8th grade Unit 3

This blog is going to be about Unit 3 of Biology and other things going on in my WAAS life. I feel like it started such a long time ago, because there is so much information and content we covered. Science Olympiad has also been another event in life. I think that this unit has been the hardest so far in science this year. Unit 1 and 2 mostly was going back to the first year but with advanced content. Unit 3 was purely about cells and their division, microscopes and we learned a little bit about sexual reproduction. We didn't go too in depth, but we definitely covered a lot. At the end of the unit we studied photosynthesis and cellular reproduction. I feel like the most difficult part of this unit was photosynthesis and cellular reproduction. We did plenty of labs that helped us understand the content easier as always. I actually find labs fun, and I think that it is an excellent opportunity for the students to see the reaction or result for yourself. We did labs that demonstrated and pictured what we are taking notes on. 

So far this year, WAAS has helped me a lot throughout all of my classes. We are now in the second quarter and I am sure it will go by fast, just like the first did. Science Olympiad has been good, we have to do a lot of fine tuning for Mission Possible. We also need to replace a wing, and make another glider for Wright Stuff. All of this must happen before December 10, which is the invitational. I think that the team is working hard to place well in the invitational.  

This is from when Mrs.Giacomelli did a lab with eggs, water, vinegar, and corn syrup. We observed the effects of the liquids would have on the egg. 



This is a close-up picture of a plant cell under the microscope. This made is easy to see the individual cells and their parts. 

To the left is a picture of a spinach leaf being cut. The little holes will be put in a beaker with solution and put under the light. This represented photosynthesis. The holes would go up towards the light. 

This is a picture of test tubes during a lab. The lab was about seeing if CO2 or acid in the substances we placed in the tubes. 

This lab was probably the best, we made ginger ale. We did this by fermenting a solution and fermenting it made it have CO2. 

In this lab we used dialysis tubing to see how osmosis and diffusion works. 

8th grade Unit 2

So far 8th grade at WAAS has been great. We have done many fun things in science, my favorite part of science class are the labs. I really like the acid,bases,and buffers lab because it was interesting to see how much an acid or base can affect water. It was cool to literally see the changes. Unit 2 was hard and confusing at first but at the end when I studied, I understood all of the big words and I understood how they all correlated to each other. It was really intimidating at first because there were so many words that I couldn't understand and didn't know the meaning. I want to be able to remember all of this so that I will have a base knowledge of biology in high school. I also have a goal to pass the EOC at the end of the year so that I can get credit for this class. 

We also did a fun lab where we were testing to see of certain foods have Vitamin C,fat,Protein,Salt,Starch,and Sugar.I think that the most interesting part of this lab was when Mrs.G blended up a "meal" from McDonalds. This was disgusting to see, but it was also interesting to see that the meal didn't have any protein. I thought that was the most interesting part of the lab considering the fact the there is a piece of meat in the burger. 

We also did another lab that tested the effects of acids and bases on water and buffers. This was a fun lab because we got to add acids and bases to water and see how the pH changed. We also got to see the effects of acids and bases on buffers. Buffers are interesting because it doesn't let acids and bases have a big effect on them. I feel like this lab was a good way to demonstrate and understand acids and bases. We used an electronic pH tester to determine the pH of the liquid. Another interesting part of this lab was that we tested the effects of buffer and acids on liver  and potato homogenate. That is basically liver and water blended together. 

On September 12-14 the whole middle school went to Kanuga. Kanuga is an outdoor school for kids to experience learning outside. This was pretty fun and all of the activities were interesting and hands on. My favorite activity was rock climbing and learning about how mint mentos create a flash in your mouth when you bite on it hard. To be honest, the food was ok but I feel like it could have been better. There was one other school there but they didn't really seem to bother us. My most favorite part of the trip was rock climbing. It was a good exercise and it felt satisfying to get to the top. We climbed on a natural rock with harnesses. 

The Start of 8th grade blog (Unit 1)

Last Friday, we finished unit 1 in 8th grade. Unit 1 was mostly a review of general science and  mostly safety. We took the test last Friday. The first day was great, it was fun to get back into science and get my mind turning. My most favorite activity that Mrs.G demonstrated in science was dumping liquid nitrogen in hot water. This was cool because it created a big cloud. This year, I will be getting back into Science Olympiad and I will be doing 2 events. One of the reasons I want to do Science Olympiad again is because it will show up on my record for high school. One of my goals is to do very well in my events and feel accomplished and not really worry about the results. Some of my goals for this year is to learn more about science and get even better grades than last year.

I want to leave the school feeling accomplished and ready for high school, also I want to know that I left the school that I tried the best that I could.  Since science is the subject that I am most interested in, I want to leave strong. I like the experiments that we did in all of the years, I never really did not like a science a class or any activity that we did. I want to achieve good results in every subject that I do.It will be sad to leave the school and especially Mrs.G's science class, her class are amazing and interactive. I have had so much fun in 6th and 7th grade in her classes. WAAS has great teachers, they don't have the attitude of "it just another day at work".  They support the students and they help out.  I think that they are engaged in the class and they work really hard for us to learn.

The beginning of this year flew by for me, the first week was already two weeks ago. I hope that this year will be fun. I want this year to really prepare me for high school and I hope it does. This is my first blog of 8th grade! I want to do well in Science Olympiad, last year we had an issue with one of my events, but I hope this year will be better. I want to try my hardest and achieve my personal goals. I hope that I can leave feeling accomplished and like I did my best because last year I felt like I could have done better and the whole situation could have been less stressful.

My summer was really enjoying, my mom and I went to the Philippines to see my cousins and grandma. This was really exciting because I got to see most of my family and it was relaxing to go to a beach resort. After that, we took a family vacation to Hawaii. I liked it so much, I got a nice tan and this is where I really got to relax on the beach.We went to Oahu, Maui, the main island, and Molokai. I think that Maui was the best out of all, we went snorkeling and went up to the active volcano.

 This was the bubble lab, it was the second lab that we did, I liked this lab because it was fun and interactive. I had fun blowing bubbles on the table.

This was on the first day of school. Mrs.G mixed liquid nitrogen with hot water. I thought this was cool because it made a big cloud.

Final Blog

This blog will be a little diffrent becasue it is the last blog of the year in 7th grade. I will be continuing it next year in 8th grade. Before I really get into this, I would like to thank my parents and the school. This year had really been a good year, and it has really helped me put a jumpstart to my future. We took a highschool math 1 EOC and I passed so I will have credit for that in   highschool. Also I will get credit for Earth and Environmental because it is a highschool course too. I got and A on that final so I have credit for that. Also just overall the school and environment has helped and supported me incredibly. I have one more year at this amazing school and then I will be off to highschool. I would also like to give a giant thanks and shoutout to Mrs.Giacomelli. She has been more than just a techer to me and has helped me through a lot, she is very supportive and I truly love her. Unfortunalty, next year will be our last year together and I will be sad that I will not be able to see her very often. She is also an amazing teacher, her classes are never boring and she somehow makes everything fun. I probably could write a novel about her and talk about how amazing she is. Anyways, the final was not extremely hard and I got a 97 on it. I am happy with that and I screwed up on 3 questions that I knew but I didn't know it at the testing time. The final was 100 mulitlpe choice questions and the questions were not very hard. This year we did many labs, but I really like 2, they are the earthquake jello lab and the cookie bake-off lab. The eathquake jello lab very fun to watch and it was a good demonstration of what earthquakes do. The cookie bake-off lab was very interactive and I learned more about independent and dependent variables. This lab was the most fun. This year I have leanrned so much, including Science Olympiad. I have learned and taken in a lot this year. I still will try to remember all of the things I learned later in my life. I cannot possible put everthing that I learned in words. My thoughts on science changed this year by making me even more interested in it. I love learning science and honestly, it is my favortie subject. I think that each year my interest and love in learning science grows. Next year I am looking forward to learnig biology. I heard that we will be disecting things and I like to be interactive with the things that I learn. I could improve on being a little more organized. I think that if everyhting goes smoothly, then I will be fine. My goals for next year is to be more have better grades. This year I had decent grades but I could still do better. Some advice that I would give to future students who take E and E are that to make sure that you pay attention. The content will not be complicated if you really understand it. I recommend that you always ask questions. The teachers are always there for you, espcially Mrs.G. This year was my best year at WAAS I think. I really enjoy coming to Mrs.G's class and the others. I will continue my blog next year!

Weekly Blog

Monday:Today I was tired like I usually am, but today I was even more tired than last Monday.We started the class off with a fill in the blank science starter that was about the renewable and nonrenewable resources. After that, Mr.Spike, a Science Olympiad coach who teaches astronomy, gave us a crash course about Mercury. He brought and telescope because today is a very special day. Mercury is in between Earth and the sun and we could see it. Today was pretty interesting because we got to see Mercury through a "high-tech" telescope. 

Tuesday:No blog today because we didn't have class. 

Wednesday:Today we started class with a daily science starter. It was all the way back to unit 1. The question was about labeling tables. Then we started the a new review sheet. It was about drawing or using Oreos to demonstrate moon phases. This was pretty fun because my partner and I decided that we would just draw it and have the Oreos by itself. Fortunalty, my partner doesn't like Oreos so I got 8 to myself! This was good. I got all the questions right on the review sheet so I feel pretty good about the quiz. For the rest of class I blogged and Mrs.G asked us review questions. Today was a good day. 

Thursday:Today we took the quiz. We didn't have a science starter because Mrs.G wanted to give us ample time to finish the quiz. I think I might've screwed up and some questions and I forgot about one thing. So I am not really sure how I did, but I hope that it isn't a bad grade. That was all that we did today. 

Friday: No blog today. 

Improvements:I could improve on my studying skills and paying attention to the notes. This is all that I think that I should improve on. 

Weekly blog

Monday: Today I was so tired. I did not get a good sleep last night and stayed up late. Anyways, today we started with a little joke and then we did a science starter. The science starter was about fossil fuels and it was pretty easy. After that we took some notes on our new unit, unit 10. It is all about space! We took notes on 3 slides. We are going to be quizzed only on section 1. Then we have the finals! I can't believe that there are only about 3 weeks left. After we took notes, then we started a planet activity. We filled out a little table that had general information about the planets. Today was a regular boring Monday.

Tuesday:Fortunalty today I was a little more awake. We started the class with the usual science starter but instead of answering a question, we did a Kahoot. This had 20 questions and it was about general space information. This was pretty fun. After that we finished section 1 of notes and we got one slide of section 2 done. These notes were a little boring. Then we got into our groups and started our Space lab. We got most of the information down on the paper. Then it was time to go. Today's class wasn't bad. 

Wednesday:We started science class off the Kahoot. We did a different set, it was fun. I like doing Kahoots for science starters. After that we took notes on 3 new slides of section 2. It was about principles and rules. I think that this was little boring. After that we got into our groups for the lab. My group, James A, Ben, and I finished everything except for a questions on the lab sheet.This was pretty fun and all I have to do is finish the questions and some multiple choice questions. I liked this lab, it was interesting. That was really all we did today.  

Thursday:Today wasn't a bad day. We started with an unrelated science starter. We did a kahoot about Star Wars. It was pretty fun. After that we took notes and they were more about the items in space. Today's notes were actually pretty interesting and I wasn't that bored. After we did that I finished the Space lab, all that I had left to do were some questions. I feel pretty good about this lab and I liked this lab, I like making the model and when we placed the balls on the paper. I had 30 minutes left in class left so I just blogged and did some homework. Science class today was ok. 

Friday:Mrs.G wasn't here so no blogging for today.

Improvents:I could improve on my sleep. I find myself pretty tired and I think that if I get a better sleep then I can focus better. That is all that I think that I can do better at in science class. 

Weekly Blog

Monday:Today I was really tired because I had fun and good weekend. We started with the regular science starter which was about intrusive and extrusive rocks. After that we quickly took the notes and we finished the first section. We have a quiz on that section on Friday. I feel like I need to look over the notes a little more throughly and after that I will be fine. After that we spent the rest of class doing our lab. To save time Mrs.G just gave us the answers but we had to make data tables. She also explained to us how  to find the data so we still understood the point of the lab. That was all we did today.

Tuesday:Today was a little different because we got to experience going into a planetarium and learning about black holes and astronomy. So we didn't have any class. We went into big dome and we watched a presentation about black holes. Then we saw what it looks like at night and also we saw some animals that were made by the position of stars. Today was fun in class. 

Wednesday:Today we had a regular day, we started class with the daily science starter was about identifying intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks. After that we spent the rest of the day doing our blog. We got too section 4 the last time that we worked on it. After that we did section 6 because we skipped section 5. We finished section 6 and then we had to make a graph for all the data that we collected. We collected the data with a pretty cool tool that we used to collect the temperature and the amount of dissolved oxygen. 

Thursday:Today I was very tired, I didnt get any sleep last night and I stayed up late. So today and tomorrow Mrs.G will not be here because she will be at a meeting in Winston Salem. Anyways, we starter with an easy science starter and I got it right. After that, for the rest of class we just reviewed for the quiz that we have tomorrow. I feel like I am going to do a good job. I need to review the notes a little bit more tonight. When I was done reviewing I just blogged. That was pretty much all we ditto day.

Friday:Today was the big day! We took the quiz, I thought that it was not hard, but not extremely easy. I think that I did a good job. I finished in about 30 minutes and for the rest of class I just did vocabulary and I blogged. That was all we did. 

Improvements:I could improve on my study habits and being more organized. 

Weekly Blog

Monday: Today I was really tired, because this past weekend was a really fun but also very tiring. Anyways, today we started with our daily science starter which was two questions and i got one of them wrong but I then understood why I got it wrong because Mrs.G explained it to the class. After that we found out that we have a test on Thursday. After that we did some more notes on the soil notes. Then we got a new lab to analyze our soil that we brought in. I am working with James A. We got the first two sections done today. 

Tuesday:Today we started class with some questions about the whole unit. This was pretty easy for me because I have been studying 
for the test that we have on Thursday. After that we we got into our groups and we started working on the lab. Since James and I finished the first two sections yesterday, we started with the 3 section, this was about the texture of the soil and figuring out what the is made of. After we finished that we started on the 4th section which was putting the soil in a graduated cylinder and putting water in it , then we will wait for tomorrow to see if the layers will spread out and settle. This will allow us to find the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and other substances that are in the soil. James and I then moved on and we microwaved the soil to dry it out and see how moist the soil was. That was as far as we got today.

Wednesday:We started class with our daily science starter which was talking about and identifying the different soil horizons.I feel like I have a good grip on their topic because I have been studying and I got all of the answers right. Since we have the test tomorrow, we studied for the first part of class and it was mostly Mrs.G asking us questions about the unit. We spent about 15-10 minutes doing this and then we spent the rest of the class time working on our lab. Then class ended. 

Thursday:Today was the big day! We took the test and I got tripped up on some questions, but I think that I still did a good job. The test was smaller than I though that it would be but the questions seemed a little bit more harder. The short answer questions were pretty basic questions, so I think  did a good job on that. For the rest of the class we just blogged and worked on our homework. 

Friday:We didn't start with our science starter today because there was none. After that we went over our test and I saw that I made some careless errors. I got a c on it and that is better that what I used to get, but it is not the best. I want to try and do better next time. After that we did our seed lab and we didn't have anymore seeds germinate. So we just put them in the strainer and Mrs.G will put soil on top of them later. Then we watched a movie about our next unit. That was all we did today. 

Improvements:I could improve on my studying habits and applying myself more to the task. This week wasn't bad. 

Weekly Blog

Monday: MLK Day. No school!

Tuesday: We started science class with the daily science starter. We got a new sheet because it is a new semester and we cleaned out our binders last week. So we started with the science starter which was listing things under chemical or mechanical weathering. After that we did a fun activity, we had a tray and some skittles, in the tray there were little droppers. Then, Mrs.G gave us a sheet to fill out and we had to draw and aerial view of what the skittle looked like after we dropped water onto it. We dropped ten drops of water then we filled out the table, then ten more and we went all the way to 50 drops. This was a fun way to visualize weathering and erosion. After that we took notes on the first section, and our first quiz on next Tuesday. This unit is not going to be that big. That was all we did today. 

Wednesday:Today we started science class with the daily science starter. After we did that we went straight into doing a new lab called the weathering lab. I am partners with James A and today we got all of the stations done except for the last one, the seventh one. The stations were about using different chemicals and different things to demonstrate weathering. This helped me with understanding weathering and erosion, it was a good way to apply the things that we are learning. This also was a good way to really see the reactions in front of us. The different stations were about the different types of weathering, mechanical and chemical. My favorite station was chalk (that represented limestone)that was dissolving in vinegar and we actually go to see it breakdown in the vinegar. 

Thursday:We started class with our daily science starter like always, but we went over Tuesday's science starter first because Mrs.G didn't give us the answers on Tuesday because she wanted to see what we thought the answers were before we did the lab. After the science starter that was for today, we had to identify which things were chemical and mechanical weathering. After that we took some notes on the next two slides from where we left off. We didn't have to write down anything so it was pretty easy. When we finished that we worked on our lab. I actually finished my lab in the first 5  minutes because James and I got most of it done yesterday. Then I just blogged for the ret of the class. Today in science class was pretty easy. 

Friday:Today was a pretty good day. We started with the daily science starter and then we did some notes and then we started the lab report to germinating seeds. Th science starter was pretty easy and I got all of the answers correct. After that we took notes on the rest of the section 2. After that my partner Chad and I started on the lab report for the seeds. We finished the title page and we started the introduction. That was all we did today.


Improvements: I could improve on being more organized with my schoolwork and just my life. I also need to focus a little more in class so that I can fully understand what is being taught!