Hello MJDS friends and family!

This week I have had the honor (and the pressure) of filling in for the finest science teacher around, Gev Jirovetz, as she is in Israel with the 8th graders.

This week we are exploring energy and physical science, specifically kinetic energy, potential energy, and gravitational energy.  Although my background is in ELA, I began my college career in science, so being back in the science classroom has been a treat.  Yesterday, as a class, we had relay races amongst the rows of students to see who could quickly and thoroughly respond to the discussion question,”Does a heavy object and a light object fall at the same rate if dropped from the same height?  Use evidence to support your claim.” Victory was granted to the row whose members quickly wrote their responses on the white board and whose responses were thorough.

Here is an image of student responses following our relay race activity.

Students raising the bar as they write their responses for our relay race activity.

Following our relay race, we decided to test the predictions made using a dry erase marker and a pencil.  Noah R. dropped both objects from the same height for three trials.  The student weighed the marker (13.9 grams) and the pencil (3.3 grams).  Following their initial measurements, we watched as the pencil and marker hit the ground.  Most of the students assumed that both objects hit the ground at the same time, however, we took a slow motion video to investigate our results (see the video below).  Before examining our results, the students considered potential factors that may have eschewed the results such as shift in wind or if Noah dropped both objects at the exact same time.  Ultimately, the students tried to control these variables as much as possible.  The students successfully determined that it was gravitational energy acting on the two objects and this launched us into further investigation regarding gravitational energy, which we will continue explore throughout the upcoming week.

But, did the two objects hit the ground at the same time?  You be the judge…

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Hello parents, students, staff, family, and friends of MJDS!  I would like to take this moment to formally introduce myself, as it is now the middle of my third month here at MJDS.  My name is Gev. Binder and I am the new student coach for upper school students.  I am a recent graduate of Marquette University; I just received my Bachelors of Science in English Education with a minor in Spanish Language and Literature (which I happened to pick up my diploma before Wednesday’s conferences).  Apart from teaching, I thoroughly enjoy being outdoors. Whether it is kayaking, rock climbing, biking, or hiking, I enjoy any opportunity I can take to be outside.

Over the past 2.5 months, I have really enjoyed getting to know the upper school students at MJDS.  Each day I am greated with sweet smiles and inside jokes that leave me smiling throughout the day.  My role here at MJDS seems to always be evolving, but the students make each day memorable.  I am now serving as a student coach to several upper school students.  In this role, my responsibilities are varied.  From social-emotional support, to instilling executive functioning skills, to working one-on-one with students regarding academic tasks, I try to support students in any facit that I can.  I am honored to be a part of the MJDS staff and to work with such bright and creative kids.

I look forward to updating you throughout my journey!