Physics Christmas Carol

The last class of the semester we enjoyed stretching our scientific minds to the world of music, art and storytelling. I hope you enjoy our Physics Christmas carol (see lyrics below) - the kids really enjoyed putting them together. After our musical debuts we made color wheels and colored the American flag in different colors to show how our eyes use light to interpret colors. We ended the day with a Christmas story "Physics of Christmas". I sent these stories home-it is a great read:)

The kids also have their test in envelopes please feel free to do these at your convenience.

Again thank you for letting me have a part of your kids lives. They are a great group of kids I enjoy them so much.

Merry Christmas! Shannon Tyler

Gravity (sung to "Jingle Bells)
by Alvin Lee, Wakefield High School, Arlington VA, 1982

GRAV-I-TY, GRAV-I-TY, keeps us on the ground.
An apple fell on Newton, he said, "What goes up comes down."
GRAV-I-TY, GRAV-I-TY, mass times nine point eight.
Remember, travel very fast if earth you must escape.

Walk around the earth, keep a steady pace.
If gravity twern't here, you'd float away in space.
Call it what you want, call it any name, But this force us a heavy
weight, attraction is its game, OHHHHHHHHH. . .

Last day of the semester!!

WOW! Here we are at the last day of the semester. We have accomplished alot!! It is hard to believe Christmas is 22 days away. I will be sending home a test with the students. The majority of the parents I heard from requested a test-as always this is up to you as a parent. I will send home a test as I did mid-semester. The obvious difference is we will not return the next week. You can keep them until we meet in January or mail them to me (14175 Brook Lane Holland MI 49424). I will email the grade and then return them to you in January.

The quiz tomorrow will be a review of the semester. Look over all your notes. Remember the key formulas speed, velocity and acceleration. Also be prepared to celebrate the last day of the semester the science way???:) Come dressed in red or green!!!

See you tomorrow,
Mrs. Tyler

Homework

It was great to see you yesterday at the open house. I enjoyed your awesome tree displays-great effort!!!

Sorry I did not post the homework yesterday.
This week I want you to focus on:
1. Finish Marie Curie paper
2. Draw the three types of levers (focus on fulcrum, resistance and effort) and give one example of each.
3. And of course study for the quiz on Friday.

Parents: I was planning on sending home a test that would sum up second semester. I would appreciate feedback on whether you would appreciate a test or would rather them be done until January? Please email me your thoughts at rstyler2@juno.com.

See you Friday!
Mrs. Tyler

Happy Thanksgiving

I am very thankful for each and everyone of you. I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!!!

Homework will be posted on Monday Nov. 30th. Enjoy your break. See you Monday night for open house/market day night.

Mrs. Tyler

Week 11

WOW! This semester has flown by!!! I am excited to see your Rube Goldberg machines.

Be prepared for your presentations and good class discussion on machines.

QUIZ: Be familiar with the six machines and examples of each.

See you tomorrow:)

Machines recap and HOMEWORK

HOMEWORK for this week:
Monday: Marie Curie paper-rough draft
Tuesday/Wednesday: Look at Rube Goldberg (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg), he used simple machines to do everyday things. He would illustrate these machines in cartoon forms. Each step would use a simple machine. This is what I would like you to do:
1. Read about who he is.
2. Watch a video on a sample Rube Goldberg machine. Go to youtube and type in best rube goldberg ever the video is 3min. 17 sec. long. Watch this video and any other that might interest you.
3. Design a Rube Goldberg type of machine. Simply think of an everyday task, example feeding the dog and set up a complex system of doing this using simple machines. Your finished product should be drawn to the best of your ability (look at some Rube Goldberg cartoons for ideas) and numbered step by step. Please label on the top what you are trying to accomplish with your system (feed dog, water plants, etc.) Have fun with these make them creative!!

Thursday: Identify six simple machines in your house: pulley, lever, ramp, screw, wedge, and wheel and axle.

Looking forward to see your creative Rube Goldberg systems. If you have a mousetrap game play a game of mousetrap-this game was based on his designs.

Recap on class:
I apologize I did not have quizzes and homework to pass back to students will have double for you this week. In class we introduced simple machines. I divided the student up into 8 groups. Each group was in charge of researching their machine and making a poster showing how the machine operates and an everyday example of this. Then they had to design an example they could perform in class on Friday and make it interactive for other students to try. While each group was working on this I had a box of simple machine parts that each group had 8 minutes with. They could use these objects to build each type of simple machine. I look forward to their group presentations on Friday.

Mrs. Tyler

levers, pulleys, machines,- oh my!

"I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale." Marie Curie

Get ready to see the beauty of levers, pulleys, and machines tomorrow:) Bring a lever or pulley if you have one.

Remember the quiz-solids, liquids, and gases. What is heat????? How is heat transferred?????

See you tomorrow!!

Homework

What a gorgeous day. I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree weather-it won't last long:(

Class on Friday---
The class began with finishing up our kinetic/potential energy lab from last week. Then we proceeded to discuss HEAT.
We began with a discussion of the three phases of matter-solids, liquids and gases. We reviewed the energy contained in each. Also introduced was the three ways heat can be transferred-conduction, convection, and radiation.
We concluded with a short lab measuring heat transfer from a cup of hot water to a cup of cold water.

HOMEWORK:
Monday: research 2nd 1/2 of Marie Curie's life
Tuesday: complete the lab sent home-energy and particle movement
Wednesday: write an example of convection, radiation and conduction
Thursday: Complete a crossword puzzle (using the graph paper provided or using the computer) using any 20 vocabulary words we have studied so far this year. You may fill in the crossword puzzle if this is easier for you to complete the assignment.

Turn up the heat!!

Tomorrow in class we will focus on calculating heat. This is a fascinating topic. As always bring your calculators. I will also be handing back the tests- parents expect to get them on Friday.

Quiz-study the notes we took in class: potential, kinetic energy, law of conservation of energy, etc.

First thing tomorrow we will finish up the lab from last week. Be ready to move fast!!

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Tyler

Homework for the week!!

Hey Guys!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!!

Class on Friday we enjoyed learning about work and energy. Our lab time was devoted to calculating potential and kinetic energy.

Homework for the week:
Monday: Lab worksheet (if you don't have marbles use any kind of ball gumball, bouncy ball, etc.)
Tuesday: Look up these website and design a coaster. On a separate sheet of paper describe how a roller coaster uses potential and kinetic energy (just a few sentences).
www.funderstanding.com/coaster
www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster.html (design coaster)
http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/roller-coaster.htm (complete#1-5)

Wednesday/Thursday: 1st half of Madame Marie Curie's life

Have a great week!!
Mrs. Tyler

GREAT LINK

A mother shared this link with me and I thought each of you would enjoy this.
http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/Newton/index.html

Test and Grades

I have enjoyed the colors this fall so much I decided to add some color to the blog and change it up a bit. I hope you are all enjoying them despite the not so nice weather.

Friday I sent home a test with each student. The test covers everything we have talked about the first 6 weeks. We had an extensive review in class. If there are questions please let me know. Each test is in a sealed small envelope within a larger envelope. The idea is to send the test back in the sealed larger envelope. The test is 50 questions and I explained to the students why this is a good thing:)

Homework for the week:
Monday: review for test
Tuesday: TEST DAY
Wednesday & Thursday: Final draft for Lord Kelvin paper
(again this is suggestion only and you can complete everything in the time you would prefer)

Last but not least---grades. I decided on not sending them home but will send them via email. I would appreciate the direct communication from parents upon receiving them and asking questions if they arise.

Thank you for the opportunity to work in each of your student's life. I enjoy them.
Mrs. Tyler

1/2 way done!!

Hey Guys-
I can't believe we are half way through this semester. With that comes grades and a test. I will send home grades and a test for the first half of the semester tomorrow.

Crazy week here. Hope you all are staying healthy and strong!!!
I am having problems downloading the pictures-sorry:(

Tomorrow be prepared for some review.

The quiz will cover Newton's 3 laws of motion. Be familiar with each law.

See you tomorrow,
Mrs. Tyler

Homework

I will post pictures tonight.

Classs Re-cap:
We went over the acceleration worksheet. Great work by the students!! We introduced Newton's 3rd law (every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). Momentum is a new word we discussed in this hour. Momentum= mass x velocity. After class lecture time we split up into groups to build lego cars. The kids were challenged to build a car that could move showing action/reaction principle. There were a few successes using balloons attached to the cars. Great time and some great creations!!

Homework:
Mon/Tues: Rough draft for Lord Kelvin paper
Wed: Describe a real life example of Newton's third law.
Thur: Challenge question??? Which has more momentum a elephant walking or a bullet
shot out of a gun???
My suggestion for this question would be to research online how fast a typical elephant walks and how much a typical elephant weighs (kg) multiply these two figures.
The same thing for a bullet; research how fast a typical bullet goes after being shot out of a gun (try to use the same units as speed for the elephant) and how much a typical bullet weighs (kg). Again multiply.

I understand there are many different guns. Choose any gun/bullet combination you like and get the information from this.

Good Luck and I can't wait to see what your research proves!!!
Mrs. Tyler

3rd LAW

Newton's Third Law tomorrow!!!

Bring your calculator if you have one.

Quiz-study our formulas (speed, acceleration, and Force)

SEE YOU TOMORROW:-)

AWWWWWW!! Acceleration

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Our focus on Friday was acceleration. The kids minds were stretched as we figured out how to calculate this awesome idea. We discussed gravity. Have your kids show you that gravity is independent of weight. {Book dropped and crumpled paper}.

Newton's second law was introduced F=m x a [Newton is the unit]. We also did some calculations of this formula.

HOMEWORK:
Mon/Tues: research 2nd 1/2 of Lord Kelvin's life
Wednesday: Acceleration Worksheet {#5 is Extra credit!!, remember to include units}
[Do your best-if you are stumped skip it and we will discuss in class]
Thursday: Vocabulary {deceleration, distance-couple of hints:-)}

Great work! Keep up the hard work.
Mrs. Tyler

Newton's Second Law of Motion

"This most beautiful system (the Universe) could only proceed
from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being."
Sir Isaac Newton

Enjoy the sunshine today and the maker of it!!

In class tomorrow we will go over the homework. We will introduce acceleration and figure out how to calculate it.
Newton's second law of motion is calculating force. We will learn the formula and experiment with FORCE!

And last but not least. . . the quiz. Awesome scores last week!! Be familiar with Newton's first law, inertia, calculating speed (remembering units) and some interesting facts on Lord Kelvin.

See you tomorrow!-Mrs. Tyler

homework

Sorry. . . forgot the camera again!!!
In class this week we completed a lab calculating the speed of a matchbox car. I believe this helped to clarify this concept for everyone. We then discussed Newton's first law of motion-INERTIA. We were able to break up into five stations and try different situations that show inertia-after a rousing game of red light, green light:) [have your student explain why we played this game!!]

Homework for this week:
Monday and Tuesday: Research the 1st 1/2 of Lord Kelvin's life
Wednesday: Complete worksheet page 24
Thursday: Write down an example of inertia on the back of worksheet pg 24

Please keep the comments coming. I enjoy your response!
Mrs. Tyler

matchbox cars

Hey Guys!

Hope you are having a great cool week. Fall has definitely arrived.

Bring a matchbox type of car to class on Friday (if you have one). DO NOT GO OUT AND PURCHASE ONE!!!!!

We will be testing the speed and force of one of these. Calculators are also a great idea!!!!

Remember the wonderful quiz-formulas speed velocity and acceleration. Also be familiar with metric units of measure vs. english units of measure.

See you tomorrow-
Mrs. Tyler

speed, velocity, and acceleration

We had a great time calulating speed on Friday!! Much to the chigrin of many students who don't have a fondness for math:( I hope this stretched your mind and challenged you to use the left-side of your brain-we don't want anything to get rusty up there:)

We set up a rocket balloon experiment to calculate the speed of a balloon going across a string. (Sorry I forgot the camera so I don't have any picts for this week) Imagine 7 strings going across the room with straws and balloons attached to each one. Besides the occasional knocking down of someone else's string we survived. The plan is to finish the computations and questions this Friday.

Now on to the best part-HOMEWORK!!!

Monday: worksheet pages 16 & 18
Tuesday: worksheet page 19
MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE UNITS ON ALL ANSWERS

Wednesday/Thursday: Final Draft for the Isaac Newton papers

I received alot of positive feedback from students concerning the information they learned about the incredible things Newton accomplished. This will be a great jump start as we discuss his laws of motion.

Have a great week,
Mrs. Tyler

P.S.-Happy Birthday Megan-enjoy your day!!

What did Newton do?

Hey Guys!!
Hope your week is going well and you are learning alot about the great scientist Isaac Newton. Tomorrow we are going to talk about the first of his three laws of motion. Bring your math brains:) For all of you less enthused about math (you can use a calculator-please bring one if you have one).

A quick note to parents concerning the paper. I would like to explain the purpose of the student's writing a paper. On Friday we start discussing Newton's laws of motion. Throughout the rest of the semester we will discuss men and women who have done great things for science (most scientific laws are named for them). My goal is for students to understand a little about where these people have come from and to see that for the most part they did not have much. I hope that this would encourage them to do great things!! I am not a writing teacher and I will not be marking for grammatical errors (thankfully they have a writing class for this). I would hope that they get a brief understanding of these famous scientific people.

Please keep me posted if you have questions or comments they are greatly appreciated!!

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Tyler

homework:)

Hey Class,



I will plan on posting the pictures later tonight but I wanted to get your homework out to you!!

Make a bar graph about the type of floors in your house.

example from my house:

wood floors = 4

carpet = 6

tile=1

linoleum=1

cement=2

I would then take this information and make a bar graph (include your garage).

Also due on Friday is your rough draft for your Isaac Newton paper. 2 pages typed double-spaced. Please call if you have any questions. Look back soon for the pictures and synopsis of class. Mrs. Tyler

Class on Friday focused on the parts of an experiment using microwave popcorn. As a class we identified the indepedent/dependent variable, the constant, and the control. We then formed our hypothesis and broke up into groups to complete our experiment.

We also were able to gain some experience using a thermometer. Students filled up a cup of hot water and then recorded the temperature every 30 seconds for 6 minutes. We will graph the results this coming Friday.

We spent the last 10 minutes grading homework, cleaning up, and discussing homework for the week. This was very rushed and became quite noisy because of our location. Please keep me informed if you have questions or concerns.

Mrs. Tyler

calculators and rulers

In class tomorrow we will be focusing on measuring and graphing. Please bring a calculator and a ruler if you have one. There will be a class set available (I would like you to use your own if you are more familiar with it). Don't forget about the quiz!!! Steps of the scientific method would be great to know:)

See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Tyler

day one - M&Ms and the scientific method

What a privilege I have to teach this great group of kids this school year!

We had a profitable first day. There was a lot of "paperwork" to accomplish before we were able to dive into the lesson.

Notes covered introduction to Physical Science - "What are we going to study this year?". We also discussed the scientific method and the different parts of an experiment. The class day ended with our scientific minds analyzing a bag of M&Ms. This experiment focused on the six steps of the scientific method with a yummy reward at the end!

Each student was sent home with homework for the week. Parents, please let me know your thoughts on the amount of homework I would appreciate your input.

Homework assignment:

Monday - research Isaac Newton's 1st half of life (birth, home life, family, beginning education)

Tuesday - complete pages 1, 3, 4 of the worksheets sent home

Wednesday - complete pages 5, 6, 7 of the worksheets sent home

Thursday - research Isaac Newton's 2nd half of life (education, scientific work) and study for the quiz

Information researched should be written down on notebook paper. Student is simply required to gather information for the paper due in a couple of weeks. The quiz will come from the notes.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Mrs. Tyler

one week till class starts!

My desire is for parents and students to utilize this blog to get a first hand look at what we are doing in the class room as well as help answer the notorious question of "What did you do in school today?". My goal is to post a blog on Wed./Thurs. before class and on Sat. after class. I will list homework expectations and content needed for quizzes.

The typical science class will commence with a short quiz, reviewing content from the week before. I will then introduce the new subject area (20-30 min.) and we will wrap up the day with a labratory experiment.

Throughout the first semester we will be studying three scientists: Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, and Marie Curry. Each four week segment we will focus on one scientist culminating in a 3 page paper on that scientist. More detail will come.

I was asked to make this a comprehensive course in science. I will be assigning homework, quizzes, tests and labwork. I would appreciate if you would let me know if you are only looking for a supplemental program, I realize some of you might follow another curriculum and would not want extra work. We are venturing into a new area at Friday Addition with comprehensive classes. Communication will help this go smoothly.

We have an amazing year of physical science ahead of us! I am looking forward to putting a face with each of your names.