Update Scheduling

Hi guys, since the break, Mr. Iannucci and I have decided to try 45 minute daily blocks with our students versus A/B day. We will try this at least until Christmas and then we will reevaluate to see if we want to continue this until the end of the year. The students seem to be okay with the schedule and it allows me to chunk material into smaller chunks where students can easily understand the material as well as giving students less time in class where they lose focus and or get restless. Check out some of the Christmas STEM cards made by my students for our Pitsco Stem Lab Company. There will be a monetary award should our student win. My kids’ rock and they did some awesome work.

 

Water Quality Stations 11-9 thru 11-16

Hi guys, sorry been a while since my last post but we were in the midst of Benchmark testing last week. My students have been working on stations in collaborative pairs since 11/9/18 learning the importance of each of the key indicators for testing water “potability” that is water that is safe to drink or consume.

We are spending more time on this concept as this is a power standard for the EOG and I only see the students every other day.  Students have been working very hard to accomplish their work and full class time has been given each day. Students will finish up the stations’ activities and the concluding assignment will be testing three samples of water for each of the five learned indicators for water.

stations water Quality

Water Quality Stations

 

 

 

11/5/18 and repeat 11/6/18 Water quality and Stewardship

 

Sorry, I have not posted in a few weeks, however, we have been working hard on our ocean zone stations which took two class periods and we had to take our unit tests on Estuaries and Oceans. 

EQ: How do bioindicators used to test water quality determine the potability of water?

Learning Goals:

• The health of a water system is determined by the balance between physical, chemical and biological variables.
• The temperature of water in rivers and lakes determines the kinds of organisms that can survive there.
• Measuring dissolved oxygen is an important factor in determining water quality
• pH is a measure of how acidic or basic water is.
• Nitrogen and phosphorous are essential plant nutrients.
• Turbidity is a measure of how clear water is

Water quality of a body of water can also be assessed by using bioindicators (macroinvertebrates).

Today we continued our study of water with water quality and stewardship. We began our lesson by watching a video that represents a real-world example of what a good steward is in reference to water quality. Jay Z a famous rap icon, has made a huge impact on Africa and has earned his badge of stewardship. Parents ask your student to tell you about his efforts working with the United Nations.

• Video Jay Z water stewardship
• You can find the PowerPoint here: Pollution and Water Stewardship

After my instruction students were given the opportunity to begin their assignment “Piecing it all together”. The assignment covers the five indicators I discussed in lecture that are used to determine the “potability” of water, meaning the water is safe for drinking or consuming.  The assignment is in GC for students to complete on pg 25 and 26. 

EX Page 25 and 26

PDF is in GC: or click here with your WCS email account PDF OF INB PG25 and 26

Students were given a reading assignment in GC last week to preface this lesson and open-ended questions from that article were to go on pg 27. This assignment is past due. If you have not completed this, I need it today at the latest. Do not forget to attach the hard copy of the article given in class today along the side of page 27 questions go underneath and overflow questions on pg 28. Please show both when attaching picture in GC to the assignment. 

Make sure your INB is UP TO DATE!!!!!! Parents progress reports go home Thursday please sign and return.

Vocabulary for flash cards for this week are also in GC please make sure you get these done by Wednesday as well as you will need these for the Benchmark!!!

Here are some helpful Benchmark Kahoots for studying for your Science Benchmark on Thursday 11/8. 

Kahoot Ecology Vocabulary Benchmark Preview

Water Quality and Stewardship Kahoot

 

 

10/25 and 10/26 Oceans

Bellwork: Students had to answer three open-ended questions in their GC from the previous day’s lesson.

EQ: How does sunlight, temperature, and pressure change as you go deeper into the depths of the ocean zones?

Learning Goals: 

• understand that Oceans are an integral component of the world’s climate
• understand that Oceans are an important source of food and mineral resources.
• identify examples of organisms that might be found in the different zones of the ocean.
• recognize that there are interconnected food chains in the ocean that form complex food webs.
• explain upwelling and how it contributes to biodiversity.
• explain the importance of gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere.
• explain why the ocean is considered to be a significant natural resource.
• identify several types of deep ocean technology and some of the information gained from these devices.
• summarize that the Earth’s oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms.

 

Today we learned about the ocean focusing on the above learning goals. Last class, we began our study of ocean zones with reading the article Ocean Zones and Marine Food Webs. This article can be found in Google Classroom and the previous day’s post.

Students participated in class discussion and I used direct instruction today with the power point below. I am including this for students to refer back to if needed for help. If viewed in presentation mode students can go back and watch the embedded videos as well. 

Ms. Les PPT

Students then had an assignment in their INBS on PG 21 and 22 students were to illustrate, label, and record key characteristics that are present in each of the zones to include some organisms that are present in each. Students should pay close attention to what happens to temperature, sunlight, and pressure as they go deeper in each zone. 

Ex:

PDF of pages in Google Classroom for students.

Homework is due for B day students tomorrow in class. See the previous day’s post for more information. A day students your HW s due Friday in class. Vocabulary flashcards for Bday students were due today attached to the assignment in GC.

10/22/18 10/23/18 ESTUARIES CONT’D

EQ: How can we be good stewards to protect and preserve the estuaries?

Three question Quiz on GC

Estuary Keeper Activity Kids really enjoyed this activity

 

Discuss HW expectations and Questions ( though hw only counts as 5% of your grade and you may be inclined to not do the assignment, please understand my tests and pop quizzes will incorporate these open-ended questions). If you can explain it in your own words, you can pass any multiple choice question test.

Read Ocean zones and Marine food WEBS  in GC. Be prepared to answer the question of how temp, pressure, and light changes through each ocean zone.

Flash cards are due in GC tomorrow 10/23/18 all classes!

Awesome Student Work: Vocabulary Word Splash

The students worked very hard analyzing our article on estuaries and collaboratively creating these amazing estuarine aquatic organisms found in our local NC estuaries all while learning key vocabulary that they did not know prior to the reading.

10-17 A day and 10-18 Bday Estuaries Continued

Today we continued our study of estuaries by answering open-ended questions in their INBS and they had to illustrate an estuary.

EQ: Why are estuaries called the fertile nurseries of the sea?

Learning Goals:

• Explain the importance of Estuaries to include both wildlife and human activity.
• Illustrate an estuary
• Explain how/why shallow Estuarine waters create unique habitats for an organism living there.
• Illustrate an estuarine food chain/web
• Explain how the salinity of water changes from inland areas out towards the ocean and define brackish waters.
• Summarize ways in which estuaries provide protection for inland areas.
• Summarize the impact dredging has on fish in an estuary
• Explain how too many nutrients can impact the natural balance in an estuary.
• Describe ways in which the terrain changes from Charlotte, N.C. to the coastal plains of NC.

Estuaries the nurseries of the world

Virtual Field Trip at night in the Rachel Carson Reserve

Students then were assigned page 19 and 20 in their Google Classroom. The pdf link is below. 

INB PAGES 19 and 20 All about Estuaries PDF file

EX 

These are due in Google Classroom by Monday 10-22-18. 

Students exit ticket is due in GC and should’ve been answered in class. If you did not do this please do so now.

10-15 and 10-16 Estuaries

Bellwork: Schoolnet quiz password WATERQUIZ2

Today we continued our study on estuaries by creating our vocabulary word splashes after we read, analyzed, and discussed the article: click here All about Estuaries In NC.

What is a word splash you say?

A word splash is a collection of keywords or concepts chosen from a passage or chapter that students are about to read. This strategy gives students a chance to relate the new words or concepts to the main topic of the reading.

Students had to choose an organism that lives in the NC Estuary as described in the article above. They were to sketch and cut out their organism and then all students in the group collaborated with each other to come up with 1. Vocabulary words from the article that they did not know or that they needed more help with it’s meaning. 2. Words from the article that were very important to the NC estuary. Ex. Oysters  Why? Because they are the filter of toxins in the estuarine water, one oyster can filter 25 gallons of water per day.

Some examples from last year can be seen below. I will update tomorrow’s post which will highlight some awesome student work from the last two days.

 

 

EQ: Why are estuaries called the fertile nurseries of the sea?

• Explain the importance of Estuaries to include both wildlife and human activity.
• Explain how/why shallow Estuarine waters create unique habitats for an organism living there
• Summarize ways in which estuaries provide protection for inland areas.
• Summarize the impact dredging has on fish in an estuary
• Explain how too many nutrients can impact the natural balance in an estuary.
• Describe ways in which the terrain changes from Charlotte, N.C. to the coastal plains of NC.

 

We watched a short video about estuaries which specifically targeted our EQ for the lesson. You can watch again by clicking Estuaries the nurseries of the world.  

 

10/9/18 and 10/10/18 Estuaries and Oceans

The mural above was made by my students last year during our study of the Estuaries and Oceans…..man I miss them,  so it only felt right that I give them a shout out!

Today, we began our studies on NC Estuaries and Oceans. We began our class as always with the essential question and introduction of the vocabulary words assigned yesterday. Flash cards are due in GC attached to the assignment by 8:30 am. There are instructions and an example posted in GC tonight if you did not hear the directions in class or need clarification on how to turn these into me.

EQ: Why are estuaries called the fertile nurseries of the sea?

Learning Goals:   There are many for this standard but we knocked out several today with our literacy article All about NC Estuaries. We will continue to focus on these until we master all the goals below. 

• Explain the importance of Estuaries to include both wildlife and human activity.
• Illustrate an estuary
• Explain how/why shallow Estuarine waters create unique habitats for an organism living there.
• Illustrate an estuarine food chain/web
• Explain how the salinity of water changes from inland areas out towards the ocean and define brackish waters.
• Summarize ways in which estuaries provide protection for inland areas.
• Summarize the impact dredging has on fish in an estuary
• Explain how too many nutrients can impact the natural balance in an estuary.
• Describe ways in which the terrain changes from Charlotte, N.C. to the coastal plains of NC.

 

Vocabulary words again from Week 10/8/18  Estuaries and Oceans Part 1 flashcards due 10/10/18 in Google Classroom attached to the assignment. See GC for directions.

 

We then read, analyzed, and discussed as a class the article for understanding and because there are lots of vocabulary we are learning, our first activity was to create a word splash using the word estuary as the focus word. Students will be working in their groups to create a word splash in the shape of an organism that lives in our estuaries off the NC coast. They are to use as many vocabulary words from the article that they do not know and that represent importance in our estuarine system. An example can be found below that was made by my students last year. They may not be copied.

A word splash is a collection of keywords or concepts chosen from a passage or chapter that students are about to read. This strategy gives students a chance to relate the new words or concepts to the main topic of the reading.

Here is a link to the article we read and it will be in the students GC after Bday’s class tomorrow. Please do not try to answer questions as there are specific guidelines I am requiring for those as well. More to come after tomorrow. 

 All about Estuaries In NC an adapted article found from Mrs. Barton

Reminder INB pages 14-18 should be complete for submission. You have had over two weeks and class time to complete. I reminded you of this again last week. I will post assignment to turn into GC tomorrow after I remind Bday students of the requirements for turning in these pages so they will be accepted. 

 

Progress reports go home tomorrow!!!! Parents, please sign and return to me by Thursday 10/11/2018.

10/5/18 10/8/2018 NC RIVER BASIN PROJECTS PART 2 continued……

One proud teacher right here!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Parents, take a look at some of the great work done by our students here at TMS.

Students started the day with a few additional minutes to put the finishing touches on their projects. The students then showcased their research and learning by presenting their projects to their peers and myself.  They really did an excellent job and I am very proud of them all!

Bday will present on Wednesday, Oct. 10th to finish up this project.

The NCDPI sent out an email a few days ago and have added a new wonderful website for NC Wetlands. We so often find that many students in our classes have not experienced the coast of NC yet they are expected to know the information about the area as it pertains to science. This site has some wonderful real-world videos that let the kids tour the areas of our coastal preserves

http://www.ncwetlands.org/

Vocabulary for this week is located in the students GC. Flash cards are due on Wednesday attached to their GC assignment.