Audrey Perry

Go Science!

7th Grade Science - 7th/8th Grade German

Grades and General Information:

Every Monday we do SSR for 30 minutes. During this time, I pass around a current grade sheet that is itemized by assignment, so students can see their overall grade and what, if any, assignments are missing. I ask that students write their current grade in their agenda on that day's date, and after SSR I give them the schedule of events for the week and have them write that in as well. I do check to make sure students do this, and I count it as 5% of their grade. I do this so that I can communicate not only to the students, but their families as well, what is going on in science (or German) and what their current grades are. I encourage you to check your student's agenda regularly to see what's going on, and how they're doing.

FYI: Classwork is worth 75% of the total grade, Homework is worth 10%, Tests/Quizzes are worth 10%, and Agendas/SSR is worth 5%.

However, if you should ever want more information than just what you see in the agenda, you may request a progress report be emailed to you. Just identify yourself and your student's name in your email request so that I know what to send you! Also, I occasionally send out email updates for my science class (mostly, these updates contain reminders that this webpage has been updated, but sometimes I say other things, too). If you would like to receive these updates, please send me an email and let me know. (aperry@osd.wednet.edu)

This Week/Month in Science Class: (last updated: 3/6/08)

Right now, we are working on a favorite topic of mine: Energy. This is also a major component of the WASL; students will learn to identify different forms of energy (and are more specific than just "kinetic" and "potential" -- those are broad categories), how energy gets transferred between or along objects, and how/where energy gets transformed from one form to another. Every science WASL has questions about energy changing form, and they expect students to be able to name the forms, and identify where the change took place. Naturally, all these changes occur within a "system", so we will spend some time talking about what systems and subsystems are, inputs and outputs to a system, and conservation of energy.

We have learned the different forms of potential and kinetic energy and how to spot transfers/transformations, and beginning the week of 2/25/08, we will learn about the different sources of energy (i.e. fossil fuels, solar power, hydoelectric, nuclear, hydrogen, etc.). Next week will be spent working on a project, the "Energy Source Book", that is designed to be a pretty comprehensive description of the major sources of energy (10 of them) and how they are used to convert energy into electricity (i.e. what transformations the energy undergoes -- such as a windmill transferring the mechanical energy of moving air to its blades, then to a turbine, then to a generator, to finally transform it into electricity). If students can stick to a schedule of at least 2 sources per day, we should be able to finish this project in one week. If students fall behind and need to work on it at home, the resource pages we are using in class are posted below under "Science Resources".

Later, we'll talk about energy conservation and Puget Sound Energy will come and present their 4-day curriculum called "Powerful Choices for the Environment", which is really great at getting kids to be aware of how resources get used to generate electricity and other products, how using those resources impacts our environment, and how the choices they make can affect all of that (deciding whether or not to buy something new or used, deciding how long to make their showers, and deciding how to use or their heat/electricity wisely).

Beginning Fourth quarter, we'll move into electricity and circuitry, magnetism. We'll end the year with Motion and Forces (Newton's Laws, etc). Can you believe we're already talking about the end of the year?

Upcoming Due Dates:

  • NEW: Science@Home: Energy, Due Friday, 3/14 (Homework, 20 pts)

  • February 25th, 2008, we will begin a project called the Energy Source Book, wherein students made a book that describes 10 different sources of energy (oil, solar, wind, geothermal, etc), and identifies the form(s) of energy associated with each one. Each page of the book needed to have the following:

    • What is it? (1 pt.) A sentence or brief paragraph that describes what the energy source is or how it is formed.
    • Energy Transformation: (1 pt.) Describe the forms of energy in a transformation commonly associated with the energy source. For example, petroleum has energy in the form of chemical energy. When we burn it in a car's engine or in a furnace, we transform it into thermal energy. (what the transformation is and where it happens: For this example, the minimum amount students would need to say is, "Chemical to Thermal, in car's engine") There could be several transformations that could be associated with a given energy source (depending on how the energy source gets used), you just have to pick one possibility.
    • Five Facts: (2 pts.) Write five facts about the energy source, one of which has to be whether it is a renewable or nonrenewable energy source. The other 4 facts can be your choice.
    • Two Drawings: (1 pt.) You may either copy pictures from the handouts or draw something original, as long as it is relevant to the energy source.

This project is worth a grand total of 60 points. We will spend one whole week on this (2/25-2/29) in class. If it not finished in class, it is due Monday, March 3rd, 2008. For each day that the project is late, I will deduct 5 points from the maximum score, up to 30 points.

You may download copies of the "info sheets" (the reference materials) by clicking the links to the .pdf documents below. For each info sheet, you must download two pages. If for any reason you are unable to open the .pdf files I will make paper copies available upon request.

Science Resources:

Extra Credit:

Maximum 10 pts (in the Classwork Category): (Tentative due date: March 23rd) Students may research real power plants that use different sources of energy to produce electricity. Of the ten sources of energy we studied for our Energy Source Books, I will award one point for each source that students can find at least one real example of. (Finding 2 examples of coal power plants, for example, is still only worth 1 point.) To get the point for each source, students must tell me:

  • Power Plant Location: The name of the power plant (if it has one), and the city and state (or city and country, if outside the USA) in which it is located.
  • Bibliography: (If using Internet) Provide the website address you used to find each power plant, or (If using books) the book name and author, plus the page(s) you found it on.

 

Donations Greatly Appreciated:

Students are encouraged to donate items needed for general projects and activities. Needed items include:

  • Balloons (roughly 9" size)
  • 9V or AA batteries
  • Pumps of liquid soap
  • Empty spray bottles
  • Ziplock sandwich bags (not the giant freezer bags - I have a *ton* of those)
  • Duct tape
  • Old Tools: (hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, etc.)
  • Pennies (I use them for *lots* of things, but they're perfect for adjusting the weights of items)
  • Sugar

I no longer give extra credit for these donations, but I still appreciate getting them. Thank you for your support!!

German Resources/Information:

This information has been moved to a separate page. Please see the thumbnails in the upper right-hand corner for the link to information on German.

My Daily Schedule:

1st 8:00-9:00 7th/8th German

2nd 9:04-10:00 Planning

3rd 10:04-11:00 7th Science

4th 11:04-12:00 7th Science

--Lunch--

5th 12:34-1:30 7th Science

6th 1:34-2:32 7th Science

My Contact Information:

email: aperry@osd.wednet.edu

Voicemail: (360) 596-3016

Direct: (360) 596-3044