Maternity Leave

Dear Parents/Guardians,

   After Friday March 28th, I will be beginning my maternity leave for the remainder of the school year. Mrs. Amy Burrows will be taking over for me once Spring Break is over. I'm so glad to welcome her into my classroom because I know your students are in good, capable hands to finish out the school year with our science curriculum.  I have so enjoyed having your students in class and getting to know them this year.  It will be bittersweet, as I have seen them grow so much during their time in 7^th grade.  I will miss them!

   Prior to my absence, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.  For the remainder of the school year, if you have questions about your child's grade, you can contact Mrs. Burrows at aburrows@ccsd66.org. 

Thank you,

Kari Gemmell

3/21

Students completed the very much anticipated Frog Dissection today.  I am very impressed with the accuracy, patience, and team work I saw throughout this two day lab.  The students focused their time last week on the anatomy of the frog and the functions of each organ and definitely exhibited their understanding throughout the lab. I think we might have a few surgeons in this class!  The Frog Dissection Lab will be due on Monday.  If students did not finish their questions on the lab in class, they can go onto the Virtual Frog website.

3/14

This week, students have been preparing for the Frog Dissection.  Students have been studying the anatomy of the frog and will discover how various tissue and organs work together to function as a whole.  I really do feel that students are excited about this opportunity and I am looking forward to see how they handle such a fun and educational lab.
This is usually a lab that the 7th graders complete at the very end of the year.  Due to my maternity leave starting on April 7th, I really wanted to make sure that the students experience the valuable lab prior to my absence.

3/6

This unit students have been actively simulating and learning about the theories of evolution and natural selection.  In the beginning of the unit, we watched some videos which really opened up some great questions regarding adaptations and various species.  Students kept busy learning about Charles Darwin, his finches, and the Galapagos Islands.  Last week, students were able to show their creative side by designing an animal based on an environment given to them.  Once the animal was designed, the climate was altered and seventh graders had to predict if their animal would be able to survive in the new environment.  I was really impressed with the creativity that was displayed.

Just this past week, during ISATs, students completed a Darwin Lab. Here they simulated how different fur color in a particular environment would or would not benefit a species.  Students will finish up this unit on Monday with a Quest (more than a quiz, less than a test).