Tuesday Class

Today in class we had a discussion about food poisoning. With the Thanksgiving break upon us it was a good time to discuss bacteria and bring it to life by bringing in the topic of food poisoning. There is currently no homework due!
Have a great Thanksgiving Break!

Monday Class

Today in class we finished the reading exercise on Lake Erie.
There is currently no homework due.

Friday Class

Students took their Great Lakes Ecology Test today.

Thursday Class

Today in class we finished part "A" of our Lake Erie reading activity. The students read about the pollution problems that faced Lake Erie. Therefore, to bring the scenario to life, we wanted to make a connection to the pollution problems that Lake Macatawa faces here in Holland, MI. We watched a short video put on by the Macatawa Watershed Project. We then had time (about 10 minutes) to study and ask questions for tomorrows Great Lakes Ecology test.

Wednesday Class

Today in science class we did two things:
1. We did a larger CPS quiz covering many of the topics that will be on Friday's test.
2. We started a science reading activity about Lake Erie and that lakes troubled past. This activity will be spread out over a number of days. The activity sheet can be found on our Great Lakes Ecology Page.

Tuesday Class

Today we did two things:
1. We did our class presentations from learning station #4. Presentations were about issues with the beach zone in regards to Sand Dune ecology. The presentations were AWESOME!
2. We handed out a review sheet for our upcoming Great Lakes Ecology Test. The test will be this Friday. A review sheet is available on our Great Lakes Ecology page. Information from the last test is fair game as well. A copy of the basic ecology test can be found on our basic ecology page.

See yesterday's blog entry for information about the current homework that is due Wednesday!

Monday Class

Today in Science class we finished this group of learning centers. The second half of class was time for students to finish any unfinished stations or prepare with their groups a presentation that was needed for station number 4. Presentations will be done in class tomorrow.

The homework that is assigned from these learning centers is:
1. Dune Dilemma Summary Sheet from Station #1
2. Beach/Foredune/Interdunal Pond/Back Dune Data Sheets from stations #2 and #3.

*These are due THIS WEDNESDAY!

Friday Class

Today was a continuation of the last 2 days. Once again, students completed 2 stations in this set of 6 stations on Sand Dunes.

There is currently no homework assigned.

Thursday Class

Today we were able to accomplish two stations from this set of learning stations. See yesterday's blog entry for details on our Sand Dune Ecology learning stations!

There is currently no homework assigned!

Wednesday Class

We introduced a new set of stations today. The topic is Sane Dune Ecology. A detailed description of the stations and appropriate resources are available on our Great Lake Ecology resource page. You can also get to that page by clicking here. There are 6 stations in which students only completed one station today.

There is currently no homework assigned!

Sand Dune Power Point

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tmalefyt

Tuesday Class

Today in class we watched a movie on current issues that face the Florida Everglades. You might ask why would we study an issue in the everglades when we are in the middle of a Great Lakes ecology unit? Well, we are entering a phase in our class in which are doing more studying on how humans effect on our environment and the wildlife that exists. South Florida has some extremely visible examples on what human development can do to existing wildlife.

Currently there is no homework assigned!

Science Olympiad rosters will be announced within this week!

Monday Class

Today in class we accomplished two things.
1. We had a class wide wrap up discussion on classifying fish found in the Great Lakes region.
2. We had a wrap up session from last Friday's social contract development.

There is no homework currently assigned!

Friday Class

Today was a very important class period. The students developed their social contracts for the remainder of the year. These contracts demonstrate how students want to treat each other, their teachers, and how they want teachers to treat them. It was a VERY PRODUCTIVE DAY!

Tuesday and Wednesday Class

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday.
Yesterday was a class period spent on classroom management. We are introducing students to a new way of thinking. Many of these principles are being implemented throughout our middle school.

Today we are finishing some of yesterday's activities. We will be finishing today with students doing a classification exercise called "the face of a fish".

We have told the students that the Dragon Lab will be due tomorrow.

Monday Class

Today in science class we finished our diversity of dragon's classification exercise. This will be due on Wednesday of THIS week. This lab is not available online...sorry!