Mrs. Lefler's Teacher Blog

Great new textbooks to start the year!!

2010-08-10T10:17:00.002-06:00

I can't tell you how pleased I am that school district 2 has acquired new Glencoe textbooks for 8th grade physical science! I am spending time in August reading through the new materials so I can start the new school year in a great, exciting manner.

Foam Board installed by students!

2009-11-30T16:16:00.002-07:00

Thanks to the Alma Mae and Harry Wardell Classroom Grant Awards, students from all class periods were able to put closed cell polystyrene foamboard in the large single pane windows in room 124. The grant also provided new energy kits from the NEED curriculum, available online at www.NEED.org. Thanks to all the learners and community members who help make science classes more interesting.

Guest Speakers for 8Blue Science

2009-11-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

Science learners will be able to here from local experts this November. As a follow-up to the Climate Status Investigations, Marc Singer, Meteorologist for the Billings NOAA office will share insight and information about local weather data. Then, Chuck Creatin, featured in the Billings Gazette about his solar energy business on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We welcome area professionals to our classroom- they truly make science classes relate to the real world.

Tie Dye Day at Riverside

2009-11-17T10:49:00.001-07:00

Poll Everywhere

2009-10-20T13:40:00.000-06:00

Create your own sms poll at Poll Everywhere

Great New School Year!

2009-09-14T21:20:00.002-06:00

Students are being challenged to create fabulous Biography Tab Posters on Famous Scientists! Complete directions as well as a rubric for evaluation are available to help guide each student towards as many points as possible. This poster will allow students to integrate art skills, computer skills such as internet research, writing skills, oral presentation skills, and technology skills such as using Google Earth to demonstrate where the scientists is from. By listening to the classroom presentations, learners will gain exposure and knowledge about many scientists. This helps meet one of the key standards in science: students should learn the history and philosophy of science.

Calculating Speed with Paper Airplanes

2009-02-23T15:05:00.002-07:00

During February, learners had a fun way to practice math and science skills! Students were allowed to go to www.funpaperairplanes.com and find a design to create. We were able to measure the distance the planes went using the metric system and then record the time with a stopwatch in seconds. Dividing the distance by the time will give students the average speed. Our time only allowed us to have one practice throw and two trials, but students should understand that more trials certainly would have been valuable to validate average speed. This helps support the concepts on speed and motion taught in Chapter 3 of the textbook. Practicing the math skills in science class gives students a real world application of sports statistics. It's useful that they practiced the skills before the Montcas test in March.

Energy Unit Wordle!

2008-12-16T16:49:00.001-07:00

Follow this link to a 'wordle' I made for the Physical Science Energy Unit. A ' wordle' is an art concept of terms associated with this unit of study:

Chemistry Unit

2008-12-15T15:02:00.003-07:00

Students have just completed the Chemistry unit for 8th grade and will take the Billings Public School District Assessment on Wed., Dec. 17th. I'd like some feedback on the unit: did you learn the basics about the periodic chart of the elements from the videos, texts, or worksheets? Did you like the experiments with bleach, copper acetate and the borax crystals? What part of the textbook readings did you like or dislike the most? Can you suggest any other strategies? Give me some ideas on what helps learners the most!

Famous Scientists Poster Project

2008-10-16T11:17:00.002-06:00

Students have just finished a major project in their science class that I hope integrates several different teaching skills. First and foremost, I hoped they would all learn more about famous scientists that contributed to the field of physical science. Students gained research skills, using traditional library resources, biographies, and internet search engines. They used their artistic abilities to design the symbol on the front of their poster and were encouraged to be creative and show unique style. Students had the opportunity to use the school laptops and develop word processing skills to type up their clues and use spell check, word art, etc. Finally, by presenting their posters to the entire class, students were exposed to up to 23 different scientists, using Google Earth to show the locations of where the scientists worked, and summarizing the key points of the scientist's contribution to the world. Selected posters will be hung up in the school hallways to provide recognition for the students for outstanding work.
Your feedback on this project is welcome. What did you like most about it? What would you do differently next time in writing your clues?

Let's Inspire, Cooperate, and Learn Together!

2008-08-06T10:37:00.002-06:00

The energy of curious minds and the content of Physical Science will collide in a great start to a new school year! I am totally enthusiastic about having the opportunity to be your teacher! If you would like to contact me here is my school email account: leflerk@billings.k12.mt.us

Open communication will help develop the teamwork approach to learning that will lead to success!