7th Blue Science

Posts

28Apr2024
This week we'll be looking at Radioactivity wk34.
Tuesday quiz26 due.
 
 
We will be going to Main Event our last school day, Thursday, May 23. Students will arrive at school at the normal time. We will shuttle over to the Main Event at 10:30am. Pick up will be at Main Event at 3pm. Penny Wilkerson will be coordinating drivers so be thinking if you can transport. Also, cupcakes/brownies/cookies would be wonderful. Cost is $20 payable to me. That includes all the activities, 2 slices of pizza, unlimited drink, and 1hr unlimited gametime card. My Venmo is @Cindi-Rosenbaum if you want to pay that way. Adults welcome. Let me know.

 

20Apr2024
Congratulate our 5th grade Science Fair winners:
1st place  Sarah Stankus
2nd place Adam Warren
3rd place Emory O'Keefe 
 
This week we made different kinds of slime-fluffy slime, edible chocolate slime, and traditional borax/glue slime. A sticky, slimy time was had by all. Oh, yeah, our lesson was on polymers and plastics, wk32.  Also some videos on the history of plastics, how plastics are made, and how balloons are made. Make sure to ask your student to show you a neat party trick with balloons.
 
Next week is about Iron & Alloys wk33.
Tuesday quiz25 due.  We will be doing research on the computers, so, due to our recent theft, if your student has a laptop that they can bring, that would be helpful. Thanks!!

13Apr2024
This week was about petrochemicals wk31. We watched several videos on fractional distillation, which turns crude oil into useful products. Also, videos on automation in industry and how to make kitkats and crayons. This goes with our unit on chemicals in industry.
 
Next up-Polymers & Plastics wk32, or what I call  "slime time".  One recipe we'll try is edible chocolate slime. Yum!
 
Tuesday quiz24 due.
 
23May Main Event, last day of school.

6Apr2024
This week we looked at homologous groups wk30. When I was in high school, I would write letters on scented paper. Esters give things flavorings and scents. We didn't put any scents in, just seeds and glitter, but we did make paper.
 
Also we retook a quiz that many did not do too well. Everybody got 110%. That's what I like to see. Next up-petrochemicals wk31.
 
Tuesday quiz22 due
 
Heads up-Main Event is in your future. May23

30Mar2024 Happy Easter! He has risen!
This week was about alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, oh my! wk29. We played hydrocarbon dominoes. Plus several videos on said topic.
 
Next up-homologous groups wk30
Tuesday quiz22 due
 
The 5-6 graders will be starting a new unit on the universe. One of the topics we'll be looking at is the origins of our universe. I had a discussion with them on the subject of truth, what it is, where do we find it. I felt like the 7th graders needed to hear this also. Good discussion. The 8th graders talked about this a few weeks ago.

22Mar2024
We've started a new unit, Chemistry of Industry unit 7. This week was all about soaps and detergents wk28. Did some laundry and made rainbow milk.
 
Next up-Alkanes and Alkenes wk29 (What are those?!! Think oil vs margarine.)
Tuesday quiz21 due

2Mar2024
This week we tested several foods whether they had starch, sugar, protein or fat in them.
 
Next up-alcohols wk27
 
Tuesday quiz20 due  Neat experiments coming up.
Thursday no quiz, unit test 6 review-test Tuesday March 19 after break :/

24Feb2024
This week was good and bad. We had spit (bad) and bread (good). Together, very enlightening. Did you know bread makes a great frisbee (that was good)? Also it snowed (also good).So, overall, good lesson. We were looking at enzymes wk25
 
Tuesday quiz19 due
Next up-Chemistry of Food wk26. Plus chapel.

17Feb2024
This week we started a new unit, Chemistry of Life unit6 with Organic Chemistry wk24. Once again we smelled up the building with burning of sugar, salt and flour to determine which 1 had carbon. Sorry, couldn't eat this experiment (but, wait, there's always next week).
 
Next up-enzymes wk25.
 
Tuesday quiz18 due.

10Feb2024
This week our last lesson in this unit, Neutralization & Salts wk23. We played a fun review game that ended in candy.
 
Please, help your student study for this test-some are struggling with the concepts that review will help with. They need your help. Usually, the matching and true/false are no problem. (Reminder, some are not taking advantage of the bonus points for correcting false answers. If it's false, why?)
 
Pay special attention to the short answers as that is where most of the problems of comprehension show up. I can usually tell if a student understands the material. Some are memorizing, word for word, the answers. Not sure if that means they understand the material. I really like it if they can explain/answer in their own words.
 
Tuesday unit5 test
Thursday new unit, unit6 Chemistry of Life, wk24 Organic Chemistry
Upstairs will probably comment again on the smell. Remember our motto "If it stinks, it's probably chemistry". 

4Feb2024
Last week we measured the acidity of several common foods, household chemicals and our saliva, etc. How acidic are you?
 
We are still in the unit of acids and bases. This week we'll look at neutralizing an acid wk23. This lesson will wrap-up our unit; that means unit test coming up.
 
Tuesday quiz17 due
Thursday unit5 test review

28Jan2024  Our motto "If it stinks, it must be chemistry" really fits lately.
Last week we caught up on our work with wk20 Acids and wk21 Bases. Plus chapel. Whew!
 
Next up-wk22 Measuring Acidity
Tuesday quiz16 due
 
Btw, if your student gets a grade <60 be it quiz or test, I give them a new copy and expect them to fill that out and turn it in.

20Jan2024 snosnosnosnosnosnosno+ice&sno
 
Tuesday unit4 test due
 
This week new unit5, Acids & Bases wk20 acids and wk21 bases  I'll see how much I can squeeze in last week's work.

13Jan2024
This week we finished up unit4 chemical reactions with oxidation & reduction wk19. A science-y way of saying transferring electrons.
Passed out the home unit test 4 to be turned in Thursday 18Jan. Closed book please. Feel free to grade.
 
I forgot to assign points for the questions. Here they are.
vocab-20pts
T/F-12pts plus bonus for correct answers
Short answer #1-11pts, #2-8pts, #3-3pts, #4-4pts, #5-4pts, #6-3pts, #7-8pts, & #8-3pts.
Bonus for any element, 1pt for 1 element, 2pts for more than 1. (no more than 2pts or else there could be potentially an extra 118pts :D It could happen. I once gave bonus points for bays and gulfs and 1 student put 23 bays and gulfs. That was more than the quiz was worth.)
Total points-76pts
 
Also next week, new unit, unit5 acids & bases wk20.