Remember!

Hey everyone. Hope you are enjoying the break. I was, but I had to start doing some work today, so I will be ready to see all of you 5 days from now! I know you miss me. I wanted to remind you that we will have a new requirement when you get back. You will need a binder that will be seperated into 5 sections with a divider. The divisions will be:
Homework,
Notes,
Lab reports
Classwork and Warm Ups.
Tests and Quizzes.
I will be checking these periodically, and you will have at least 2 days notice before I collect them. All of the notes must be hand written and must not be photocopied from someone else. All of the warm-ups must be dated and complete.
If you get full credit for the binder check, you will have 5 points added to your next test.
Also...about grading. If you have anything that is late, or you have never handed in, please get it to me. January is going to fly by, and your grades may be lower than expected if I am missing a good deal of your work.

Have a safe and happy new year. I will see you in '08

Winter Break

Have a great Winter/Holiday Break. Enjoy the time off. Come back refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the year.
Your assignment over the break is to finish the questions you got in lab today. They are due the day we get back!

A testing storm

While helping my parents get ready for our impending holiday (My parents have over 60 dinner guests on Christmas), I got stuck in a pretty decent snow/ice storm, so you guys missed me for a day.
All of the grades are done for the test for those who were there. You can check them online.
This week we will continue to explore minerals for Tuesday-Thursday. Remember that the mighty minerals project is due on Thursday. We will go over some of them the same way that we went presented the Volcanoes we researched. Tomorrow the packet that the substitute gave you is also due.

Mighty Minerals

Today we took the quest and the grades look pretty good. You will have them back on Tuesday. Today I gave you the mighty mineral packets. Here are the names of the minerals that you signed up for. You can find the mineral name and your name next to it. If you have any questions, just send me an email.

Have a great weekend!

Mineral Properties Lab.

Clinohedrite

Today in class we identified some minerals. Here are your questions for the mineral identification lab.

The questions are due Tuesday 12/11/07. Please write all answers in complete sentences.

Salty Hands

Hopefully you enjoyed the salty hands today. Tomorrow you will see what they will look like when they are dry. Tomorrow we will also go through a lab period where we make observations of new minerals and perform some tests on the minerals.

Your homework for tonight is page 127 1 abc and 2 abc.

You should also have compleated the mineral observation sheets. This is a link to the observation sheets.

Minerals

You will have your volcano test grades back tomorrow. You will also get your volcano brochure back. The viscocity lab will be graded by the end of the week.
Your homework for tonight is pg. 122 1-2abc. It is due tomorrow.
Here are the mineral notes online for anyone who may have missed them.

Email.

My email (with proper spelling) now works. The wrong spelling still works as well.

If you email me at pengleman@lmtsd.org or pengelman@lmtsd.org both will work.

This week in Volcanos

Today we finished all of the presentations and you were given the Viscosity Experiment that is due Friday. If you lost it, you can find it here. The Volcano presentation sheet is due on Thursday. If you lost that, it is here.
Wednesday and Thursday will be review.
Friday will be your test.
If you need help, please come and see me.

UC and PC

Come out tonight for the ultimate challange at the high school.

You will see why my parents had this reaction when I was a wee lad.

Parent confrences are next week and the Monday after the holiday weekend. I will miss my second two high school classes on Tuesday, and will be available the whole time at Murray Ave. I will be at the high school for all of my classes on Wednesday., and not available at Murray Ave that day. Monday I will split my time between the two schools. I will spend 12-2 at Murray Avenue and 2-6 at the High School and 6-7 back at Murray.

If you know for sure you are coming, and you need to speak with me, I would appreciate if you can email me what school and time you will meet with me.

I am also available through email here or at extension 5019 in the High and ---- at Murray Ave.

email

If you have been emailing me, I am sorry to tell you that I am not getting them because the email adress in the lmtsd.org system has a mispelling in my name. If you want to email me...please do so at pengelman@lmtsd.org not pengleman@lmtsd.org.

volcano assignment.

If you have lost your copy, here are links 1 2 to your Volcanoes around the world assignment. They are due Friday. We will present them on Monday and Tuesday of next week. I will try to get us in the lab on Thursday to do some work on these.
Make sure you do both sides of the sheet you got for homework.

Day off

Hopefully you all enjoyed your trip today. Please make sure you bring your books tomorrow. We are going to be right back to Volcanoes.

Volcano homework

Here is a link to your volcano homework that I forgot to post last night. This is due Friday morning. It will be the last grade for the first quarter.
If you have never used free drive, make sure you click download file from the option bar. This will bring you the page in word format.

Due dates for projects

Here are the official due dates for the projects. They are subject to a 10% penalty for each day they are late. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!

Project #1: Design and Build an Earthquake-Safe House 11/2/07

Project #2: Volcanoes and People 11/30/07

Project #3: Collecting Rocks 1/25/08

Project #4: Testing Rock Flooring 1/25/08

Project #5: Toying Around with Topography 2/15/08

Project #6: Getting on the Map 2/15/08

Project #7: Soils for Seeds 2/29/08

Project #8: Rock Shake 3/7/08

Project #9: Design and Build a Dam 3/7/08

Project #10: Watch out for Landslides! 3/7/08

Project #11: A Journey Back in Time 3/21/08

Project #12: Track the Moon 4/25/08

Project #13: Design and Build a Space Exploration Vehicle 4/25/08

Project #14: Space Spinoffs 4/25/08

Project #15: Build a Model of the Solar System 4/25/08

Project #16: Crater Creator 4/25/08

Project #17: Speeding Around the Sun 4/25/08

Project #18: Star Stories 4/25/08

Project #19:Design and Build an Erosion-Proof Beach 5/23/08
Project #20: At Home in the Sea 5/23/08

Project #21: Choose Your Own Adventure! Science Fair Investigation 1/2/08

Grant

Here is a great chance for you if you are interested in winning some money and cool recognition. Let me know if you are interested in this at all!
Grant Title: DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition
Organization: The DuPont Center for Collaborative Research and Education
Eligibility: Students in grades 7-12
Value: Cash and travel expenses totaling $25,000
Deadline: January 8, 2008
Contact: http://thechallenge.dupont.com/
Students write a 700 to 1,000 word essay discussing a scientific discovery,
theory, event, or technology application that has captured your interest. Over
the years, the judges have noted that winning essays reflect the several
attributes, including creativity, originality, readability, thorough research, and
appropriate choice of subject matter. Awards are given in junior, senior, and
teacher divisions; the science teacher who sponsors the winning student
receives a prize.

Vocano Homework

Your homework for Monday, November 5, 2007 is pg. 85 1 and 2 a-c. It is due on Wednesday.

Volcanoes

Here we go. We are about to get explosive this week! We will be covering volcanoes for the next few weeks. We will do some computer research and design, a few labs, some projects, and presentations all based on volcanoes.
Remember that the semester ends this week. If there is anything that you have in your binders or lockers, please get it in, before it becomes a zero!
I will have your tests back to you by Wednesday. I wanted to grade all of the tests for those who were absent on Friday, and give them back at the same time.

Happy Halloween

Hopefully you had a safe and enjoyable night tonight. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will review our questions, play some quake Jeopardy. We will take the test on Friday. Study all of the Earthquake chapter. Focus on knowning faults, plate movement, waves, and safety. If you have any questions, let me know.

Check out the Mac O Lantern that some folks made. It is a real Macintosh computer, but inside a pumpkin. Some people have too much time.

Earth Quake

This week we will finish up earthquakes. We will shake our creations on Monday and see if we can make them fall. We will have another test this week as well. Probably Friday.

Planet in Peril extra credit.

Well I am sure our earthquake proof buildings are drying over the weekend. They will be ready for some upgrading on Monday, then their test.
Here is a link to the questions for the Planet in Peril extra credit assignments. It is 20 questions long. Each complete, CORRECT answer is worth 1 point. They are due on Monday as soon as you walk into class.
If the link does not work, you can use this one, and go to the bottom of the page where it says educators. The questions are under that link.
Remember, the program is available on iTunes.
Each episode is only 1.99 for a 1.45hour long episode. You do not need an iPod to view iTunes, all you need is a computer. iTunes is a free download from apple.com.

Have a good weekend.

Planet in Peril

I forgot to mention it in class today, but if you watch the CNN special called A Planet in Peril. The show will air today and Thursday at 9pm on CNN. I will provied questions for you to answer and I will provide 20 points total (two homeworks) for watching and answering the questions.

Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta

On Grades

By Wednesday afternoon, all grades will be 100% up to date. If you have anything that you think you should have turned in and it is living in your binder, locker, bedroom, or whatever, please get it to me!
The end of the semester is quickly approaching. If you do not understand a concept, or need help on something, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Slinky Lab

Here are the questions for your homoework. This is due Friday.

1. If you change how fast you shake the slinky, how it is affected?
2. How did distance affect the intensity of the shake of the slinky? How about the side to side distance of the slinky?
3. If you change how hard you shake the slinky, how it is affected?
4. How can you relate the slinky to an earthquake?
5. Is the slinky more like a P wave or an S wave? Why?
6. Why did we do three trials of each distance?
WHEN FINISHED do the Math Analyzing Data on page 56 of the Inside Earth book.

13 days since I posted!

This is crazy. I am sorry that I did not update this in a while. the homework you were assigned from Thursday was to write three myths about Earthquakes. Some students got papers that said Volcanos, and some said Earthquakes. If you wrote about Volcanos, that is fine, but you will write about earthquakes when we do the same assignment in a few weeks. Here is a to link the directions for the myth homework.
The work from Friday that is due today are the questions from the 1906 article. Here is a link to the questions.
For homework tonight, you will write a procedure for our lab tomorrow. Here is a linkto that assignment.

Cont Drift Packet

If you still need the cont. drift packet it is here 1,2,3,4,5,6,. You can download it, and finish answering the questions. It is due on Wednesday 10/2/07. Also due on Wednesday are the complete chapter review questions. Remember there will be a test on Friday.
On Wednesday, I will only see my first period class, as we are on an assembly schedule then.First and second period will work on their chapter review packets. We will finish them and go over them on the second half of Thursday's class. Here is a picture of what we think Pangaea looked like.

Continetal Drift Packet

Hello period 1 and 2. Due to my mistake, you are off the hook for #5-8 on the homework, until Tuesday, as I can not post it here.
You should still be able to do #4 (the cut outs) with no other papers.
Check back here over the weekend, as I am going to put up some other pictures of pangea.

Sea Floor Spreading

As you saw in class today, we still believe that the earth is spreading apart. There is direct evidence of this happening through the evidence from rock cores, the magnetic polarity of the planet, as well as, sonar mapping of the sea floor.
The rest of the week will be focused on sea floor spreading and continental drift. Expect a test regarding these principals early next week.

HOMEWORK due Wednesday9/26/07.

Inside Earth Book Page 29 1-3 all parts.

Picture above is Harry Hess - He helped develop the theory of sea floor spreading.

The idea of geothermal energy in Iceland came up in my second period class, but not first. If you want to see some cool ideas around geothermal energy and other geologic energy sources in Iceland, including a hybrid Benz, click here

Science podcasts

To hear the audio to the movie we were watching today, you can point your MP3 player towards the Discovery Channel website and download a podcast of it. If you are a iPod user, you can go to itunes, then click on store, podcasts, tv and film, discovery networks, science channel features. Once you get there, the link to the podcast is the 12th down from the top. The podcast has a title of 100 greatest discoveries earth Sciences. It is 25 minutes long.
Friday: We will do a lab that will help us understand convection currents. The homework for the weekend is to answer the questions on page 37 that relate to the lab.

How to call me!

Hello Parents. I hope you are able to find my email address, which is pengleman@lmtsd.org. If you would like to call me at Murray Avenue, my extension is 3308. Please feel free to email or leave messages as you feel nessacary. I will be getting in contact with all of you very soon, and I look forward to meeting you on Back to School Night.

1st day!

So we all survived the first day! I apologize to my second period for missing out on you today, but I am excited to see you tomorrow! As I am working in both buildings, sometimes we will all have to be a bit flexible in our schedules.
First period. Today we did some introduction time, as well as general housekeeping/home room duties. You must get your paperwork signed, and returned to me as soon as possiable. Please keep up on your homeroom papers. It is really hard for me to track down every paper you need. I would really hate for one of you to miss a field trip because you did not get your paperwork into me. I will usually post a copy of most of the homework here for you.
Part of tomorrow (Thursday) class you will do the book walk that period 2 did today.

Period 2. Today we will do the introductions for myself, you, the course, etc. We will also finish the book walk if there are any of you that did not finish it yet. There are some other goodies in store for you.

Hello 8th graders!

I am excited to be with you, as I am new to the district. I have been well versed in the expectations, traditions, and excellence of this district, and I am excited to see all of these components in action.
You can learn more about me by clicking on here

You will use this site for the rest of the year to keep in contact with me. I will use this site to put up new assignments, resources, class minutes, etc. I will also post to this site a few times a week, so please visit.
Students
Use this site to the fullest. I will post your homework, assignments, power points, rubrics, etc on this site. Sometimes I will post links to topics I cover in class, or other topics of interest. You may also use this site to keep in contact with me through the year.
Parents
This is a place where you can keep in contact with me, see what we are covering in class, and get copies of work for your students.

I wish all of us a great year, with tons of learning, great experiences, and new challenges.