Sept 29 – Oct 10
9/29 - Today we worked on out plant projects in class. I went outside and collected some Lemongrass because I wanted to put some in the candle I was making. The oil that I had tried to extract from some Lemongrass I had previously collected had dried up so I decided to cut the fresh lemongrass into pieces use them in my candle. When I checked the results of the candle I was greatly disappointed. The Lemongrass pieces had given the candle too much moisture and the candle didn't set as it was supposed to. I was really disappointed with my results but I learned a lesson for the future. This was the most important thing of the day.(DB)
We also discussed the different types of mushrooms and how to tell if they are poisonous or edible. Dr. H brought in galls that had small yellow larva living in the middle. (KJ)
In 2nd block we discussed
different mushrooms as well; Ashley Combs
and some of the other students grilled some Lactariusvolemus,
which has a nutty taste; Hericium, and some
more Lobster mushrooms (all of which taste wonderful with peppers and tomatoes).
While describing the galls
to our class Dr. H informed us that the smaller and larger galls get eaten
by specific predators; so the most successful size galls
are the medium ones. (MS)
9/30 - Today Dr. H. asked us to write down three things that we have learned in the past few days. So I wrote down my three and the one that stood out the most was the Food day at Fall Creek Falls that he told us about. It seemed very interesting to me when he explained that we go out and collect things from nature and then bring them back to make our food. Then when he told us that it was Oct. 25 I was upset because i have to take my ACT's that day. Then we went to the lab and measured the O2 consumption of a milkweed bug using a microrespirator. We collected our data today so that tomorrow we can take the average data of the class and make a graph in our journal. We did this experiment last year in Dr H.'s Anatomy and Physiology class, but I seemed to understand it better this year.(DB)
Someone in class brought in a small Northern Brown Snake, the scales around it's eyes helped us identify it. We also learned how to use field guides and especially looking for the italicized words because usually they are distinct characteristics that help identify whatever we are looking at. (KJ)
In 2nd block we began class
by discussing photosynthesis:
6 CO2 + 6 H2O ---> C6 H12 O6+ O2
*Potential energy in glucose
comes from the sun.
We also looked at the
stats of what earth's air is composed of:
20.93% - O2
79.04% - N2
.03% - CO2
At first we were suprised
at the shockingly low amount of CO2 in the air, but after some discussion
we realized that earth is functioning just fine, and adding more may actually
harm our environment.
We followed the learning
about our air with an experiment where we put a milkweed bug in a syringe
with a liquid in the end that absorbs CO2 and would move as the oxygen
in the container was used. We measured and recorded the movement
of the liquid every minute for ten minutes. (MS)
Stephen has been observing his
praying mantis very closely and has a nice project going. Mating has
occured and he's going to take the female home over fall break. (Dr. H).
10/1 - Today we watched a video on
Funnel spiders. Then we went outside and
looked at them in our Ecology garden. They were really interesting
to me. I caught one by the garden hose faucet and brought it in to class
to live in the aquarium we have. I put different plants and objects
in the container to see where it makes its web. This weekend I'm
going to try to identify it down to a family. Today was fun and I
learned that funnel spiders interested
Stephen got some papyrus from the
butterfly garden water feature and added it to his crayfish project (Dr
H)
We pasteurized starw and then mixed
oyster mushroom spawn in with the starw and placed in a dark cabinet
until after the fall break. (Dr H)
The dermestid beetles are working
on the squirrel skull pretty good (Dr H)
10/2 - Today
we wrote reactions to National Science Teacher's Association. Mine
was as follows:
I believe that this class represents these concepts
and teaching strategies very well. This class has helped me tremendously
in that it has better prepared me for college and the real world.
This class has taught me to apply the concepts we learn to my own life
experiences, and that helps me retain the knowledge ot
them better. Also working together and teaching each other is a very
good skill to learn. We aren't always going to have someone standing
over us to supervise. This class has taught me valuable skills for
my life and I will remember and use them in my future.(DB)
Class began with each group submitting their results from the experiment on the 30th; and we made a chart showing our class results. Then Dr.H showed us a website, NSTA.org, where we viewed some new teaching methods known as "Less and More". After we reflected on that for a few moments we watched the video on Funnel Spiders which was followed by a trip to the garden where we searched for the different types of spider webs: orb, bowl and doily, dome, flat, and funnel. (MS)
I've been trrying to identify to species level the beetle I found in a chicken of the woods one of the kids brought in. (DR H)
10/3 - Today we turned in our poster
boards on our plant projects. I brought in chicken stir fry, with
Lemongrass in it, for the class. It was really good, I thought. Today was
a good day because we learned about everybody's plant that they had chosen.(DB)
Here are a sample of two plant projects: the
unique kudzu poster and one on
lavender. (Dr H)
The plant projects were turned in at the very beginning
of class. We spent some time in discussion then went to the lab to
compare skulls. We looked at a loggerhead turtle skull, a plastic
human skull, and another larger skull which was separated from it's jaw
bone ( I think it was a carnivore or omnivore
from the way the teeth looked). (MS)
My friend Dick Geiger had collected the loggerhead 30+ years
ago while he was working on Ossabaw Island - before the endangered species
act. He gave me a river cooter shell and a
nice boar skull also. (Dr H)
10/6 -Today we watched a video on Preying Mantises. It was pretty cool and I can't believe that something as small as they are can eat a 10 inch snake. They also eat humming birds. It's also hard to believe how quick they are to jump on they prey. They blend in well with their surroundings so well. (DB)
Katie Jones and I found some mushrooms at the Oak
Ridge Marina; we brought them in to find what kind it was, but I was unsuccessful
with my research. We went over the plans for the rest of the week
because he's going to
10/7 (sub) - Today we watched a video on
The video was incredibly informative when it came
to showing what happened to the environment after Mt.Saint
Helens erupted. It told about the dome, conductivity,
10/8 (sub) -Today we went to the computer lab and
answered questions on the
10/9 (sub) - Today we worked on and finished our papers
on
Our class did well as far as getting their essays done. A lot of people had started thinking "Omg, FOUR pages!!" But as people finished writing everything from the notes we took yesterday they ended up having more than enough information for 4 pages, and people got done a lot faster than that thought they would. I think the class was pleasantly surprised at how it really wasn't as difficult as we'd originally made it out to be. (MS)
10/10 (sub) - Today we did class on our own but we didn't do a very good job of it. We didn't take enough responsibility to look at the lesson plan that Dr. H. had written on the board and do what it said. Instead we watched an irrelevant cartoon when we were supposed to be watching the rainforest video and answering that questions. (DB)
It's the last day before fall break and a lot of students (and teachers) are getting restless. When class started we didn't have a sub so Lexi took roll, and Mr. Freeman came over and told us to go to his classroom to watch the Rainforest video. We got comfortable and he handed out the worksheets. Our sub arrived at some point during the video and once we were done we retrieved back to our home classroom to confirm one another’s' answers.(MS)
