Lines, Lines, Everywhere Lines!

MATH
This week we tied up our loose ends in the Talk or Text lesson highlighted in last week’s newsletter. Students wrote equations for Plan A and Plan B and subsequently graphed both of the equations on the coordinate plane. Some students used the standard form (Ax + By = C). Other students learned to convert the standard form to the Slope-Intercept Form (y = mx + b) and used the y-intercept and slope to graph the lines. Once we had graphed the system of equations, we discussed the following:

• Under what circumstances is each cell phone plan better?
[Plan A is better when you talk on the phone more. Plan B is better when you send text messages more.]
• What does the graph of each equation represent?
[combinations of texts and minutes that cost exactly $25]
• Can you use quadrant II, III, or IV?
[No, because you cannot have negative minutes or negative text messages.]
• What other factors might you consider when choosing a cell phone plan?
[Answers vary, but consider things such as activation fees, mobile-to-mobile minutes, weekend or evening minutes, cell phones available, or "extras" like voice mail and ring tones.]

Later in the week, we reviewed how to solve and graph inequalities through an interactive PowerPoint (click here to view).

Next Monday and Tuesday we will be reviewing for our cumulative assessment which is scheduled for Wednesday/Thursday. Each student is currently working on a study guide which is intended to help him/her prepare for this exam. If students have questions about the material, they should come to class prepared to ask specific questions. Please check in with your child regarding his/her preparation process. Below I have included some study techniques that we’ve discussed in class.

Ideas for Studying For a Test:
• Review Daybook notes and re-work examples.
• Visit www.mrsv.org (What We’re Studying Right Now) and (Class Notes). Watch video tutorials, go through interactive PowerPoints, and visit interactive websites for extra practice.
• Make flashcards with important vocabulary or different types of problems.
• Review past homework assignments. Re-work a couple of problems from each assignment.
• Review past Exit Slips glued in daybook. Analyze your mistakes and correct your errors.
• Ask your teacher(s) about anything you are not sure of.

If students feel confident about the study guide, then they are amply prepared for the “test”! I look forward to helping them celebrate their success in this process! I appreciate your involvement at home as it truly makes all the difference!

SCIENCE

Pieces of me, what can you see? Cell organelles and cell processes were our topics this week in science! We had an amazing time observing our own cheek cells in a laboratory investigation that compared our cells and plant cells. Students were able to create wet mount slides of Elodea leaves and animal cells. This gave us an opportunity to discover major shape differences in our cells. You children observed how many chloroplasts were in each tiny plant cell. Cheek cells looked like tiny fried eggs, the only thing visible with our light microscopes were the cell membranes, cytoplasm, and nucleus. Your children were thrilled to observe their bodies in a new and different way! They also found some interesting bacteria and food particles under the microscope too! We are studying the different organelles that are in our cells and how they allow the cell to preform the cellular activities of growing, repair and mitosis. We will be continuing to grow in our knowledge of cell organelles and how they work together for the cell just like our organs work together for our bodies!

Another Egg-citing Eggs-periment! Diffusion and osmosis were the cell processes we began to study this week. We are using eggs (haploid cells) to observe osmosis, which is movement of substances across a membrane. The eggs have been placed into two beakers, one containing tap water and one containing a salt water solution. We made predictions of the cells increasing or decreasing in size. We will observe these cells early next week to determine if osmosis did occur and in which solution!

Cello Jello is our fun activity planned for next week. I will be providing jello for each student. We will use candy to represent different organelles and describe how they work together in the cell. This will be a yummy activity! I am asking the students to bring in a small bag of candy to share with the class on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Any hard candy (gum balls,skittles, red hots, sweet tarts, licorice,....) will work beautifully. Chocolate and peanut butter candies will not work well. Thank you again for all your support of the science curriculum!
I would also like to share with you that the administration has given the science department and your children an amazing holiday gift-oodles of laboratory equipment!!! This week we had many boxes delivered that were full of beakers, flasks, petri dishes, prepared slides, chemicals and pipets! We are going to have so many fantastic learning opportunities ahead of us!!!