Science Plans for March 24th through March 28th, 2014

Greetings!

Hope you enjoyed the nice weather this week-end.  It's hard to believe we only have two more weeks left in this quarter, and four of those ten days will be half days.  Just as a "heads up", the last day I will accept late work, missing assignments, or extra credit, is Monday, March 31st.  Hopefully your student has already been discussing the Student Led Conferences with you.  We are lucky this year because the sixth grade scheduled time is Tuesday, April 1st from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  This is a required activity for the students, so please put this into your calendar NOW.  If you would like to also schedule a "traditional" parent/teacher conference with any, or all, of your student's teachers, please contact the Office (264-3600) ASAP.  Other time slots may fill up fast.  Now on to this week's plan in Science!

MONDAY--Students will finish up Microscope Lesson #8, which is the "Dry Mount/Pond Water" lab.  It will be due at the end of the period.  Students will also turn in the Microscope Word Search which is due.  No homework.

TUESDAY--Students will do Microscope Lesson #9, which is staining specimens.  This will also be due at the end of the period and there will be no homework.

WEDNESDAY--We will go over the procedure for heating fixing and staining slides in class as a demo.  No lab, no homework.

THURSDAY--We will do Microscope Lesson #10 on heat fixing & staining.  This will be due at the end of the period.  No homework.

FRIDAY--(I will be gone)  In preparation for the Space Unit we will be begin after the Spring Break, students will watch a video on the solar system.  There will be no homework.

Just a couple of reminders:  The Microscope Unit TEST will begin on Wednesday, April 2nd, and will probably continue on to Thursday, April 3rd.  Your student should start studying NOW.  Unlike the Mixtures & Solutions Test, your student CAN study in depth for this one.  He/she should memorize the parts of the microscope and what each part does, as well as LEARN HOW TO SPELL EACH ONE.  (Yes, spelling DOES count on this one.)  Also, the steps to heat fixing & staining a slide as well as the steps to focusing a microscope.  Finally, the "big" microscope project will be on Monday, March 31st.  Each student will have one period to complete a detailed microscope drawing; this will be worth 100 points, just like the test.

Have a wonderful week,
Michele Humble