#Molympics, enough said!

       Well, it was a great week.  I had a total of 40 parent teacher conferences Monday night and another 26 Wednesday night for a grand total of 66 conferences.  I would like to say thank you to all of the parents that came out and I am so glad I got to meet you.
       Next we had the late start on Wednesday followed by the test on Electron Configuration and the Periodic Table.  I was overall pleased with the results of the test and reminder any make up works needs to be completed within the next two weeks before exams and exam review begin.  Reminder the element project is due this Tuesday and I look forward to creating the Periodic Table on the ceiling.
      Once the test was complete, we finished out Thursday celebrating Mol Day  http://www.moleday.org/ and then participated Thursday and Friday in Molympics.  We competed against somewhere close to 19 other schools across the U.S. including a school in Pakistan doing several activities that related to the mol.  We should find out later this week what school won the awesome trophy.

    

     

Periodic Table and the Element Ball Project

      This week we finished up with the chapter on electron configuration and began our next chapter on the Periodic Table.  We jumped into lab to begin organizing elements then began learning about about the trends in reactivity.  

We have lots of pieces to start putting together as we begin sequencing valence electrons to charges to formulas to naming to chemical reactions.  Things will be busy.  

Plans next week include a test on Wednesday and to continue gathering facts on our element ball project.  

Element Ball Project

    Every student was assigned an element in which they need to gather 20 facts.  As the element balls come in (Oct 28) then we will construct a 3D periodic table on the ceiling and discuss some of the interesting facts about the elements.  Next week includes Parent teacher conferences on Monday and Wednesday night, test on Wednesday (late start), then #molympics on Thursday and Friday.  Its going to be a great week.  Also be sure to check out my website at http://dragan38.wix.com/mrragan for more course information.

Week 6: Atomic Models and Diagonal Rules

     This week we continued with our look at atomic models and began to focus more on the address system for electrons.  And although we can't pinpoint exactly where the electron might be, I think I got it across to my students that it was similar to looking in the stands at the football game and having a pretty good idea that your parents or friends are up there somewhere on the home side, in that section, in that row and maybe even in those seats!  But their changing seats like musical chairs and the music never stops playing!

Next it sank in that we were half through the trimester and I was excited to hear students recommending to other students to watch the videos because the video really explained things well.  We started into the address system and I began spouting out 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 alright, alright, wait what?  As we continued I began seeing more and more light bulbs going off of understanding and I'll know more next week with assessments.  In the meantime we took Friday to get a grip on the so called diagonal building of lowest energy to highest energy and took time out to understand the so called diagonal rule with the diagonal rule challenge.  The object, feed an extension cord through the order of the diagonal rule from 1s^2 to 7p^6 as quickly as possible!

Week 5 and Things Went Nuclear

This week we finished up atomic structure and calculated all the components of the atom.  We determined the number of protons, electrons, neutrons, mass numbers, atomic mass, charges, etc.  Watched a video on carbon-14 dating and discussed isotopes.  We then used the iPads then to test our knowledge of these concepts.

The wonderful thing about this program is that
 it is web based so for those students that wanted
 to continue to practice they had the capability to
 do so using their own device such
 as a home computer, iPad, or smart phone.

Overall, several students were quite successful on their quiz as we wrapped up the unit on atomic structure.
     Next, so many advances in what we know about the atom resulted from the work of nuclear chemistry.  We continued with a newer model of the atom and looked at nuclear energy, the harmfulness of radon gas, and discussed nuclear power plants.  We continued with several calculations of radioactive decay and how nuclear atoms can undergo transmutation.  I used the app classkick to allow the students to work some problems in class on the iPads and then provide me with the data I needed to quickly assess.  Overall I was pleased with the results.

Next week we continue with the harmful effects of radiation and prepare for our test on Tuesday.