Investigations in Science 7 – June 8, 2018

Announcements:
Fun Day is Monday. Students have signed up through science class for
activities of their choice. Students were given the choice of Minute to Win It
activities, escape rooms, music/karaoke, Zumba, arts and crafts, ping pong, movies,
board games, kickball, basketball, soccer, capture the flag, volleyball, or walk and
relax. Students should be wearing appropriate clothing (shorts, running shoes,
etc.) to be outside. They should also come with a water bottle to stay hydrated.

Graded Assignments Turned in this week:

 Relative Age and Fossils Review Sheet
 Relative Age and Fossil Record Assessment
 Understanding Biological Similarity
 A Whale of a Tale

Coming Up:
Topics:
 Evidence of Common Ancestry

Dates:
 June 8 – 8th Grade Promotion @ 5:00 p.m. at Blake HS
 June 11 – Fun Day
 June 11 – 8th Grade Hershey Park Trip
 June 14 – Diversity Day
 June 14 – End-of-the-Fourth Marking Period
 June 15 – Early Dismissal (12:30 p.m.)
 June 15 – Last Day of School (change from original calendar due to “snow”
days)
 June 26 – Report Cards Mailed Home

What we did this week:

 Monday we finished research on different mass extinctions, when it
happened, what caused it to happen (in some cases there were multiple theories),
what animals went extinct, and what animals evolved/survived the extinction.
Students filled out a graphic organizer of the different mass extinctions in our
DesignFolio.
Then we learned about evidence of common ancestry. To start with, we
learned about biological similarity. We had to tackle two big words: homology and
analogy. Homology refers to traits that are inherited by 2 different organisms
from a common ancestor. Analogy is a similarity due to other factors such as
location of animals (having fins to swim) and not a common ancestor. Students
completed an interactive to look at examples of both
We also looked at evidence of human ancestry through an interactive. The
interactives take them through different parts of a human and our connection to
other organisms.

We also students were looking evidence of human ancestry through an

interactive. The interactives take them through different parts of a human and
our connection to other organisms. Here are the links if you are interested.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/zoo-you.html
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/explore-your-inner-animals

Have a great weekend!