September 13, 2012

Today there was big excitement in the science lab.  Ms. Brunning decided to let Bunny out of the cage to stretch her legs during the Advanced Math class.  Bunny found her way into the back of the lab and squeezed herself behind the closet in a small space.  She refused to come out except when everyone left the room.  She spent most of her day coming out for a peak and running back to her hiding spot.  After lunch while Ms. Brunning was working on her computer, Bunny came out and laid down near the back table.  Ms. Brunning was able to sneak up behind her and block off the hiding spot.  Then Mrs Brunning laid out a cardboard path to help direct bunny to the front of the room where she was finally captured.  She is resting safely in her cage now.

Ms. Brunning visited the 8th grade to explain about the science fair.  All information is available on this blog home page.

In other news, Mrs. Adam's 7th grade class came to explore atomic structure again.  Almost every student demonstrated their understanding of the location of protons and neutrons in the atom nucleus.  At least half of the class understood the location and number of electrons surrounding an atom.  Of those that did not demonstrate that knowledge, most of them were confused on how many electrons were in each energy level.  At the middle school level students learn that there is room for 2 electrons in the first energy level and 8 each in the second and third energy level.  Students only study the structure of the first 20 elements.  In high school they will learn about the orbital shapes and overlap.
Back in there classroom Mrs. Adams gave them an assignment on elements to prepare for next Thursday and the study of the periodic table:
Element Assignment:
You will be given two picture i, each is a different element .  Each picture has the name, symbol and atomic number of the element.
You will prepare a 3X5 card to go with each of your elements that show the

1. atomic mass or atomic weight
2. group number
3. group name
4. history of the name and/or who discovered the element
5. state of element at room temperature and pressure (is it solid, liquid or gas)
6. at least two uses of the element

Information can be found on http://www.webelements.com/
This assignment is posted on the family science blog at chpcsscience.blogspot.com
Your two cards and two pictures are to be brought to science class on Thursday September 20.