Check out the results here.

What have I been doing this summer??? Not updating this blog, obviously. I hope everyone is enjoying their time off but also finding time to keep their minds busy. Here's a taste of what I've been up to...

Here, Mr. Giroux and Mr. Wiech examine the new trail that the Generation - Z summer work group have been working on.



I've managed to get a little hiking in...these are from Chimney Mtn in the Adirondacks. Koda had to be carried in a couple sections.


A little fire poi...         photo credit Sam Malone

Roy got a chance to make new friends.

Looking forward to the year to come. We've got lots of great new technology and I spent all summer learning new tricks.

We started the year composting in the middle/high school building but in January the elementary school jumped on board. For school year 2007-2008 Groton Central School has composted nearly 7,500 pounds of cafeteria scraps. The composting process take place behind the school, thus further saving energy by eliminating the need to transport it off site. Thanks to everyone involved in making Groton a model school for environmental stewardship.

Less than one week left! Today we learned about the different biomes that exist around the globe and also talked about some environmental issues. Remember, the final exam is on Friday. Make sure you study up!

Today Mr. D'Antonio's 5th graders came up to check out our composting and gardening programs. Many of his students are involved in the collection process at the elementary school. Way to go guys! Together we're making Groton a little greener.

Today we had a scavenger hunt in the nature area. Students searched for producers, consumers, and decomposers as well as constructing a food web of our area.

In other news, today marked the first harvest for the school garden, "Crops-in-Groton". In today's lunch line, our home-grown Romaine Lettuce was featured in the salad bar. Come September, we will have a variety of crops including broccoli, summer squash, beans, and carrots.

Wow...way too hot to stay in the classroom today. Instead, we ventured out into the Outdoor Classroom to start our chapter on Ecology. We read a segment from "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert and wrote a creative obituary for a dead tree. Below: the wild phlox are in full bloom in our nature area and along the roadsides.

Congratulations to all of last week's winners in the annual GCS fishing contest. Mr Filzen and I also got out on Cayuga Lake to do some perch fishing.

BLAST FROM THE PAST. High schoolers, EMMA, SARAH, KATIE, and BRITTANY attended the recent outing club field trip to Watkins Glen. The outing club, run by Mr. Weich, is a great way to get outside to see the best things NY state has to offer. Make sure you take advantage of all the excellent activities that our high school offers once you get into 9th grade. If you would like to support the outing club and high school science club you can attend the Italian Dinner Saturday from 5-7:30pm in the high school cafeteria before enjoying the art show.

Friday we went outside for an activity on natural selection. Students (birds) had been swept to a new island with a new food source (beans). Variation in the birds' beaks proved that the traits for a spoon-shaped beak would be beneficial in the new environment. Over time the species would change to be best suited to their new environment.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the parents and community members who came out to support our students and school in this year's budget. I/we truly appreciate it. A major part of the proposal included drastic improvements to the district's technology plan; something that I, personally, think is an important step in developing competent citizens in the 21st century global arena.

Thank You again.

Today we continued our chapter on evolution by looking at the evidence for evolution. For part of class we examined several ancient homonid skulls that Cornell was generous enough to let us borrow.

Today the 1st half of the 7th grade braved the cold, wind, and rain to spend the day on Cayuga Lake and Salmon creek doing water studies. We spent 1/2 of the day collecting aquatic macroinvertebrates and studying the chemistry of Salmon creek. On the Floating Classroom we went through four stations to study the chemistry of the lake and we also looked at microscopic phyto and zooplankton that we caught. Tomorrow the second 1/2 of the 7th grade will go...hopefully with warmer weather.

Monday and Tuesday are the days for the 7th grade field trip to Cayuga Lake's Floating Classroom. Please remember to bring a bagged lunch and to dress appropriately. We will be leaving after 1st period and returning sometime during 9th period.

We finally got one! After 3 consecutive days with no luck in our mammal- trapping lab, we finally caught 1 white-footed mouse last night. Remember...tomorrow we have our genetics test.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to accompany the 6th grade to Lime Hollow Nature Center. They have been reading Hatchet and took part in 4 outdoor survival stations at Lime Hollow. They were fire building, edible plants, shelter building, and finding a reliable water source. Thank you to the Lime Hollow staff for putting together an awesome trip and thank you to the 6th graders for representing Groton positively.

This week we've done our small mammal trapping study. We are trying to get a better idea of what type of habitat these animals prefer. Unfortunately we have not gotten any data yet. Last year, along the same line we caught several. Can anything think why this might be the case? Here, ERIC P., JASON S., and KEITH B. set the traps in the afternoon.

Saturday the Sisterhood of Science traveled to the museum of science and technology in Syracuse to tour the exhibits and watch an IMAX film. Pictured are the 7th grade members that attended.

What an amazing success science night 2008 was Thursday night. 46 students from 7th grade alone attended along with hundreds of other students, parents, and community members throughout the night. Larry and Joel did terrific presentations relating to ocean life. I was very impressed with the posters everyone made and I'll hopefully have them graded by the end of the week. State Senator James Seward was also in attendance and stayed for over an hour.