Investigations in Science 7 September 29, 2017

Announcements:
The half-way point of quarter 1 is next Friday. Teachers will be updating grades
and interims will be sent out based on Fridays grades. Please check your childs
grades on myMCPS and make sure your child does not have any missing assignments.

In the 7th grade, we are currently halfway through a Z/0 challenge. If your child
had no missing assignments for the week in a particular class, they will receive a
Minion buck in that class for getting all work turned in. Next week we will be
continuing the challenge and they will have an opportunity to receive Minion bucks
for no missing work.

As we finish up our 4th week of school, I am beginning to notice binders that need
some attention. If your child is struggling to keep their binder organized, they are
welcome to come in for lunch with Mr. Ascienzo or Mr. Landau for, Binder Busters
Club. A teacher will help your child organize their binder and give them supplies
they might need for organization. Students are less anxious and more successful
when they can locate their materials quickly and easily in their binder. If you
would like your child to attend a Binder Busters Club, please send me an email and I
will be sure they attend.

Coming Up:
Topics:
Organelles
Organellympics
Research on Hydroponics
pH

Dates:
October 2 Spirit Day Jersey Day
October 6 Medieval Times Field Trip Permission Slips due
October 6 SUMMATIVE: Cell Analogy Poster Due
 October 6 - Early Dismissal
October 9 - Open House I will not be in the building Research on
Hydroponics

What we did this week:

On Monday, we continued learning about diffusion and osmosis. Diffusion is

the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration. Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules through a selectively
permeable membrane. Selectively permeable means that some molecules can move
through the membrane while others cannot (think of a tea bag in water). The
Amoeba Sisters do a great job of explaining if you want to check it out: Osmosis

We then took a closer look at osmosis by completing a carrot lab: Honey, I

shrunk the carrots. The lab had two baby carrots, one beaker of fresh water, and
one beaker of salt water. Students weighed each carrot before putting the carrot
in the water (they tied a piece of string to the carrot before adding it to the
water). The carrots will sit in the water over the weekend and then students will
weigh the carrots when they return.
Tuesday through today, we looked at the parts of a cell, organelles. We
drew both a plant and animal cell. We talked about the function of each organelle.
Afterwards, they tried to use what they learned to compare and contrast plant and
animal cells. Lab groups were challenged with coming up with an analogy for an
organelle of their choice. They started creating posters that showed their analogy
for the organelle chosen. Example: The golgi bodies are like the post office
because they package up materials and deliver them.