Dear Crazy 8 Class of 2016,

Just now it is starting to hit me that school will be done for the year tomorrow. Holy cow. Maybe it was seeing many of you at the awards ceremony tonight. I saw a group of young people that had grown (mentally, emotionally, physically), not only throughout this 8th grade year, but all three of your years at Memorial.
Time goes really fast, in case you were not aware of that. Time to reflect is valuable, and we'll get to do that tomorrow, but it won't be long at all before your next challenges are here. It will be awesome to see you all meet those challenges, whatever they might be. Work hard. Have fun. Be a good friend. Be nice to your parents (Gasp!). Oh, and don't pretend that you're too cool to say "hi" to me when you see me around.
Sincerely, Mr. Hoegh

PS. When Clara, Elsie, and I were at awards night eating cookies outside, we found the missing film canister from our GPS contest. It was hidden by the time capsule in a bush. I'm about to figure out if the results will change. Oh, the suspense!

Essay and End-of-the-Year Form

The essay: Choose one activity from this year and identify the steps of the scientific method that were included in the activity. Be sure to include an activity that involved all of the steps.
Answer this in a comment, and you won't have to complete the same science essay tomorrow.

GPS Contest 2012

That was pretty fun wasn't it? I enjoyed watching each team in action on Thursday. The weather was awesome. So many of the groups did very well, and every one of the film canisters was found...... eventually. I commend all the teams for their hard work. Here are the results from the 2012 GPS Contest: GPS Final Standings 2012
Period 3: We had a tie at the top. Congratulations go to the Polka-dotted Penguins and the Lumpin' Llamas.
Period 4: The Gavinators narrowly edged Team Commando by one point. Bravo, Gavinators.
Period 6: Team Awesome took down the rest of period six. The name fits, I guess.
Period 8: Pie and Waffle Bosses were victorious. The closest competitor, J3, was only two points behind.
Feel free to leave comments that you have about the GPS contest. How was your experience? Were there any waypoints that you just couldn't seem to find? What was the best strategy? If you had to do the contest again, what would you change?

Severe Weather Form and Review

We will take the Quarter 4 Post-test next Monday. The rest of today will be reviewing for it. Here are some ways in which you can do this:

1. Ediscio: Sign in and go through the cardboxes having to do with meteorology and oceanography. Those include “Fronts and Air Masses”, “Greenhouse Effect”, “Humidity”, “Layers of the Atmosphere”, “Ocean Currents”, “Pressure”, and “Wind”.
2. Weather Jeopardy: Go to the student shared folder -- “8th Grade Science”. Open up the “Weather Jeopardy” powerpoint and try your best to become victorious.

Severe Weather Project

Severe weather can be fascinating. But what causes each form of severe weather? What makes it so fascinating? What can people do to protect themselves? It will be your job to figure out the answers to these questions, and then present on this in the form of a VoiceThread, Prezi, Fakebook page, Google Presentation, Easel.ly Infographic, or SlideRocket. With your group, you will be researching your specific type of severe weather. By the end of Wednesday you will have prepared your presentation. Here is a list of websites where you might possibly find information on severe weather. I'm sure you could find others as well.

ALL: Atmospheric Science Resources
Ask the Experts
NOAA Education Resources 
How Stuff Works
Natural Disaster Sites

Blizzards: Blizzard of Oz sites

Floods: Floods before and after

Tornadoes: Best Tornado sites Severe Weather Slideshow from April 17
Airplanes and Weather: USA Today: Airplanes and Weather What Causes Turbulence? Hurricane Pilots Planes and Ice Aviation Weather