What's going on in class 11/17-12/5

Check this out:

I found a series of videos which are really helpful study tips.  It is a series of 5 made by Stamford University.  If you only watch one, watch the 4th one: Test Study Videos

I highly recommend them.  

IB Chemistry

Thanksgiving Homework= Crossword Only... BUT we will be doing an official Design Lab when you return from the break, so prep yourself for that by reviewing your notes on Design.

     After the break you will sink your teeth into THERMOCHEMISTRY!  This is one of my favorite units because I like the math, hopefully you're with me.  This is the engineers unit.  You will be learning about processes/reactions that take in and give off heat.  You'll learn how to calculate heat changes in reactions using calorimetry, Hess's law, and specific heat.  And.. of course we get to create some reactions which give off heat, like Thermite.  It's a short one (sadly), so before Christmas we will also do a short unit on Kinetics (aka Reaction rates) which is mostly review, but gives us lots of opportunities to design more experiments.
     At Christmas, I will give you a taste of what a real IB Chemistry exam looks like.  You might be surprised how much you know already.

Parents:

• Right now, ask your students what they now know about how batteries and electrolysis work.  They should be able to describe the basic setup of a battery, explain why batteries are made with lithium and not another metal, and describe how rechargeable batteries work.
• After the break, ask them about the terms exothermic and endothermic plus about the difference between heat and temperature.  They should be able to tell you why COLD doesn't exist.

Chemistry

Thanksgiving Homework= Simple/Complex Ionics worksheet in the packet.

When you get back, we'll continue our work with ionic names and formulas.  There's a quiz Tuesday 11/27 which is really just a check in to be sure you're all getting it.  If this is boringly easy for you, bear with me.  It's so so so so important that every single student is able to write formulas before we can move on.  I promise to challenge you more in the next couple weeks.
     Then, we'll move on to covalent compounds, Lewis dot structures, and molecule shapes (VSEPR theory).

Parents:

• Ask your students about fluorine vs. fluoride.  Plus, they can probably describe the chemical structure of some of the ingredients on the back of the shampoo bottle.
• If you haven't heard about their (or other students') periodic table project, they all did some amazing and very humorous work.  I'm sure they'd love to talk about it.
• In the coming weeks, they will be learning about drawing molecules and polarity.  You can ask them (1) why we use peanut butter to get gum out of our hair instead of water (2) why a pool full of pure water would actually be an ideal place (kind of) to ride out a lightning storm.