MOTION & ENERGY

Hello everyone,

Over the past two weeks, we have finished up our Nature of Science & Measurement Unit. Last week, we conducted a Bubble Inquiry. Students could test many different variables to see what would make the largest bubble with a mixture of dish soap and water. Some solutions also contained glycerin. Many tested the same brand of dish soap but different colors, different brands of the same colors, glycerin or not, temperature, or whether a wet surface is better than a dry surface. One of the largest recorded bubbles was 38.1 cm in diameter, but the largest photographed bubble was 30 cm in diameter. During this inquiry, students practiced their Metric Measurement skills and the Science and Engineering Process.

Yesterday, students reflected on these experiments, and we did a classroom discussion using a QBall, a microphone inside a soft foam ball that can be tossed around the room and allows everyone to hear each other clearly! It's a fun way to do discussions and engage more students.

Today, we started our Motion & Energy Unit. We started the unit by doing some Notice & Wonder activities involving the motion of the planets in the Solar System. By the end of our unit, the questions that were posed by students in the "Wonder" column will be answered for the most part. Some questions will be answered in the following unit when we move into Astronomy.

Over the next few weeks, we'll explore speed, velocity, acceleration, types of energy, gravity, and forces. This unit serves as a precursor to the Astronomy Unit. Today, I made students aware that moving forward, the content will become more challenging and require more focus in class. Based on the feedback I received from students, we will still use digital notebooks but guided notes instead of the strategic notes we did in the first unit. In my last blog post, I mentioned the strategic notes, but to ensure students feel comfortable with the new content, guided notes will be better suited moving forward. Students will still have the option to take strategic notes if they decide to do so.

Tomorrow, we will be doing a Motion Lab with RC cars. Next week, we'll continue in our Motion & Energy Unit with a quiz, most likely on Speed, Velocity, and acceleration by the end of the week.

As always, if there are any questions, feel free to reach out to curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

WELCOME TO 8 GOLD SCIENCE!

Hello everyone!

This is the year's first blog post, and by now, I've gotten to know all of the new students on 8 Gold this year. I'm thrilled to have a new group of students and be able to share my love and passion for science!

This year 8th grade science will incorporate more Earth Science and a little less Physics as some changes start to occur to prepare for the implementation of the upcoming PA STEELS science standards. Students are going to learn about these topics:

• Nature of Science & Measurement (Current Unit)

• Motion, Energy, & Forces

• Astronomy

• Earth Materials & Systems

• Weather & Climate

• Environmental Science (Not including Life Science topics covered in 7th grade)

To view our course Syllabus, you can go to this link here.

This year, I plan to reduce how much paper I'm printing for the class. To do this, we are using Strategic Notetaking and Digital Notebooks. Over the past few weeks, students have been learning how to take these notes. The method of notetaking will help prepare students for high school and beyond. This is a guide I created to help students understand how to use our digital notebooks (click here - this links to the file on Schoology). Strategic Notetaking helps students become better listeners, be more engaged in the content, and think deeply about what they are learning. Some other points are detailed in the linked guide.

Since school started, we have been focused on moving through the Nature of Science & Measurement unit. We have discussed topics including observations, inferences, parts of an experiment, and the metric system. This unit is to ease your student back into the swing of things and get acquainted with the flow of my classroom. Next week, we'll be doing a Bubble Inquiry where students will be provided some resources to create an experiment to see how large of a bubble they can make using different types of dish soap. It'll be a way for students to practice the parts of an experiment and write a lab report.

After we finish the Bubble Inquiry, the Nature of Science & Measurement unit will wrap up with a quiz on Measurement, and we'll move along to the Motion, Energy, & Forces unit. This unit will have reduced math-heavy content as in previous years and focus more on how these topics relate to Astronomy. It'll be an "introductory" unit to the Astronomy unit. We'll start small-scale and then work to the motion of the planets and our Solar System.

I'm very excited to focus more on Earth Science this year! I think your student will also really enjoy it!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out: curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org

To see pictures of the classroom and photos of activities we do in class, you can follow @ScienceWithSilverwood on Instagram. Below are images of a post-it note activity we did at the start of the Nature of Science & Measurement unit, discussing "What is Science?".

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

AND THE ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO...

Hello everyone,

Wow! The year is almost to an end, but we are still working away in science class! During the last two weeks, students have been working on their Astronomy Stop Motion pictures, and I could not be more pleased with how they turned out. The videos cover various topics, and they are on my YouTube channel Mr. Weather's World in the Science with Silverwood subsection. You can also watch them all below.

Students voted for their favorites in 4 different categories after watching all the videos in class. All of your 8 Gold teachers also voted for their favorites. Congratulations to Shane N., Cooper L., Yusif M., Madison G., and Jonnathan A. on winning Best Stop Motion Picture and Best Stop Motion Editing. Congratulations to Peyton G., Mia W., Sadie D., and Avaah L. on Most Creative Storyline, and congratulations to Eva S., Abeliz P., Scarlett P., Serenity G., and Paola S. for their win on Best Use of Comedy.

Now, students are learning about Natural Disasters, more specifically, Earthquakes and Volcanoes. We started our final unit this week and began by studying the structure of the Earth. Tomorrow, we'll begin to explore the interactions between tectonic plates, and then Friday, we'll discuss Earthquakes. Next week, we'll have a quiz on the Structure of the Earth and Earthquakes and begin to investigate Volcanoes.

Before the year ends, students will have a second quiz solely on Volcanoes. This unit does not have a large unit test. This unit is a great introduction to more geology topics your student will learn in 9th grade.

In addition, this will be the last blog post of the year. With less than two weeks of school left, the time has flown! I'm so happy to have gotten to know your students this year. We have had many memorable moments in the classroom, and I feel like they are all ready for high school! We've had a rollercoaster of a ride from the IU to the new building, but your students made every day such a great experience! I'm truly grateful to have had this time, and I hope they can take what they've learned in science this year and apply it to the real world and future classes. I feel like there are some future scientists among 8 Gold! I am proud of everyone in 8 Gold, and my words of wisdom for them is never to let someone tell you that you are no one. You are SOMEONE, and you are WORTH IT. I encourage all my students to be 100% true to themselves and embrace people who allow them to be their best selves. I've witnessed so many of them truly mature this year and grow. I can't wait to see them all graduate in 4 years! STAY GOLD!

As always, if there are any questions, please let me know at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org.

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood