Lesson 1 - Monday, Oct 14 (No school)
Today in science: —
Homework: —
Lesson 2 - Tuesday, Oct 15
Today in science: Any students who missed taking the Light unit test were asked to do so today. Graded tests will be handed back to all students in Lesson 3 or 4 later this week.
Students received a graded homework assignment (Activate Science 1, 3.1 & 3.2 – 8 questions), which gave Dr. M another opportunity to help students use and understand his special 4-point grading scale. Dr. M also gave students a paper copy of their Veracross Grade Detail (which students can also generate themselves in Veracross) and then explained how last week’s Light unit test will further alter their overall grade. The grade detail also gave Dr. M an opportunity to explain the difference between his “Daily” assignments, which help give students an indication of their overall Effort grade, and “Learner Portfolio” assignments, which show students their Academic (i.e., ‘Letter’) grade. Students were also shown how they can use a certain part of their Veracross Grade Detail to figure out their overall science grade whenever they wish (that way, they never have to wait for Dr. M to update the “Current Science Grade” entry).
In the time remaining, we revisited two of our already-completed DID sheets from INV#1–our results for the mirror and clear glass–and used not only students answers to orange question A (AS 1, 3.2, p. 139) but also the Rough vs. Smooth diagram from p. 139 to see if we could improve our DID diagrams for these two materials. Since one-way mirrors seem to have the properties of BOTH a mirror AND a clear piece of glass, this work prepares us to more seriously consider the internal structure of one-way mirrors in Lessons 3 & 4 this week.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 3 - Wed, Oct 16 (D) & Thu, Oct 17 (E) - Dr. M absent
Today in science: Because of Dr. Merritt’s unanticipated absence, our plan of focusing on the interaction of light with materials of particular interest to us (e.g., clear glass, dirty class, a mirror, and a one-way mirror) needed to be delayed.
Instead, students were asked by a Guest/Covering Teacher to get a head start on an assignment meant to help them better develop their use of precise language about light, eyes, cameras, and vision. To accomplish this, students used the Exploring Science 8 textbook (the one with the snow-covered macaque on the cover) kept at the back of the classroom to begin completing the following assignment:
8Kb – “Cameras & Eyes,” pp. 150-151. Answer yellow (boxed) question #’s 1abc, 2abc, 3ab, 4, 5, 6, 7
Any students able to complete 8Kb during today’s lesson and with ample time remaining in the lesson were asked by the Guest/Covering Teacher to begin working on an additional assignment:
8Kc – “Mirror Image,” pp. 152-153. Answer yellow (boxed) question #’s 1, 2ab, 3, 4, 5
Dr. M requests that students NOT do either of these assignments their science notebook as they are not investigations. Instead, they must be done on properly labelled, properly titled loose leaf sheets of A4 lined (writing) paper. Students were also told they must skip lines between answers, but that they do NOT have to (re)copy the questions.
Homework: Because this (older) science textbook cannot leave the classroom, the 8Kb & 8Kc questions are not considered homework. Instead, students will have additional time in a future class to complete them.
Lesson 4 - Friday, Oct 18 - Dr. M absent
Today in science: With the Guest/Substitute teacher, students used the (old) Exploring Science 8 textbooks we keep at the back of the classroom (the one with the snow-covered macaque on the cover) to complete the following assignments:
8Kb – “Cameras & Eyes,” pp. 150-151. Answer yellow (boxed) question #’s 1abc, 2abc, 3ab, 4, 5, 6, 7
8Kc – “Mirror Image,” pp. 152-153. Answer yellow (boxed) question #’s 1, 2ab, 3, 4, 5
Any D and E period students able to complete both of the textbook assignments with still plenty of time left in the lesson to accomplish more work were then asked to begin working on the handout/worksheet-based assignments listed below:
8Ja-1 “Light on the move”
8Ja-4 “At the cinema 1”
8Ja-6 “At the cinema 2”
As of right now, no due date has been set for these worksheets, so D and E period students were simply asked to leave them in their mailboxes before leaving the classroom.
Homework: There is no weekend science homework.
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: Why do we see different things when looking at the same object?
D period homework collection days: Wednesday & Friday.
E period homework collection days: Tuesday & Thursday.
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