Welcome to the new year!

Hi there everybody!
This blog is for anyone but mostly the 6th grade science students in Mr. Russo's class at Crosswinds Arts and Science Magnet school in Woodbury Minnesota.

Feel free to look back at last year's blog as a possible way to explore some of the assignments and topics that we will cover.

If you are signing on for the first time, at the top of the page is a link to "follow" this blog. If you do, you can be alerted every time I add homework, share relevant information, or just rant and rave with entries starting with, "Well back in my day..."

Parents, if you want to know every tiny detail about your student's academic progress, Infinite Campus is the best way to keep up with all the assignments, especially if your child may be "unsure" if they turned in their work or they looked awful shifty and nervous while saying, "Uh... Nope, no homework today... really!"

One of the most important things to understand early in Russo's class is that homework is ALWAYS due on Thursday. If there is school and it is Thursday, your child has homework due for science. OK, the first week of school and the last week of school don't count but EVERY other Thursday, you can count on science homework due. Hint: Look back through last year's blog and you can see some past examples of what homework looks like. (It is hard! Don't try to wait till Wednesday night before starting)

Final Exam support materials...

Howdy!

For those still polishing up their final exams... here are the reference materials we used in class...


Herman Hollerith and even More Herman Hollerith

The science related article about the Physics of Wet Dogs

The link for BrainPop (but you will need an account)

Here is the Room at the Inn puzzle

Here is Logic Puzzle 55

That is everything you need. Now here is the important part... there is no official "science class" tomorrow so if you forget to turn it in because of the exciting and distracting Olympics, and Goodbye ceremonies, I will have noting to grade and have to put an INC for your grade which means incomplete and there is nothing worse than being a 7th grader who still has to do homework to finish up 6th grade... well there are plenty worse things than that but trust me that is more annoying than a paper cut on your tongue.

Hi there,
We have started the park project this week and will be building a model of a tennis court to practice our skills for when it is the student's turn to create their own model from their own design for their own park project. Have I emphasized that the student will be working this "on their own" enough? More than a week of class time will be exclusively devoted for students to work on their individual project but they are encouraged to continue their projects at home to expand and deepen their understanding.

here is the homework week 6 and here is the Brain Pop Link
here is the homework week 7 and here is the BrainPop link

Quarter 4 science homework and more!

Hi there,
Let's start with the basics... here is the homework so far for the fourth quarter.

Week 1 was to grow a plant (any plant) and bring it in.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Note: Google Docs "translated" the PDF so the homework download may look a little wonky, but it is all there.

After the break students will be working on the Park Project. In science they will be focusing on the 3D model of one part of their park. The goal will be to manipulate scale to make a replica for the student's presentation. The scale will be approximately 1 / 40.

How are the plants coming along?

Hi everyone! Just checking in to see if the Sun flowers are up yet. You should have something poking its head out of the soil. If not, grab some dandelion fluff so you have a seed and plant that, if they are anything like the ones in my yard, they will poke their evil heads up in a few days.

Fully grown some of your plants could look like this by summer's end.

Hope you are having a restful break. The hardest part is over, just one last push and the year will be officially over and you will explore the adventures of being a "seve" (7th grader) see you all next week!

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Howdy Ranch Hands!
So this week we are all about all the different forms of energy waves. In the past we have become experts in energy and spent all last week learning about waves and how they carry energy. Now we will delve into all the forms of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum. This includes light, but infra red (heat) ultra violet (not just a comic book character!), X Rays, Microwaves, Gamma rays and the list goes on and on.

Here is your link to all BrainPop videos that we have access to.

If you are looking for the homework to download, it is on the blog down by March 12.

Oops!

Minor mistake with the Week 6 homework. I forgot to direct you to a specific BrainPop. No matter you can pick you own this week. Click on the menu of Brain Pop movies. Choose from dozens of free BrainPops. You may review a Brain Pop you have already seen (which may sound easy but is in fact fairly boring because you have already seen the video and done the work) or you may choose to pick one that you have never seen before that speaks to you (saying "Pick Me! Pick Me!") Don't for get to let me know which Brain Pop you are doing and of course, write down the 10 questions and the 10 answers (and Not 1 = C and 2 = B... I don't remember what B is, but I can recognize a correct answer when placed next to the appropriate question!)

This week we will finish up with heat and begin our study of waves. We will start by learning about sound waves and what makes them. The homework week 6 is a big part of that. You can get some good sound experiments at this website. And here is a great science news article about sound bullets (no kidding!). I still think making a tin can phone and trying different strings (or cans) would make a great experiment. Good luck!


Russo