Everyone kept praising me for how well the Science Fairs went. I literally did 1%. So all that praise goes back to y’all! The kids did well. When I was younger, I thought the science fair was about discovering some new uncharted territory or idea, and I had to prove it. I was dramatic. It’s really about the process and going through the steps. The kids did a great job with all that. Thank you for making me look good!  

After chapel today (lead by an 8th grader), we filled in our Star notes. Then we watched a video by Louie Giglio about how big our galaxy is and how small we are and how God made it all. We have read many of Louie Giglio’s short devotionals throughout the year so it was fun to get to see/hear him talk.  Then we talked about how light pollution is a lot like “the world’s noise” it causes us to not be able to see ourselves well in the scope of Gods great universe. We get too focused on self and make much of ourselves instead of making much of God.

we talked a little about how next week will not be a zodiac talk in regards to how to predict your mood/life base on planet alignment. We will focus on how God put the stars In their place to help us determine our place in time and space. We should look to Him who Created and holds the future and trust Him and not the creation. I’m passionate about this because I believed heavily in horoscope, palm reading and even  ouija boards when I was their age. God specifically told me to stop and I obeyed him (for once). I said all this to them while wearing a Harry Potter lanyard. We talked about how it’s okay to enjoy things that may seem dark, but to always keep in mind that it’s Fiction and God is Fact/faith. 

Hello fifth and sixth grade parents,

  The sixth graders did an amazing job on their science fair projects. I was very impressed Monday afternoon. I told the fifth graders in class to be prepared to standby their project and be ready to answer questions that other kids and parents may have as they walk around. I told them they might want to have a 3 x 5 card with some bullet points on it if they’re nervous or shy. 
  We are going to start talking about constellations soon. I believe I read on the syllabus that there is a constellation project/paper that they are going to be working on. If we have any extra time in class, I will let them look at some books and flashcards, and maybe even get the computers out to do some research. 
 For the fifth grade science fair on Monday, they can bring their projects and put them in my room Monday morning. If there’s anything to breakable valuable or tempting, it would be great if the parent could just keep that until 2pm and bring it into the castle then for set up. I talked with the math teacher and she’s going to come over and watch my sixth graders while I take the fifth graders upstairs to start setting up around 2 PM on Monday. We were cleaned up and out by 4:15 last Monday. 

6th grade did an amazing job today with their Science Fair projects!! The students were able to explain their process and their results really well.  
In class we were able to do our chocolate melting lab and calculations. Fifth grade was able to do a creative project with black paper and chalk for their galaxy identification. 

We started the new unit today! We went over some test taking skills today after I handed back the test. If your kiddo missed the test on Monday, please email me with how you want them to make it up. I can schedule a make up for Wednesday during recess (not Monday bc that is the 6th grade science fair day). 
   We did the notes for week 1 (universe), we will do the lab on Monday. We were on chapel time and I wanted to have plenty of time to calculate the speed of light. 
 Sleep working on those Science Fair projects! 

That eclipse was not very stellar here in Knoxville thanks to the cloud coverage. 
I will grade the test tomorrow and send out emails to parents of kiddos that need to retake on Wednesday during recess. I talked with a few parents about their kids doing the test Tuesday at home because of traveling to witness the eclipse. We took the test straight from the book. 
  Side note, have yall been to Baxter Gardens in Halls?! It’s free and only open during the month of April for Dogwood Arts festival. They have a huge sun dial at the top and a few statues of some of the guys we have talked about recently. 
  We will start our new unit Wednesday and don’t forget about your science Fair projects!! 
they can bring them in Monday morning and leave them in my room till end of day or you can bring them to pick up and we can set them up then. A few parents have volunteered to set up tables and help set up projects at the end of the school day. 

I have had a few people ask some great questions about science fair topics. I think the topic needs to stay close to something we have studied this year. Here are a few ideas 

Soil erosion
Water filtration
Cornelius effect
Acid rain
Rock formation
Biospheres
Solar power
Solar oven
Air/water convection
Weather/ clouds
Space debris clean up

 

We set up 4 mini labs today. One group watched a 7 min video about reflection and refraction while another group made a light arrow change direction through a magnifying glass. We observed a pencil in and out of water. We performed a magic trick and made our drawing disappear in water.  This will hopefully help us learn more about the lenses used by astronomers to see space. 
  We also added a new behavior chart that emphasizes exhibiting the fruits of the spirits and bringing peace to the class and not chaos. I want our last 9 weeks to be peaceful. 

Look at the stars wherever you are! If you have an app like Sky view lite give it a try this week in different locations. Also, there is a space launch this weekend that I’m hoping will be live streamed. I sent a link with some info in another post. 
  Students have a quiz to finish before Monday the 18th. If yall have any questions about the science fair, please send me a message. I told the kiddos it’s not just a research project, but it needs to include an experiment with hypothesis, data from observations, and results. It also needs to be earth science or astronomy related. So it can’t be too human body, animal or physics related even though those things overlap. So if they want to focus on animals, then it needs to be more about the biome the animal lives in.