In class we've been studying taxonomy, or the science of classifying life on the planet. Here is one activity from class.

We're starting a new chapter in class to learn how scientists classify living things on the planet and how they assign scientific names. Today in class we did a quick classification activity as we organized a cup of nuts and bolts.

Fig. 1 - Ice Heated to Boil Over Time

Today's lab involved taking data over a 20 minute period.  We wanted to see if the addition of salt made water boil faster.  Half of the class boiled ice and the other boiled it with the addition of a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  The graphed data is due Monday and should somewhat resemble the line graph above.  

Question:  Why the peaks and valleys before the 5 minute mark??

Here are the vocabulary words for Chapter 2 that will be on Monday's quiz. These are important words that will come up throughout the year:

DNA
Carbohydrate
Heredity
Homeostasis
Consumer
Decomposer
Producer
Asexual Reproduction
Sexual Reproduction
Cell
Stimulus
Protein
Lipid
ATP

Be sure to check out the oven-roasted potatoes tomorrow in the cafeteria. We made them in class today using potatoes, garlic, and onions from the GCS farm.....ok, AND some dried herbs from around the world.

The potatoes were dug up by some of Ms. Fitzgerald's youth services summer day camp students and stored in the root cellar until now.

Here is the site from today on metric system size and scale.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

Brooke shows off her experiment as she tried to figure out whether slugs prefer onions or lettuce. Today, many groups realized that slugs will generally pick foods that are dipped in Red Bull.

Today we set up our experiments to gain a better understanding about what slugs prefer to eat. As you can see from the table, there were many different variables to choose from.

Dan carefully cuts his square of lettuce.


These guys can't wait to see if slugs prefer lettuce that has been "enhanced" with Red Bull. To see a list of today's experiments, click here.

Today we began our observations for our inquiry investigation into the feeding preferences of slugs. Tomorrow, we will conduct a variety of experiments. In the end we will learn more about the scientific method, but more importantly - how scientists learn about the world around us.

Members of 4th period get to work on the 1st lab of the year - understanding the scientific method.

Members of Food, Land, and You spent some time in the garden today picking produce for the cafeteria.
Tyrone with a handful of the ~500 peppers Viola planted.
Jon samples a fresh tomato.
Here is the class before we prepped and washed today's harvest. All produce is organic and grown within 100 meters of the school's cafeteria.

A future scientist at work!

Today we had great classroom discussions about science and the world around us. I loved hearing your insights! We also worked on observation skills with some flowers. Here, Abbey and Kye demonstrate what good observation skills look like.

Welcome new 7th graders! I'm looking forward to a great year of science and learning. I hope you had a great 1st day getting back into the routine.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Are we all staying away from the Wii and television? I will be doing a little road trip out to New Mexico starting the 16th to rent one of those self-sufficient earthships that I showed in class. So cool...I'm going to build one one day! I'll be covering the whole trip on Twitter, if you'd like to follow me (MrDeVoe). I've been busy getting the school garden finished for the 2010-2011 school year and it is just about finished. The most recent addition was a rain barrel donated by Groton Rotary. Viola, Malcolm C., and I finished the raised bed inside of the greenhouse. This space will be used to grow spinach and lettuce for the cafeteria in late fall and early spring. They are cool-weather crops and the greenhouse should keep them warm enough even when there is snow on the ground. I laid down cardboard first and put topsoil over it so weeds cannot grow through.We have a LOT of cantaloupes! Those growing in the greenhouse have been suspended in their "hammocks" and we have another bed in the garden that is loaded with them. Stop by to check them out...just do not touch!Some elementary students during this year's science camp helped plant string beans. All of the produce will be available in the cafeteria when we return to school. We will have string beans, snap peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, melons, onions, summer squash, lettuce, peppers, and spinach. Every Tuesday at 7pm is garden volunteer night if you are interested in helping out. There are always weeds to pull. Enjoy the rest of break!

Today we wrapped up our ecology unit with a scavenger hunt in the nature area. Here, Alexis, displays her primary consumer - a red-backed salamander. REMEMBER: Thursday is our final exam and books are available to sign out if desired.

Today was our first harvest of the year from the newly-revamped "GCS Student Farm". This crop of spinach will be part of the salad bar at lunch today and tomorrow. We also took some time to weed, plant sweet corn, and transplant watermelon.