Welcome to Room 214!
Welcome, scientists and families!
This is my 21st year teaching life science at Lakeview, and I can honestly say the first week of school still feels like opening a present. This year your student will look at their own cheek cells under a microscope, dissect an owl pellet, build an ecosystem in a bottle, and defend an egg against gravity. Some of it will be messy. All of it will be real science.
I keep this page current so nobody has to wonder what is due or when the next lab is. Check the sidebar first, that is where the week lives. If something on this page ever disagrees with what I said in class, what I said in class wins, and then please tell me so I can fix the page. :)
Parents and guardians: you are always welcome to email me. I would much rather hear about a problem in week two than at conferences.
Class Expectations
We go over these the first day and they hang next to the pencil sharpener all year:
- Be in your seat with your notebook out when the bell rings.
- Respect every person, every organism, and every piece of equipment in this room. Yes, that includes the crickets.
- Follow all lab safety directions the first time they are given.
- Turn in your own work. Helping a friend understand is wonderful. Copying is not helping anyone.
- Be curious. Wrong answers move science forward, quitting doesn't.
Units This Year
We organize every unit around one big question. If your student can answer the big question in their own words by the end of the unit, they are in great shape for the test.
| Unit | Big Question | Major Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Method | How do we know what we know? | Mystery powder identification |
| Cells | What are living things made of? | Onion & cheek cell microscope lab |
| Body Systems | How do our parts work together? | Heart rate & exercise investigation |
| Genetics | Why do offspring resemble their parents? | Punnett square "monster genetics" activity |
| Ecology | How do living things depend on each other? | Owl pellet dissection & food web mapping |
| Adaptation & Change | Why do living things look the way they do? | Bird beak natural selection simulation |
| Physics of Motion (mini-unit) | What happens when things fall? | THE EGG DROP (see below) |
The Egg Drop
Every spring, every 7th grader at Lakeview designs a container to protect one raw egg from a two meter drop onto the blacktop. This is the most emailed-about assignment I give, so here are the official rules, the same ones on the handout:
Official Egg Drop Rules, 2026-27
- Drop height: 2 meters, measured from the bottom of your container. Mr. Ochoa holds the meter sticks and there are no appeals.
- Parachutes: allowed, but no larger than a bandana (roughly 55 cm x 55 cm). If we have to debate whether it is a parachute or a bedsheet, it is a bedsheet.
- Materials budget: $5.00 total. You will turn in a materials list with prices. Household junk you already own counts at a fair used price. Creativity is free.
- Size limit: your container must fit inside a standard copy paper box.
- The egg: I supply the eggs on drop day. You may not hard boil, tape over, or otherwise pre-treat the egg. I will know.
Rubric (50 points): design sketch with labels, 10 pts · written explanation of the physics (use the words force, impact, and energy correctly), 15 pts · materials list under budget, 5 pts · drop day results, 10 pts · reflection on what you would change, 10 pts. Notice that a cracked egg still leaves 40 points on the table. Good science that fails is still good science.
A little history: I have run this project every year I have taught. 21 years of egg drops. Total survivors: 847 eggs. We keep count. The number is painted on a wooden egg on my back shelf and the class that pushes us past 900 gets a donut party.
Lab Safety Contract
Students receive the full safety contract the first week and it must be signed by a parent or guardian before anyone touches equipment. The short version:
- Goggles are nonnegotiable during any lab with liquids, glass, or dissection. Not on your forehead. On your eyes. I have seen things.
- Closed-toe shoes on lab days. Check the sidebar so lab days never surprise you.
- Long hair tied back, no eating or drinking in the lab area, and nothing goes in the sink without my okay.
- Broken glass is not an emergency and not a secret. Tell me, we clean it up together, nobody is in trouble.
- Horseplay near equipment means you sit out the lab and write the alternate assignment. It is a very boring assignment. That is on purpose.
Science Fair Timeline
All 7th graders complete a science fair project. Start early, the students who wait until winter break are the ones crying over poster boards in February. These dates are firm:
| Milestone | Due Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Topic proposal | Fri, Oct 16 | One paragraph. Must be a testable question, not a demonstration. "Which paper towel is strongest" yes, "how volcanoes work" no. |
| Hypothesis & procedure | Fri, Nov 13 | I will return these with comments within a week. |
| Data collection done | Fri, Jan 15 | You need at least 3 trials. Plan for things to go wrong once. |
| Board day (judging) | Thu, Feb 25 | Boards set up in the gym by 8:00 AM. Families invited 6:00 to 7:30 PM. |
Grading
- Labs and projects: 40%
- Tests and quizzes: 30%
- Science notebook checks: 15%
- Participation and daily work: 15%
Late work: 1 day late = -10%. After that, come talk to me before or after class and we will make a plan. Life happens and I know it. What I cannot fix is work I never hear about.
Grades are posted in the district portal every Friday afternoon. If the portal and my gradebook ever disagree, my gradebook is right and I will fix the portal.
Supply List
- One composition notebook (the sewn kind, NOT spiral. Spiral pages fall out by October and I will know)
- Glue sticks, at least 2. We use them constantly for foldables
- Pencils. Pens are fine for notes but labs are done in pencil
- One box of tissues for the room. Seventh graders produce an astonishing volume of sniffles
- Optional but appreciated: colored pencils, a roll of paper towels
If supplies are a hardship for your family, email me. I have a closet and no student will ever be without a notebook in my room. This is between us.
Family Science Night: Thursday, September 24
Save the date! Family Science Night is Thursday, September 24, 6:00 to 7:30 PM in the cafeteria and gym. Stations run by our 8th grade helpers, a microscope table (bring something small and weird from home to look at), the annual paper airplane distance contest, and yes, Newton will make a supervised appearance from 6:00 to 6:30 only, he gets tired.
Free to attend, younger siblings welcome. The PTO sells popcorn. Hope to see you there!