Newsletter+2-Animals+and+Magnetism

media type="custom" key="29100033" Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” ―Malcolm X

We have finished the the Unit on Animals and are proceeding with Magnetism.

 * We have completed activities reinforcing evolution of fictional Uber Fuzzies over one million years using simulation software to:
 * Document the Uber Fuzzies original range of physical traits used to meet their needs.
 * Identify changes to the environment that effected the Uber Fuzzies over one million years
 * Document the changes to Uber Fuzzies traits over time to meet their new needs in a constantly changing world.
 * Students should have a working definition of the terms: Basic Needs, Adaptations, Learned Behavior, Instinctive Behavior, Genes/Genetics, Purebred, Hybrid, Evolution, and Mutation.
 * Student are applying this information in the study of the theory of Bird Evolution from Dinosaurs of the past.

To date:

 * ====Students should have an understanding Magnetism and the properties of Magnets.====
 * ====Identify magnets by type (natural magnetic lodestone, bar magnets, button magnets, etc).====
 * ====Identify magnetic and non magnetic materials.====
 * ====The interactions between magnet poles regarding attracting and repelling of two magnets.====
 * ====The function of a compass to tell directions.====
 * ====Magnetic Fields around magnets.====

====I am currently pursuing the use of Thinkwave to share student scores with parents online. Students will receive directions this week for parents to make an account to view their child's scores regarding skills, content, and quizzes.====

====Feel free to contact me a pthomas2@bostonpublicschools.org if you have any questions. Please identify your child using first and last name as well as classroom so I can reference parent primary language in my records if I need to do translations to assist you.====

====Please complete the form so I can better gauge the effectiveness of my online Science Newsletters and the use of the Student Information System to share grades with parents. I will be using this information to make improvements to my instruction.====