PROVINCIAL ACHIEVMENT TEST GUIDE

Congratulations on being done classes for the year. Don't celebrate yet though as you do have your Provincial Achievment Test, which is worth 10 percent of your term 4 grade.

VERY IMPORTANT PAT STUDY TIPS: Be sure to practice the old PAT exam!!!

• Go through the index of each section of each unit and decide what you need to study the most then Re-read the sections of the book you are unsure about
• Make notes on sections that are complicated for you; for example I would make my own notes on DNA, Chromsomes, etc.
• Use http://www.exambank.com/ to practice some multiple choice questions. The username is tfox and the password is trackers
• Notes on each section (more notes than I gave you) are available on http://www.edquest.ca/ as well as practice quizzes and tests
• Review the Final Exam Example that was given out in class; answers are on Ms. Wilson's door; come in and check your answers Friday, Monday or Tuesday (Tutorial days)
• Quick review of the notes that were given out to you on each unit
• Practice an OLD PAT exam (answer key at end): http://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/achievement/answerkeys.aspx

STUDY HARD! IF you want your Space Magazine Mark or your overall mark, both will be ready by Monday/Tuesday, so come on in and check out where you stand!

It has been an honour to be your grade 9 Science teacher! I will miss teaching you amazing people! High School is going to be great!

STUDY TIPS AND MORE

Congratulations on being done one of your PAT's! Be sure to spend time reviewing the material and practicing your skills before the Science unit test. Please read the information below as a guide to your studying.

STUDY TIPS: Re-read the textbook, ensure you are done all review homework, practice calculations for example using the skill practice on page 336, watch videos, review notes on http://www.edquest.ca/ and be sure to try and study with a buddy, testing each other out! Good luck and work hard!

Formulas you need to understand how to use:

Calculating power (measured in watts): p= I x V where
Calculating voltage, resistance, or current from: V = R x I
Calculating % efficiency: %E=output/input x 100

Do you need more practice with these types of calculations? Try page 338 (5-9) and page 363 (2-24)
NOTES AND PRACTICE TESTS/QUIZZES: check out http://www.edquest.ca/ for notes on each section of the unit and also for practice tests/quizzes. Click on "grade 9 science in action notes" or "grade 9 science in action tests" for more practice and notes!

VIDEOS: Do you want to review some material but your feeling a bit lazy? How about watching some of these videos. They are all worth watching but be warned this is not the only way you should spend time reviewing the material.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/search.php?terms=electricity&media=video

UNIT TEST - THURSDAY, MAY 13

FIELD TRIP...
Thank you everyone for an awesome field trip to Ribbon Creek! I hope that you enhanced your appreceation for the exciting ecosystems in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: The Electrical Principals unit test will be Thursday, May 13; be sure to complete all assigned work before the test

DUE TUESDAY, MAY 11:
READING: Read page 319-343
QUESTIONS: Pg 323 (1-5), 336 skill practice (all questions in table), page 338 (1-5), and page 343 (1-8)

BRRR!

If you saw the Rick Mercer skit on earth day, you might be starting to agree that we have one long season called "Winfrasprummer"... Well it was winter on Saturday, summer yesterday and now its springish fall today. Maybe Rick is on to something!

STUDENTS AND PARENTS: Interviews will be held this Thursday evening and Friday morning. Please come in and talk about your learning in Science!

THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE:
READING: Continue to read our unit. Please read pages 296-310 by Wednesday
QUESTIONS: You will be assigned some questions this week
VOCAB: You will get a new vocabulary related to section 2.o this week
LAB WORK: We explored whether a fruit/veggie could produce voltage and current. Most of you found that indeed, a veggie or fruit can in fact create voltage. The current produced is so small that it was difficult to measure using our voltmeters.

NOTE: We are moving quickly through our unit. Please be prepared to work very hard as we will be finishing the unit in the next couple of weeks!!! Please come in for help any time you need it!

THIS WEEK IN GRADE NINE SCIENCE:

Report Cards: You will get your report cards on Friday. Be sure to read the comment I made for your performance in Science. Realize this is your last term at Terry Fox and you really need to try your best to maximize your learning in Science!

READING: Last week we read up to page 295 which means we have read section 1.0

QUESTIONS: Please complete the following questions by Wednesday, April 21:

pg 283 (1-4), pg. 287 (1-4), pg. 294 (1-4) and page 295 (1-9)

VOCAB: Vocab #12 will be assigned on Monday
CROSSWORD: Your crossword puzzle features words from our unit. Please ensure this is complete by Wednesday.
QUIZ: You will have a quiz on section 1.0 on Wednesday, April 23. Study!

WELCOME BACK!

Well done on your podcasts; they are entertaining and informative. Note that a representative from the United Nations comes Thursday after school to hear some of our projects. As your teacher, I will be very proud to show off some of your work!

We have begun the next unit "Electrical Principals and Technologies".

THIS WEEK:

• Started a title page for our unit which is due Thursday
• Began a new vocabulary for section 1.0 of the unit
• Watched a video called Electricity's attraction which you can watch here: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/20175-electricitys-attraction-all-about-electricity-video.htm

WATER FOR THE WORLD...

We have now completed most of our unit, Environmental Chemistry. If you did not receive your unit test score be sure to see Mr. Mang.

CLEAN TALK WATER FOR THE WORLD: This week we will be working on a project! The deadline for this project will be determined by our progress as a class; expect it to be due at the end of the week at the beginning of next week.

GOAL: To create a short radio or TV broadcast teaching others about the need for clean water and proper sanitation around the world.

KEY QUESTIONS TO ANSWER: Is Water a Human Right? Is it our right to pollute water? What responsibility comes with polluting water? If water is indeed a human right, what do governments and citizens need to do to ensure that humanity world wide has clean water and adequate sanitation?

UNIT FINAL: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3rd

Be prepared for your Environmental Chemistry Unit Final: Wednesday, March 3rd.

This week:

• Completed a skill practice on page 217, creating one part per million
• Handed in a practice sheet on calculating parts per million (ppm)
• Plotted data into 2 graphs and answered questions (page 231)
• Assigned a review booklet for unit - this is due for a check on Monday

STUDY TIPS:

1. Review the textbook; re-read any sections you do not understand

2. Complete all assigned vocabulary and assigned questions from your textbook

3. Review notes for each section of the unit on www.edquest.ca

4. Visit http://www.edquest.ca/pdf/sia93ut.pdf and practice a unit test!

5. Working with a partner/parent/guardian/brother/sister, test each other on main concepts

6. Need a video to remind you of a concept? Check out www.howstuffworks.com and search for the topic you are looking for. Below are a few videos that are appropriate for studying your material

Videos: These are just two good review vids! If you want to learn more about "Global Warming" it is recommended that you watch "An Inconvenient Truth" staring Al Gore; this video changed the way many people understand the changing climate of earth.

1.http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/17405-planetary-health-researching-the-health-of-a-stream-video.htm

2. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/11698-emerging-careers-pollution-control-technicians-video.htm

ANOTHER SNOWFALL!

The snowfall reminds us that with out the water cycle (in this case snow) we could not live in Calgary; because snow melt feeds the Bow River, eventually being used by Calgarians for various uses.

READING: Be sure you have read up to page 233 by MONDAY

QUESTIONS: Check and reflect questions: pg. 224 (1-5), pg. 228 (1-4) and pg. 233 (1-4) and Assess Your Learning on page 234 (1-9)

VOCAB: New vocabulary! Do it!

ALL QUESTIONS ARE DUE FOR A CHECK ON MONDAY FEBRUARY, 22nd

ANOTHER BREAK IS APON US! HAPPY FAMILY DAY!

Environmental chemistry affects us each day! Think about how all of us add chemicals to the environment; showers, sewage, food we eat (and the chemicals used to produce it), transportation emissions (fossil fuels) and many more!

IS WATER A HUMAN RIGHT? IS POLLUTING A HUMAN RIGHT? IS THERE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT COME WITH POLLUTING EARTH? We will continue to explore these guiding questions for our unit in the weeks to come as we wrap up Environmental Chemistry!

LAST WEEK:

CWA: You wrote your common written Assessment for Science; great job on this! If you missed the day we wrote, be sure to speak to Mr. Mang and arrange a make up time.
LAB: We completed a lab on pH. Were you here? The lab is worth marks!!!
QUESTIONS: Page 190/195, 203 (1-4), 209 (1-7), and Page 211 (1-11). All of these questions were already due! Did you get your homework check mark?
READING: You should have read up to the end of section 1.0, page 211 by now!!! Keep up!


THIS WEEK:

LAB: We will complete another lab on PH this Wednesday, testing water quality
WORKSHEETS: You have received two worksheets on water this week; finish them for Wednesday, February 10th!
READING: Read page 212-224
QUESTIONS: Page 224(1-5 only), do not do the rest unless you want a challenge

NEW TERM, NEW EFFORT FOR SOME

It is a new term, and we have had a few tasks that are worth marks. If you want to improve your learning and grade this term, please don't hesitate to stay after school for some assistance. If you did not get your title page done, or the recent reading and questions, be sure to do so early in the week or you will get a zero!

What are we doing this week?

• Learning about how pollution gets into the environment
• Exploring the concept of PH and starting to realize how this may affect the environment
• Reviewing what substances are essential to all life and also how organisms take in substances that they need to survive

THIS WEEK IN GRADE NINE SCIENCE...

• We analysed the disaster in Haiti from an environmental chemistry perspective
• Completed emergency response plans to increase our understanding of the challenges facing survivors of the disaster
• READING: Be sure to read from page 180 to 195 by Monday
• QUESTIONS DUE MONDAY: Page 190 (all questions) and page 195 (all questions except #6)

I am proud of you people for taking the response plans seriously. We need people with strong Environmental Chemistry backgrounds to help in disaster relief efforts, and also here at home when assessing the environment. Realize there will be a job market for Environmental Scientists in the future; a career that may interest some of you!

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!!!

WELCOME BACK GRADE NINES!

Welcome back from your refreshing break! Well rested and bored from a lack of Science homework, you are hopefully ready for your new unit. Report cards are only weeks away so it is that time of the year when tasks are due.

What is our next unit of study? Environmental Chemistry! Please participate in the poll on the side of the web page!

REMINDERS FOR THE WEEK:

• Environmental Chemistry Title Page - this small but fun task was due on Monday
• All vocabulary since August is due on Thursday, January 14th - it should be in your duotang. If you missed a vocab, be sure to make up the missed words by using this website (Scroll down for old Vocab).
• Water Discussion/Debate: We will introduce Enviromental Chemistry this week by exploring a water and issues surrounding it

HOW ARE YOU DOING IN SCIENCE? First of all ask yourself the questions: "am I acomplishing the learning outcomes for each unit so far?" "Do I hand everything in and do I take my time on assigned questions/tasks ensuring I learn the required material?"

Your marks will be calculated in the next week; if you didn't see what you got on your Unit Test before break, please come see Mr. Mang afterschool or at Lunch for your mark; this test mark will affect your grade in term 2 substancially!