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Day 55

10/31/2018

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Crappy news today, at least for me and other old Giants fans............

I loved Willie McCovey. He was my hero when I was in grade school.  He was my hero when I was in high school and the Giants brought Willie back for the exciting 1978 season. My friend Steve Hamaguchi and I were at Willie’s final game in San Francisco and I still have the San Francisco Chronicle with Willie’s picture facing the fans above the Giants dugout and there is Steve and I in his Dad’s company’s seats, cheering our beloved hero. 


I was lucky enough to meet Willie in person at AT&T Park about 10 years ago.  My brother, Dave, is the Culinary Director at the ballpark and, at that time, he was Executive Chef. He became close with Willie. I’ll never forget the call when my friend Travis and I were at a game.  “Wanna meet Willie?” my brother asked.  Immediately, my heart rate skyrockets. I’ll never forget walking into his private box and shaking his enormous hand. Truly, a highlight of my life.

The next year, my brother and I had dinner with Willie at his restaurant in Walnut Creek in his private dining area. We watched a Giants game together on TV.  I watched a baseball game with Willie McCovey!! 

All the tributes I am hearing about Willie are spot on.  He was a kind and gracious man.  When I saw him a couple of times after our initial meeting, he remembered that I lived in Redding and would comment on that. He made you feel like you were just as important as he was. 

I will never forget him.  My life was better because he was in it.


Happy Halloween!

Hey! Chemistry students! Open the PowerPoint below and work through these questions.  Check your answers with Mr. Button.
unit_3_review.pptx
File Size: 102 kb
File Type: pptx
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answers_to_unit_3_review.docx
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: docx
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Day 54

10/30/2018

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I'm gonna dress up tomorrow just because I hate wearing pants. I usually never do. I do wear shorts however.
The Chemistry students learned some specific stuff about electronegativity today.  Like knowing the relative electronegativity of atoms allows you to predict what kind of bond forms between them.  Super simple and easy to use. More review tomorrow.
The AP Biology students went over sex-linked traits today and the crosses associated with them. Tomorrow we will use this knowledge to make predictions about the grandchildren of our beloved fruit flies. 

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Day 53

10/29/2018

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The last Monday of October.  I hate October and so should you.
The Chemistry students began a review of the material on the Unit 3 material.  We have an exam on Thursday of this week.  We used the clicker things to go through a bunch of questions. We will continue this stuff tomorrow.
The AP Biology students were introduced to fruit flies today. We went over some of their more unusual traits and saw those traits up close. I love fruit fly time unless their eating my banana. 

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Day 52

10/26/2018

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Another Friday comes after a long and trying week. Better things are on their way.
The Chemistry students did this: 1st period went over the polar nature of water. You know, how oxygen doesn't want to share those 2 electrons in the covalent bond with hydrogen.  Well, they want to share, just not equally. The relatively high electronegativity of oxygen easily explains that.  So, we did that stuff 1st period cuz I wasn't here in 1st period yesterday.  5th and 6th periods literally did nothing.  17 students were missing in 5th period (55%) and 9 were missing 6th period (45%).  We went to the library and chilled.
The AP Biology students finished up the practice genetic crosses that are used to kick off the Genetics Unit of Study. During the period, the fruit flies came!!!!!  We checked them out briefly. We'll really get on the Fly Lab next week.
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Day 51

10/25/2018

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Hey! I wasn't in my morning classes because I was in a lengthy meeting, but you probably needed a break anyway.
The Chemistry classes did a little review assignment on ionic and covalent bonding and the afternoon classes even talked about the polarity of water which is all about the electronegativity of oxygen. The next exam date was also announced; it's gonna be on Wednesday, October 31st, the most overrated day of the year.​
The AP Biology students began the next online assignment at the Mastering Biology website.  It's all about genetics which is both interesting and fun. And the flies are coming!!
covalent_bonding.pptx
File Size: 838 kb
File Type: pptx
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lewis_structures.pptx
File Size: 382 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

ionic_compounds.pptx
File Size: 90 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

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Day 50

10/24/2018

52 Comments

 

​Hey Chemistry Students!!  Check out these links..................
​
https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/lsps07.sci.phys.matter.covalentbond/covalent-bonding/#.We1acRNSxPM


​https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/natural-science/chemistry/gch6404/lewis-dot-structures-of-covalent-compounds​

​http://www.ewart.org.uk/science/structures/str14.htm

​https://teachchemistry.org/periodical/issues/september-2016/ionic-covalent-bonding

​http://chemsite.lsrhs.net/bonding/flashLewis.html

​
And Happy Birthday Bengie!!!  He's 1!  Can't believe he made it!
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52 Comments

Day 49

10/23/2018

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All in all, I'm happy. I'm happy to know such kind and compassionate people. And smart! I know a lot of smart people who take education seriously and that's what you should do.

The Chemistry students went over the kinda easy process of drawing Lewis Dot Structures which sounds like it could be complicated but not really. After we did that, the students contemplated this........
​
A king has 3 sons and he wants to find out which one is the smartest. He sits them around a table and he blindfolds them.  He says, "Sons, I am going to place a crown upon your head. It is either made of gold or silver. I will also place into your hand a stick. When I remove your blindfold I want you to tap your stick upon the ground if you see a 
gold crown. You will, of course, not be able to see your own. The first one of you to correctly tell me the color of their own crown and be able to explain your logic correctly shall win my kingdom." The king places a stick in each of his sons' hand and places a crown on their heads.  ALL THE CROWNS ARE GOLD. The blindfolds are removed and the sons immediately start tapping their sticks on the ground.  Soon, the youngest son, Mortimer, announces "I weareth a gold crown upon my head, Father! The kingdom is mine!" Mortimer was correct and so was his logical answer.  What was his explanation?

The AP Biology students had their second exam of the year today. Tomorrow? Genetics!!!! Yay!
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Day 48

10/22/2018

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This Monday was particularly bad. As we know, a fellow student was involved in a horrible car accident on Thursday night and is on life support. At the time of this entry, his family has decided to remove that support.  It is a dark time for a lot of us at West Valley. Unfortunately, tomorrow is promised to no one. Love people, cuddle puppies, smell clean air after the rain, swim in the ocean, be romantic, spend time in the mountains, travel, cry during Disney movies, laugh at yourself and think deeply. 
The Chemistry students discussed electron dot diagrams for the first time. We do more of that tomorrow.
A majority of the AP Biology students were gone today. It was agreed that we will have the second exam of the year tomorrow.
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Day 47

10/19/2018

36 Comments

 
Hey!! Chemistry students!!  If you ever read the blog you could have been winning $$$$!!! Check out Day 44!
So..... check out these chemistry links:


https://www.learner.org/interactives/periodic/bonding/
 
https://brainpop.com/games/collisionsionicbonding/
 
https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/lsps07.sci.phys.matter.ionicbonding/ionic-bonding/
 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/atom/#
 
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/build-a-molecule
 
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/build-an-atom/latest/build-an-atom_en.html
 
After interacting with these activities, leave a comment here. Which one did you like the most?  Which one was bad?
You have to leave a comment!!

And check out these pix from the Penny Lab - 


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36 Comments

Day 46

10/18/2018

1 Comment

 
I seriously don't mind them that much. It's just a few of them that make me want to jump off a cliff.
The Chemistry students had one more shot at making gold pennies today that really aren't gold but brass. Most students like doing it so they took advantage of my generous nature.
The AP Biology students continued their review of the material that going to be on the exam next Monday. They don't seem super excited about it for some reason.

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