Here, I will share some of the things I am learning in 8th grade science.

Our monthly goals will also be described. The goal for August and September was curiosity. Activities that we did for this were a microscopy lab, a Wonder Journal, water testing, a cicada lab, and a Hungry Hungry Sphero challenge.

My favorite was the water testing.

During these past months, I have done multiple different sketch notes, books, and experiments. I enjoy working in groups and having someone to share my ideas with. I have room to grow in my creativity and thought process, because I tend to struggle when having to do projects that involve a lot of thought being put into them. I have done decent on my quizzes, but I need to study more and pay more attention to what we talk about in class. Water testing is fun, and I enjoy learning about all the different things that are in the water in the lake. The Quakefeed app is a great source of entertainment, and helps me see where earthquakes are happening all over the world, and I can see their magnitude and depth. I always show up to class with all of my materials, and I am always prepared for anything. My notes in my notebook are neat and organized, and I make sure to write down everything that Mrs.Lacrosse says. The hexagonal thinking activities help me understand what we are learning and what it has to do with other things we were talking about. 

During these past months we have done a lot of work in science. We started working with Newtons Laws, like law of Inertia and law of action/ reaction. I also liked the Forces and Motion picture that I drew. I enjoyed learning about Newtons laws of physics because without them, the world wouldn't make sense and they make it easier to understand why things happen like gravity. Along with Newtons Laws, we also worked with a Van de graaf generator that made peoples hair stick up. It was fun learning about the generator because electricity and static is something that I didn't know a lot about and now I know enough to understand how a Van de graaf generator works. Talking about magnets and their attraction to metal objects was entertaining because we got to experiment with different magnets and test how strong a force can be. We even made out own magnets with a battery and a wire! I enjoyed working in groups and learning how to share my learning and working traits with other people in my class. It was also helpful to have someone there to help me if something confused me wthout having to bother Mrs. Lacrosse. 

During these two months we learned about frogbit and did research on it, we made an infographic project talking about water quality testing. We also learned about genetics and DNA, mitosis and meiosis, and punnett squares. My class did a chickenology lab, where we tested traits on chickens to see which ones would show. For homework, we had an alien genetics gizmo, where we talked about recessive traits. 

This year has easily been my favorite year in science. We learned so much, and we did it in a way that will help me remember even when I go to different classes. My favorite part of class that I enjoyed the most is the amount of time we were given to do our work. For example, we had all week to do our homework, Mrs. Lacrosse informed us on our projects at least a week in advance, and she let us do our work in class. Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that we could always work with a partner or in a group, and I had so much fun when we would do things as a whole class. My least favorite part of class was how little we do EDC. Engineering design challenges are fun and make me problem solve and think of things I wouldn't normally think of. In the future, I would like to learn more about genetics and DNA and how a baby can be created inside of another body. I would also like to learn more about Newton's Laws and gravity.