Blog

Spring Sprang in Springfield

Seventh grade had a blast on the annual 7th grade trip to see historical and governmental sites in Springfield! We saw Lincoln's New Salem, the state capitol (the tallest one in the country, we learned), the Illinois State Museum, and Lincoln's Historic Neighborhood. Plus we got a tasty pizza dinner to break up our drive back. 

Outdoor Ed

The countdown finally came to an end when, after months of anticipation, sixth grade got to go to Lorado Taft for Outdoor Ed. All reports were that they had a fantastic time, from sleeping in the dorm to learning pioneer skills to building shelters out of logs. What a great three days we had!

Yes We Can!

Sixth grade concluded their climate change unit by learning about different ways humans can help reduce climate change, from combustion to livestock. They impressed during the outdoor ed field trip by pointing out some of these ideas in real life while on the bus!

Squinting in the Sun

Sixth graders took on the challenge of measuring temperature change in a controlled experiment comparing white versus black surfaces. Their first attempt led to some unreliable data, so they analyzed their sources of error and improved their technique for round two. For some, that meant switching to using heat lamps rather than the sun to better control variables. All around, impressive experimentation!

Baking Mystery

Seventh graders kicked off their kitchen chemistry unit by investigating the thief in the bakery. After identifying the chemical and physical properties of five common baking ingredients, they were able to match it to the mystery substance left behind at the scene of the crime and nail the culprit.

Change-Up

To delve deeper into chemistry, seventh graders investigated physical and chemical changes of matter with two exciting chemical reactions: a self-inflating balloon and a DIY hot pack. 

Fit for a Queen

Chemistry fun never ends! Students made casein plastic, a type of plastic made from milk, which historically even the Mary, the queen of England, used for jewelry. It's a smelly, milk-curdling process, but interesting nonetheless.

They Ate That

Seventh grade concluded their learning on rock transformations by creating their own edible rock cycle. Many a curious nose remarked on the tasty smells wafting out of room 408 on Wednesday!

Happy Earth Day!

Sixth and seventh grade students celebrated Earth Day by exploring the colors and shapes of springtime. They enjoyed taking a class period outside on a nature scavenger hunt.

Human Blender

Seventh grade is learning about natural resources, so to help them learn about why recycling isn't actually the best of our three R's (reduce-reuse-recycle), they recycled paper themselves. Despite the labor involved, they had fun making paper -- and even added seeds to make the paper plant-able. 

Garden Time

Spring has sprung! Homeroom 408 took some time during AE/SEL to visit our changing school garden and see what flowers and other objects they could find. They practiced their speaking and listening skills as they shared what they found with the class.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

We LOVED our trip to Ohio to see the solar eclipse! Students raved about every part: the games at the University of Toledo, the amazing scientific experience of the eclipse itself, the bouncy bridge at Swan Creek Metropark, and the overnight at the zoo. We were so lucky with having fantastic weather and light traffic. This was definitely a trip to remember!

We Made It on the News!

Click on the video link from the Detroit News below, and check out their photo series to see great shots from the University of Toledo.

Scale It Down

To prepare for the eclipse, students created their own scale model of the Earth and Moon's diameters and separation diameter. They shrunk it down small enough to fit on a meter stick -- far smaller than what they experienced in Toledo! They also did a hands-on model as a class to find different phases of the Moon, plus an eclipse.

Excelling in Science

Our city science fair competitors just can't stop! On April 3, they presented their projects at a special, invitation-only research symposium at Walter Payton College Prep. We're so proud of Panos, Keya, Afiyah, Diego, Ramsha, Catie, and Sophia! 

Spring Equinox

Students in both sixth and seventh grade put on their engineering hats to celebrate the spring equinox. They created unique shapes out of upcycled materials -- shapes that could cast a shadow of a bunny rabbit or a flower when held in position in front of the "sun."

Budlong's Got Talent

Sixth and seventh graders represented at talent show with some fantastic miming and singing. Congratulations to award winner Matias for his amusing mime act!

March 15, 2024

Skeptics

Sixth grade has started a new unit on Earth's changing climate. As part of the unit, they are learning that skeptical scientists look for patterns in long-term data, so they practiced identifying the strongest evidence in a set of graphs of sea ice loss.

Pound It Out

Students got to use a hammer in science class last week, all in the name of making rocks. They shook a jar of Jolly Ranchers, then pounded them to make sure they were fully broken into "sediment," and now the sediment is slowly compacting in the corner of our classroom under the weight of some heavy paper. We are excited to see what our rocks look like in a couple of weeks!

Rock Sleuths

To kick off our rock transformations unit, seventh graders put on their detective hats to identify different rock samples. To figure out if each rock was sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic, they used a table of identifying characteristics... plus their handy magnifying lenses.

Coloring Water

One of our last hands-on activities in the plate tectonics unit was figuring out how convection currents work. To do that, students got to not only use food coloring, they also got to practice terms for scientific equipment like beakers, test tubes, and pipettes.

Happy Valentine's Day

Seventh grade and second grade partnered up to make Valentine cards for local veterans and senior citizens. Congressman Mike Quigley cheerfully delivered some of the Valentines, and Covenant Home was delighted to receive our cards as well. 

Moving Mantle

To learn more about the texture of mantle rock material, students played with -- that is, scientifically examined -- Oobleck, Silly Putty, and cold honey. They had a much stronger understanding once they were done, plus they had fun making a mess!

Crackin' Up

Seventh grade students modeled the movement of tectonic plates by using graham crackers and whipped cream. They were disappointed not to be able to eat their sugary mess, but they had fun seeing how the plates and the mantle interact in different ways to create new landforms.

Organ Bonanza

Sixth grade students explored the inside of their rat specimens, eventually leading to scientific sketches of their internal anatomy. Several students persisted through their fear of dissection to be able to do the sketch -- we are especially proud of them!

Next to K'Nex

Sixth grade students have used K'nex toys to model building protein molecules. In this activity, they saw how genes send instructions to ribosomes, and they experienced the confusion of a mutation. 

Career Day

Students got to hear from six different Career Day speakers on Wednesday. They enjoyed learning about being a nurse, a creative director, a logistics manager, a video game designer, an IT manager, and a copywriter. 

And the Award Goes to...

Congratulations to all middle school award winners at our Semester 1 Habits Assembly! In homeroom 408, we are especially proud of these winners:

• Amy: Most Creative

• Keya: Habit of Mind

• Vicky: Budlong Beautiful

• Aruuke: Habit of Work

• Josh: Habit of Heart

Not So Frightful

The song might say that winter weather outside is frightful, but seventh grade students weren't afraid of the snow last Friday. In fact, they begged to go outside. So, out we went, putting our engineering skills to work to build slopes. Students built slopes, took data on how far a ball could roll after multiple trials of controlled testing, and then redesigned their slopes to improve them. Every single group saw the ball roll faster on round two testing. Congratulations to Maks, Connor, Jesus, and Afiyah for the longest ball roll!

Not Just Roadkill

Rats aren't just roadkill anymore! Sixth grade students have been carefully dissecting every part of their rats in order to practice the skills of dissection and scientific sketching. After getting delayed by the recent winter weather, students are finally ready to move on to a new unit next week, although they'll miss the excitement of dissection.

Boards... not Bored!

Middle school students celebrated the culmination of months of hard work when they presented their science fair projects to judges on December 13. They may have been nervous before judging began, but by the end, nearly every student said they had fun. The judges from the community were impressed with their ideas!

Winner, Winner

Without further ado, the full list of winners from sixth and seventh grade is...

Overall Winner

Diego, Keya, Afiyah

7th Grade

1st place: Panos

2nd place: Dylan D & Mesadu

3rd place: Ramsha 

6th Grade

1st place: Janet & Jessica

2nd place: Adeline

3rd place: Roxy & Nicholas

Runners-Up

408: Jackie & Vicky

404: Jack & Gabe

403: Sophia & Catie

407: Anyi & Matias

405: Tina, Anyeli, & Ana

113: Reagan & Remi

Something Fishy

Room 408 has had a distinctly chemical-tainted odor lately from the dissection preservatives. This day we added an extra fishy smell as seventh grade students explored the external and internal anatomy of perch.

My Beating Heart

It wasn't just seventh grade students that got to dissect -- sixth graders are exploring anatomy as well. After having learned all about the circulatory system during their first unit, they loved getting to actually check out the structure of a heart.

Worming Around

Now that seventh grade has finished their first unit on ecosystems, it's time to delve inside the bodies of animals that they studied! Students got their first hands-on dissection experience this week by examining the exterior and interior anatomy of an earthworm. On Tuesday next week they will earn their dissection licenses by acing a quiz on the names of six dissection tools.

Grateful for STEM

Just in time for Thanksgiving, seventh graders designed turkey stunt-doubles to help their turkey clients evade getting caught for dinner. They raced the doubles across the finish line by blowing through a straw. Which turkey was the fastest? The smallest one of them all! Thank you to everyone who sent in paper towel and toilet paper tubes for this activity.

Out in the Park

Seventh graders took their second field trip to River Park to collect data on biodiversity. They used hula hoops to take random samples of the species richness and evenness within two plots: a native plant area and a non-native plant area. Back in class we analyzed the data and determined which area would have a healthier ecosystem.

Flying Pumpkins

Homeroom 408 met up with their buddies from second grade to engineer a pumpkin catapult. With less than one hour to design and build, some catapults still managed to launch their candy pumpkins over one meter!

Hands-On

To kick off their I Wonder... Challenge, sixth grade students engaged in a series of hands-on activities: making hoop gliders, generating static electricity, and testing their sensitivity to touch. Some students used these activities as inspiration for writing their own science fair question about them, and regardless, fun was had by all!

Oh, the Drama

Students learned about the drama of the natural world (not their middle school drama!) by examining different types of ecological relationships with a card sort, videos, and a Blooket.

Go Wolves!

Seventh and eighth graders had a fun field trip to see the Chicago Wolves play, thanks to their KW teachers and money raised from last year's walk-a-thon. Rama and Jelyn even got to ride the zamboni! It's not too late to donate to the walk-a-thon this year by bringing in cash donations (no coins, please) to support KW field trips and equipment.

Bubbling Over

Sixth graders have been hard at work learning about how cellular respiration releases energy in the body. To get a hands-on experience of an analogous exothermic reaction, they did an activity full of scientific tools (beakers, graduated cylinders, and Erlenmeyer flasks) to feel the thermal energy released when making "elephant toothpaste."

Passports in Hand

The whole school celebrated our annual Budlong Beautiful Fest by learning about different countries around the world. Sixth grade wowed us with their performances from England and China, and seventh grade took home the grand prize with their fun, interactive presentations about Argentina. Congratulations!

Peace Rules

In one more all-school event, we celebrated Peace Day at the end of September. Students decorated peace pinwheels, sang and danced along to peace songs, and read peace quotes on stage. To conclude the afternoon, they marched in the peace parade around our track.

Open It Up!

Seventh grade students dug deeper into energy transfer in ecosystems by dissecting owl pellets. Owl pellets are not, as many assume, poop, but rather the fur, feathers, and bones an owl regurgitates because it cannot digest them. Students made some very cool posters to showcase the bones in the hallway for others to learn from.

Into the Water

In the seventh grade ecosystems unit, students learn about the rusty crayfish, a non-native species in the Chicago River, so... we took a trip INTO the river! With the help of the Friends of the Chicago River, we were able to use waders (giant rubber boots) and nets to catch macroinvertebrates to assess water quality. Students also got to go on a scavenger hunt, complete a qualitative habitat assessment, and identify different tree species. 

Moving Molecules

Sixth grade students continued their learning about the human body by doing a class model of the body systems. They collected molecules (aka pipe cleaners) of oxygen, protein, and starch from the "environment," then "digested" them and delivered them to the cells. Things took a turn for the worse when the body entered heart failure mode, but students had fun trying to get the cells what they needed nevertheless!

Gardeners!

Homeroom 405 got the opportunity to go out to the garden and help with clean-up. Students removed overgrown weeds but also got to harvest apples and mint to take home. There are exciting changes coming to the Budlong garden... save the date for a community garden work day on September 30!

Yeast Feast

Seventh grade students were surprised to learn that yeast are alive when they investigated how sugar affects yeast reproduction, but they loved watching how a single tablespoon of sugar can allow the yeast to overflow the cup. This helped them model how population size can change depending on the available resources.

Let's Head Outside

What better place to read than outside? Seventh grade has enjoyed reading in the annex courtyard a couple of times during this unit. 

Bridge Design

To practice their engineering skills while team-building, seventh grade students designed bridges using just a single sheet of construction paper. Several groups' bridges supported upwards of 120 pennies! Students then reflected on the experience to write group contracts to commit to positive collaboration within their table groups during first quarter.

Save Fred!

For their first day of science class, students put on their problem-solving hats to save Fred. Fred, their gummy worm, had gotten trapped under his boat (a plastic cup) during a storm at sea. The students had to get him out from under the boat and secure him in his life preserver (a gummy preserver) ... all using just four paperclips to pick things up. They had a great time!

I Wonder Challenge

It's never too early to start thinking about science fair, so seventh graders kicked off their projects by participating in the 24-hour I Wonder Challenge this week. They worked their way through different stations meant to spark their curiosity, writing down as many questions as they could before tallying up the total. The following day they got to share their top three questions with their classmates through a gallery walk. Their collective curiosity was impressive!

Welcome to 7th Grade

Seventh grade students enjoyed the first day of school by finishing with some team-building activities on the new field. After racing to send the fastest "pulse" (a hand squeeze) down the line, they completed a blind-folded obstacle course. Each team got to give directions to their classmate, helping them learn the values of leadership and effective communication.

Flip the Tarp

Homeroom 408 had fun in KW class as they worked on a team-building activity to flip the tarp over -- while 23 students stood on top. They didn't quite accomplish the flip... maybe next time!