Parent Conference Change for 6^th Grade Science

Mr. Kuch will not be available on Thursday after school for conferences.  Instead, he will be available from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Friday.

This is the schedule for conferences:

Thursday (March 1) from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

                                All School Conferences

                                Mr. Kuch will NOT be available.

Friday (March 2) from 8:30 to 12:00:

                                All School Conferences

                                Mr. Kuch will be available.

Friday (March 2) from 1:00 to 4:00:

                                Only Mr. Kuch will be available.

jonathan.kuch@mpls.k12.mn.us

This Friday is the last day to turn in science missing work.  Grades cannot be given to assignments for quarter 2 after that time.  Please check the student and parent portal for missing assignments.  The paper airplane project can be redone for higher points.  Students must turn in the old report with the grading sheet and the new report.  Many students are close to a passing score, but have not turned in work to get the passing score.  Turn in any missing work from quarter 2!

Science Fair Project

Due Date: February 3 (Only 3 weeks left)

Project should be almost completed.

Journals should be almost completed.

Start putting together your backboard.

Projects will be set up on February 9 after school.  Same day as band concert.

Parts to the project (also listed in science notebook)

Question

Hypothesis

Journal

Research

Variable

Constants

Procedure

Data table

Conclusion (4 parts: answer to the question, reasons for answer supported by your research, reasons for outliers in your data, three reasons why errors could have happened.)

Backboards:  Some students ordered backboards through me.  Those students that didn’t need to buy one from an office supply store.  Backboards need to be 32 inches tall with a 24 inch wide center section and two 12 inch wide sections.

Experiments:  Experiments need to be completed at home.

Students and families can always come to me with questions.

The procedure for the science fair project is due this week.  I have been looking at them during class.  This week we are working on making sure the questions, hypothesis, variable, constants, and procedure are completed.  I am giving 3 stamps on page 62 and 64 for completed items.  If you child does not have a stamp on those pages, they need to complete the work and have me check it during class this week.

All students, based on what they have told me, have a science fair topic.  I worked with many students individually to get them a project that they were interested in.  Students can still change their topic if they are having problems.  Sciencebuddies.org is a good site for topic ideas.

Midterm grades are due for the teachers this Thursday.  Any work turned in this week will not be corrected in time to be put on the progress report.  I am just about finished correcting the paper airplane projects.  If students get a low grade and want to redo the project, it needs to be done and turned in before winter break.

There will be another Friday test this week on December 9.  Students will be able to use their notebooks for the test.  It will be worth 10 points.

I have started giving stamps for students in their science notebooks.  Currently, I am giving 3 stamps for full credit on their assignment. 

The first assignment is the Hypothesis for the science fair project.  These were stamped on Tuesday and Wednesday (12/6 and 12/7).  Students needed to give an answer to their project  question and give reasons for their prediction.  This is located on page 60 in the science notebook.

Science fair projects so far should include a topic, questions, hypothesis, variables, and a list of constants.  Students should also know what they are going to do for the experiment.

Students will continue to receive smiley faces, straight faces and no faces for their bell work.  Smiley faces are worth 5 points, straight faces are worth 4 points, and no faces are worth 0 to 3 points.  Students that receive less than 3 points were not putting the effort into their work.  If they received a zero, they did not write anything on their paper.

*This is an effort to give more details about assignments and what is happening in class.  I have been asked by parents to give more information like due dates and points.  Sorry I omitted that information before.  Please continue to contact me with any questions you have.

The whole project is due on Wednesday, November 30.

The parts to the project are:

Question

Hypothesis

Variable

Constants

Procedure

Data Chart

Conclusion

This project is worth 50 points.  It must be turned in on time to receive full credit!

The parts can be located in recent assignment descriptions and on the science notebook page (linked on the left column).