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March 28, 2006
On Monday and Tuesday of this week students have been working on a comparison table (visual organizer) of information about vertebrates. It should be finished tonight for homework if it was not completed in class to day. Tomorrow we will discuss some of the things that we have learned about animals.
Students learned their scores on the Ecology test this week; most were very good.
Posted by Carroll at 06:38 PM
Congratulations to all of my students who worked so hard the past few weeks on creating wildlife videos. All 24 movie productions were awesome and show evidence of much work.
Three of our class videos were selected to go to the Mabry Film Festival this year. They are as follows:
The Adaptations of Seals in the Antarctic by Alex L., Chris H., and Hunter H.
Antarctica/ Human Influences by James G., Shannon D., Grace R., and Jillian C.
Lionesses by Morgan P., Jaclyn P., and Stefani J.
Plans are underway to have a showing of all of our videos at the Wild Dog Film Festival (the other film festival) later this year. Parents will be invited to attend and we plan to have a fun celebration of our work. Date and details will be announced later. This Friday we will show our class videos and enjoy seeing a few from other classes.
Posted by Carroll at 06:29 PM
March 21, 2006
Tomorrow is the big day. Our movies are almost finished. They are due Wednesday during class.
I will be here at 8:00 am Wednesday morning to allow students extra time to work on the finishing details.
Posted by Carroll at 03:13 PM
March 20, 2006
Students should be checking their comprehension of ecology and reviewing for their upcoming test with the questions that were assigned last week.
Pages 712-713 (17-28) These questions are due tomorrow (Tuesday).
Pages 752-753 (19-29) are due on Wednesday.
REVIEW/ Extra help session is scheduled for Thursday morning at 8:15.
The Wildlife documentaries are looking good. We are continuing to work on them through Wednesday. The finished products are due at that time.
You should have your lichen "keyed out" by Thursday. See me for help as needed during class.
Posted by Carroll at 03:56 PM
Some of my students have researched Global Warming as a current issue that is having an effect on the Antarctic environment. Here is a great chance to learn more about it from an expert. Check out the details that are given below.
Fernbank Museum hosts Dr. Tim Flannery in a special lecture on Monday, March 27 at 7 p.m. Author of the new book The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth ( Atlantic Monthly Press, $24), Dr. Flannery will address some of the hottest topics facing today’s world population. Dr. Flannery, who was recently profiled in The New York Times (“Twin Paths to the Conclusion Climatic Change Is Real,“ February 27, 2006), will combine historical facts, scientific data and personal observations to illustrate how changing weather patterns have affected the planet and discuss constructive solutions that address these changes. A book-signing will follow the lecture.
Posted by Carroll at 03:50 PM
Are you interested in a bilingual environment? Here is the program for you. County and state gifted coordinators have forwarded information to me about this wonderful opportunity. You do not have to be bilingual to participate.
A Bilingual Summer Program in Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing for
Gifted Middle School Students- what a wonderful program, and it is FREE!
Please pass the announcement along to those who might be interested.
Vamos a la Universidad at The University of Georgia
¡Vamos a la Universidad!
A Bilingual Summer Program in Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
for Gifted Middle School Students
The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education
Email: christine.burgoyne@georgiacenter.uga.edu
Phone: 706-542-6473
40 students will be selected for this program
Applications due May 1, 2006
Dates: July 9-16, 2006. This is an 8-day residential program at the
University of Georgia. Staff will be on hand July 8th for parents who wish
to bring their children up a day early to visit Athens and UGA.
Cost: Tuition, university housing, and meals are free to participants.
Location: University of Georgia Campus, Athens.
______________________________________________________________________________________
WHAT will participants do?
The bilingual program offers fun, exciting, and academically challenging
activities focused on critical thinking, logic, critical reading and
writing. The young scholars live in UGA dormitories (well chaperoned) and
eat in UGA dining halls along with UGA students. Classes are taught by
certified teachers. The challenging curriculum covers college-level ideas
at a middle-school level. Integrated units include field trips to exciting
locations and many fun, stimulating activities as well as complex thinking.
This bilingual summer program for high achieving middle school students who
like being in a bilingual environment is conducted by the University of
Georgia Center for Continuing Education and funded entirely by the Jack
Kent Cooke Foundation.
WHO can apply?
Applicants for “Vamos a la Universidad” must meet all three requirements:
1. Rising 7th, 8th, or 9th grade student.
2. English/Spanish bilingual (any ethnicity) or student who likes being in
a bilingual environment.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race or national origin. Student
does not have to speak Spanish but must have high-intermediate to advanced
English skills.
3. Able to provide documented evidence of academic talent and high
potential. Students in Gifted programs are encouraged; talented students
not yet identified as gifted may also apply. Applications from rural
counties are encouraged. Examples of other forms of evidence are listed
below. If you have questions, contact Christine Burgoyne at
latino@georgiacenter.uga.edu 706-542-6473.
Only 40 students will be selected from among the applicants. Filing this
application does not guarantee acceptance into the program. Students who
are accepted into the program will also have to obtain parental permission
and sign a waiver of liability.
Linda J. Andrews
Gifted Education Coordinator
Clayton County Schools
1058 Fifth Avenue ~ Jonesboro, GA 30236
Ph: (678) 817.3096 Fax: (678) 817.3098
It is stillness in the classroom which has to be justified, not movement.
-Susan Isaacs
Posted by Carroll at 06:46 AM
March 16, 2006
You have heard that our bodies are home to various organisms, here is a cool article to detail some of our guests.
National Geographic magazine: December1998 @ nationalgeographic.com:
Posted by Carroll at 06:58 AM
Here is a great link to review the various relationships among organisms (competition, predation, and symbiosis) This program has parasitism covered with predation. The forms of symbiosis- mutualism and commensalism are reviewed under the section called Partners. This first link is the low band width version.
Evolution: Survival: Coral Reef Connections:
Here is the interactive site. Check it out.
How are some corals like lichens? Write up your response and inclued a description of at least two examples and I will give you a bonus of 5 points on your next test.
Posted by Carroll at 06:48 AM
March 15, 2006
Most student groups have recorded their scripts. Thursday will be a make-up day for those who are not yet finished. We will be working in the Language Arts Lab again tomorrow to finish this important step.
Also--- students are reminded that they should submit a final script with the works cited page (bibliography) for grading. This assignment will be posted on this grading period and the final movie project grade will go on the next grading period.
Remember to search through your CDs for anything that you think might work as your background sound. Instrumentals work great; some songs have parts that are instrumental and can be separated and used.
One last item---Please pick up your science project display boards ASAP. My room is cluttered with them and they are headed to the trash this weekend.
Posted by Carroll at 06:08 PM
March 14, 2006
Here is another interesting summer program. Check it out. This one even offers a scholarship for some lucky Cobb student. The letter about the scholarship is attached. There is a web site with more information in the letter. Check it out.
Posted by Carroll at 04:33 PM
Student teams were assigned the new G4 iBooks this week to use for creating their wildlife documentaries during class. On Monday, they downloaded video clips and edited their scripts. Tuesday was our first chance to record the voice over/audio using the edited scripts. We are working in the language lab tomorrow to finish this task. Some teams had several members absent due to the Orchestra field trip and they will need to work quickly to finish their voice portion tomorrow.
Students received an ecology worksheet in class today that is due on Thursday. Our unit test over Chapters 22,23, and 24 is scheduled for Friday (3/24).
For Homework: Locate and bring in copies of suitable sound/music tracks for your imovie.
Posted by Carroll at 04:27 PM
March 10, 2006
We had a special guest in our class on Wednesday (Chad said it was his birthday treat). Thanks goes out to Katlyn for providing my 4th period with the special treat of watching Mr. Bojangles capture his dinner and swallow him. After lessons in herpetology class on Jekyll and actually getting to hold snakes and other reptiles there, it was fun to get up close and personal with a snake. It was a nice short break from our wildlife documentary research and script writing. Here are a few pictures:
Posted by Carroll at 05:27 PM
Middle School Programs
SummerScape - Science, engineering, mathematics, and computing enrichment camp for students entering 7th and 8th grades. Two SummerScape programs will be offered in 2006 and each will be offered 3 times.
SummerScape I Adventures In Animation- Would you like to make your own movie or game? Would you like to build a robot that can navigate an obstacle course, or sort your candy by color? At the Georgia Tech SummerScape I camp you will get a chance to do this and more. You will work with an exciting new program from MIT called “Scratch” that lets you easily create 2D games. You can take a digital picture of yourself and then add some image manipulations to have your picture 'dance' to music. You can work with “Alice” from Carnegie Mellon University, which lets you be the director of a 3D movie. You can assemble a robot with the LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System and then tell it what to do. This camp is supported through the College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Program Dates: Session 1. June 12-16, 2006, Session 2. June 19-23, 2006, Session 3. June 26-30, 2006
Application Fee: $10.00 (nonrefundable); Program Fee: $275.00 (Refundable up to one week prior to the start of the program.)
SummerScape II Hovering Around Tech - In the context of designing and building a variety of hovercraft, participants will learn essentials of engineering design and the physics that keeps hovercraft aloft and moving. Cutting-edge experimental educational software will be used to aid design and physics learning. Participants must be willing to be included in a research study investigating the effectiveness of the software. This camp is supported through the College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Program Dates: Session 1. July 10-14, 2006, Session 2. July 17-21, 2006, Session 3. July 24-28, 2006
Application Fee: $10.00 (nonrefundable); Program Fee: $275.00 (Refundable up to one week prior to the start of the program.)
Marion C. Usselman, Ph.D
Senior Research Scientist, CEISMC
Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0282
Phone: 404-894-9673
Fax: 404-894-9675
Posted by Carroll at 03:14 PM
March 06, 2006
Students were organized into groups last week for our video project that continues through March 17th. Each project team will create a 2 minute iMovie that has a theme based on ecological principles that we are learning about this year in 7th grade science. The video clips that are on our server are professional quality and come from locales around the world. The tropical rainforest biome of Costa Rica, savannah biome of southern Africa and the ice biome of Antarctica are all represented in our video library.
Student teams have been working on a group research assignment that is due tomorrow. Everyone in the group should contribute to the research. This will count as a daily grade. All students are also responsible for finding an interesting and relevant periodical or journal article related to the project. As usual, write a summary and include the bibliographic citation in MLA.
Each student should have a copy of the rubric that will be used to grade the final project. It includes categories of: Scientific Thought, Theme/Message, Technical Expertise, Artistic Achievement/Overall Impact, and Teamwork.
Group Research Requirements.doc
Posted by Carroll at 06:08 PM
Check out the links on this track for more information about Antarctica.
Posted by Carroll at 05:51 PM
