Welcome to Mrs. Stock's class!

Students will wrap up their study of the circulatory system this week.  Monday the students will listen to irregular heart beats to find out how doctors diagnose some circulatory system diseases.  Wednesday the students will watch a demonstration dissection to see how a heart works (I will dissect a beef heart in front of the class rather than each table dissecting one; not enough hearts available.)  Thursday the students will take a quiz, which will be one of the last academic grades of the year.  Friday the students will be introduced to the endocrine system which uses hormones as messengers in the body. 

As students continue their study of the circulatory system, they will learn what causes their pulse and breathing to increase as they exercise.  They will also learn more about the path blood takes as it circulates throughout the body.  If time permits, we will listen to audio files of both regular and irregular heart beats.  Along with hearing the irregular rhythms, students will read what causes the irregularity and if it can be fixed. 

Students will explore the jobs of the circulatory system by participating in a role modeling game on Tuesday and/or Wednesday.  After that, students will be looking at the effects of exercise on their pulse rates to discover what makes their hearts beat faster and their breathing speed up. 

Students created their own recipes for energy bars meeting the following requirements:  150-250 calories, less than 75 calories from fat, more than 25 calories from protein, cost less than $0.50 to make, and is able to withstand a book being dropped on it. 

We are at the end of the study of digestion so students are working on an assessment.  Click here to download the rubric/directions for the assessment.  The students will have time in class to work on their assessments Thursday and Friday, with the assessments being due on Monday. 

The students looked at the different ways stress affects the body, including the fight-or-flight response.  They also read about and brainstormed positive ways to deal with stress, both short-term and long-term stress.  The next part of our chapter will be about the three components of wellness (physical, mental, and social) and how to decisions they make have an impact on all three components. 

Students should still be working on their selected Ch. 1 Assessments:  goal, test, or survey with a poster.  All students will have a work day on Thursday, which will include a review game for those taking the test.  The test will be given on Friday and the poster is due at the end of class on Friday.  The students working on goals or surveys with posters will have another day to work on their final product.   The goal summary is due Wednesday, March 19.

Students are starting their study of the human body.  In this chapter the students will learn about the way the body is organized from the smallest living part to the largest living part.  From there, the students will learn how the body maintains its homeostasis (or normal state) and how stress affects the body.  Finally, students will look at the three components of wellness:  physical, mental, and social. 

Students will be choosing their own forms of assessment for this chapter.  Their choices are taking traditional chapter test; setting a health goal and working on it for two weeks; and creating a survey to find the most common stressor in middle school then creating a poster about dealing with that stressor.  Click on the following links to see more about the two projects.

SMARTS Goal

Student Stressor Survey and Poster

The students will sign a contract for their assessment on Tuesday, March 4.  They will get some class time to work on part of their chosen assessment, but other parts will need to be completed outside of class.  The test and poster will be due on 3/14; the SMARTS goal will be due on 3/19. 

Mrs. Stokes, the other science teacher in room 228, has a therapy dog in training.  She will be bringing in Max, a 6 month old Whippet, starting sometime in January.  To read about the reasons for implementing a therapy dog into a classroom, please download this document.