Food Bank Visit 10/07

We had a great time helping out the food bank! Great Job Advisory!!

Enrichment Post #1

Hi Students,

If you do the following on-line experience you will be issued extra credit for science class. There will be a new one each week.



This week what I would like you to do is play the game called WEED WIPEOUT by clicking here. Go to the PLAY THE GANE link on the bottom right and read the instructions.

I would like you to reflect on the game and the different techniques that one can use to manage invasive weeds that need to be controlled in a postinf for extra credit. It isn't easy to beat them!

I look forward to your reactions.

Mr. F :-)

Week of 10/22

Hi All,

It was another busy week in science class. This really was a week of chia head data collection! Every team (including those who had to re-start) are now collecting meaningful data at the beginning of each science class. There wil be a report from this experiment due in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. Just try and continue to be meticulous about your data collection. Also, try and use metric units (mm and cm) instead of standard units (inches). One inch equals 2.5 cm, for those teams that need to convert there data.

On Monday we continued our Deer Dilemma essays. I hope you found the time useful. I should have most corrected by Monday morning. So far they look great. I'll be talking to you more about them next week. Being able to communicate and defend you science ideas are important skills, along with using technical language to persuade others.

Tuesday was our "Discover Stamford" experience. I hope you found the Cove Island segment informative and fun. I enjoyed trying to teach you in the wind! Thanksfully, the rain helpd off for everyone! See this link for more info on the Long Island Sound. See the previous posting for some images from the trip.

Wednesday brought the Deer Dilemma conclusion and the Notebook clean-up campaign. We concluded on Friday by my issuing a grade for the vast majority of notebooks. Most looked very organized and received appropriately high grades. Trouble areas that were identified were headings for the cornell notes and data tables for the chia head experiments.

Next week is the final week of the quarter. We have a science assessment on Thursday. Don't let it upset you, but prepare by studying your science notes and reviewing any science sheets in your notebook. The topics for the test are the topics that we have been learning about so simply relax and do your best! :-) It does come from the city and all 7th graders in the city will take it. It is intended to help prepare our students for the coming SCIENCE CMT. There will be one at the end of each quarter. It is my hope that whatever results come from this will help me become a better teacher.

All the best!

Mr. Forde :-)

ps- Sorry I miised the chance to do the "solja boy" at the school dance. My family required me to stay closer to home friday night. I'll be at the next one for sure and I hope you enjoyed it!

Cove Island Ecology

Hi All,

Hope you enjoyed my Cove Island Sandy Beach/Salt marsh ecology walk.

Here are some picture from that day!

Mr. F :-)

Deer Hunting in Fairfield County!

Here is an article from FRIDAY that elaborates on the deer hunting which is allowed for the next 10 days in Fairfield County on some public land. This excellent article covers many related issues and will help you with you persuasive letters!

Click Here for the ADVOCATE article.

Mr. Forde :-)

Week of 10/15

Hi all,

This week we learned about photosynthesis and created photosynthesis diagrams for homework. We also started our "Deer Dilemma" discussions. These will result in a persuasive letter written to a fictional DEP director who is advocating the reduction of deer in public parks due to over population issues. We will continue our work on this letter on Monday. I am hoping for a final draft of that letter on Wedsday 10/24. **The first draft is due on Monday.

In the mean time, we kept moving our chia-head projects forward. We are finally seeing growth on many of them! This is allowing us to start collecting measurement data. See the before and after images of one project above!



Here is BOB who gets spoken to "ad naseum" by a couple of my advisees!




Quick Note: Several teams had to re-start their experiments due to mold or excessive smell (which my advisory was not enjoying each day). We did set them up with alternative experiments which should be yielding data soon! We hope to keep these running for several more weeks. As I said to the kids, "failed experiments are NOT failures because we learn from them. That is how science works!" :-)

All the best!

Mr. Forde :-)

Illuminating Photosynthesis

Go to this tutorial to review some aspects of photosynthesis!

Clck here

Select Illuminating Photosynthesis from the links on the page.

Mr. Forde :-)

Monarch Butterfly Migration

See this animation to follow the butterfly migration towards Mexico!

Click Here

The data is interesting!

Mr. Forde

What is this experiment trying to show us?

This picture is of an experiment set-up in my classroom. What is it tryng to show us? Comment below.

Chia Heads Created!

The students took their original questions about the abiotic factors that effect plants and designed their chia head experiments. Each team decided on a question that they thought was interesting and we are now under way. It may take a week or so to see any results but we'll keep checking in on them and recording the changes on our ISNs. Some of the variables being investigated are the effect of: no light, grow light, colored light, coffee, peanut butter, plant food, red bull, diet coke, pudding, bran cereal, nerds (the candy...not me and my friends), coolada, ice packs, M&Ms, heatng elements, ......and many more!

Wish us luck!

Mr. Forde :-)

ps- Thanks for all of the panty hose! They are helping to move science forward!

Panyhose request?

If you were at open house you heard my plea for help.

I am looking for pantyhose to help conduct plant experiments in my class.

See this link to see how the experiment may work.

Please help by starting to send them (the pantyhose) in. Place them in a baggie with the student name on a small piece of paper!

Thanks!

Mr. Forde :-)

Week of 10/1

It was a big week in science class!

We had new academic groups and a new schedule! Hopefully we are all settling in and finding our way though it! If there is one thing that is constant...it is change!

We started on Monday with a simulation in energy flow through the ecosystem. Kids lined up outside and were predators. The prey were poker chips. Mayhem ensued and different conditions were applied to the simulation. We also introduced an invasive species with greater ability to eat. (They used two hands.) To see their impact on the population. This allowed us to review the terms population density, birth rate, death rate, emigration and immigration. We then returned to the classroom and discussed the homework which related to the predator prey relationship of the wolf and Moose!

Wednesday we had a half day schedule but were able to finish distributing science textbooks, return their Inspired food webs (See their ISN), and conduct a lily pad simulation that demonstrated the power of logarithmic growth in a population. This allowed us to discuss terms like carrying capacity and limiting factors.

Thursday was the Jeopardy review for the test. Click here to see the slides! This allowed us to review key ideas and see what types of questions would be on the test, in a fun format.

Friday was test day! It was not a very tough test for them (they'll get tougher) but I am happy to see that most kids took it very seriously and were well prepared. They will be returned on Tuesday.



Here is an image of a hard working class performing well under great pressure!