Hi from Middle-School Island!
Fun times the past few weeks as we have been working through our "Yo-Yo Physics" curriculum. This is always a fun way to introduce or reinforce some Newtonian physics concepts (Laws of Motion, Universal Gravitation, etc) and using a toy to keep it from feeling stale.
Although interrupted by our spring break and an awesome eclipse, the kids completed several labs involving inertia, angular momentum, and torque, and they just completed their quiz on Friday. By scoring an 80% or above, they are free to take ownership of the yo-yo they've been assigned in class. Remember that on ALL quizzes, if students do not demonstrate full competency in the curriculum, they need to redress the material (and meet with me if necessary) in order to make corrections or resolve questions. So even if they didn't achieve their goal (and their yo-yo) at first, they can certainly take it home this week.
On Friday, we also held our informal class "Sleeper Contest" in which the crew went head-to-head making their yo-yos spin for as long as possible. Michael Kahrs and Claire Justice were the big winners, with Reeves Atkinson getting an honorable mention for incredible consistency.
On the horizon, we've got our DGS Art Auction next Friday, so some of our time will be sequestered for our final project preparations. (They are looking AWESOME.) We will also be looking at a few more physics-related lab concepts before jumping into SUPER-HERO SCIENCE. This is one of my favorite projects in our 3-year cycle, and involves our students selecting one (or more) physical laws/principles (gravitation, thermodynamics, action-reaction, Bernoulli, etc.) to bend or break in order to invent a "super-power". They will strike hero (or villain) poses and turn themselves into costumed comic-book characters, developing origin story narratives and detailing HOW their powers relate to their selected physics principles on a colorful poster. Trust me, it's cool.
This is SUCH a busy time as we hurtle toward the end for the year with the momentum of a locomotive. Remind your kiddo to check the Google classroom and to stay on top of their daily work to ensure a strong end to their year!