Here is the website that we explored a little in class on Friday about the "micro-artist." Check it out. It is a pretty awesome example of how science can be used in other subjects like art!



http://www.willard-wigan.com/

Today was our first "hands-on" day with the microscopes. We are in the process of familiarizing ourselves with the parts and functions of the scopes and how to create a wet-mount slide. We will have a quiz fairly soon on microscope safety and the functions of each part. Below is the virtual microscope we used in class:

http://www.udel.edu/biology/ketcham/microscope/scope.html

Our trout came today 5th period. Here, Michael takes a closer look before we dumped them into the tank.

Mercedes spent some time today getting the trout tank ready for tomorrow's egg delivery. We will be receiving about 100 Brown Trout eggs to raise until May when we release them back into the wild. Mercedes tested water pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Today after school Chris B., Tyler M., Kodie C., and Steve F. Helped build the new Middle School bird feeder. It will be placed near the track for winter bird watching. The newly-improved feeder and new binoculars were made possible through a grant from the Groton Education Fund.

This week we welcomed Miss Reynolds to class. She comes to us as a student from Cornell. She grew up in California and has come to love the Finger Lakes area. Here, she works with Dom and Ian on their dichotomous key activity. We're looking forward to a great 7 weeks, Miss Reynolds!

Today I met some very enthusiastic 5th graders from Mr. D'Antonio and Ms. King's classes as we built three 4' x 10' raised beds.  These will be used to grow food for the elementary school.

After construction we filled each bed with soil that was donated by a parent.  Next spring we'll amend the soil with finished compost that is collected from lunches at the elementary and middle/high school buildings.

I'm not sure if I'd want to run into a Yagerlum samus in the woods by myself.

Today members of Food, Land, and You prepared about 10 Acorn and Butternut Squash for freezing. The cafeteria will serve these with brown sugar at their annual Thanksgiving lunch in Nov. These squash came from the student vegetable garden.

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.