MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU...

Hey all,

I wanted to check in and let you know what's down the pipeline in science class! Right now, we have been taking our PSSAs and we are almost done! Tomorrow is our final day with the science PSSA and it's also STAR WARS DAY! If you're a nerd like me, then you are probably just as pumped! Don't forget to wear any Star Wars gear. I think all the students are going to love my sciencey Star Wars shirt.

After we are done with our science PSSAs, next week students will be finishing their Astronomy Stop Motion projects. Students can bring in materials from home or use whatever resources I have available in the classroom to create these video projects. Students chose groups of between 3-6 people to work with and picked from various topics. I'm really excited to watch what creative projects are made! I'm enjoying seeing the storyboards that students have so far.

On May 12th, we'll do a viewing of all the projects and vote for three different categories: Best Stop Motion Short Film, Most Creative Storyline, and Best Use of Materials & Editing. Then the winners will be rewarded with 6-inch "Oscars". The group that wins Best Stop Motion Short Film will also win their class period a visit by Coco and some sweet treats! All winners in each category have the opportunity of getting 2 bonus points for their project. These incentives are to make the project more fun and to increase student productivity. I will be providing students as much support during next week with editing their projects.

When we finish our Stop Motion project we'll move into our final unit of the year! Natural Disasters/previously called Catastrophic Events. In this unit, students will learn about Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and the structure of the Earth. It is going to be primarily student paced with collaborative labs and classroom demonstrations.

There will be NO unit test for that unit, I'll only be giving two 15 or 20-point quizzes.

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

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

POEMS & PARODIES OF SPACE

Hello everyone,

During the past two weeks, students have been learning about Planets, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, Dwarf Planets, Moons, Comets, Asteroids, Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites, as well as the Life Cycle of a Star and H-R Diagrams. This Friday is our Astronomy: Part 2 - Quiz. The quiz will mark the end of the Astronomy unit. Moving into next week, students will begin their PSSA testing in ELA, the following week will be focused on Math and Science PSSA testing. Between testing, students will begin working on a Stop Motion project creating 30-second to 1-minute-long stop motion videos about different Astronomy topics we focused on during this unit. They will have the ability to bring in materials from home or use in-class resources to make their projects come to life.

The Stop Motion project will be the last Astronomy-focused assignment before moving onto our final unit of the year! Yes, we are so close to summer! The last unit will focus on Natural Disasters/Catastrophic Events. Students during this unit will be working primarily self-paced with some group work mixed in throughout. We'll focus on why volcanoes and earthquakes occur and how natural disasters like those impact human life.

Below are some examples of great poems/parody songs that students wrote for our recent project on small celestial bodies (Dwarf planets, moons, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites).

Although next week will include special schedules and PSSA testing, if students need to make up any work or turn in any late work they should use the limited class time available to do so! Some students are missing work and have "X"-s in the grade book.

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

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood

EXPLORING OBJECTS IN SPACE

Hello everyone,

Over the past two weeks, students learned about the Origins of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, Eclipses, Tides, and Seasons/Day/Night. We just finished part one of Astronomy and had our first "large" quiz on these topics. After the break, we'll begin with part two of Astronomy. Part two focuses on Planets, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, Small Celestial Bodies such as Comets, Meteors, Asteroids, Moons, and Dwarf Planets, the Life of a Star, and H-R Diagrams. This part of astronomy will move quickly, and we will finish the unit before PSSA testing. During PSSA testing, I plan to have students work on an Astronomy stop motion project using whatever materials students would like, I'll provide materials like playdoh and other things for the project. It is a low-key, creative, and fun project to do during PSSAs before moving into our final unit of the year!

Below is an image of some fantastic posters from the Origins of the Earth posterboard project that we did:

Below are some photos from our Moon Phases lab

After Astronomy, we will move into our Natural Disasters (Catastrophic Events) unit.

I hope everyone has a wonderful break! Enjoy the warmer weather!

Thank you,

Mr. Silverwood