This weekend

Here is a cool opportunity for something different to do this Saturday!!


http://www.riveredge.us/default.aspx?id=89

Check it out!

The week

This has beem an interesting week. My son won a medal for his run at the Pumpkins in the Park! I just signed up for another web based graduate class and I am sure to learn some more technology that I can being to the classroom.
I have been sore since Saturday since I also ran the Pumpkins run and won a medal for my time in the 5K.
Stay healthy, stay active!
This week we will continue to learn about cells and classification. We will also have our first day in the computer lab where we will be working on a wiki space.
There is also a great speaker joining us to discuss bullying in school.

Test review

What is an endoscope?
Why are pesticides used?
Know the difference between the following:
Observation
Inferring
Classifying
Quantitative vs Qualitative observations
Manipulated variable
Predicting
Making Models
Skepticism What should it be balanced with?
What does an engineer do?
Why are graphs helpful?

Cells

Next week we will be leaning about the basic building blocks of life.. the Cell. As a group, we took someting boring like lab safety and turned it into a funny class! I hope you got a laugh!
The snake comes back today!

9-15

I survived the Wolfman Triathlon last weekend!
This week we are learning about lab safety and taking our first science test. On a side note, the snake will be returning from his summer vacation. We are excited to have him back.
You can feel free to make comments if you wish.

Computers

This week we are learning about technology and it's role in our lives. Many students love their phones and ipod touches. To check if students are reading my blog, I thought I would post something here just for fun. My turtles name is Hershey and it was named by my son Connor. If you can tell me who named the turtle tomorrow, I know you read my blog! (perhaps you will even get a treat)
Today I started to created wiki accounts for students. We will start using the web space soon so get your computer skills up to speed!
I will use this site to update you on events going on in the class. You can add comments if you like.
Enjoy the sun!
Mr. Cowen

THE NEW CLASS OF 2009/2010

We are off to a great start this year! I can tell that this is a wonderful group of people. So far we have done a couple small labs, learned about the scientific method, and learned some of my classroom procedures. I am very impressed by the interest level of this group and their willingness to participate and have fun! Life is meant to be fun! Scientific interests seem to lean toward astronomy thus far.. I will see if I can curb that toward life science or biology this year!

Mr. Cowen