Sunday, September 26, 2021

 The 6th grade science class successfully completed their balance beam project last week. We went though the process that engineers and scientists would use in problem solving. The students brainstormed questions pertaining to the installation of the balance beam. This process include opening the packaging, planning the digging and setting up the balance beam. The 6th graders did a great job on this project. 


The 7th grade science class has been working on understanding earth's atmosphere and it's weather patterns. It was handy to have a real life example to use with last weekend being balloon days in Creston.  We also did some background on heat transfer and the behavior of liquids and gases. One of the highlights was when the students were challenged to make a "density column" with colored liquids of different densitys. Ask your child how theirs turned out!


The 8th graders have been working on energy transfer and transformation within a system. They really seemed to be gaining a great understanding of energy transfer. They are a sharp group. One way that they demonstrated understanding was through the use of Yo-Yos. They each did a small group presentation on Yo-Yos and the energy transfer in the system. We capped it off with a Yo-Yo challenge. Each student was asked to learn a Yo-Yo trick. Some had more success than others, me included. LOL! 

Friday, August 27, 2021

Birchard's Blog Week 1

 We had a great first week in Middle School Science. I feel like I know most everyone's name now. Getting down the daily routine is more of a challenge for myself than the kids. I will get it figured out. LOL! Our first day was spent doing a "getting to know you" activity. It is a great way for the students and I to get to know each other. I was really impressed with the variety of interests that our middle school students have. 

We also took some time to go over safety in the science lab. The kids were very receptive and I think they are ready to get busy doing science. We have great resources at St. Malachy. There may be times though that we need additional materials from home. I will try to give the kids a heads up well before we need things.

I can't wait to get started on week 2. We will start by discussing the "Nature of Science" and the importance of becoming scientifically "literate". After that we will be getting into the curriculum for each grade level. 

If you ever have any questions feel free to shoot me an email at sbirchard@crestonstmalachy.org. 


Have a great weekend!

3/7/22

Middle School Conferences  I know that Ms. Steinkamp and Mrs. Hensel will be handling your individual conferences this spring. I will be ava...