Monday, June 28, 2010 - Today was the last day of school. School ended at 12:20. I went around today collecting textbooks and handing back work. We also cleaned up the classroom for Summer Vacation.

Friday, June 25, 2010 - Classes were finishing up their Post-Test. The fourth floor was on a trip to the park. Throughout the day students were trying to help me pack down my classroom for the summer. This summer they have to change the floor tiles in my classroom.

Thursday, June 24, 2010 - All classes took their post-test. This is the same test we took on October 20th. In the evening the eighth graders graduated from our school. Graduation took place at Colden Center located in Queens College.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - We were cleaning up and going over our work. In the evening the eighth graders went to their Prom.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - I went with the eighth graders on their Senior Trip today to a place called Holiday Hill. There were swimming pools, video games, basketball, mini golf, volley ball and food. We will get a Post Test this week. We took the same test on October 20. Bring in your text books.

Monday, June 21, 2010 - Everyone was on a trip today. I set up for the Awards Ceremony in the auditorium and started to print the program for the graduation.

Friday, June 18, 2010 - I was not in school today. I left a reading on the Water cycle. As the sun heats a body of water, molecules escape a travel into the air. the air fills with water and the water vapor in the air begins to join together  to form clouds. When the cloud fills, it will rain, sending the water back down to the Earth to start the cycle all over again.

Thursday, June 17, 2010 - The topic of today's discussion on HIV and AIDS was where scientists believe the virus originated on Earth (where did it all begin). We were given a homework reading which will be attached to page 119 of our Sally notebook. Our School 4-H group had a ceremony to re-dedicate our memorial garden located near our school flagpole on Junction Boulevard. The ceremony was wonderful; students read poems then planted the rose bushes.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - We had a discussion on HIV and AIDS today, Our discussion was about what the virus was and what the disease does to the body. We were given a reading for homework which will be attached to page 118 of our Sally notebook.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - We worked on the Convection experiment today and we also saw a youtube Video on the convection box.

Monday, June 14, 2010 - We finished up page 149 in our Bob notebook. This page worked with floating an egg in salt water and making a tower of four different density salt water solutions. Two classes began work on the experiment beginning on page 150 of Bob. This experiment is on convection. Today we worked with one of the two convection boxes.

Friday, June 11, 2010 - Today the fourth floor classes were on a field trip to the park. In school we were having a Career and Community Carnival in our schoolyard. Students were given for classwork or Homework, a reading on weather tools and weather forecasting.

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - This is Brooklyn/Queens Day. Teachers were in school however students had the day off. Teachers had meetings all day. We were also grading the 8th grade science exam.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - Classes were working on the egg floating and salt water density project. Four students in 6-235 make new chemical salt water reagents for everyone to use. I left the building early because my Dad got sick and I brought him to the hospital.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - Today was a half day that we started with period 8 and ran to period 3. In class we put an egg in fresh water and it sank. As we added salt to the water, the egg began to float. Salt changed the density of the water by fitting between the water molecules putting more "stuff" in a particular volume. We wrote about what we saw onto page 149 of our Bob notebook. So matter has mass and volume and therefore has density. Now we find out that I can mess with the density of objects by squeezing things in between the spaces between the pieces.

Monday, June 7, 2010 - We worked in our Bob notebooks today on an experiment on page 149. We had to make a tower of four different strength salt water solutions sitting on top of each other. Since salt could fit between the pieces or molecules of water, the salt could change the density of the water. The more salt added to the solution, the more dense the water/salt solution would become. The solutions were colored for easier viewing. Some classes were on a field trip today. We began to tie up some old science books in the book room to send to the book recyclers.

Friday, June 4, 2010 - We played Weather BINGO today with Ms. Jennifer Smith. 6-416 received their Science Reading on conduction, convection and radiation for weekend Homework. At this point everyone has had their Bug Camp test graded and returned to them.

Thursday, June 3, 2010 - Everyone should be finished with the experiment on finding the DENSITY of the six objects. The objects were: Copper, Brass, Carbon, Aluminum, Plastic and a Wax Crayon. There was a seventh object for extra credit - A piece of Nickel. We went over the convection experiment drawing from the reading given on Tuesday.  As we heat one side of a container, water on that side gains energy. Molecules begin to move away from each other and toward other parts of the container. The liquid above the heat source now has less pieces making it less dense so it rises upward. The area where the extra pieces moved to becomes more dense and moves downward. This causes a circulation in the container of liquid. In the late afternoon we had our last dance of the school year. The theme was Hawaii - The entire day was Hawaii, in fact it was Hawaii Day at school.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - The entire 6th grade went on some trip today. 60235 came first period and worked on the density experiment. 6-416 came last period and also worked on the density experiment. During the rest of the day I was working with students getting the dance STUFF ready for tomorrow, I also ran off to BJs to get supplies for the dance. We set up a rack of Comic Books in the School Library for circulation and for reading in the library.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - Today we worked on a reading about conduction, convection and radiation. Period 8 there was a meeting in the Auditorium for the 8th grade SO Representatives, The 8th Grade SO President and Vice President.

Monday, May 31, 2010 - Today was Memorial Day - School was closed today - I went to the Parade on Northern Boulevard in Douglaston. The Mayor marched in that parade this year. On Memorial Day, we honor the dead that have served to make our country free. It started after the Civil War when people went to a cemetery to lay flowers on the grave of Confederate soldiers. This group of people noticed that no one was laying flowers or visiting the graves of the nearby Union soldiers so they lay flowers there also. Over the next few years the custom of honoring the graves of fallen soldier turned into what we now call Memorial Day.

Friday, May 28, 2010 - We took a quiz today on our Bug Camp project.

Thursday, May 27, 2010 - We started Investigation 5 today. Our goal was to figure out the density of objects in a tray at our table. These objects included copper, nickel, brass, carbon, a crayon and aluminum. Density is how compact or close together the molecules in a substance are. I can find an objects density by taking an objects Mass and dividing that by the objects Volume. Mass we can get from weighing the object on the Triple Beam Balance. We started to experiment today using the idea of water displacement to find an objects volume. In the evening was our school Art Show. This morning we received our permission slips for next weeks Hawaii Dance.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - All classes se up their Bob notebooks for Investigation 5. In this investigation we will explore how heat moves through gas like air and through liquids like water. We will explore the concept of convection. We will also need to cover density in this investigation.In the evening I went back to school to see our play "Annie". Wow was the play terrific. It could not have been better even if it were on Broadway. Everything and everyone was so professional. It was a great experience.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - Some classes went to the auditorium today to see the school play "Annie". Other classes finished up the conduction experiment with the demonstration on the Human Domino. We will be having a test on Friday on the Bug Camp work from or Sally notebook pages 60 to 114. We are preparing a two sided helper card for the test.

Monday, May 24, 2010 - Classes finished with the Conduction Demonstration and we went into the hall stood on line and FELL LIKE DOMINOES. We discovered how molecules that touch in an item like a metal can send heat from molecule to molecule. The heat can move across the metal, but the molecules stay put. They just bang into each other. Tomorrow is the last Comic Book Trade. We will also set up our Bob notebooks for Investigation 5 which is about Convection.

Friday, May 21, 2010 - Mr. Grambo was not in school today. We worked on a reading about Air Pressure and Wind. (This is for Investigation 8)

Thursday, May 20, 2010 - Mr. Grambo was not in school today. We worked on a reading about Convection for Investigation 5.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - We completed the writing in the Bob notebook for Investigation 4 today and watched the conduction demonstration. This demonstration had three cards marked A, B and C attached to an aluminum bar using melted wax. The bar was clamped to a ringstand. One end of the bar was put into the flame of a bunsen burner nearest the letter A. Students predicted and then watched as A fell first, followed by B and then C. A was nearest the heat source to the bar heated up, melted the wax making the card fall. We went outside this morning when the fire bells went off.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - We went to see the Disney movie OCEANS today. The movie was really great. We had a worksheet tat had questions to answer before the movie started, during the movie and there were questions to answer after seeing the entire film. We went to the theater in Whitestone.

Monday, May 17, 2010 - Today is a half day for students and I came in late today because I went to the doctor. Most classes finished with Investigation 4. I collected the Sally notebooks from 6-235 today.

Friday, May 14, 2010 - We collected the Sally books from 6-417 today and classes continued with the experiment on conduction and radiation. 6-235 went to the concert in the auditorium and 6-416 was on a field trip to the park. We are going to see the Disney movie Oceans on Tuesday. Please remember to have your permission slip in to your Homeroom Teacher.

Thursday, May 13, 2010 - I arrived at school a bit late because of the Hall of Science trip. Cristina ran the SO Meeting. We started to dissect the frogs during lunch periods and had to do TRIAL 2 for our work on the Investigation with heat transfer. (I don't think we really understood what to do yesterday). I am soooo tired from the trip. The Spring Concert is tonight.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - Everyone started the experiment today. Half the class experimented with radiation the other half experimented with conduction. After school today we took the fifth grade on their overnight trip to the New York Hall of Science. We left school at 5:30 pm for our walk there. Mr. Yaskulski had been trucking the luggage there all afternoon. When we arrived we explored the museum and worked in log books. We went to a science lab to do experiments and even went to dissect a cows eye; how GROSS. We got to bed at about 12:00.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - The 4th floor classes set up their notebooks for Investigation 4 while the second and third floor classes started the experiment. We talked about safety because we need to use very hot water. We finished with the grasshopper dissection today and we are going to start dissecting frogs tomorrow. We also had the comic book trade in library today.

Monday, May 10, 2010 - We set up our notebooks for Investigation 4 - Conduction and Radiation. We explained the equipment and everyone made predictions on the outcome of the experiment and wrote the predictions under the hypothesis section of their experiment. We received a reading for homework about heat transfer from our Glencoe text book, NY Science Grade 6. During the lunch periods we are continuing to dissect the grasshoppers.

Friday, May 7, 2010 - This was the last day of the Plant Sale. In class we worked on a Insect Word Search for the Bug Camp project. As part of this word search we had to explain the meaning of three of the words. On Monday we will be receiving a Progress Report.  A classes that did not have their Sally Books graded this past week will have them graded next week.

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - In room 246 we were again selling plants for the Mother's Day Plant Sale. Students were given a Bug Camp reading on Fire Flies today. Did you know that fireflies can make light? The second part of the State Math Test was given today (questions 26-35).

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - Students in 6-235 began to dissect the grasshopper during their lunch period today. There were about 20 students working in four groups. The plants for the Mother's Day Plant Sale came in around 12:00. We set up room 246 for the sale. 6-417 helped set up the room and helped bring in the plants from the truck. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - We started the day with a breakfast for the winners of this years Science Fair. The breakfast was held in the school library before school. Today was also the first of our three Comic Book Trade days. All three days will be on Tuesdays.I collected the Sally notebooks of 6-319 today. I left the building early today. My Dad fell down and I had to go to his house to help. I went back to school at night to take down the Comic book trade and to grade the notebooks.

Monday, May 3, 2010 - we reviewed the write up for the experiment on seasons and collected the seasons reading homework. We then began work on the length of day page. Days are longer in Summer than in Winter. Does this have an affect on temperature? All sixth grade classes received the permission slips to go to see the Disney OCEANS movie on May 18. We collected and graded the Sally Notebooks for class 6-416. We looked at the My Piece of the Neighborhood Project as well as Bug Camp.

Friday, April 30, 2010 - We finished our experiment on seasons today and everyone received a homework reading on seasons. The Bog Camp project should now be complete. Sally books will be collected starting this week. During lunch this coming week we will be dissecting grasshoppers as part of the Bug Camp unit.

Thursday, April 29, 2010 - We started our experiment on Seasons. At tables 1-3 we have globes with heat tapes on the equator, Florida, Canada and the North Pole. We aim a lamp at the heat tape located at the equator mark. Will all the tapes change color? at tables 4-6 we are looking for the spreading of light as it comes in at different angles. If light has to be spread over a greater surface area, will it be as intense? We also checked over pages 93-103 of the Bug Camp project in Sally today.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - 6-416 had to finish the experiment with the syringes to prove many things about air. 6-235 took the third part of the ELA test. All other classes began the experiment on seasons. Mr. Fahey was in the room teaching with us when 6-417 came in. He helped review the experiment on the syringes and explained why we need to prove what we say as scientists. He then tried out the can smash experiment on air pressure. We then tried to figure out if the angle of incoming sunlight had a affect on the warming power of that light. The ELA test is now over

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - The second part of the ELA was today. A story was read to the students. They took notes and then wrote a composition from their notes. In class, the fourth floor classes worked  on the syringe experiment today. We have just finished up Investigation 2. Tomorrow we set up our notebooks for Investigation 3 and check over our Bug Camp project op to page 103.

Monday, April 26, 2010 - Today was the first part of the ELA test. In science, We used two 250ml syringes and a 6 inch piece if fish tank tubing to prove air has pressure, takes up space, has volume, can be moved from one place to another and can be condensed. This experiment is written onto pages 128, 129 and 130 of the Bob notebook.

Friday, April 23, 2010 - We experimented on the properties of air today. Our investigations included: Does Air take up Space, Does Air Have Pressure and Does Air Have Mass. We worked on three mini experiments on page 126 of Bob today. By the end of the period all experiments were finished. The experiments were set up as stations that the students moved to. We also saw some videos of how strong air can be when id was taken out of a 55 gallon drum and milk tanker and the drum and tanker crushed by outside air. We assigned Bug Camp pages 95 - 103 to be completed by Mon/Tues. The entire project (up to page 111) need to be finished by April 30.

Thursday, April 22, 2010 - We viewed some videos on the making of Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Gas. We looked over our work on page 122 and then made sure we finished the drawing we started last weed on the Atmosphere on page 123 and 124. Today was Erath Day and Take Your Children To Work Day. We had many activities going on in school for these events.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - In class we reviewed yesterdays lesson and then went on to making Carbon Dioxide gas. This gas is more dense than the others so in moves downward. we lit a candle and then poured it out of the collection jar onto the candle and put the flame out with the gas. Our homework was to finish all written parts for page 122 of the Bob notebook.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - We went to Mr. Blum's room today and took part in an activity where we made gasses that are found in the air. We made Hydrogen and Oxygen gas today. We found that Hydrogen explodes and Oxygen burns. We also sent electrical energy through some gases and caused them to glow. These gases included fluorine, iodine and neon. We wrote about today's experiments onto page 122 in our Bob notebook.

Monday, April 19, 2010 - We worked on explaining the make up of the air. What constitutes the whole. We worked on the pie chart on page 122 of Bob today. Air contains 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% is all the other stuff that could possibly wind up in the air like Carbon Dioxide gas, water vapor and even bad smells. Today was a half day, Tomorrow there will be science visitors in our school building.

Friday, April 16, 2010 - Today we worked with compound microscopes. We started the period by reviewing the parts of the microscope and labeling the parts on a wall chart. Some students copied the information onto page 86 of Sally that still needed to do so from last week. We then began to use the microscopes to view insect body parts under low power. Students drew pictures of what they observed onto page 87 of their Sally notebooks. I gave magnified views of insect body parts on small charts. These charts have been posted on our Bug Camp web site and were sent home in our weekly science newsletter.

Thursday, April 15, 2010 - We talked about the atmosphere and the Volcano in Iceland that is causing planes to be grounded at airports in Europe and at US airports bound for Europe.This volcano started erupting yesterday.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - Today we talked about how to estimate size. The student teachers from Queens College came in with lessons on the subject. If you wear a size 8 shoe does it mean that your foot is 8 inches long? We did an experiment to show that foot length does not match shoe size. We then used graph paper to help us learn to estimate the size of an insect if we know the size of the boxes on the graph paper.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - We checked to make sure everyone finished pages 78-92 of Sally and then glued Investigation 2 sheets for Weather Watch into our Bob notebook. We went into the hallway to talk about the Atmosphere chart for page 123 of Bob.

Monday, April 12, 2010 - Space Camp Trip - We woke up today at 6:00 and packed up. After breakfast we packed the bus and left Space Camp. We reached the American Border at 10:00 and cleared the boarder in one half hour. The trip home took eight hours. Parents picked everyone up by 6:00 PM.

Sunday, April 11, 2010 - Space Camp Trip - We woke up today at 7:00. Today we were going to use the One Sixth Gravity Chair. On the Moon astronauts need to walk in an environment very different from that of the Earth. Steps become jumps and a simple turn becomes a complicated wiggle. Every member of our camp tries their legs at walking on the moon today. At 3:00 we graduated in a ceremony that had everyone called up to receive a certificate and have they photographed. This evening we went to a great place called the Manhattan Steak House.

Saturday, April 10, 2010 - Space Camp Trip - We woke at 7:30 for our days adventures. We started by building structures from straws, tape and string. The structure needed to span a 16 inch gap and needs to support weight. A basket will hand from the structure as marbles are added to the basket until the structure until the structure collapses into the gap. Our campers then moved onto the Manned Maneuvering Unit. In space, these units allow the astronauts to move about.  At Space Camp we used the same trainers that astronauts practice on.  Throughout the day we worked in classrooms and on trainers. At 5:00 it was time for us to go inside the simulator and go on our Space Shuttle Mission.

Friday, April 9, 2010 -Space Camp Trip - We arrived at school at 7:15 for our journey to Space Camp in Laval, Canada. A reading was left for Friday on Hurricanes and for Monday, work was left to do from the Bug Camp project in the Sally notebook. This work was left with out fourth floor assistant principal, Penny Dunn. The campers started arriving at 7:30 AM and brought their luggage to the cafeteria. Our bus arrived at 8:00. We packed the bus and boarded at 8:30. We then departed the school at 9:00 AM. We stopped along the way for lunch. At the boarder security asked lots of questions. We finally arrived at Space Camp at 6:30 PM. We built a container to keep an egg from breaking if we drop the egg; this project is called Egg O Naught. When astronauts come back to Earth from Space, we want them back in one piece as they fall to earth, just like we want the egg not to break. We went to bed at 10:00 PM after a snack.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 - We were in Mr.Blum's room today and we were talking about microscopes. Microscopes have curved pieces of glass in them called a lens. the lens bends or refracts light and makes images appear bigger. A single hand lens is a simple microscope. When two or more lenses are uses together we have a compound microscope. Today we learned about the parts of the compound microscope and wrote the part names onto page 86 of our Sally notebook. We also viewed images of the wing of a worker honey bees wing on a digital or computer microscope today. We received a homework reading on microscopes. On our way into the school building today we had to walk through metal detectors. The office of school security came in a searched our students taking away cell phones, mp3 players and electronic games. Everyone received them back at 3:00 in the afternoon. 

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - We checked the work everyone was to do on their Bug Camp assignment from pages 78-92 in the Sally notebook. We worked on plotting the path of Hurricane Dean and found out about the importance of predicting the path so as to tell people if the hurricane is coming towards them. The fourth floor classes were on a trip today.

There was no school from March 27, 2010 through April 6, 2010 for Spring Recess.

Friday, March 26, 2010 - We checked items in our Bob and Sally notebooks as indicated in our comments from Wednesday. We began to track our Hurricane. We talked about longitude and latitude.

We received the following for homework over the holiday week.

This work is due in class on Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Sally Notebook - Bug Camp Project (pages 69-114 must be finished by April 30)
 
cells In Sally
pages 78-79
pages 80-81
pages 82-82
 
classification In Sally
pages 88-89
pages 90-91
pages 92-92

Thursday, March 25, 2010 - We finished watching the videos on weather. Afternoon classes went to the auditorium for the African American History Program. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - In our planner, we noted that on Friday the following items were being checked: Page 112 of Bob- Weather Watch Contract, Page 69 of Sally - Bug Camp contract. We are also checking that pages 70 through 77 of Sally have been finished. Today we were watching the Wonders of Weather video. We watched the one on Hurricanes. All students were given a sticker with a definition for "weather" from Webster's Dictionary. The sticker was put onto page 113 of Bob.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - Two classes went to the Science Fair and then we started the Weather Unit. Other classes began to watch the Wonders of Weather video.

Monday, March 22, 2010 - We started working on our weather unit today. We filled out the contract on page 112 of Bob and then went on to working on the KWL Chart on page 113 - What do I Know about Weather and what do I want to know about weather. we then came up with a definition for the term weather. This week classes will view the science fair and we have a 360 degree science movie in an inflatable theater on out stage.

Friday, March 19, 2010 - All classes received the rest of the Bug Camp project. 6-235 and 6-319 went to the Science Fair today. By next Wednesday, all classes will have viewed the Science Fair. Today is the last day of the Third Marking Period.

Thursday, March 18, 2010 - All classes too the test on Simple Machines today while Mr. Grambo worked with the other science teachers setting up the Science Fair in our school library. Parents were invited to view the projects after the PTA Meeting. The chorus performed a short concert before the PTA Meeting today.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - It is Wear GREEN Day at Armstrong and all our classes went to Mr. Blum's room for a review on Simple Machines. We set up all the machines we learned and through the set-ups and use of the Smart Board, we went over questions students had on work that may be on tomorrows test. Tomorrow everyone will take the test while Mr. Grambo and Mr. Yaskulski set up the Science Fair in the School Library.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - Mr. Grambo was not in school today. Everyone worked on a reading about weather. We had to read two articles on weather from different encyclopedias. Using a venn Diagram we had to compare and contrast the readings. Everyone finishing the articles can work in their Sally Notebook on their Bug Camp Project.

Monday, March 15, 2010 - Everyone received Progress Report number 4 today. It needs to be signed and returned to Mr. Grambo on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. The Third Marking Period ends this Friday. Students in 6-416 worked on a reading about Weather. Mr. Grambo left the building today at 12:00.

Friday, March 12, 2010 - All classes filled out the Bug Camp contract today on page 69 of Sally. We drew a picture of an insect from our memory onto page 70 and on page 71 we filled in the KWL chart.

Thursday, March 11, 2010 - Classes began to set up their notebooks for the ecology/entomology unit called Bug Camp. This unit begins on page 68 of sally. This unit will cover cell biology, the use of the microscope and classification skills.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - We finished looking at all the science projects and all Jake notebooks have been graded. 6-235 set up their Sally notebooks for the Big Camp ecology project.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - We have one more day to look at projects. Mrs. DelValle came in to help grade projects when 6-319 was in class. Tomorrow will be our last day viewing projects. 6-235 finished with their projects today.

Monday, March 8, 2010 - We are continuing looking at Science Fair Projects. We should be finished in one or two days. I will be going with Mr. Y over to the NY Hall of Science this week to plan the Fifth Graders overnight trip.

Friday, March 5, 2010 - We continued working with Science Fair Projects. We have two more groups to look at in each class. Today was Pajama Day. Next Tuesday is Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher Day.

Thursday, March 4, 2010 - We worked on Science Fair Projects. Mr. Grambo straightened out the classroom, but the plumbers have not finished with the heating system. At Open School Night (Parent conferences) Mr. Grambo talked with 32 sets of parents. The conferences went really well.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - We again worked on viewing Science Fair Projects. During period 8 we received a notice for tomorrows Parent Teacher Conference.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - There is a leak in the steam pipes in our science classroom. The leak is behind the bookcase. The Plumbers are coming... The plumbers are coming, hopefully before Thursday. We were presenting science fair projects out in the hall.

Monday, March 1, 2010 - Students did not come to school today. Teachers had many meetings throughout the day. Most of our meetings were aimed towards ways to help students get better grades on their upcoming city wide math and reading tests. Construction workers took apart the radiators in 246 today. Hopefully they are put back together for class tomorrow or we will be working in the hallway.

Friday, February 26, 2010 - School was closed today by the Mayor because of a snow storm. Science Fair Projects that were supposed to be shown today will be rescheduled.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 - Today was a half day for Parent Teacher Conferences. During the morning we spent time working on the Math page for Building Big Things (page 82 of Bob) and we started to set up our Bob notebooks for our upcoming unit on Weather. It was snowing all day. We had our afternoon conferences and I was able to talk with 25 parents. Our evening conference was cancelled by the Mayor. Mr. Fahey has rescheduled the evening Parent Teacher Conference for Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - Today team number four showed their projects to the rest of the class. Today was the last day to hand in missing work before Parent Teacher Conferences. Queens College will be sending student teachers to us on Wednesdays for the next ten weeks. They started today. Mr. Akalski and Mr. Grambo met with them during period two today.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - The chairs in the classroom were taken away and we got ready to view Science fair Projects. We sat on the floor out of the way while team 5 set up their projects on the desks. Each student in team 5 presented their project and we asked them questions. At the end of the period, Mr. Grambo collected their display boards and Jake notebooks.

Monday, February 22, 2010 - We received the Presentation schedule today for the Science Fair Projects. Team 5 presents first. This schedule will be put onto page 27 of Jake. Mr. Grambo explained how we grade projects. He then presented a project and the class graded his presentation.

Monday, February 15, 2010 to Friday, February 19, 2010 - School is closed for Mid-Winter Recess.

Friday, February 12, 2010 - Today Was Mardi Gras Day at our School. Everyone was wearing Purple, Yellow and Green, not to mention all the BEADS.All work on Simple Machines is now finished. Students checked the marking book to see which work they still had missing and then took the appropriate work sheets to make up the work over vacation. Our Science Fair Projects must be finished when we return from vacation. Please spend quality time working on your project and have it ready in two weeks. We worked on this Machines Crossword today Crossword Puzzle - Complex Machines

Thursday, February 11, 2010 - Today is snow dig-out time. Today was also Red and White Day. I do not think our custodial staff ever went home during yesterdays storm. The night guys were still here in the morning. We had a regular day and then set up for the Valentine Dance. Only about 200 students attended the dance, but school was open, the Mayor said after school activities were on and our dance went on as scheduled. We had a wonderful time at the dance.

Wednesday, February 10, 1010 - School was closed today by the Mayor due to the Snow Storm. It was snowing lightly in the morning, but at 2:00 wow was the snow wild. I live in Little Neck, Queens and we received 14 inches of snow from this storm.

Tuesday, February 9, 2009 - When we woke up, we found out about the snow storm that was going to hit New York on Wednesday. We spoke to Mr. Fahey and we all decided that we would leave Taconic today to get everyone home before the storm. We called the Bus company to arrange buses for 9 PM and rearranged the day to fit in the rest of the two days activities. We ran everyone ragged. While we were our looking at animal tracks a mountain lion walked across the frozen lake. We use maps and compass to walk along trails and were drawing from nature throughout the day. At school the staff was calling all our campers to let everyone's parents know we would be getting back to school at 11 PM. We went on a night hike, which included a trust walk and life savers sparking in your mouth. We then saw many reptiles in our evening program. We left Taconic at 9 PM and arrived at school at 11 PM. Students at school worked on a reading about the Greek philosopher and Math guy Pythagoras. All students including those on the trip are expected to complete this reading by Friday. INCLINED PLANES - READING - Pythagoras
 

Monday, February 8, 2010 - It is time for our OPEX Trip to Stoney Kill Farm and Taconic Outdoor Education Center. We arrived at school at 6:00 AM with our luggage, lunch and sleeping bags. At 7:00 AM the busses arrived, we paced and were off. We arrived at Stoney Kill Farm at about 10 AM. Our activities there included  working with farm animals including cows, chickens and pigs. finding our how pesticides and fertilizers used on farms could possibly get into our drinking water supply. In the greenhouse we found out about plants and where our food comes from and then we made Johnny cakes. At 2 PM we went to Taconic for the rest of our adventure. Today at taconic we hiked in the woods and say a bird program by Bill Robinson. The birds flew over our head during the program. We went to our cabins for bed at 9:30 PM In school we left this reading for our students. All students including those on the trip are expected to complete this reading by Friday. INCLINED PLANES - READING - Mechanical Advantage.

Friday, February 5, 2010 - We made sure everyone was finished with the written portion of the Inclined Plane experiment and made sure that our glossary was up to date. Students that did not return their progress report signed received a letter to take home to their parents. There are two weeks left to work on Science Fair Projects. They need to be finished when we return from February break. Today everyone in the school took a citywide math test.Next Monday through Wednesday, We will be taking students on a three day trip to Taconic Outdoor Education Center.Next Thursday is our School Dance and it is Red and White Day. Next Friday is Mardi Gras Day.

Thursday, February 4, 2010 - Most students have finished the experiment in inclined planes. 6-421 received a demonstration on how to set up the equipment. We added two more words to our glossary - Inclined planes and ramp. This morning the students at our school took a city wide reading test. Tomorrow everyone will take a citywide math test.  

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - We are almost finished with our Inclined Plane experiment. Most students have finished the data table of collected results on page 96 of Bob. In 6-421 we will have a demonstration tomorrow of how to set up and use the inclined plane. The students coming up from lunch to mess around with the Roller Coasters have been having a great time. We will not be able to work on the coasters on Thursday (I have to go to BJs to get "stuff" for next weeks dance) but we will be able to work on the roller coasters again on Friday. The permission slips for next weeks dance were given out today during homeroom.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - We continued working on our Inclined Plane experiment. Our goal is to see if a steeper ramp is better or worse than a slight incline. We have to measure angles with a protractor for this experiment. Ramps are important to us; they help people get to higher levels without having to climb stairs. Students are coming up from lunch to work on the Roller Coaster experiments which we have placed into the Jake notebook. Today is Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil (a groundhog in Pennsylvania) did see his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter, however, Staten Island Chuck did not. So what are we to believe???

Monday, February 1, 2010 - Today we looked at the equipment for inclined planes and talked about where we have seen them, like at the diner to help people in wheel chairs get in. We did the K and W for the KWL chart on page 93 of Bob. We then looked at our Problem and wrote out our hypothesis on page 94 of Bob. I went over the data they need to collect on page 96. Third period lunch students came up to work on experiments with Roller Coasters. We will log these experiments in our Jake notebook. Our schools Quality Review is this Tuesday and Wednesday.

Friday, January 29, 2019 - We finished setting up our Bob notebooks for Inclined Planes experiments, Finished up our notebook checks, made sure all our words were in our glossary and then finished up Pulley Experiment two. Using two pulleys we found many ways to lift the load. One of then even lifted allowed us to lift the load using only one newton of force. Everyone should be working at home on their Science Fair Project. They are to be finished when we come back from February break.

Thursday, January 28, 2010 - We set up our Bob notebooks for the Inclined Planes experiment. This setup was from pages 93 through 110 of Bob. This also included work on Energy and readings. We had a notebook check today. We looked for Glossary words, Progress reports signed and attached to pages in Bob and we looked at our progress on our Science Fair Projects in Jake.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 6-235 has finished the two pulley experiment. We have come up with 7 ways to set up the two pulleys and we have drawn the seven set-ups onto chart paper. We need to make four drawings on page 87 of bob for this experiment. In one set-up we have accomplished lifting the 4.5N load with only 1.0N of force.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Students continued working on the two pulley experiment. We keep talking about Independent and dependent variables. Students are working on their glossary and are fixing up their Bob and Sally Notebooks.

Monday, January 25, 2010 - Today was the beginning of the third marking period. Today was also a half day for students. Teachers had meetings in the afternoon. During the day we focused on the two pulley experiment. We received a sheet with vocabulary for our glossary. This week we will check our Glossary and our Jake Science Fair journal.

Friday, January 22, 2010 - All work needs to be handed in by today. The Second Making Period ends at 3:10 this afternoon. In class we talked about Science Fair Projects and got a chance to walk around the room and looked at about 20 projects. We talked about what looked good and what needed improvement. We then watched a video on how to put together a science fair project with Janice Van Cleave. We wrote notes about the video onto page 40 of Jake.

Thursday, January 21, 2010 - We were working on our experiment with two pulleys. Some students were getting their books and work ready to be re-handed in for a better grade. The marking period ends this Friday.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - We received stickers for our planner to remind us that the marking period ends on Friday (we also need to hand in Progress Reports) and that we are having a Book Swap next week. All classes finished up the Single Pulley experiment today. Everyone received their graded Quiz on Ecosystems. Everyone got the first question incorrect, but a swamp is fresh water. I would not want to drink from it, but it is still considered fresh water.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - Mr. Grambo was working on a project with the 8th Graders. He had our homeroom teachers give us progress reports. They are due back on Friday. We were given a reading assignment to help us with our Science Fair Projects on Creating A Winning Display. Mr. Grambo and Mr. Blum were working on the closing ceremonies for a project called Kids ISO 14000 (check our Kids ISO 14000 web page at: http://www.armstrong227q.com/Science/ISO14000/index.htm ) there were people here from Japan, New Jersey and Canada.

Monday, January 18, 2010 - School was closed today - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Friday, January 15, 2010 - Today all classes took a quiz on Ecosystems. We also handed in missing work. Progress Reports will be given out on Tuesday. The Second Marking Period will end next Friday, January 22, 2010.

Thursday, January 14, 2010 - Notebooks have been collected and everyone has had a chance to make up any missing work. We have finished pulley experiment 1 using a single pulley. We should have written a procedure for a free and fixed pulley set-up on page 79 of Bob. Our collected data should be on page 80. Our Independent Variable is the change we made to turn everything from a fixed to a free pulley system. and our conclusions are on page 81. Tomorrow everyone is taking a QUIZ on Ecosystems from our Sally project (Pages 40 to 65)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - Everyone was working on pulley experiment 1. 6-235 is almost finished with this experiment. Pulleys can be fixed or free in how they are set up.  We collected Sally notebooks from 6-319 and 6-235 today. Everyone was able to look over my marking book today to review their work and see if they were missing anything. There is a quiz on Friday on Ecosystems. The Marking Period ends next Friday, January, 22, 2010.Class 6-417 did not seem to have been given the assignment on Reading - Levers Class 1 or Reading-Pulleys. Both assignments were given out today.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 6-421 set up their books for pulleys. All other classes were working on their pulley experiments.  We collected Bob notebooks from 6-417 today and Sally notebooks from 6-421.

Monday, January 11, 2010 - Today was a half day. We were working on the Pulley experiment. Most students were drawing the set up for the fixed pulley onto page 79 of Bob. We collected Bob notebooks from 6-319 today.

Friday, January 8, 2010 - We went over items on the test. 6-421 handed in their Bob notebooks for grading.

Thursday, January 7, 2010 - Most classes took their test on levers today. After the test we talked more about the Science Fair. 6-416 handed in their Bob notebooks for grading. This evening was our second Open House for perspective new students to our school (Sept 2010)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - Some classes were setting up the Jake Science Fair notebook and others were reviewing for this weeks test on levers.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 - We set up our Jake notebook today and began to talk about our Science Fair. By next Monday, We need to have our topic picked our and have page 7 completed in our Jake notebooks. We can work by ourselves or with one other person in grade 6.

Monday, January 4, 2010 - We talked about work being collected this week (both Bob and Sally notebooks). The marking period end in a few weeks and work is still missing. Students had a chance to make up the missing work over vacation. We started on Pulleys today. We looked at the questions on the reading and noticed that not all questions are the some. Some ask information directly from the passage, Other questions make us think.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 through Sunday, January 3, 2010 - Winter Recess - School will be closed to all students and Staff. The Custodial Staff will be in cleaning and painting the building.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 - Mr. Grambo went with 6-319 to the movies. All students were given reminder stickers to put into their planners about finishing the Ecosystems project and about finishing up the levers experiment and all associated written work. Page 22 and 23 of Sally also needs to be done for the My Piece of the Neighborhood Project. Bob and Sally will be collected and Graded after the Holiday break.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - Classes that were not in science yesterday reviewed the grade book and obtained missing readings and worksheets. 6-417 will have their Bob notebooks looked at tomorrow. I will be checking their Class 2 and 3 lever experiment. The third floor classes will be going on a trip to the movies tomorrow.

Monday, December 21, 2009 - Classes reviewed my grading book and obtained worksheets and readings They were missing. Students finished setting up their Bob notebooks for the Pulley Experiments. 6-235 started on the pulley experiments today.

Friday, December 18, 2009 - We looked at the new equipment and wrote on the KWL chart on page 77 of Bob for the new Pulley Experiment. Afternoon classes worked on the Wheel and Axle reading while Mr. Grambo set up the Holiday Dance.

Thursday, December 17, 2009 - Classes were setting up their notebooks for the upcoming Pulley Experiments on pages 77 through 90 of Bob.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - Mr. Grambo was working with the Community Concert today. left work with on sketching in the science classroom with our substitute Ms. Gold.. There are fast sketches and slow drawings that can be made. Drawings are important to indicate your point of view and to give detail that can get lost with words. This work will go onto page 20 of Bob.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - On page 75 of Bob we wrote what we learned about levers. All classes were then busy setting up their notebooks for their upcoming Pulley experiments. Morning classes went to the Auditorium to see the Winter Concert.

Monday, December 14, 2009 - Today was a half day. We started to set up our Bob notebooks for our upcoming Pulley Experiments. We only worked with two classes today. Students that did not complete pages 40 through 49 of Sally by last Friday need to have done the work over this past weekend to receive any lost points for missing work. 

Friday, December 11, 2009 - We finished our experiment on Class two and Three lever systems. Our experimentation brought us from page 63 of Bob to page 69.

Thursday, December 10, 2009 - Mr. Grambo was not in school today. He left a word search puzzle on Simple Machines.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - We finished our graph and went on to explain what the graph shows and to talk about the variables in this experiment. We received a reading on Class 3 levers for Homework. (Attach finished work to page 72 of Bob)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - We worked on the Graph for the experiment on Class 2 and 3 levers. We received a reading for homework on Class 2 levers. (attached finished work to page 71 of Bob)

Monday, December 7, 2009 - We are continuing to collect data for the class two and three lever systems. It is time to begin to make a graph with the data from these two sets of collected data. One line will be in red the other will be in blue. Both lines will be on the same graph.

Friday, December 4, 2009 - We began the experiment by writing in our hypothesis. These lever systems will not be alike (why would they have different names if they were the same?) We then set up our experiments and began to write out a procedure and began to collect data.

Thursday, December 3, 2009 - There are similarities and differences in the class two and class three lever. It has to do with what is in the middle. In a class 1 lever system, the fulcrum is in the center with the load on one side and the effort on the other. This is not the case in the class two and class three lever system. Our job is to find the differences.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - All classes finished with the class 1 lever experiment today. Class 6-235 started on the class 2 and 3 lever experiment. (The fulcrum is not always in the center of a lever system)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - We received worksheets for a project in Sally called the Ecosystem. This is an at home project that involves reading from the Sally book and from the text book to find answers to questions about the environment and energy transfer throughout the environment. These worksheets are to be glued in the Sally book at home onto pages 40 through 65.

Monday, November 30, 2009 - Today is a half day. I only saw one class today and we reviewed work from last week.

Friday, November 27, 2007 - School is closed for Thanksgiving Break. There will be a half day next monday. You will leave school at 12:15

Thursday, November 26, 2009 - There is no school today, it is Thanksgiving Day. Everyone was sent an e-mail with information on the history behind this holiday.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - We continued with the Class 1 Lever experiment. Some were placing vocabulary ( Scientific Method words) into their glossary. Others were collecting data and making graphs. Some were continuing with writing out a procedure for this experiment.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - We took collected data and created a graph from the data. We then looked at other positions along the graph line and made hypothesis about what the spring scale readings would be if the spring scale were placed in locations indicated along the graph line. I am not sure if everyone got it. It is our first experience with this. We will continue with this tomorrow.

Monday, November 23, 2009 - We started working on the Class 1 lever experiment today. There are many aspects of this experiment that students need to "get". there are the words that make up the Scientific Method. These words are need to everyone. They need to be learned and added to their Glossary. We will be making a prediction on the effort needed as we move closer or further from the fulcrum with the load in a fixed position at 10cm. The students will need to experiment, gather data, make a graph, analyze their data and graph and draw conclusions. They have not done any of these things yet. This is their first experience with this.

Friday, November 20, 2009 - We saw a video on the scientific method. The video came from United Streaming. The Scientific Method is like a set of rules that scientists work by. Scientists can redo experiments done by others and can compare answers. We discovered that we can have only one variable at a time. All other variables must be controlled. Some parts like asking a question or making a hypothesis must be done before any work is started. We need to gather materials and equipment. As we work we need to write down our steps as a procedure. Gathered data needs to be looked ant and analyzed. We can then make a conclusion about the work we have done.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - Classes continued with their set up of pages 54-75 of Bob. We also glued in Graph pages and Data pages. We set up for a video on The Scientific Method. This write up will be on page 178 and 179 of Bob. This evening, Mr. Fahey was put in as our official REAL Principal. Many of our Staff went to PS 150 to give speeches about him and to congratulate him on his becoming our boss.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - We set up our Bob notebook for the next two experiments. Class one levers and a second experiment on class 2 and 3 levers. We put together pages 54-72 of Bob. The setup was put on chart paper in the hallway. Classes viewed the paper to set up their books. Yesterday I saw 82 sets of parents at Parent Conferences.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - We only worked with two classes today. It was 1/2 day because of Parent Teacher Conferences. In class we continued our discussion of page 52 in Bob.

Monday, November 16, 2009 - We have an issue using our spring scale to measure force on the lever system. When pulling down on the lever arm we need to know that gravity gives weight to the spring scale (about 40g). The experiment on page 52 has us putting the load (240g mass) on one side of the lever at 5 cm. We hang the spring scale on the other side of the lever at 25 cm and it balances out, without pulling on the scale. This may be an issue in future experiments. We set this up and talked about it for a while. We then messed with the Triple Beam Balance to get the mass of the spring scale. We will need to work with the balance more. Everyone received their report card today.

Friday, November 13, 2009 - your opinion of how hard you push at points along the lever is kind of subjective. We need proof that pushing on the lever near the fulcrum is worse than pushing on the lever further away from the fulcrum. We need a measuring tool. Working with rubber bands and rulers we figured out a simple measuring tool and compared it to the spring scale we will be using throughout this science unit. We worked on page 51 of Bob today.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 - Classes were given their lab equipment for Lever Experiments. We went over the equipment and then set up the experiment on page 49 of Bob. We hung a lever from a ringstand. On one side of the lever we suspended a 240g mass at the 15 cm mark. On the other side of the lever we pressed down at the 10cm, 15cm and 20 cm from the center marks. Which was easier? Which required more force? We came up with the rule that the further the effort is from the fulcrum the less effort is needed to lift the load.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - There was no school today in observance of Veteran's Day.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - Classes used the lever to lift me up. We came to the conclusion that I needed to be close to the fulcrum. I was called the LOAD. The EFFORT was the force supplied by my students that lifted me off the floor. We used this information to answer the questions on page 40 of Bob.

Monday, November 9, 2009 - We began work today on Levers. We set up pages 48-53 of Bob and then filled in the K and W part of the chart on page 48. Students then lifted me using the lever and drew pictures onto page 48 of Bob.

Friday, November 6, 2009 - All classes took the Quiz on force today. When students were finished they worked with their textbook and bob notebook on the energy pages (46 and 47) . Today you need to find the Sunrise and Sunset time for entry number 1 in your Sally Notebook for My Piece of the Neighborhood Project.

Thursday, November 5, 2009 - We reviewed a few Force problems for the test and then we discussed Energy. If force can make something move then energy is involved. We talked about stored energy (potential energy) and energy of motion called kinetic energy. We then used our Glencoe textbooks to work on pages 46 and 47 of Bob to hunt and find information about various forms of energy and how energy can change from form to form. There will be a homework reading for the weekend on energy.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - In Bob we labeled the tops of pages 30 through 46. On page 44 we wrote the things we learned about force. We glued into Bob a sheet about energy on page 46 and glued site visit number 1 into Sally. We then had a discussion on Fridays quiz on force. Students have been asking questions on the Swine Flu H1N1 virus shot, so I took some time today to discuss the vaccine. Mr. Blum took 6-326 to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge as their Beach portion of OPEX

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - Students did not have school today. It was Election Day. Most of our Staff were in the school or were at Professional Development meetings. In school I went to a meeting on integrating reading into the content areas. In the afternoon I helped Mr. Levin remove old computers from classrooms.

Monday, November 2, 2009 - We voted today for President and Vice President of the Student Organization during Homeroom today. In Mr. Blum's room we played Tug of War. We first talked about how there was history to the game and how it was played in ancient times. This game of equal and unequal forces had everyone on their toes predicting outcomes and explaining why certain sides won as they did. Everyone had a wonderful time. The reading sheet given out in class need to be finished for homework.

Friday, October 30, 2009 - This was our Halloween School Spirit Day. Most students and staff were in costumes. Many staff members kept changing into different costumes throughout the day. In Mr. Blum's room we read stories from the Brothers Grimm. Wow, theses are not the Disney stories I remember. At 3:30 was our Halloween party and dance. It lasted until 6:30. What a great day.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 - On page 44 of Bob we finished up Force by writing down everything we learned about it. After we were finished we went back to the KWL chart on page 30 and wrote that the L part can be found for force on page 44.

Wednesday, October 28, 2008 - We continued working with Force Diagrams today. Some classes missed science today. Mr. Grambo was working in the Auditorium with the Election Assemblies. There will be two more assemblies tomorrow. Grade 6 will go to the assembly during period 1 on Thursday. There will be a Quiz soon on Force. The word force and resultant force should be in your glossary.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - We discovered how to express force diagrams today. We show forces as arrows. The points on the arrows indicate the direction the force is moving in. The amount of the force is written above the arrow. If forces move in the same direction they help each other and add together. Opposing forces hurt each other and subtract from each other. We finished up the force diagrams on page 37 of Bob. Most classes receive a reading on Unbalanced Forces today.

Monday, October 26, 2009 - The second marking period started today. 6-319 went with Mr. Grambo on a trip to Dead Horse Bay today. We had to wait for a bus because the one they sent broke down. We finally left for the trip around 10:30. Ranger Carol met us and took us on our adventure. We stopped at a woodland habitat not 200 yards from a beach habitat, but they were sooo different from each other. The plants and the soil differed drastically. Noticing the differences is important and that is what this trip is all about. The students had a wonderful time and so did our 8 chaperones.

Friday, October 23, 2009 - We continued experimenting to discover what would happen to the bucket if opposing forced that were equal and unequal were acting on it. The predictions, observations of the experimentation and explanations of what happened in the experiments were written onto pages 35 and 36 of Bob. We now need to learn to show what we did as Force Diagrams. This is our next step.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 - We are working on the POE charts In Bob on page 35. What happens when two equal forces act on opposite sides of an object? What happens if one person that weighs 100 pounds grabs the handle of a garbage can and another person of the same weight grabs the handle on the other side of the can and both start to pull in opposite directions? On these charts we first predict, then try/observe what happens. We record this information and explain. We received a reading for homework on balanced forces.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - Classes were finishing up their pre-test (yes, the big K test). Classes that met on Monday and Tuesday were working on the POE experiments in the Bob Science Journal. We talked about Force and how is was a push or pull that tries to move an object. the scan of the Frankenstein Comic, along with the comic viewer, was e-mailed to everyone this evening. Progress reports were collected and checked for parent signatures.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Today we took the What Do We Already Know About Science Test. Yes, The big K. 40 questions based on what we will teach this year were asked of our students. Student answers were put onto computer scanner sheets made by Scantron. Hopefully by the end of the year, student answers on a similar test will show vast improvement and great learning on the part of my children.

Monday, October 19, 2009 - It is time to start work on our Sally Science Journal. This is the book that all our projects go into. Our first project will be a year long project called My Piece of the Neighborhood. This year long journey will have students viewing a study site once a month over the course of our current school year. We glued Part of Sally together today. We put in our contents and index pages. We then added pages 4-16 of the My Piece of the Neighborhood Project. This week we need to pick our study site and take a photo of it.

Friday, October 16, 2009 - We began page 34 and 35. On these pages we started to learn about force. Using a girl and a bucket (bucket girl) we began to work with Predict, Observe and Explain charts. With these POE charts we will discover the effect of equal and unequal forces on an object. We made sure the terms Force and Simple Machines have been added to our glossary.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 -  We glued a notice about a homework help program called Dial A Teacher into bob and our planner. Teachers help answer student homework questions from Monday to Thursday. Call 1-212-777-3380. We then went over the reading on Simple Machines and now finished the KWL chart and went on to define Simple Machines.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - We looked at the contract on page 29 of Bob for the Simple Machines unit called Building Big Things. We read and signed the contract stating that we would do the best we could on the work in this unit. We then went on to write in what we knew about Simple Machines onto the KWL chart on page 30.  We now read an article in the Levers Reader (pages 1-4) In this article we find that there are 6 types pf simple machines and that ancient peoples may have used these machines to help lift heavy objects. The article also mentions that we could probably lift the teacher with one hand if we had the correct tools. We tool out a 6 foot lever and a fulcrum and experimented to find out if it were possible to lift the teacher off the floor using one hand.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - Students glued 4 pages into Bob for the beginning of the Simple Machines unit. We labeled the tops of these pages. We then went back and made sure we had our Glossary and Journal Entries up to date.

Monday, October 12, 2009 - School was not open today. It was Columbus Day

Friday, October 9, 2009 - The campers on this trip started to pack down after breakfast. The bus arrived for pickup at 11:00 AM. everyone was back in school by 12:00 noon. Mr. Blum went to a meeting at Floyd Bennett Field to plan the overnight trip as part of the OPEX Experience for this year. 6-319 will be going with Mr. Grambo to Dead Horse Bay on October 26 for a one day beach trip. Mr. Blum will be taking a single class on a beach trip also as part of the OPEX experience. Students at school on friday, were given a reading on Lab Safety. This went along with your signed Lab Safety Contract which is on page 190-191 of Bob. This reading was collected and will be graded.  

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Mr. Grambo and Mr. Yaskulski were not in the building today and will not be in on Friday. They are with 30 students taking part in an overnight camping project called A Snapshot On The Hudson. At 11:00 AM over 40 different groups stationed along the Hudson River from the point where it begins until it empties into the ocean will take readings to see how healthy it is. These readings will include underwater soil sediment, the acidity or pH, the chlorine and salt levels and dissolved oxygen. Our collected data along with the data from these other groups will be looked at by scientists and will be available for us to view on their website. We will post the address as soon as we have it. After our adventure at the beach, we went to our campsite at Floyd Bennett Field. This is a Naval Air Station that is now part of Gateway National Recreation Area. It is off of the Belt Parkway at exit 11S. Classes at school were given an assignment on how to read a science article or reading. This assignment was collected and will be graded. The grade on this assignment will be part of your first marking period grade.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - Some classes did not finish selected activities due to the fire and evacuation drills, so we made sure everyone had what was needed in their Bob notebooks.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - We reviewed the items being checked in the Bob notebook and then continued with the Mat Flip Trust Game team building activity. Student Daily Journal Entries are going into Bob on pages 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28.

Monday, October 5, 2009 - We were given our access code to the on-line version of our textbook and were given the phone numbers of our bus company in case we have bus issues in the future. The Access Code was also sent to everyone as an e-mail today. It is time to review the activities we played in Fridays games and then continue today with the Mat Flip activity. In this activity, all members of the team start by standing on one side of a three foot by two foot mat. Without getting off the mat, the mat must be flipped over and everyone on the team needs to be standing on the other side of the mat when your team is finished. Questions for this activity are on page 17 of Bob. Class 6-235 had their Bob notebooks collected today. National Park Rangers Jennifer and Chris came in today during period 6 to speak to the students going on the camping trip this Thursday and Friday.

Friday, October 2, 2009 - Teams work on trust. Trust is something you earn. In a few years you will be with a friend that will drive you in their car. You will put your life in their hands. You will have to trust them. How will they earn that Trust from you? As experiment partners, you will need to trust each other and the answers you get as you work. Today we bag work with three simple group games to help us with this Goal. In the first activity, we must join hands to form a large ring. A hoola hoop is put between the hands of two members of your team. Can you get the hoola hoop around the entire circle without letting go of your hands? In the second activity a can is passes from person to person on your team. Inside the can is a ball. The can and ball may never touch the ground. One simple constraint. You can not use your upper body to touch the can. There are questions on page 16 and 17 of Bob for these two activities. Bob notebooks will be collected next week.

Thursday, October 1, 2009 - Today, all students should have finished the Textbook Tour. Any part of this scavenger hunt not finished needs to be done for homework tonight. Tomorrow we will be going on an evacuation drill. Check the Information Page of our school web site for information about where we go in the event of an emergency.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - All students have now handed in their homework on writing a procedure. This homework was given out last Friday. It has been graded and should now be attached to page 15 of your Bob notebook. All students should now have a copy of the Science Textbook. An on-line version of this textbook is available for viewing. Instructions can be found on page 18 of Bob. Some classes received their books today and began work on pages 18 and 19 0f Bob.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - We went over the work from Friday on writing a procedure (Tomato Sauce Experiment). We also gave out our Text Book - New York Science - Grade 6 - Glencoe. We began to work on the textbook scavenger hunt on page 18 and 19 of Bob. Students that did not make an e-mail address were given a letter to take home.

Monday, September 28, 2009 - There was no school today - Yom Kippur

Friday, September 25, 2009 - This was Tomato Sauce Day. Our GOAL for today was to write a procedure [set of instructions] that another person could use to do what we did. Every student in grade 6 went to Mr. Blum's room, 315, at some point during the seven periods that we worked on this procedure. We had such a blast. Many other teachers took part in our production. During periods 7 and 8 even Mr. Fahey came in to give his hand in trying to help make our sauce without Mamma recipe. In our Bob notebooks we wrote on a KWL chart on pages 12 and 13. Our Procedure was written by Mr. Blum onto a Smart Board. We put this information onto page 14 of Bob. For homework we were to write a procedure for something like tying a shoe or making a PB and J sandwich. This homework will be collected on Tuesday.
You can see more about our sauce experiment at: http://www.armstrong227q.com/science/tomatosauce/main.htm
 

Thursday, September 24, 2009 - Today, we made sure we had all the information for our experimentation on Observations and Inference. This took place in Bob on pages 6 through 11. We the put definitions for Observation, Inference and Hypothesis into our glossary which is located in the back of out Bob notebook.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - Today some classes were working on the Inference experiment. Our Goal for today was to come up with a definition for Inference using the Think-Pair-share method. First the student writes down what they feel the word means. At their workstation they discuss their writings with their team and come up with a single team definition for the word. The class now becomes a large group. A spokesperson from each group shares the teams definition with the class. We then put it all together and come up with a class definition for the word.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - Two classes worked on the Observation Experiment while other classes began work on the Inference Experiment. There is this comic strip that is made up of three frames or boxes. somehow the center frame became missing just before the newspaper received the comic strip. The other two frames are there, Our job is to figure out what could be happening in the missing center frame by looking at the frames on either side of it. We do this all the time in language arts to figure out words. We use context clues. On a KWL chart  on page 11 we wrote down what we know about the two frames that we have. There is a girl smelling a flower in frame 1. In frame 3 she seems angry and wet. We Want to know what made her that way. This is what is happening in frame 2. This is our best guess based on the information we have available to us. This will be our hypothesis or inference.WE are using our first Think-Pair-Share to make a definition for a word. Our GOAL for today was to tell the difference between an outright guess and an inference.

Monday, September 21, 2009 - We found out today the difference between observing something and looking at it. When we observe, we remember. We know the smell of apple pie, the sound of the Mr. Softee truck. These are images that we have observed and remembered over time. Today we experimented with a dollar bill, an item we have seen all our life, but have never observed. First we started with a KWL chart and wrote down what we knew and wanted to know about a dollar. On the back of page 6 of Bob a dissected dollar bill was presented to us. we were to put the puzzle together. It was really difficult. We did not know where the pieces went. Mr. Grambo gave us cheat time. It only made it worse. Our homework was to as our parent to finish off the parts we were having trouble with.  On page 8 and 9 of Bob we had to find images the Bureau of Printing and Engraving hid on the bill.  Thirteen groups of thirteen item that included thirteen stars, thirteen arrows, thirteen feathers. There is an owl and even spider. On page 9 there were a few questions about the school. We have been in our new school for a week. Do we know the color of the auditorium, among other things. We also had to write our first journal entry into our journal entry today onto page 7 of Bob. Our GOAL for today was to realize that we always view things but when we notice  specifics about items so we can remember them we are observing the items. We can also become better observers with practice (In this experiment we practiced by searching for hidden items on a dollar bill).

Friday, September 18, 2009 - We checked the signatures on 8 pages that we glued into our Bob notebooks. We then went over the internet usage policy on page 192. We talked about why we have this policy before we took a look at our school web site and the Grambo science pages of the site.

Thursday, September 17, 2009 - We went page by page through Bob to make sure we had everything in our science book and that all pages were correctly numbered and titled. We are ready to begin our science work. Our books will be collected and graded next week. Tomorrow, eight pages in Bob will be checked for signatures.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - We talked about the Grading Policy on page 198 and examined what it takes to make a good journal entry on pages 194 and 195. We then looked at what the grading Rubric on Pages 192 and 193. WE put this all together and wrote a composition outlining what it will take to get a terrific grade in science. We wrote this composition on the bottom of page 192 and then signed it.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - We had our first Fire Drill today at 1:45. It went Ok, but it took a bit long. It will get better with more practice. We finished attaching pages to Bob and labeled more pages. From Now On.... Everyone must have Bob in their hand in order to enter the room.

Monday, September 14, 2009 - We set up our Bob notebook today. We had many pages to glue into this notebook and had many pages to label the tops of. Another sticker was put in our planner. There are pages in Bob that our parents have to sign. This sticker will remind us to get these pages signed.

Friday, September 11, 2009 - Today, all classes finished with the rules of our science class. These rules will be attaches the the very last page of our Bob science Notebook (page 200)

Thursday, September 10, 2009 - Some classes received their supply lists today. In other classes we talked about creating an e-mail address for use in science class and began to discuss the class rules.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - Today was the first day of school for all students. The seventh and eighth grade students went right to class at the beginning of the day while the fifth and sixth grade students stayed in the auditorium for a while. School began during period 2. We gave out supply lists today and put stickers in our planner to remind us that our supplies were due on Monday. We also have to make sure we have a public library card and PIN number by Friday, September 18. Mr. Grambo wants to make sure we have access to a computer. With a library card, we can use the computers at the library.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Teachers came to school for meetings and to set up their classrooms.

September 1-4, 2009 -Teachers went in this week to fix up their classrooms if they wanted to. Mr. Grambo went in on Wednesday and Thursday.