Lesson 1 - Monday, Mar 11
Focus Question: Where does this stuff come from?
What We Did…
C period students were asked to make a new entry in their science notebook with the title, “Food Diary.” In it, students were asked to list all of the food and drink they consumed over the past 24 hours. Once finished with this list, they were asked to try and list the origin of each food/drink item without using terms such as “restaurant,” “supermarket,” “kitchen,” “food truck,” “snack machine,” “store,” etc. They were then asked to classify the foods they eat as “100% plant,” “100% animal,” or “Other/Mixed/Not sure.” The most interesting food we tried to classify in our 3-category system was “teriyaki chicken,” which led us to some new wonderings about, for example, “salt,” “water,” and “yeast.”
After quickly discussing C period’s interesting challenge of trying to classify “teriyaki chicken,” D period students watched as Amal and Giangi tasted maple syrup for the first time. Our class then finished making noticings and wonderings of the maple syrup nutrition label. We then watched a one-minute video of someone tapping a maple tree to extract the sap.
Homework: As discussed in recent science lessons, those students choosing to make revisions to their 7.2 Driving Question essays need to do so by Friday, 15 at 16:00.
- If a student submits their essay revisions AFTER this due date, Dr. M cannot guarantee that these revised essay grades will be incorporated into the Spring Semester midterm grades. In other words, although late revisions will still be able to affect the final Spring Semester science grade, they will NOT be able to affect the midterm science grade.
Lesson 2 - Tuesday, Mar 12
Focus Question: Where does this stuff come from?
What We Did…
C period students were asked to create a new noticings-and-wonderings entry in their science notebook with the title, “Maple Syrup.” In this investigation, students were asked to do sensory-based observations including smell, sight, touch (with fingers and tongues!), sound (once in the mouth), and taste. Near the end of the lesson, students were also asked to begin making additional noticings and wonderings after observing and analyzing a nutrition label for maple syrup.
D period students were asked to create a new noticings-and-wonderings entry in their science notebook with the title, “Maple Sap (Water).” In this investigation, students were asked to do sensory-based observations including smell, sight, touch (with fingers and tongues!), sound (once in the mouth), and taste. Students were also asked to begin making additional noticings and wonderings after observing and analyzing a nutrition label for maple sap (water) before then watching a one-minute video of someone tapping a maple tree to extract the sap..
Homework: As discussed in recent science lessons, those students choosing to make revisions to their 7.2 Driving Question essays need to do so by Friday, 15 at 16:00.
- If a student submits their essay revisions AFTER this due date, Dr. M cannot guarantee that these revised essay grades will be incorporated into the Spring Semester midterm grades. In other words, although late revisions will still be able to affect the final Spring Semester science grade, they will NOT be able to affect the midterm science grade.
Lesson 3 - Wednesday, Mar 13
Focus Question: Where does this stuff come from?
What We Did…
C period students were asked to create a new noticings-and-wonderings entry in their science notebook with the title, “Maple Sap (Water).” In this investigation, students were asked to do sensory-based observations including smell, sight, touch (with fingers and tongues!), sound (once in the mouth), and taste. Students were also asked to begin making additional Noticings and Wonderings after observing and analyzing a nutrition label for maple sap (water). Near the end of the lesson we created yet another new entry in our science notebooks with the title, “Maple Tree.” In the Noticings column, we sketched a cross-section of a large maple tree that had been cut down. We noticed that it has many layers (“rings”) and that the layers have different thicknesses and colors.
D period students were asked to create a new noticings-and-wonderings entry in their science notebook with the title, “Maple Tree.” In the Noticings column, we sketched a cross-section of a large maple tree that had been cut down. We noticed that it has many layers (“rings”) and that the layers have different thicknesses and colors. When analyzing the maple sap lable, we began diagramming the relationship between maple syrup and maple sap and realized we were creating an initial Maple Tree model. While developing the model, we stumbled when trying to make sense of the term calories (What are calories?). To help students begin to understand what calories are, Dr. M lit some common snack foods on fire such as crackers, marshmallows, and peanuts.
What We Figured Out…
D period: We now know that…
- Maple syrup comes from boiling maple sap (boiling = using heat energy to remove water).
- Maple syrup comes from maple sap, and maple sap contains the following substances: carbohydrates, calcium, manganese, potassium, and water.
- A “calorie” is a unit of measurement, like degrees, grams, or centimeters.
- Calories are a common unit of measurement used when trying to figure out the amount of energy contained in a food (we see them mentioned on all food labels.
How We Represented It…
We started sketching an initial model that can be seen in the Grade 7 Notes Portal.
Homework: As discussed in recent science lessons, those students choosing to make revisions to their 7.2 Driving Question essays need to do so by Friday, 15 at 16:00.
- If a student submits their essay revisions AFTER this due date, Dr. M cannot guarantee that these revised essay grades will be incorporated into the Spring Semester midterm grades. In other words, although late revisions will still be able to affect the final Spring Semester science grade, they will NOT be able to affect the midterm science grade.
Lesson 4 - Friday, Mar 15
Focus Question: Where does this stuff come from?
What We Did…
We started re-designing our initial model for maple syrup production. Our latest version, which uses boxes to represent the maple syrup, maple sap, and maple tree, can be seen in the Grade 7 Notes Portal. We stared using arrows to show substances moving between the substances and objects, and we also added our drawing of the cross-section of the sugar maple tree showing the layer of sap-producing ‘white meat’ on it.
Homework: —
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: Where does food come from and where does it go next?
#1 - 7.2 Driving Question essay revisions are due by Friday, 15 at 16:00.
#2 - ...