Descriptive Chem

It's October....time to do a set of 8 questions every other day or so....they must be experts before the spring...

calcium chloride

day7: began with AP and walked them through the gas laws and curves through avogadro's law. tomorrow, get right into density to molar mass calculations and preview the butane gas lab that we will do.
in Honors, I gave a better explanation of the atomic mass scale by drawing pics and then doing the numbers.
Then, did some mass to mol to atoms conversions.

Went over the quiz with D but I only got to question 2 with E. Must emphasize the ambiguous pronoun error.
B: got up to atomic mass but have to do more example of mass to mol to gram...

DON'T FORGET TO REMIND THEM THAT TWO MINUTES OF DAYDREAMING MAY REQUIRE HOURS OF MAKEUP TIME IN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE MATERIAL.

oh yes, some old freak came into my chem class and asked me for calcium chloride in order to help his friend die...way to go kevorkian...

avogadro experiment revisited

try to explain the equal particles in equal volume experiment in reverse...take 2L of water and decompose it to 2L of H2 and 1L of O2 ...then do the mass ratios for the containers and relate how the actual masses and formulas are consistent with the hypothesis...
AP today made it through consecutive reactions and mixture problems...began talk about gases...must breeze through that unit...
Genius Quiz show sample tomorrow?

quiz return

covered isotopes and ions today...
cation
anion
number of subatomic particles...
began atomic mass scale...
have to go over quiz writing....evidence to conclusion....spelling...

Honors Today

In B, forgot to do subatomic particles and Moseley yesterday so I hit that today and went through isotope symbols...

did luminol finally with E period.

must put notes online for honors for absent students....also, put up worksheets...
explain atomic mass tomorrow so that they can do the handouts...
get initial lab handouts copied..
enter first quiz grades and prepare rant....

Honors Lab

Next lab, discuss accuracy and precision; also, do significant figures lesson. Also, show the rest of the safety info: fire ext. etcetera....show the evan video and the anand video to b period.

AP Stoich I Exam

They had a hard time with the exam mainly due to not reinforcing the notes...
Nic said that she had done all of the practice tests....remind the class that you cannot test every question every way but, if they do all of the practice tests, they are fully prepared (between that and the in-class test) for the AP exam by seeing just about every question type.

Matter and Energy Quiz Analysis

First of all, next year, have the students each DRAW the difference between elements, compounds, mixtures etc.
BAN the use of ALL PRONOUNS on tests...they don't know how to use them.

DRAW the endo and exothermic processes from beaker contents to surroudings...

0923

Pep Rally Day so there were half hour classes.
Honors got just one thing: the Rutherford Gold foil Experiment explanation. I think that went okay and I put up the vids for that.
I HAVE TO DO THE LUMINOL DEMO FIRST THING ON MONDAY....IF THE SOLUTIONS STILL WORK...TIME TO BE MORE ENTERTAINING
but at the same time it is time to warn the kids about their writing skills or lack thereof.
don't blame them, blame their elem school principals and then go on the anti eduspeak rant.

uploading

the file situation is whack. Keep using TV Green (check spellings and grammar) and Complete PPT Course files for each unit.

9/21 B,D,E got through the Dalton Law of Mult Props...
Question E Period re: relative atomic masses: since O:H is 8:1 by mass, why not 8 O atoms to 1 H atom in water....ans. because then, 2 vols of H would not combine with one vol of O to make water.
9/22 Started Thomson's Atomic Model (botched the Avogadro and Lussac connection to atomic theory with D period!) KISStupid! Start with final answers and work back!

Fix the atom pptpdf that has the inaccurate Thomson model...

in AP, got up to a redox titration problem, did gravimetric analysis...no mixture problems....

First Honors Quiz

Gave the kids a max of 30 minutes for the six questions. B Period seemed to have some difficulty but then again, noone showed for ex. help.
D seems to be doing okay.
I should define question keywords more before the next test: i.e. describe, name, state, explain, justify....

Need to post AP hw answers and find scanned hw answers from last year.

demos

B Pd.:
For exo/endo reaction demo, did ammonium nitrate with barium hydroxide (do NOT add water) = endo and sodium hydroxide dissolving.

Showed NI3 video (#64) for low activation energy.

D: show NI3 vid on Wed.

09/20 G: got up to lim reactant problem but still have to calculate the remaining reactant quantity.
Did redox balancing, combustion analysis with warning about using atomic and NOT molecular masses in generating the empirical formula.
09/20 B: finished through Dalton's Postulates.
D: same as B did lab safety.

must print final quiz version of matter and energy.

still have to do the luminol demo (perhaps for the parents tonight.

test prep

Going to have to prep Honors for their first EXPLANATION quiz. Alert them to the difference between what and why.
Have them write a sample explanation of why H2 is an element and why NaCl is a compound and why NaCl (aq) is a mixture.
Still need to post safety info and answers to Honors worksheet once server is working.
Check that all have emailed you and that they have returned their agreements.

to do 091705

Put up AP hw answers from Ch. 4 and then do a couple of sample balancing problems and put up the redox balancing ws for practice.
Try to find the 1003 AP practice test from 2003...

5

In Honors,
showed the dissolving and reaction of sugar with sulfuric and K,Na, with H2O videos and got through the separation techniques.
That leaves phases and energy changes and then I am done with matter and energy for now.
I can start atoms on late Monday and have the handouts for that unit online. Will try to get to models of the atom by Friday and give a matter/energy quiz on Thursday.

1st AP Exam

First of all, two of the questions from the practice test were on the exam verbatim. You have to edit qs 26, 27, and also prep them better for qs 28 and 29!
Several people put H2 as a compound!
Some lack the ability to explain t-metal multi ion formation.
Going to give a supplemental makeup test on the hydrate and the combustion questions; 50 points.

Four!

Hottest day ever.
Had my first AP exam today...should have included a Rutherford/Thompson question...next time...
IMPORTANT: during summer assignment review the first few days, FOCUS on combustion and empirical formula of hydrate questions!
In Honors, showed the dissolving of NaCl video in D but forgot to in E and B...do so tomorrow.
Started A/B lab with Bunsen Burner stuff but must show other skills next lab and post lab safety writeup.
1-36 Element quiz tomorrow.
Must teach a lot faster and ask more pepper questions and keep them awake...ask if I'm going to slowly.
Show the Anand video for lab safety also...

When I do the atom and explain amu, I will start with the definition of the standard (i.e 1 meter is the meter stick and then the light distance) that 12.0000 g of pure C-12 is one mole of atoms of C-12 and then dividing by the eventually discovered number will give you the mass in g of 12 amu.

Day 3

Got through classifying matter and barely started physical vs. chemical properties. Next, I plan on doing intensive vs. extensive, then separation techniques, phases of matter, energy changes during physical and chemical processes.
Finally, I'll get to the atom and then the fun begins.
In AP, we did net ionics with solubility rules and went over strong and weak electrolytes in the process.
Next up should be various reaction types and then redox half reaction method balancing followed by solution stoichiometry problems.
Going to do the luminol demo tomorrow and I hope to keep a steady stream of demos coming.
Ack! Just remembered that I have Honors Lab Safety tomorrow for A/B. I have to put in for copies of the safety nonsense.

Copied and then LOST all of my ultimate frisbee flyers today. Must post for tomorrow. Going to print out first AP exam now.

Day2

AP Class: Explained solubility rules- good explanation using a drawing of what is actually happening in solution. Will show video of solution in 229 tomorrow.
Didn't get to any summer assignment probs or even a zero period discussion. Must post on blog tonight.
Gave HW (should have given Monday) 3.90,94,97,98,106. Will post a couple of Ch.4 questions too.

D and E went well today; quiz was easy and my spiel about Honors students and the Chem ppt along with the Mg demo worked.

I have to post some text reading for tonight.

Day One

Forgot quite a few things of course and gave a choppy disjointed slow intro to the class.
D and E have to fill out their info cards. We still have the old text and lab manual so I have to work with that which is no biggie.
I have to welcome the AP class a bit more encouragingly; they are the '98 Yankees after all.

Tomorrow , I have to put in a work order to get the electricity fixed in 229. Then I have to get the Sympodium and bring in the whiteboard also.

D period had the shortest period by far because B had an hour and E had two 25 min periods. So D gets the philosophy speech tomorrow. I have to think of a demo to do for tomorrow also to open things up.

Remind students of the benefits of taking this class: THE TUTORING MONEY that they will be getting in the future.

Allie's Mnemonic: Sentences go ACROSS horizontally and they end in a PERIOD. GENIUS.

2005-6

So this is the new year...
First week, 9/6/05 - 9/9/05, we had orientation. No classes, no teaching. Just a new homeroom crew. I'm in the Physics lab this year with the D-F kids and they seem kool. I forgot to get them lined up alphabetically for their ID photos, though.
This year's changes are few so far...there is a dumbo push to increase AP enrollment but that will subside as long as teachers keep their grading standards the same.
I have to make some Ultimate Posters and post them this week.
I didn't copy any requirements or notes so I am stuck doing that on the night before opening class day. Way to go procrastination.
...more later.