9th Grade: Week of March 30- April 3

Hello,
We are now in the 4th Quarter. It looks like our first tulip has bloomed (near the front entrance towards Blue Lakes Blvd). We will be finishing up Chapter 7 (Cell Structure and Function) this week and begin our Ecology unit. The test will be on Tuesday. The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Tuesday, March 31: Go to http://www.phschool.com/atschool/txtbk_res_sci.html and follow directions to Chapter 7. Go over the chapter materials for the test.

Friday, April 3: Ecology involves the study of the environment. The movie "Wall*E shows a possible future for us. In a single 5+ sentence paragraph, select one of the Native American quotes below and write about how we can use it to prevent such a future.

Ancient Indian Proverb:
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."

Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation:
"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees."

7th and 8th Grade: Week of March 31- April 3

Hello,
We will continue with experimenting with pulleys and other simple machines this week. We are now in the 4th Quarter. It looks like our first tulip has bloomed (near the front entrance towards Blue Lakes Blvd). The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Wednesday, April 1: Based on our reading of Section 3: Simple Machines, make a 3-column, 9-row chart with the headings "simple machine", "type of simple machine" and "how they help us do work". Your challenge is to complete the chart. First list eight simple machines around your house and then determine the type of simple machine they are and how they help us do work.

Friday, April 3: The ancients made great use of simple machines. This will be a short research homework that we will begin in class on Thursday, April 3 using laptops. Your assignment is to pick one of the following ancient structures: Great Pyramid of Giza (the only surviving member of seven ancient wonders of the world), Stonehenge, or the Theater at Epidaurus, Greece and research the likely simple machines that went into their construction. Details:

1. Paragraph 1: Desribe the physical characteristics of the ancient structure. What culture built it? What was its purpose? How many people worked on it and for how long?
2. Paragraph 2: What simple machines were used in its construction? Include at least 2 color hand-made drawings of the structure and involved simple machines.

9th Grade: Week of March 23-27

Hello,
I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable Spring Break (and attempted to see if balancing an egg was easier on Friday- the Spring Equinox). There are a lot of events happening this week. Groundbreaking for our new school is scheduled for this week and Friday (3/27) is the last day of the 3rd Quarter. The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Tuesday, March 24: Bring in a piece of fruit or vegetable to conduct your self-directed osmosis lab. I'll explain more on Monday.

Thursday, March 26: Complete Section 7-4 Assessment Questions (p. 193), questions 1-4.

Friday will be our practice test for Chapter 7 and the test will most likely be on Monday, March 30. Have a great week,

-Mr. Pfiester

7th-8th Grade: Week of March 23-27

Hello,
I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable Spring Break (and attempted to see if balancing an egg was easier on Friday- the Spring Equinox). There are a lot of events happening this week. Groundbreaking for our new school is scheduled for this week and Friday (3/27) is the last day of the 3rd Quarter. We will begin our last unit (physics) and have some great activities planned. The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Tuesday, March 24: A version of Mythbusters. The rotation of hurricanes either clockwise or counterclockwise is greatly affected by the Coriolis effect. Hurricanes in the northern hemisphere tend to turn counterclockwise. Your homework tonight has two parts:

1. Ask 4 people over the age of 12 (no other Xavier students allowed) this question "Is the direction that water drains down sinks and bathtubs controlled by which hemisphere one is in?". Organize the data into a bar graph form of "yes" and "no" responses.
2. Test three different places in your house (toilet, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, or bathtub) and see which way the water drains. For the sinks either just turn on the water and see what happens or plug the drain, fill with water, and then remove the plug.

A homework for later in the week will be posted in a few days,

Have a great week,

-Mr. Pfiester

-Have a great week,

-Mr. Pfiester

9th Grade: Week of March 9-13

Hello,
Last week's Osmosis and Dialysis Tubing Lab. went well- good job everybody! This week, we'll complete Section 3: Cell Boundaries. We will finish the film Longitude in the later part of the week as related to our Mystery Class work. The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Wednesday, March 11: Complete Section 7-3 Assessment Questions 1-5 (p. 189) in complete sentences

Friday, March 13: Go to the Solar Folklore page at http://solar-center.stanford.edu/folklore/#mesopotamia. Various cultures explained the sun and seasons in (what appeared to them) logical ways. Pick one of the these cultures (Indigenous American · Indigenous Australian · Mesopotamia · Judeo-Christian · Other Cultures) and read about how they explained the sun. Summarize your reading into a 5+ sentence paragraph.

Have a great week and Spring Break! Don't forget to balance a raw egg on the Equinox (March 20),
-Mr. Pfiester

7th-8th Grade: Week of March 9-13

Hello,
We will spend a few days experimenting with magnets as part of our Electricity and Magnetism Unit. I am anxious to finish up this unit so we can start the Physics Unit. We will spend the remainder of this week finishing up the film Longitude and adding to our Mystery Class graphs. So the homework schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, March 11: Go to the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_magnetic_field and find the section titled "Magnetic field reversals". Read the section and answer the following questions:

1. How often, on average, do the Earth's magnetic poles reverse? When was the last time this happened?
2. Although nobody know for sure, what is a leading theory as to why the poles reverse?
3. If the Earth's magnetic poles reversed tomorrow, what would the effect be upon a compass?

Friday, March 13: Go to the Solar Folklore page at http://solar-center.stanford.edu/folklore/#mesopotamia. Various cultures explained the sun and seasons in (what appeared to them) logical ways. Pick one of the these cultures (Indigenous American · Indigenous Australian · Mesopotamia · Judeo-Christian · Other Cultures) and read about how they explained the sun. Summarize your reading into a 5+ sentence paragraph.

Have a great week and Spring Break! Don't forget to balance a raw egg on the Equinox (March 20),
-Mr. Pfiester

7th-8th Grade: Week of March 2-6: Change in Homework

Hello,
In case you didn't hear me, the Friday (March 6) homework has been cancelled. I want you to focus on preparing for tomorrow's Electricity test. So your homework is to study. Use the practice tests and electricity sections I copied for you. I'm sure you will do well tomorrow.
-Mr. Pfiester

PS. We will graph our Mystery Class data tomorrow if time allows.

9th Grade: Week of March 2-6

Hello,
Our Mystery Class unit will get much more interesting on Friday, March 27 when each mystery class will begin sending us cultural, historical, or geographical clues (in addition to the sunrise/sunset data). We will be continuing with Chapter 7 this week. Tuesday and Wednesday, you will work with your table group and making the analogy of Twin Falls to a cell, determine what cell organelles match what structures in Twin Falls in terms of function. So please review the cell organelles in section 7-2. The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Tuesday, March 3: Complete Section 7-1 Assessment Questions 1-3 and 5 in complete sentences (p. 173).

Friday, March 6: Go to the Solar Folklore page at http://solar-center.stanford.edu/folklore/#mesopotamia. Various cultures explained the sun and seasons in (what appeared to them) logical ways. Pick one of the these cultures (Indigenous American · Indigenous Australian · Mesopotamia · Judeo-Christian · Other Cultures) and read about how they explained the sun. Summarize your reading into a 5+ sentence paragraph.

Have a great week,
-Mr. Pfiester

7th-8th Grade: Week of March 2-6

Hello,
My apologies for causing the snow last week. I said spring is here on Thursday and Mother Nature reminded me that spring is a time of unpredictable weather. Our Mystery Class unit will get much more interesting on Friday, March 27 when each mystery class will begin sending us cultural, historical, or geographical clues (in addition to the sunrise/sunset data). We will be finishing up electricity this week (and starting magnetism). The homework and DUE dates are as follows:

Tuesday, March 3: Complete the Section 5 Assessment Questions 1a, 1b, and 1c in complete sentences.

Friday, March 6: Go to the Solar Folklore page at http://solar-center.stanford.edu/folklore/#mesopotamia. Various cultures explained the sun and seasons in (what appeared to them) logical ways. Pick one of the these cultures (Indigenous American · Indigenous Australian · Mesopotamia · Judeo-Christian · Other Cultures) and read about how they explained the sun. Summarize your reading into a 5+ sentence paragraph.