Mason County Middle School 7th Grade Science

Heat and Temperature Review

Here is a mp3 review for the test on Wednesday, February 9!!!

Way to go to the Academic Team students from MCMS that placed at the Governor’s Cup District!! Good Luck at Regionals!

1st Place Composition: Courtney George

1st Place Mathematics: Rebecca Wood

2nd Place Mathematics: Courtney George

4th Place Science: Courtney Barnoski

Quick Recall team also placed 3rd overall!!

Way to Go!!!

Just an FYI for those of you following our class blog. Whenever we return to school upon the departure of the “white death,” we have lots of cool labs planned! Here is what next week looks like (without snow days that are anticipated based on what I have seen in the forecasts).

Monday: Thermometer Lab and CD-ROM Lab (Lab partners get 20 minutes per station and then switch), Eureka! Video Clip on Measuring Temperature (Check it out on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU-sPzshVnM) HW: Heat Energy

Tuesday: Conduction Lab and Graphing Exercise (Lab will take about 25 minutes and then you will complete a detailed graph and report of your results), Eureka Video Clip on Conduction HW: Temperature vs. Heat

Wednesday: Bill Nye Heat with Questions, Timed Reading Exercise, HW: Conduction

Thursday: Containers Lab, Eureka Video Clip on Convection and Radiation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz6wzOtv6rs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pG-tkbQgMo)

Friday: Understanding Heat Video with Questions, Guided Reading Exercise from Motion, Forces, and Energy Book, No Homework!

Upon preparing for yet another day out of school due to snowy conditions here in good ol’ Kentucky, I thought I would share a bit of knowledge with my students about snowflakes and how cool they really are (no pun intended!). HA! 

Snowflakes can be categorized into six main types, plate, column, stars, dendrite, lacy, needle, and capped column although there will never be two that are identical due to the molecular composition and atmospheric conditions when the snowflake formed.  The formation of snowflakes is affected by a variety of factors that includes air currents, humidity and temperature. Particles of dirt trapped in the water vapor affects the weight and durability of the ice crystals and because of these fa…ctors, no two snowflakes will ever be exactly alike. Snowflakes may look the same but will not have the same number of water molecules or the exact amount of oxygen and hydrogen. Wilson Bentley even captured over 5,000 snowflakes in his studies of these marvels of nature and reported his findings in numerous books and scientific articles.

I just wanted to take a moment and let you know how I’ve been doing since I’ve been home with my new baby, Levi who was born on October 4, 2010. Life certainly is great to say the least! Levi is a great baby and we have been having so much fun spending all day playing together. I will be glad to come back to my wonderful students in January but I know that I’ll miss playing with my little guy all day. In the meantime, enjoy your last few weeks before Christmas vacation! Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! See you all soon!!!

Congratulations to this year’s Challenger students that made it to the science fair with your projects!!