

We have a few weeks left until the Winter Break (Holidays!) and we are finishing up our latest topic, Force and Motion.

Friction, Gravity, Free Fall, Force, Newton, Projectile Motion, Laws 1, 2, and 3, acceleration due to gravity are the big concepts in this section.

I foresee a Major Test on Wednesday, Dec 14 in the AC classes- be ready for a fairly big assessment.

Fun with Formula is on the horizon- all of you into math will enjoy the challenge of those two days.

We have benchmark tests coming up the last week before the break as well-they are from the county.

It looks like we are going to have about 17- 18 grades for this quarter, so we have had plenty of chances to show what we know-

Finish Strong -

In Georgia Studies, we are finishing up the Trail of Tears and are heading into the Antebellum Period before the Civil War- lots of reading here, stay caught up.

 

Week of October 10

The end of the first 9 weeks is upon us. I can not emphasize enough how fast the year will go by, and how important it is to take care of your classwork, your grades now.

In science we will be finishing up with Matter; we will have a unit test (our first one) this Friday- be sure to consolidate your notes and be studying now- DO NOT wait till Thursday to study.

In GA History we will have a test over the Revolutionary Period on Thursday... this will be our biggest test yet...we will review on Wednesday.

There will probably be a number of tests for you in your classes, as the grading period comes to a close- be sure you do not get caught off guard.

 

Week of Sept 12 2011

We have finished up our Matter Quick Start projects- they look good- I am pleased at the overall results.

We need to look at States of Matter- Solids, Liquids, and Gasses- this is probably a bit of a review for many of you, and we will not take a large amount  of time on this topic.

I think we will have a quiz over this material at the end of this week, and then focus a few days more on Physical and Chemical properties and changes- its a tough subject and we need to look at it a little more.

We have a chance to have a lab in this section which should be interesting.

Mixtures, Compounds and Elements are next up- this section will take us a couple of weeks- its involved and not all the concepts are intuitive- you will need to keep up with your studying!

I believe this topic can be found in Chapter 4 of your book- if you want to get a head start on reading, this would be the time to do so.

Grades are in and I am showing everyone what they can expect on their PR, so there should be no

surprises.

We are half way done with the first 9 weeks- it is going by fast, so stay with us- no time to let up now.

 

In GA History:

The Colonization of Georgia: why who how and when-those are the questions we will look at in class. Expect a test over that material later in this week- we are moving along well in GA Studies.

Next up will be the colonies of America: the regions and how they are different- these differences will shape and influence America's growth for the following 150 years.

The chapter is very long, so I encourage you to read, study, and follow along in class; you do NOT want to be left behind here.

 

September is Here

We are up and running!

In science we have explored the nature of matter: Mass, Volume, Density, Weight, Area, Metrics, Atoms, physical properties, chemical properties, and related changes.

By now you should have an idea of how you are doing; look at your grades ( I have 7 in for you already)- are they where you want them to be? if so, continue to do what you have been doing. If you are disappointed with your grade in science, ask yourself what you can do differently. Are you studying? really studying? watching tv while you study doesn't count!

As September starts up we are going to be looking at States of Matter and how the molecules of these states move and how the addition or subtraction of energy (exothermic and endothermic processes) influence the movement of those molecules.

In addition, more on physical and chemical properties are on the agenda as well.

Be sure to take notes, study and participate in class discussions! You can do three things that impact your grade immediately- take advantage of that.

 

April 11 CRCT~

Well its finally here.. CRCT; a few of you have commented to me how fast the year has gone by- we talked about that in class one day as I recall  :-).

Our schedules are going to be crazy for the next few days- I won't see some of you untill Wednesday-

When we do get in class, we ar going to review as many basic concepts as we can. I am going to use the CRCT Practice Tests located at the end of each chapter as a mini review. I urge you all to take a look at those questions online; there are a good source for sample questions.

Any review you do might help you- you never know which questions might help to brush up on something that might be asked on the test.

We have worked hard to get here, now its time to take a deep breath, be focused and answer the questions as best you can- I am predicting some very good scores with these classes.

 

Last Week of March 2011

It is finally here- our last topic of the year. We have looked at our last new topic of the year!

All that remains now is to have a Major Unit Test over Waves, Light and Sound; that will occur this Wednesday , March 30th.

We are reviewing all notes on Monday, and Tuesday I will hold a Q and A Session where you can make sure you understand all the concepts.

Make sure you use this time wisely!

After the test, we will begin our CRCT review- plan on around 2 chapters a day.

Make sure you bring your notes/notebook to class each day.

 

Week of March 21st

Light.. we are studying Light as this point.

Lots of new ways to apply the terms we learned in Waves- so the good news is that  you already have a very good foundation for the topics in this section.

We are basically covering a section a day;

I plan on having a Unit Test over Waves, Sound, and Light next Wednesday, March 30th.

This will be a major Unit Test, so make sure you keep up and study each night!

Many of you will be leaving for Orlando on that Thursday, and having this test before you leave will insure you do not have to come back to school and walk into a major unit test when you come back.

Make sure you are keeping up with and reviewing all of the material we are discussing in class.

This is the last new topic we will address before we begin our CRCT review- you are almost done... stay focused. DO NOT LET UP this late in the year.

 

March 14th

We have a Quiz on Waves Monday, March 14th. If  you missed it due to being out for Chorus, etc make sure you make it up the next day.

We are moving on to Sound.. which travels in.. waves.. We started in waves so we would have a good back ground for Sound and Light- both of which will be dealing with waves; by having waves first you are already halfway done with Sound and Light.

Look for a Sound Lab (Tuning Forks) on or about Wednesday of this week.

Begin reading section 1, page 600 to 605 for Tuesday and we will be studying  the aspects of hearing the next day.

 

Week of March 7

Magnetism and Electricity is over.. I am going to hand the tests back- you did very well as a group!

This was perhaps the best effort from all 4 classes that I have seen this year... nice job.

As we move forward, we are looking at waves.. and what do waves transmit? Energy.. Energy has been the focus of our entire year's work.

Waves are a great lead in to the last two topics: Light and Sound... Light and Sound both are transmitted by waves (light as a particle too) so if we hit waves now, light and sound will follow nicely and be very easy to grasp.

Here are the major concepts and key words

Wave        Medium        Transverse        Longitudinal        Compression        Rarefaction

Crest        Trough            Frequency        Amplitude            Wavelength        Interference

Constructive                    Destructive    Reflection            Diffraction            Refraction

 

As you can see.. there are ALOT of terms.. we will be reading and covering about one section a day in the Wave Chapter.. make sure you pay attention, keep up, and study at home.

 

Winter Break News

We are now done with the research portion of magnetism.

We have explored the magnetic fields of various magnets; we have created electro-magnets and also looked at the relationship between electricity and magnetism.

 

The week before the break we are going to look at electric circuits and their advantages and disadvantages; series vs parallel.
I plan on going to the computer lab and we are going to work on simulations on line.

Look for a test over Electricity, Magnetism, and Circuits soon.

We are counting down.. here are the rest of the major topics:

Waves

Light

Sound

the count down begins!