Monday, 2/21

I hope all of you are having a wonderful vacation! Space Shuttle Discovery is all set to launch on the 24th! Part of its "crew" is Robonaut 2! Robonaut will do risky repairs to the International Space Station when needed.

Tuesday, 2/15

Today, students are labeling their cells as prokaryote and eukaryotes, clicking on the two cells to the right (or, for some reason at the bottom for the students). They will be doing an "executive summary" on cells and will make models of the prokaryote and eukaryotes for our chapter 6 challenge. For the last couple of years, students have made edible models. Students will do their presentations and models on photobooth and will place it in their NoteShare journal.

Thursday, 2/10

Today was the "half-way point" of the long-term observation notebook. It was only a 10 point project grade (like a test) but several students didn't have their biotic data (i.e. animal tracks, hair, burrows, etc.) and several didn't have their abiotic information (temperature, precipitation, etc.) They will try to recoup this from a website we found, but they need to go to www.weatherbug.com to find things like temperature, wind speed, etc. I had only a few who got a perfect score. They still have tomorrow to show their notebook to me for full credit. They were to have the signed proposal form signed by parent/guardian, me and by student, their schedule calendar of January, February and March, and 4 observation site-maps.

We also looked at several types of cells and sketched them.

I have extended the due date for the long-term observation to March 9th.

Monday, 2/7

Today, we had a special guest, chemistry professor, David Page over to do some chemical reaction demonstrations for students. Also, this week, we will move on to Chapter 6 - Cells. We'll be looking at different types of cells and their parts and functions.

Also, this week (Thursday), I will be conferencing with students to see that they are on schedule with their long-term observations. They should have about 4 observation sheets, with biotic and abiotic information.

Most students have chosen their backyards for their observation which, with all of the snow we've had, is probably a good thing!

In their notebooks, they should have:

1. Their original proposal signed by student, parent, and me!

2. At least 4 completed observation forms.

3. Hopefully photos of their sites

4. Measurements of snow, depth and size of snow cover

This observation assignment is a major one and is due to be completed in early March.