What is Aquaponics? from OrganicNation on Vimeo.

Here is a cool video I found. Relate this to our trout tank.

"In nature there is no waste..."

Today, Sarah Cudney, a Cornell Sophomore came in to talk about
mammalian anatomy and locomotion. She did a great job and was nice
enough to haul in several skulls from Ithaca. If you enjoyed this talk
you may want to start thinking about going to college for wildlife
biology or veterinarian sciences.

My GPS Position

Spending the day on the Niagara River. 

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 43.119278
Longitude: -79.066994
Google Maps link

Sent from my iPhone

The week after Thanksgiving signals the beginning of Project Feederwatch. Students will be able to sign up for Rec. birdwatching. We will be observing our school feeder and submitting our findings to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website. Last night I purchased a bunch of bird seed from Ms. Rae's bird shop in Lansing (http:/www.raesroost.com). Thank you also to Taylor P. and his family for donating seed as well. Monday we will begin learning several of the species of birds we will be seeing.

Yesterday Bill Foster came in to introduce our trout in the classroom program and explain a little about some of the things we'll be doing this year. If you are interested, be sure to check out the Trout in the Classroom blog at http://fingerlakestic.blogspot.com


Also, here is a video of a two-headed trout alevin:

This thursday after school at 3pm my high school environmental science club will be watching and discussing the documentary, Food, Inc. I wanted to extend the invite to the 7th graders and parents as well. This spring will mark the 3rd (and best so far) year for our school's organic garden and this film will highlight the benefits of that effort. As a warmup, check out this student-run garden at Yale university...pretty sharp. If you would like to help out with our own garden, more information will be available this winter.

Students Dig In at Yale's Sustainable Farm from OrganicNation on Vimeo.

It was a fishy today for Mr. DeVoe's class. A Student from Cornell, James Costaras, came to talk about what the fish around here look like and what allows them to function. We got the opportunity to hear some big fish stories in class... Feel free to post your fishing stories in the comments below! A special thanks to Cornell and Mr. Costaras for joining us today.

Scanning Electron Microscope Presentation

Video From Today....Sorry about the camerawork.

Today we had the privilege of having Daron Westley, an electron microscopy specialist from Cornell come to our class with a PORTABLE SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE!!! The pictures seen throughout the day were truly amazing. They range from Mr. Meade's toe skin, to Courtney's hair to a freshly killed fly directly off the classroom window.

A special thanks to Miss. Miller, a student from Cornell that came to speak on fireflies! The next time we look up into the night sky to see the glow of a firfly we will be able to see the beauty behind the biology. Look forward to Friday when we will be having a portable electron microscope brought into class!

Thursday night at 7pm I will be doing a presentation on The Appalachian Trail in my room. All interested individuals are welcome. It will be roughly 40 minutes with a question and answer session following. Hope to see you there...bring a friend.

Today we welcomed our newest members into the classroom...about 100 newly-hatched Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) alevins. These guys came from a fish hatchery in Bath, NY and will grow and develop in our tank until we let them go in Owasco Inlet in April or May. It should be a great experience. Several schools in Tompkins County take part but we're going to keep our tank temperature slightly lower than the others to see if that affects their metabolism and growth.

Great job on the quiz on friday, the following students had perfect scores on their quizes! Timothy B, Tristen B, Mackenzie C, Anneleise H, Otis J, Courtney J, Chris H, Sam G, Ryan B, Allyson B, Alexis S, Drew B, and Camille H. Keep up the good work!

In this coming week we will be learning about how to use the microscope, along with having a vistor come in with a portable electron microscope and another speaker on fireflies!

On friday you got to hear a little bit about my experience with Honey bees. Here are some of the pictures shown in class just in case you wanted a second look. Over the next few weeks I will be showing you more of my amazing biology experiences.

Guest Speaker

Over the next couple weeks we will have several Cornell students in to
present a variety of topics. Today, Rick Cicciarelli was here to give
us a great lesson on honey bees. He even brought in a sample colony
for us to see. Very cool!

I occasionally read a great blog by a guy out of Cornell. He usually posts about birds and salamanders but this cool photo caught my eye. Can anyone hypothesize what happened to this beetle? Many times in science, we're not around to observe what took place but can look at the evidence and test our best guesses through a variety of ways. Any guesses about this one?

Quiz Friday on microscope parts and safety! Here are a couple things from the interweb that I've gathered to help you study for the quiz. Remember, the quiz is on microscope parts and their functions and also safety. Here are a couple good sites:

Labeled Microscope

Quiz Yourself

Lots of information about what we covered this week.

Today we rotated among 4 stations all dealing with microscopes. Here, Mr. Rhoads and Mr. Meade work on preparing wet-mounts and focusing with the microscope. We learned that a letter "e" appears upside down and backwards because of the lenses and mirrors within the bodytube. Friday we have a quiz on microscope parts and safety. Make sure you study!

Greetings from your new student teacher!! I am very excited to get started with microscopes this week. I already know nearly all of your names, and look forward to getting to know and Mr. DeVoe. As you can see by my picture I have been to far corners of the world to study Biology and hope to share some experiences with you all. See you in class!