Apr 11
2019
Hello families!
Don’t be alarmed that students have not had much homework this week. We have been working our way through an interactive lesson where most of the components are completed during class time. We are going back and forth between short independent work times, group work, and whole class activities to describe how energy flows through an ecosystem. We are looking specifically at Lake Erie during our activity.
2nd hour did this before break with our guest teacher Ms. Renko so we will be recalling that work we did to move forward through the unit.
Parent teacher conferences were tonight and I talked to a ton of parents! If we didn’t get a chance to chat, please feel free to e-mail me any questions or concerns at harrisr1@dearbornschools.org
Apr 8
2019
Hello families!
Just popping in to let everyone know that Q3 grades have been posted.
I rolled back student connect to show these Q3 grades for a few days but probably on Wednesday night or Thursday morning I’m going to shift it back to show Q4 which already has a few grades posted!
Thank you so much for your patience. I got lots of rest over the break and I wasn’t ready to dive back in… but everything submitted has been posted!
Mar 28
2019
- I zapped 16 people who did not complete their vocabulary assignment.
- Just as a reminder, we spent most of a class period putting together the foldable together, and an entire class period devoted to completing the assignment.
- I have also posted a link to the Quizlet where students could access the provided definitions anytime since then.
- ZAP lunch detention with Ms. Dicks is every student’s last chance to complete this assignment for a grade on 3/28/19.
- IT IS THE STUDENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO SHOW ME WHAT THEY COMPLETED TOWARDS THEIR VOCAB FOR A GRADE BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY!!!
Link to definitions: https://quizlet.com/_6arqhv
If students lost their foldable: I will also accept this assignment written out if students lost their foldable. For each picture on the Quizlet link (15 words), you must provide the written definition, use the word in an academic sentence, and provide a drawing that represents the word. This can be done on loose leaf paper.
Mar 28
2019
Good afternoon families,
I just wanted to write a few things down for you all to acknowledge regarding the end of Q3.
- The quarter ends as we leave for Spring Break.
- I will not be adding any Q3 grades after we return. Everything must be in to me before the end of the day Friday.
- Today I had a very large turnout of students taking last minute quiz retakes to increase their score.
- Whether your child stayed today and completed some retakes or wish they would have been able to stay, please keep in mind that I do mini-tutoring sessions every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the quarter and your child had MANY opportunities to stay after with me to complete these quizzes.
- Waiting until the last minute and being unable to stay is a bummer for sure, but is a valuable lesson in time management.
- Students were also struggling to recall old information from quizzes we took weeks ago — this could have been avoided if students retook the quiz right after they knew their score wasn’t great.
- Aside from a few odds and ends (quiz retakes, various missing work, extra credit turned in this week), grades are updated with the most recent assignments for you to view on Student Connect.
- I zapped 16 people who did not complete their vocabulary assignment. Please see my next post for some notes on this.
Mar 26
2019
We made it! It’s the last week before Spring Break, and it’s already 20% over. Isn’t that great news?
Monday – Photosynthesis and Cell Resp quiz. I’m hoping to put this grade on quarter 3… but I need to make sure everyone has taken and finished it before I commit to it!
Tuesday – 1st hour will have a sub while I am meeting with a group of teachers about our upcoming unit. Students have an article related to photosynthesis to complete with the sub. 2nd hour will have a guest speaker teaching a lesson. 6th hour will work on the article with me as I will be back in my room.
Wednesday – Circle It Up! to start the day. We will go over the quiz (hopefully) and discuss procedures for Thursday’s activity.
Thursday – Students will finish up the unit by doing a hands-on task at stations around my room where they use atoms to show the movement of matter from one molecule to another.
Friday – We are going to have a nice, easy day… a video with guided questions that will get turned in before students leave. No homework over the break 🙂
Mar 22
2019
https://quizlet.com/_6arqhv
For those of you who needed the definitions covered in class today, here is the Quizlet link.
Mar 21
2019
Self Check — Can you answer these questions on your own about CELLULAR RESPIRATION?
- What are the reactants in this equation?
- How many molecules of each reactant are there in cellular respiration?
- Where does each molecule get inside the organism?
- Where does this reaction happen inside the cell?
- What is the name of the energy produced in this reaction?
- What are the other products in this reaction?
- How many molecules of each product are there in cellular respiration?
- What happens to the product after they are made?
Click the “read more” link for the answers to these questions. Read More >>
Mar 19
2019
This week we are full of energy!
All that time we spent talking about photosynthesis and putting together reactants to make glucose and oxygen over the past few weeks have given us tons of reactants for our new cellular process called cellular respiration, which we started today.
Cellular respiration happens when glucose molecules broken down from the food we eat and oxygen from the air we breathe meet up in all of our cells’ mitochondria! Our body breaks these molecules up and rearranges the atoms to make new molecules (products): water, carbon dioxide, and our newest friend: ATP!!!
The video we watched today in class is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eo7JtRA7lg
And here is a silly little game I found that helps illustrate how photosynthesis and cellular respiration cycle matter: https://biomanbio.com/HTML5GamesandLabs/PhotoRespgames/photoresphtml5page.html
This week we will work to understand and master the idea of cellular respiration so that we can take a quiz MONDAY on both concepts.
Mar 15
2019
Hello friends!
I’m sorry to say that I will be absent on Friday, March 15. I seem to have caught the bug my son has been fighting all week! Friday is my favorite day of the week so I’m extra sad to miss out on wishing you all a great weekend!
Students will work on an independent assignment where they label a diagram of photosynthesis using notes we’ve worked on all week. There are follow up questions on the back of the page.
Students should work independently for at least 15 minutes and mark questions where they are struggling with a star before seeking help from their elbow partner. It’s always okay to get assistance from a friend, but I want students to really reach for this information since we will be moving on next week. Any last confusions need to be cleared up before then and finding out what they are is an important step. 🙂
The assignment is due in class. Nobody likes weekend homework… have a great weekend! Check on Sunday for updated gradebook with our most recent quiz scores. I will be busy grading. See you Monday….
Mar 14
2019
Got Netflix and a free 25 minutes?
Reinforce your understanding of Photosynthesis by watching The Magic School Bus Season 3 – Episode 11, “The Magic School Bus Gets Planted.”
Cartoons aren’t just for kids 🙂
