Atomic modeling Project update

The atomic modeling project is coming along well.  Due to the great work students have been doing on both the written part and on their models, we struck at teacher/student deal that if I gave them an additional day to work on their projects students promised to improve the quality of their work.  This was a binding deal that we shook on (picture me and 25 students in a class all shaking our arms and hands at once; nah, just ask your child).  Based on how well they did, some students may have received an additional organizer checklist to help them sort through the written material.  The 2nd drafts of their projects must be turned in Monday morning so that we can do a 2nd peer review before the due date.  Please make sure students keep all of their peer edits for portfolio.

Cheers!

Atomic modeling rubric report rough draft due tomorrow

Students have been given over 2 hours to work on their rubric reports.  Tomorrow a printout of the report needs to be turned in so that we can work on peer editing to increase the quality of student work.

Cheers!

Tonight's homework: Molecules research

The purpose of tonight's homework is to get you thinking about a molecule that you may be interested in using for your first project of explaining and building a molecule.

1.  Use the "Chemistry links" on the left menu
2.  Scroll down to find the "molecule websites."
3.  Find 10 molecules that you find interesting and fill in the information on the worksheet provided to you.
4.  If your website does not have the "ball and stick" diagram then try a Google image search for your molecule's name.

You should be gathering your materials that you are thinking about using since you will have to have them on Monday.

The homework is due Monday (10/24).

Cheers!

Tonight's homework

Use the notes below to fill in your student copy of the notes.



Cheers!

Build a molecule simulation

Below is the link to the simulation for today's activity about building a molecule.

http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/build-a-molecule

Cheers!

Electron configuration Periodic Table

As we start getting into the complex world of how to draw individual atoms it is helpful to have a visual.  The following link is a Periodic Table that has diagrams of one atom of each element drawn with all of its electrons in the electron shells.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Periodic_Table_of_Elements_showing_Electron_Shells.svg

Cheers!

It's all fun and games until someone learns something

So, when your child says we "played with play-dough" in science class today, please ignore the word "play" and ask for more details.  Anyway, we started diving into the atomic theory today as students used play-dough to create protons, neutrons, and electrons to build atoms.  We did have fun (shhh, don't say that too loud) and it was a good ice breaker for a complex topic.  Below is the link for the awesome homemade play-dough recipe that I used.  Thank you to the "sowing3seeds" website and Mrs. Jones who directed me to it (you didn't think I would be finding this on my own right?)

Cheers!

http://sowing3seeds.blogspot.com/search?q=play+dough

WOW!!!

First, make sure to check out the two new posts below.

Have you heard?  We are mostly empty space!  What?!  Ask your child about our excursion outside, our story time, and oh, don't forget about the yellow ball and the itsy bitsy dot!

I had fun today poking and prodding your child's brain with really cool, mind-boggling stuff about atoms.

Science is awesome!

Cheers!

Automatic communication

Automatic email updates:  You can sign up (top left) to get automatic email updates whenever new information is posted.  There is no spam involved and you can always unsubscribe if you get sick of my internet banter.

Cheers!

Atoms notes

Tonight for homework (due 9/7):  Use the teacher notes in the slideshow below to fill in the blanks in your student copy of the notes.  You only need to go up to and including slide #16.  If you don't have your copy of the notes with blanks, click here.

Cheers!