Finals Review Information

Hi Parents,

This week, I am doing something a little different and I am posting my class outline so you and your child know what to anticipate. I am also posting the final review study guide on each class specific page so that you can review this with your son or daughter.

Biology

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Do now: What is an allele? (5 min) + share Personal inventory of traits worksheet. (10 min) Share traits, analyze data. (5 min) Pre-Lesson PPT activity, genetics vocabulary, word match activity (40 min) Work on Stem Cell Questions (Final 20 min of class) Exit ticket: One question I have about genetics from today is...	Do now: What types of inherited traits are described in Harry Potter? (5 min to write) + share Genetics Lesson 1 ppt (45 min including student activities) Harry Potter Hair Colors & Human Genetic Traits worksheets Homework: Punnett Square Practice Stem Cell questions due!	Do now: Punnett square Genetics Lesson 2 ppt (40 min)   Codominance/Incomplete Dominance Continue Punnett Square practice	Rough draft due: must be printed, have two copies ready for peers to edit. This will take up 45 minutes of class time. We will start class with reviewing the editing process. Monsters Genetics Lab: Independent Activity

Physics

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Do now: Look at physics final review guide in classroom, take 5 min to review silently. Allow students 25 min to work on review in class. Transition to project! FINALLY YEAH! Driving question, You have been given a 250 million dollar budget by NASA and Mrs. Tisdale to show how AWESOME Oasis is by designing a mission to Mars. Introduce students to the four required question and design piece. Review rubric. Begin working on project!	Do now: one problem from study guide will be up there, students must solve. (5 min) Review and explain: 5 min Study guide review, 20 min. Work on project! Exit ticket: Project self grade	Do now: one problem from study guide will be up there, students must solve. (5 min) Review and explain: 5 min Study guide review, 20 min. Work on Project! Exit ticket: Group grade at this point	Do now: one problem from study guide will be up there, students must solve. (5 min) Review and explain: 5 min Study guide review, 20 min. Project peer review day! Transition between teams, share information. I like, I think, I wonder…. *Students will be revising projects after final on Tuesday, sharing on Wednesday. Students limited to a 12 minute presentation for project on Wednesday.

Finals Week Information

Hi Parents!

I want to share with you what our last week of school will be: 

Physics/Biology - Monday

Government - Monday & Tuesday

History - Tuesday

Geometry/Algebra II - Tuesday & Wednesday

American Lit/Classic Lit - Wednesday

On Thursday, we will be leaving with our first period classes to head out spreading Christmas cheer to local businesses, ending up at the main street movie theater to watch a 10:00 private showing of Rogue One, the new Star Wars movie. Lunch will be provided to the students following the film. This is a reward to the students as they scored amazingly on the  end of course exams and deserve recognition for this. 

In class this week, Biology is finishing up learning about meiosis and the formation of gametes or sex cells. We also reviewed asexual reproduction. The week ended in them researching embryonic stem cells and their use in medical treatments and therapies. The students will be writing a persuasive essay on their opinion of this science from their research. They should be working on their research questions over the weekend. 

In Physics, we are just ended our unit on Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, uniform gravitation, and circular motion. This was enriched with a discussion on black holes and Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Students are also assigned a science fiction short story  to read over the weekend by Ray Bradbury called "A Sound of Thunder" which analyzes the consequences of future time travel. 

I just want to let all of you know, there is a new policy as we approach finals that any student who is missing homework will have to miss their elective and finish the assignment during that time. This means students need to get their work done at home! 

Mr. Casey also came into our class today to explain eligibility an that students cannot fail any class this semester to be eligible for next season. Also, if a student has 2 D's, this greatly reduces their chance to be eligible if their semester cumulative GPA is below a 2.0. 

Every living thing is made of cells, and everything a living thing does is done by the cells that make it up. LL Larison Cudmore, 1977

I hope everyone returned back from Thanksgiving break feeling refreshed from such a wonderful holiday of gratitude and family. I myself spent the break hunting North of Ely, NV for my Nevada bull elk tag. I am truly thankful for my family who made it to the hunt with me and gave their heart and souls to help me be successful. I was able to harvest a Nevada bull elk, what an awe inspiring animal elk are! The trip reminded me of how much I love my native home state, Nevada. I have traveled all over the world, but I do not think any place compares to the harsh yet fertile landscapes of our basins and mountain ranges with the stark contrasts between the two. 

Mrs. Mortensen and her parents (left), in-laws (right), husband (middle), and two daughters. 11/2016

Mean while back at the ranch... let's get back to work! The freshmen finished up their fantastic Cell Respiration projects in which they had to create an add campaign in which they "sell" cell respiration as the best way to make ATP as compared to just fermentation. There were many creative takes on this. I am posting pictures on the Biology page tab. Overall, great job freshmen! This week, we transition into cell division, mitosis, and meiosis. This is a quick unit, but truly informative and ends in a cookie lab! Who could ask for more than that? There will be an email home asking for parent volunteers to help with our "materials" (i.e. ingredients for the lab.) 

In Physics, we are working towards our end goal of their final project which will be due before Christmas Break entitled A Mission to Mars. To help with this, we are learning about Kepler's Laws, Gravitational Force and related equations, as well as Centripetal Force and Motion. There will be homework every night was we push forward to the end of this semester. If students are taking proper notes of examples in class, they should be successful with the homework assignments. Many students are struggling with their calculators, as although they are mostly created to be equal, some are just not as user friendly as others and last week caused many to be in tears as they struggled trying to figure out the proper way to enter equations. It is impossible for me to become an expert in all calculators, so we have been working through the good 'ol fashioned rules of exponents and PEMDAS (order of operations) to assist students in making these calculations easier. If you do want to buy your child a more user friendly calculator for this class, I recommend the TI-30; HOWEVER, a TI-85 model up to the TI-NSPIRE (this baby is the MOTHER of all calculators) is strongly recommended as these can be used on the ACT and are required in many Pre-Calc and Calculus classes. 

"I have had a horribly busy day converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. Now, I just need a moment to breathe." -Anonymous

As our fun heading starts us off, our topic for the 9th grade this week is finishing up our unit project on cellular respiration and photosynthesis. The students started a project this week in which they have to create a marketing project for cellular respiration and why this is the BEST way to get ATP. We have done an extensive review of vocabulary in which we will continue tomorrow to make sure the students understand these topics. We will also be looking at CO2 levels in ocean coral as well as learning about coral bleaching which is related to cellular respiration and photosynthesis. The project was due tomorrow, but has been extended to next Monday.

The sophomores just finished the Martian. We will be working through this week on the science involved in traveling to Mars including what the book got right and what was a bit of a stretch. The students will be working on a web quest tomorrow on Gravity, a Lunar Lander, and Planetary Orbits. This will be homework if it isn't finished in class. On Thursday, we will review and grade the web quest, and begin our timeline for project delivery. Next week, we will actually be watching the Martian movie with Matt Damon. Please look for a permission slip coming home for that one.

Hi, I'm Mark Watney and I'm still alive... obviously.

I am a bit late to posting this week as we are in the middle of parent teacher conferences, so my prep time has been VERY limited. Just a reminder on those, I along with Mrs. Stockard, will be meeting with the freshmen class only to discuss the Q1 report cards. Sophomores are meeting with Mr. Martin and Mr. Hubbard. If you have not already signed up for your child's PTC, I still have a few times open on Monday, Nov. 7th. You should be able to sign up on the form here PTC Signup Link.

This week in Biology, we have been learning about Cellular Respiration and the steps in this process. Just a refresher to those of you who may have a few years in between that last science class, cellular respiration is the process in which glucose is metabolized in the presence of oxygen to release carbon dioxide, water, and energy in the form of ATP! The first step is glycolysis and is actually anaerobic. If there is no oxygen, fermentation occurs.

In physics, the students are getting closer to finishing the journey of our lovable and clever hero Mark Watney, as he continues to defy the odds and stay alive on Mars, awaiting rescue or death. We also started working on our first project for this nine weeks, building mouse trap cars! The students had to research designs and create their own car. We will be testing their designs next week.

Dr. Cyril Wecht: "What if they show up here with a warrant?" Dr. Bennet Omalu: "On suspicion of what? Science?" from the movie Concussion

Dr. Robin Titus, Dr. Bennet Omalu, and Mrs. Mortensen
Healthy Nevada Speaker Series, 10/25/16 
University of Nevada, Reno

Welcome back to science for our 10th week of the fall semester! This means that the 1st quarter has ended and we are moving bravely into the 2nd quarter. Parent-Teacher conferences for 9th grade will be next week and part of the following week with myself and Mrs. Stockard. 9th grade parents, please keep your eyes out on your email from a Sign-up Genius noting the available days/time slots. 10th grade parents, you will be meeting with Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Martin. 

This week in biology, the learning objective is that students will investigate and describe passive and active transport within a semipermeable membrane through discussion, labeling, laboratory exercises, and a case study. 

For physics, the students will, using the book The Martian to encourage inquiry, design a mission to Mars based on current data and studies from NASA and well as theoretical information from SpaceX. This is our project theme for the next four weeks leading us into Thanksgiving week. 

To continue my own professional learning, I was honored to be a VIP guest of my mother, a local physician to UNR's Healthy Nevada Speaker Series tonight at the Joe Crowley Student Union. The guest speaker tonight was Dr. Bennet Omalu, of the movie Concussion portrayed by the actor, Will Smith. Dr. Omalu is the physician behind the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE which is most notable for its occurrence in NFL football players. His speech was incredibly awe inspiring, especially when it comes to science and knowledge. His recurrent theme for tonight's lecture was that knowledge is power! I encourage you to see the film or read the book if you have not already done so!

Keep calm and ace those midterms!

This week in both biology and physics we will be participating in our first midterms tomorrow (Thursday) which are comprehensive covering all of the topics from the beginning of the year. It is hard to believe we have reached week 9!

This week in biology, the students will describe the concepts of osmosis and diffusion across the cell membrane with pictures from lab data and direct instruction. We have been using the terms hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic in our conversations when describing solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane.

This week in physics, students will describe and analyze motion in 2D from direct instruction and lab using vector addition by creating Oregon Trail vector maps. The Oregon Trail project was really fun, sadly we "lost" quite a few of our pioneers along the way and sadly not one group made the needed westward displacement of 3000 km to get to Oregon City. That being said, I think overall it was a great project and the students learned a lot!

I want to remind parents that the best way to monitor your child's grade is to log into Infinite Campus on a regular basis. The quarter ends this Thursday and the grades will be locked. The semester grade is a combination of 40% Q1, 40% Q2, and 20% for the final in December. Several students have been relying on the "Hail Mary Pass" to see what they can do to fix their grade now. Just like a baseball player, you don't want to let your batting average (aka your grade) drop early on as it becomes extremely difficult to catch back up. Missing assignments next quarter will only be taken if there is and absence and within the time frame established by OACP policy (for excused absence = a day + 1).

With that, please enjoy your fall break and your families! I am hoping we all return on the 24th ready to continue working hard and learning as scientists.