Good Afternoon Parents,

 

I haven't been as current with my weekly notes as I would have liked; the last few weeks have absolutely flown by!

 

In sixth grade we are looking at Energy (namely potential and kinetic).  Students completed an amazing lab and online simulation this week to dive further.  We have a quiz on Wednesday!

 

In seventh grade we have been finishing up our incredible microscopes unit.  The students have done such a fantastic job learning to focus the scopes and even creating their very own slides using their own cells!  We will be taking a look at pond water organisms on Monday!

 

Eighth grade completed a lab today on speed using dominoes!  As a class they decided to make a full run of dominoes at the end of class, and that turned out to be entertaining to watch.  We will begin our Newton's Laws section next week which will include constructing Roller Coasters(!) and performing another lab that will be a Blast for students.  I am incredibly excited for this section already!

 

I hope you have an amazing weekend.  Thank you!,

Mr. L

Good Afternoon Parents!,

 

It's been a while since I had a chance to update you (the month of December is always crazy), but I wanted to let you know what we've been learning about.  I also want to say Thank You for the wonderful Christmas gifts, cards, and surprises!  I am so incredibly fortunate to be at St. Brendan this year, and I feel truly blessed to work with such amazing students, teachers, and families; truly, thank you for everything!

 

6th Grade: The sixth graders are now looking at the essential guiding question of why, exactly, are cells so small.  Students are working on cell analogies right now that examine how cells function like most structures they encounter on a regular basis.

 

7th Grade: The seventh graders are looking at the (long lost) super-continent Pangaea and how plate tectonics and convection currents played (and continue to play) a tremendous role in shaping our planet's features.  My favorite part of this unit is examining convection currents because we will be firing up (literally) our new alcohol burners!  It's going to be hot! (Pardon all the puns.)

 

8th Grade: I LOVE our new eighth grade module that we just started!  We are beginning with forces (balanced, unbalanced, normal/applied/gravitational, etc.) and how we encounter those forces on a constant basis.  Our forces unit will end with a large roller coaster project that will be an incredible experience that our students will love!  I can't wait to share this incredible exploration with the class!

 

Have a wonderful, warm weekend!  Let's go Seahawks!

-Mr. L

 

Good Afternoon Parents,

 

We had another amazing week this week!  Although this was a short week, we learned so much!

 

6th Grade: The sixth graders are doing an AMAZING job with their microscopes! It has been such a joy watching them go from using the vision scopes to making their own microscope slides!

Also, I was So proud today during Mass as the sixth grade readers (Leilani, Gemma, Nathan, and Brooklyn) did a fantastic job! Not only that, but the sixth graders made their entire class proud by being the St. Albert the Great experts today during Father Wichert's homily! I am SPT (Super Proud Teacher) today!

 

7th Grade: The seventh graders have been learning about minerals and crystals.  On Monday we will be completing a lab titled "Hard as a Rock" where they will be performing various tests on minerals such as the streak, hardness, magnetism, luster, and reactivity with acetic acid tests.

 

8th Grade: The eighth graders have been discussing mitigation plans in the event of a natural disaster, and we had an amazing lesson today about flooding.  Students are working on an engineering project that will require them to construct a structure that is able to withstand a flood!  There were some Incredible conversations today during science, and I can't wait to see the completed group projects next week.

 

I hope that you have the best weekend ever!,

Mr. L

Good Afternoon Amazing Parents,

 

We finished another amazing week in science!  Please remember that the end of the trimester is December 6th!  

 

Have an incredible long weekend!,

 

Mr. L

Good Morning St. Brendan Parents,

 

It was amazing seeing you at conferences this year!  I can't believe we are already in November as it seems like the year just got started.  I hope that your upcoming holiday season is incredible!  Take time to stop and smell the roses as I know how busy these next two months will be!

 

6th Grade: Remember that sixth grade has their field trip with Mrs. Wenzl and Mrs. Shumate on Monday!  The sixth graders will be completing their microscopes and vision scopes lessons over the coming days; I can't wait to see how much fun the students have!  Today (11/1) we will be completing our first of many lessons, and I know that they are going to have a blast today!

 

7th Grade: The seventh graders have their geologic features project due on Monday, 11/4.  They have been given Plenty of time to work in class, so I have no doubt that they are going to have amazing projects.

 

8th Grade: The eighth graders will be completing a lab on avalanches next week as we continue to look at natural disaster prediction.  We have had multiple conversations regarding the fires in California, and I think that our discussions regarding natural disasters have been extremely (and unfortunately) on point and on topic this year.

 

I hope that you all have an amazing weekend and week ahead!  Thank you for all you do,

Mr. L

We had another amazing week this week learning about the metric system and preparing for our chapter test on the scientific method!  The eighth graders took the test yesterday (Thursday) and did an amazing job!  The seventh graders will take the test on Tuesday, and the sixth graders will take the test toward the end of next week.  

Have an amazing day St. Brendan families!

 

-Mr. L

Good Afternoon Amazing STBS Parents!

 

What an amazing week we have had in science!

 

6th Grade: This week we completed our Astro-Fizzics lab and we had an amazing time!  The students were thrilled to see how high their alka-seltzer tablets went.  We reviewed fair testing a bit more, and next week we will begin our unit on measurement (metric system conversions).

 

7th Grade: Students did a fantastic job with their Astro-Fizzics lab! Students had a blast launching their film canisters, and I think we all learned a great deal about fair testing.  Today we started learning about how to convert various metric units.

 

8th Grade: Students have been doing a fantastic job with our metric conversions and our measurement unit.  Students will be taking their chapter test on Thursday of next week! 

 

I hope that you all have the best weekend ever.  Thanks for all you do,

Mr. L 

Good Morning Amazing St. Brendan's Parents,

 

This week has really flown by!  We discussed independent and dependent variables, and we also completed an additional lab.  I can't believe we will be into October next week!

 

6th Religion: This week we had an amazing lesson surrounding the concept of "faith" and how important it is in our daily lives and our beliefs.

 

6th Science and 7th Science: In science we completed an experiment titled "Paper Airplanes and the Scientific Method."  Students built paper airplanes and changed one thing (our independent variable) on each plane and tested whether or not it increased or decreased the total flight distance of the planes.  The students did an amazing job!  Next week we will be looking at fair tests.

 

8th Science: This week we introduced the concept of fair testing.  Students also completed a laboratory investigation today titled "Astro-Fizzics" where they completed an experiment to see whether or not it was a fair test.  Most importantly, we introduced controlled variables in order to maintain valid and consistent results.

 

I hope that you all have the best weekend ever.  Thank you for all you do,

Mr. L

It was great seeing everyone at curriculum night on Tuesday!  Thank you for coming!  

 

Our third week of school went amazingly well.  We completed our first quiz, introduced variables (independent, dependent, controlled), and we began our next lab, "Paper Airplanes and the Scientific Method."  

 

Have an amazing week!,

Mr. Langston

We had an incredible week this week!  We talked about assumptions, perspective, and we introduced the scientific method (along with the triple beam balance, how to form a hypothesis, and even the difference between mass vs. weight).  Have a fantastic weekend,

Mr. L