News & Events

Friday Letters - MS Science, Ms. Lee

May 2, 2008

Dear Middle School Parents,

It is nice to see you all in the Evening of Arts and the RMDS Auction. So many exciting events are happening! 8th graders went to the Maker’s Faire Friday in the San Mateo Expo Center. They learned about different exciting projects that inventors are making; they also got to think about what projects they might be interested in doing. It is a great way to introduce them to a future of science and technology.

Even though the rest of the classes did not participate in the field trip this year, the eighth graders will served as ambassadors to bring information to the rest of the school. Next year, we can look at inventing entry projects.

Seventh and eighth graders have turned in rough drafts of the element report and are in the process of revision as well as building models. In class, they have been comparing the different atomic models such as the Bohr model, Lewis dot structure as well as the atomic orbital theory. We also practiced forming molecules following the Octet rule. All of these exercises widen their understanding of different model of atoms (knowing that they can’t be perfect) and how they react with others. We are also in the process of separating mixtures, solutions and solids in our classroom experiment. (Groups who recover solids closest to the original amount win!)  We will be starting a series of different chemistry experiments such as ink chromatography, gas and pressure, phase changes and others and discuss the real life implications. We will also explore balancing chemical equations.

These two weeks for the fifth and sixth graders grade have been all about our experiment on Grow-a-Shark and other creatures (they are made of super water absorbent polymer). The fifth grade picked either a shark or a lizard, and a water and solute mixture to attempt at growing the animals. The solutions were salt water, water with baking soda, water with food dye, chlorine, and others. They compared the results to the control shark, (the one in just water) with any of the other sharks and animals. They all grew at different rates! In conclusion, they will devise a theory of the exact chemical that made these creatures to explain the weird growth patterns displayed in different solutions. It is a chemistry lesson in disguise about molecules and their structures.

In the coming weeks, the fifth and sixth graders will have a chance to separate mixtures and solutions.  When they return from the trip, students will create and demonstrate their own chemistry experiments.

Sincerely,
Jocelyn Lee