Here is the link to contact me. Mr. Lasco 

Week 25: 

7th Grade: This week we will begin our studies of the  Tormetti fossil. The students will conduct a scientific seminar and will take the End Of Book Exam for Evolutionary History.  They will take the Pre-Test for Chemical Reactions on Friday.

ES: High School will begin their studies on Mountain Building.  It is a very short chapter and does have any worksheets that go with it. Nor does it come with a lab. There will be an exam on Thursday. Friday will be an introduction to the Geologic Time Scale. 

Week 24:

7th Grade: The 7th graders will begin the week by taking the Critical Exam For Evolutionary History.  They will then   finish up the main focus  of the book on identifying the mystery fossil .  

ES: High School will continue their studies on Earthquakes which will include an earthquake epicenter lab. They will have a quick review day before taking the exams on Friday. They will then have a weekend to rest up before starting a new chapter on Mountain Building

Week 23:

7th Grade: Monday is a holiday (Civil Rights Day) and there will be no school. The 7th graders will do an interesting lab this week. They will dissect owl pellets and then reconstruct the animal eaten by the owl. They will continue the study  with the mystery fossil, looking at charged structures between organisms. 

ES: The High School will conduct a volcano lab, where they will model a formation of a shield volcano. It is usually one of their favorite labs to do. They will then have a review day before taking the  exams on Volcanoes. On Friday, they will start their investigation on Earthquakes.

Week 22:

7th Grade: The 7th graders will begin their studies on Evolutionary History. They will be given a mystery fossil and spend the next three weeks trying to identify what species it is. They will also be given a set of three worksheets that are to completed at home and are due Feb 5/6

ES: the high schoolers will finish up plate tectonics and move on to volcanoes. Next Monday will be the ultra cool volcano lab. Their exam will be next Thur. They will then begin working on the Earthquakes chapter.

Week 21:

7th: First day back! We are going to use this week to cover the last part of the Rock Formation book, rocks in space. The students are going to be given a long term project about the planets in our solar system that will be due Monday, the 12th.

ES: The high schoolers will start the short week with retaking the Science Safety Quiz. Then, finally, Plate Tectonics! The students will Spend this week exploring the fascinating topic of how our Earth moves. They will discuss the ideas of Alfred Wegener and conduct a lab on sea-floor spreading

Week 20:

7th: Have a great Christmas, a Happy New Year and come back in January ready to tackle Evolutionary History.

ES: Have a great Christmas, a Happy New Year and come back in January ready to tackle Plate Tectonics

Week 19:

7th: Student will take the End of Bok Exam on Monday and will turn in the two projects that are due. We will spend the rest of the week reviewing the four books covered this semester (Microbiome, Natural Selection, Traits and Reproduction and Rock Formation.  Next week will be a series of half days for taking the Semester Finals. Then, Winter Break. 

ES: We will spend the whole week reviewing the 12 chapters of Earth Science that were covered this semester.  Next week will be a series of half days for taking the Semester Finals. Then, Winter Break. 

Week 18:

7th Grade: Last week of new material before the Winter Break. They will be finishing up the Rock Formation book this week, and will take the End of book exam on Monday.  There two projects due, next week, a set of worksheets and a diagram of the rock cycle. Then it will just be preparing for the semester one finals. These will be a study guide containing all of the key concepts we have studied this semester. Students with a good understanding of these concepts will do well on the exam. 

ES: The high schoolers will finish Chapter 12, Earths Oceans this week. There will be a LAB on mapping the ocean floor and then a short review followed by the exams on Thursday. After that, it will be six days of reviewing the 12 chapters (=two a day) ro prepare for the semester final before we all head off on Winter Break

Week 17:

7th Grade: Part two of the Jolly Rancher Lab went well. The students were able to see that both igneous sedimentary rocks can be weathered. The Critical Juncture Exam was on Friday and about 20 students aced it with perfect scores. I am pleased with the results so far, but there is still more room for improvement. We'll be hitting the home stretch when we get back from Thanksgiving Break. 

ES: The Koppen Identification Lab is one of my favorites. The students did very well on their first tries. They were able to see what we had been studying to correctly identify five of the nine cities with the first try. The exams also went well with most of the students getting perfect scores on the Vocabulary section.  When w get back from break, they will finish up Earth's Oceans and then start preparing for the first semester finals

Week 16:

7th Grade: The first week of Rock Formations few by. This was the week that the students created sedimentary rock by crushing Jolly Ranchers. They are all excited to see the results in a week or two.    They also had the opportunity to examine different types of rocks to try to differentiate between igneous and sedimentary rock. 

ES:  The lessons on Climate went well this week. The high schoolers already had a pretty good grasp on the material due to the previous chapters on Thunderstorms and Meteorology. We fella  day behind due to Testing, so the Koppen Climate Lab will be accomplished next Monday. 

Week 15: 

7th grade: The final exam went well for most of the classes. There were several perfect scores and nearly all of the students in most of the classes earned passing grades. Next week, they will begin their studies on Rock Formation. As a geologist, this book is right in my wheel well and I hope the students develop the same interest in rocks that I have. 

ES: I am so impressed with the high schoolers. Almost all of them have caught up on the time they missed due to Testing. They did especially well on the weather exams, with most of them acing the VOCAB portion. Next week moves into climate and that will include what is probably my favorite LAB of the year, I can't wait to watch them work their way through it.

Week 14:

7th Grade; The 7th graders finished their Long term "Ghostie" project., The results are currently displayed on from the classroom dealing. The critical Juncture exam could have gone better, There were several students that aced it, but far too many that scored below the Mendoza Line.  The final exam for Traits and Reproductions will be given on Block day next week.  The worksheet packet will also  be due before they take the exam.

ES: The high schoolers Did well on the Anemometer Lab. Next week they will begin their studies on Severe Weather, including Thunderstorms, Tornadoes and Hurricanes. It turns out to be very topical with what just went on in the Carribean this week.

Week 13:

7th Grade:  The students continued their studies on Traits and Reproduction. They will take the critical Juncture exam next week to check on their progress. 

 ES: The High Schoolers had a bit of a rough week. Many students missed class time due to various activities that interrupted the lessons. Many took ACT exams while some went on field trips. Most of them got caught up by Friday, but some are starting to fall a bit behind.

Week 12;

7th Grade: The students worked on how traits are passed on from an organism's parents to the offspring. They used A SIM to breed spiders to get a clearer understanding of these processes.  Next week they will finish their long term project lab (Ghosties).

ES: The High School students spent the week working with the atmosphere or the gasses that surround the planet Earth. They took the second safety exam and did rather week, most students got a perfect score.  Next week they will take the exam on atmosphere and start their studies on weather.

Week 11:

7th grade: The students will return form Fall break and begin a new topic, Traits and Reproduction. They will take the pretest on Monday the 13th and then start right into the work that will lead to breeding spiders in the classroom (virtually of course, to breed real spiders would be irresponsible) 

ES: The high schoolers will return to begin the investigation into Earth's atmosphere, to include the gasses found there and the different layers of the air that surrounds the planet.

Week 10:

7th Grade: This week the 7th graders finished their internship. They seemed to enjoy the roleplaying aspect of the workshop. It's time to take a well deserved break, recharge the batteries and come back ready to tackle Traits and Reproduction.

ES: The high schoolers have finished the chapter on water and they did very well. Like the 7th graders, It's time to take a well deserved break, recharge the batteries before they return to begin their studies on Earth's Atmosphere.

Week 9:

7th Grade: These last two weeks are going to be spent role playing the actions taken by actual scientists. The students will be learning about the disease malaria and then working on developing a drug regimen to help people recover from the disease. The first week was spent concentrating on how to use the designing tool. Next week, they will actually create their treatment plan and then submit the results to the experts.

ES: I moved the mass movement lab to the outside to minimize the mess. It went really well. We used the back of the property at the back of the school to represent a slope where mass movement could occur. The students then test four different types of mass movement: wind, water, ice and rock. Later in the week, they took the exams for the chapter. Next week, we will cover the last chapter before Fall break. It will be ion Eath's waters.

Week 8: 

7th Grade: Natural Selection is over. Most of the students did well on the End of Book Exam,  dozen or so made perfect scores. Next week we will be beginning a two week project where the students will role play being interns in a laboratory. 

ES:  The high schoolers will be conducting a mass movement lab next week. It is the messiest lab we do this year, with flowing water, blowing wind and growing ice. They will then take an exam and finish the week starting the last chapter of the first quarter, water.

Week 7: 

7th Grade;  I continue to be impressed with the 7th graders work in Amplify. Nearly all off them are completing the entire assignments and turning them in on time. The Long Term Projects for this book were amazing in their accuracy and consistency. The students will be finishing up the Natural Selection Book this week, which includes a scientific argument and an end of book final. They will also have a vocabulary test on all of the key words for the chapter.   

ES: The parade and pep rally last Friday made it necessary to move  the edible soil lab to Monday, but the weathering exams will still take place on Tuesday. After that, they will move into the section on mass wasting. 

Week 6:

7th Grade: The Critical Exam was beyond my expectations. There were 14 students that answered all the questions correctly. Most of the short answers were well thought out and presented. There was a bit of a drop off on turned in assignments but that could be because of the upcoming R&R weekend. I think some of the students started early. I hope you all have a great three day weekend and I look forward to seeing you all back on the 2nd.

ES: It was a great week. My one D student pulled his grade up to a C. He came to me on Monday and asked what he could do to improve his grade, I made a few suggestions, and he followed through. We finished the rock chapter with the exam today and are going to start on Weathering when we get back. Enjoy the long weekend, recharge those batteries and we will start it all up again on Tuesday.

Week 5:

7th Grade: Fantastic week this week. Nearly all the students completed all of their in class work, so, very few zeros. There aren't any students failing, and only three Ds. All three have the same thing in common, not doing homework. Next week they will continue to cover natural selection, with the critical juncture exam falling on Friday.

ES: The High School students are doing extremely well. There is only one C and one D so far, and zero Fs. The mineral identification lab was a high point for the week. The only really trouble spot was the differentiation between talc and gypsum, but that is hard as both minerals look alike and have a very low hardness. The trick was to use one to try to scratch the other. Gypsum scratched talc but talc will not scratch gypsum. Next week, they will move into the identifying rocks.

Week 4:

7th Grade: It went really well this week. Most of the students did a spectacular job  on the fecal transplant write ups, though a few did not turn the project in. I let them know they can turning it in on Monday for half credit.  Nearly all of the students failed the Natural Selection pretest but that  is to be expected ass it covered material they have never seen before. I did have one student score a perfect 24 out of 24. Next week we will concentrate on examining how natural selection drives traits.

ES: The Earth Science classes took their second exam this week, and nearly all of them scored in the 90s on both the VOCAB and Content portions. They had a great time with the lab, though one group accidentally put a pinprick hole in their balloon and it went off like a fire extinguisher. That's why we put so much emphasis on safety. Next week they will begin their studies on minerals.

Week 3;

7th Grade: They are really starting to get the hang of Amplify. Most students are getting all the work done, and on time. The digestion lab went very well and it really set them up for success with their Long Term Project on a diagram of the human digestive system.  Next week, they will be completing their write up on fecal transplants, taking the microbiome exam and starting their studies on Natural Selection.

ES: The high schoolers took their first major exam this week and most of them did very well.  We are going to start the study of matter tomorrow and will spend all next week with it. So far, so good.

Week 2:

7th Grade: The students will be introduced to the Amplify program this week.  Itś always an exciting time for them and, judging by years past, it should not take long to get into the swing of things. 

ES: 

The High School students will begin their studies of Earth Science by looking at the different disciplines of the subject. They will conduct their first lab on topography and map making.  Students will also learn how to identify map types and how to locate a city on the map using its longitude and latitude. 

Week 1:

7th grade: This week we will cover Safety in the classroom. I gave all the students two forms to be read and signed by their parents: the syllabus and the science safety agreement. They are due Friday, July 25th. We will be covering those skills the students need to use in the classroom on a daily basis.

ES: This week we will cover Safety in the classroom. I gave all the students two forms to be read and signed by their parents: the syllabus and the science safety agreement. They are due Friday, July 25th. We will be covering those skills the students need to use in the classroom on a daily basis.