Science Happenings
The science classes have spent the past two weeks working on how organisms transfer energy. We have focused on food chains, which led us to the larger and more complex food web. Students constructed a food web of 20 organisms on Monday using organism cards and read about the complexity on Tuesday in Reading 5.1. These activities have built up background knowledge necessary to work through our next formative assessment.
Students now spent the past three days completing a design brief, where they had to illustrate through a model their understanding of the energy transfer in a food web. The more complex models, that show higher proficiency, developed all interconnections and showed what happened as organisms were either added or subtracted from the food web. We will be taking some time to share out our thinking in class later next week.
Next Steps: Dissection Lab
The second major lab for this unit will get underway next week. In order to better understand organisms, we will be completing a dissection lab in class. We will start with a teacher model dissection of a lamprey, where students will learn the process of dissection, safety expectations, and how to prepare samples for use under the microscopes. Students will then complete a dissection on a perch.
We encourage parents to talk with students about following all expectations and safety protocols. The science team understands this might be a difficult process for some students, but we hope that all students will be able to participate. Safety also remains a key part of this process, so any student failing to maintain the safety protocols will not be able to complete the lab.
For All Rubrics and Science
The science team now has two weeks worth of checklists posted to the For All Rubrics website. These checklists are composed of all the activities and readings that students were expected to complete and check-in. We are asking parents to reflect with their student(s) on their progress thus far and to ensure they are engaging in all the tasks necessary for a successful summative assessment.
Please remember any late work will need to be checked in directly with your student’s facilitator to get checked off.
The science classes have spent the past two weeks working on how organisms transfer energy. We have focused on food chains, which led us to the larger and more complex food web. Students constructed a food web of 20 organisms on Monday using organism cards and read about the complexity on Tuesday in Reading 5.1. These activities have built up background knowledge necessary to work through our next formative assessment.
Students now spent the past three days completing a design brief, where they had to illustrate through a model their understanding of the energy transfer in a food web. The more complex models, that show higher proficiency, developed all interconnections and showed what happened as organisms were either added or subtracted from the food web. We will be taking some time to share out our thinking in class later next week.
Next Steps: Dissection Lab
The second major lab for this unit will get underway next week. In order to better understand organisms, we will be completing a dissection lab in class. We will start with a teacher model dissection of a lamprey, where students will learn the process of dissection, safety expectations, and how to prepare samples for use under the microscopes. Students will then complete a dissection on a perch.
We encourage parents to talk with students about following all expectations and safety protocols. The science team understands this might be a difficult process for some students, but we hope that all students will be able to participate. Safety also remains a key part of this process, so any student failing to maintain the safety protocols will not be able to complete the lab.
For All Rubrics and Science
The science team now has two weeks worth of checklists posted to the For All Rubrics website. These checklists are composed of all the activities and readings that students were expected to complete and check-in. We are asking parents to reflect with their student(s) on their progress thus far and to ensure they are engaging in all the tasks necessary for a successful summative assessment.
Please remember any late work will need to be checked in directly with your student’s facilitator to get checked off.
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