Hello families,
I wanted to take a moment to share all of the exciting things we’ve been up to in science class recently! Your students have been working hard, and I’m thrilled with our progress. Here’s a brief update on our journey in the classroom.
Where We Were
We recently wrapped up our first unit test, and the students did a fantastic job demonstrating their learning. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been busy exploring the concepts of day, night, and changing seasons. Through various hands-on activities, your students have modeled Earth’s orbit and axis tilt, gaining a deeper understanding of how these factors influence the length of days and the seasonal changes we experience throughout the year.
Below are images from our Day, Night, and Seasons lab:
Where We Are
Currently, we’re diving into one of my favorite topics—the Moon! We’ve been investigating the phases of the moon that we can observe throughout the month and connecting this to how ancient civilizations, such as the Mayans and the early peoples of Scotland, used the moon’s cycles to track time and create their calendars. The students are learning the science behind the phases and appreciating how these natural cycles have influenced human history and culture.
Where We’re Going
In the coming weeks, we will continue to explore the dynamic interactions between the Earth, Sun, and Moon. We’ll finish up our moon phases exploration and then focus on eclipses—both solar and lunar—before transitioning into learning about tides. We’ll study how the Moon’s gravitational pull (and partly the Sun) impacts high and low tides and the more extreme spring and neap tides. Once we’ve wrapped up our study of tides, we’ll conclude our "Astronomy - Part 2" unit and prepare for our next unit test.
If you have any questions or want to connect further, please don’t hesitate to contact me at curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org. You can also follow our journey on Instagram at @classwithcatwood, where I share updates and snapshots of our exciting classroom activities.
Thank you for your time,
Mr. Catwood (formerly Silverwood)
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