<insert drum roll>
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 5th and 6th grade students Pill Bug Presentations! These presentations represent over a month's worth of work in science class. It started with multiple weeks of experimentation and behavioral studies and concluded with the students presenting their findings to their peers. I am thrilled with their efforts and results and I hope you enjoy watching these videos!
Grade 5
Kyle B. - https://youtu.be/irKYQNuOQEc
Aiden C. - https://youtu.be/iJFu2URHXi8
Katy F. - https://youtu.be/zqXdf3f7vYA
Kate H. - https://youtu.be/AWMAIGpJCY0
Dawson H. - https://youtu.be/sEHHrf_jwkM
Noor H. - https://youtu.be/Hqu4177Wgtg
Jane L. - https://youtu.be/x6KM298aNLk
Simon L. - https://youtu.be/zV0tl06rW24
Cooper M. - https://youtu.be/ATpEhd7CKMk
Harrison M. - https://youtu.be/bjgP3qGV6LU
Grayson M. - https://youtu.be/dIvrbpNLRo4
Bryce M. - https://youtu.be/1uYTzEx8ld4
Kylie R. - https://youtu.be/slVBUN6-D4I
Jack R. - https://youtu.be/y7qUHxqWnU0
Michael T. - https://youtu.be/OEd4CXjyyjE
Connor W. - https://youtu.be/rMAxsGobQDQ
Grade 6
Laura B. - https://youtu.be/xXG7bMWE5hA
Arushi K. - https://youtu.be/PYRXTIFh8mA
Eli K. - https://youtu.be/PsSXbJaZxbk
Ryan F. - https://youtu.be/aLKdXSoR7kI
Ava L. - https://youtu.be/wWQ4kIJvex0
Lucy P. - https://youtu.be/3vsFj9RLNsk
Dillon R. - https://youtu.be/P12tg4k96uM
Friday, December 11, 2015
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Updates from the Wonderful World of Science
Grade 4
Students in Grade 4 science have been working hard learning the ins and outs of taxonomy and classification. They have been learning about Carl Linnaeus (the father of taxonomy) and learning how the system he created 300 years ago provides the framework we still use today. We have spent time discussing the idea of grouping organisms by the ways they are similar and dissimilar and using the macroinvertebrates from our own collection as examples for when orders/families/classes/genus separate from each other and become a new group of organisms.
Some of our class time has also been dedicated to continue to care for our crayfish collection. My room is starting to look a little like a rescue center for aquatic species and we currently have eight working aquariums!
Crayfish are omnivores and scavengers. They will eat pretty much anything... plants, insects, fish, alive things, dead things, and even other crayfish! We've been trying to stop the carnage and separate out our species into individual tanks and I think we've finally reached a good balance. The other highlight has been that we observed a pair of crayfish mating, which in addition to being really cool, was super helpful in helping us understand the anatomy of a crayfish. The difference between a male and female can be told by looking at the size of the uppermost swimmerets on the abdomen. When we completed our crayfish anatomy lab that was one of the things that had most of us stumped because most of our crayfish all looked like they had the same size swimmerets. Now that we knew we had a female and a male we could compare their swimmerets and finally could see the difference in size clearly. We have isolated the female crayfish and hope that her eggs will fertilize and come to fruition. If we get baby crayfish you'll be sure to know!
Students in Grade 4 science have been working hard learning the ins and outs of taxonomy and classification. They have been learning about Carl Linnaeus (the father of taxonomy) and learning how the system he created 300 years ago provides the framework we still use today. We have spent time discussing the idea of grouping organisms by the ways they are similar and dissimilar and using the macroinvertebrates from our own collection as examples for when orders/families/classes/genus separate from each other and become a new group of organisms.
Some of our class time has also been dedicated to continue to care for our crayfish collection. My room is starting to look a little like a rescue center for aquatic species and we currently have eight working aquariums!
Crayfish are omnivores and scavengers. They will eat pretty much anything... plants, insects, fish, alive things, dead things, and even other crayfish! We've been trying to stop the carnage and separate out our species into individual tanks and I think we've finally reached a good balance. The other highlight has been that we observed a pair of crayfish mating, which in addition to being really cool, was super helpful in helping us understand the anatomy of a crayfish. The difference between a male and female can be told by looking at the size of the uppermost swimmerets on the abdomen. When we completed our crayfish anatomy lab that was one of the things that had most of us stumped because most of our crayfish all looked like they had the same size swimmerets. Now that we knew we had a female and a male we could compare their swimmerets and finally could see the difference in size clearly. We have isolated the female crayfish and hope that her eggs will fertilize and come to fruition. If we get baby crayfish you'll be sure to know!
The crayfish mating ritual usually consists of the male and female grappling together for one to two hours. I kept my eye on them all morning and our mating pair was linked together for more than three hours! When I came back from lunch they had disconnected and each crayfish had retreated to the corner farthest from the other one. This would lend itself nicely to a class on healthy relationships, but in our 4th graders case I just silently chuckled to myself and moved on.
Crayfish enjoying a piece of turkey at Thanksgiving
Grade 5 and 6
I haven't sent a lot of updates from Grade 5/6 recently because they have been immersed in the same work for a few weeks now. They have completed their independent experiments around pill bugs and have been working on putting together powerpoint presentations that highlight their experiments and findings. This week they will present these findings to their class. I will be videotaping the presentations and have those to share with you all via the blog sometime next week. I am very proud of the effort the students have put into their projects and presentations and can not wait to see the fruits of their labor!
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