The attached document outlines a project on the classification of living organisms in the different Kingdoms.  Students are expected to research an assigned Kingdom and prepare an oral presentation to give to the class using Keynote presentation software.  Presentations are due on October 28.  Additional information on scoring, a suggested timeline, and a self-evaluation will be provided in the near future.

Starting the week of October 6 the early morning study hall will not be on Monday but rather on Wednesday instead.  The study hall will still be from 7:15 to 7:55.  Thank you.

Mr. O'Connell

The Middle School Science Class would like to introduce the critters that reside in our room! 

Snapple has been with us the longest, arriving in January of 2007.  Snapple is a corn snake and is approximately 3 years old.  Snapple is mostly gray and brown.

Vincent and Van Gogh are leopard geckos that arrived during the winter of 2008.  They are approximately 1-2 years old.  Unfortunately Van Gogh's tail was lost before coming to stay with us, but it is growing back nicely.  Vincent and Van Gogh both just moved into a new shelter and will be moving into a new terrarium soon.

Our newest member of the family is Guttata, a female corn snake.  Guttata is approximately 12-13 years old and actually resided in this very classroom several years ago!  She is mostly red and black with a little bit of brown and yellow.  She is BIG as well, approiximately 2-3 times larger than Snapple!

We are very fortunate to have these animals with us and we enjoy having them in our class!

Welcome back!  It's time for another year of science at BHCS, and I am very excited to be back in the classroom!  The curriculum will be different this year, focusing more on biology rather than chemistry and physics.  We will cover topics such as classification of living organisms, evolution, cells, human body systems, and genetics. 

I like to begin each year with a review of lab safety and this year I am asking the students and their parents/guardians to sign a science safety contract.  This will ensure that eveyone is familiar with the policies and procedures here in the science lab.  I will post a copy of the policies and procedures as well as the science safety contract on my blog.

Please note the new homework calendar this year.  Students and parents/guardians should check this calendar daily to see if there are any homework assignments.  I will also be posting class information and documents on my blog.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me via email at boconnell@bhcs.org or call the school at 374-2202 x129.