Today we had a fun little experiment with the class on how many words they can memorize in a specific amount of time, and how it relates to learning new material.  It’s called connection weight and they should remember it forever.  After that I introduced body language and how animals use body language to convey emotions.  We talked about how to spot liars and bad poker faces, as well as how to tell what a person is thinking.  Fun stuff.

Today we took a quiz over section 5.1 in the text.

Today we practiced our Cornell note taking ability with a text on cat behaviors found here: Homing Instinct.  Then we watched a short video on bird murmurations and talked about why they’re important.  After that, we went over the section 5.1 guided reading to prepare for the quiz tomorrow.

Today we watched a quick video on Killer Bees and Wasps and started our into into instinctive and learned animal behaviors.  This is some of my favorite stuff!

Today we finished the video and started talking about animal behavior.  We’ll be getting into the new textbook real soon and working through more cool stuff later in the week!

Also, on the grades: I’m missing a lot of the lab reports form our bacterial growth lab.  They worked in groups and lots of times the person with the best handwriting tends to do the report and hand it in, but they all need to hand in their own report1  The Andrew Wakefield paper needs to be completed as well.  I’ll accept those assignments as soon as they get them in.

Today we went over the BIST powerpoint (yes, again) in order to remind everyone why they are here.  We’re all going to be trying to make these last 10 weeks of school really great.  In class we went over how to take “Cornell notes” and practiced it with a video on BIG CATS.  It is a very cool video and a great intro into animal behavior.  I really like this section of the curriculum and we can’t forget to review the last quarter before the CSA test in a few weeks.

Today we took our last quiz of the quarter over section 4.2 in the text.  We still need to develop some behavior skills in both classes, which we will revisit after the break!

Today we participated in our first Code Red Drill, and it went swimmingly.  After we got through some administration stuff in class and reviewed some of the questions for the quiz, we went to the computer lab to work on our rare plant project.  Tomorrow is the quiz.

Today we spent some time working on the tri-fold project from yesterday and then I introduced this project below.  We will hopefully have time tomorrow int he computer lab to research as well, but the kids need to do their homework at home.  I’m noticing a lot of students who expect our class time to be devoted to them catching up on late work.  They should know better.

Resource: http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2009/12/21/15-rare-exotic-amazing-plant-species/

Directions:   You are to research one of these amazing plant species and find at least three more resources for information. Those resources are to be cited in this presentation.  Use your time to find all the relevant information you can about your chosen plant and find pictures, videos and anything else informational, cool, fun and interesting about this organism.  Create a Prezi, Powerpoint or write a one page descriptive paper explaining how this plant works, where it’s found, what are its most amazing features and anything else you can derive from your research.  Feel free to include cool links and pictures in the paper as well!  Be creative and write like a college student!  Pay attention to your writing skills!  This is due Friday.

Here is a list of the plants you should research:

1.      Rat-Eating Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes attenboroughii)

2.      Parachute Flower (Ceropegia woodii)

3.      Dancing Plant (Desmodium Gyrans)

4.      Pelican Flower (Aristolochia grandiflora)

5.      Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica)

6.      Hydnora Africana

7.      Cycad (Encephalartos woodii)

8.      Dead Horse Arum Lily (Helicodiceros muscivorus)

9.      Flypaper Plant (Pinguicula gigantea)

10.  Welwitschia mirabilis

11.  Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum)

12.  Waterwheel Plant (Aldrovanda Vesiculosa)

13.  Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis)

14.  Snowdonia Hawkweed

Today we reviewed what we did last week with photosynthesis.  We went through our guided reading and then I introduced an interactive on cellular respiration.  I assigned a tri-fold project that will compare photosynthesis with cellular respiration as well as show a plant’s energy cycle just like the one on page 118 in the text.  The tri-fold assignment should show the drawings and equations of cellular respiration on one panel, photosynthesis on another panel and a depiction of the cycle on 118 on the third panel.  On the inside of the tri-fold should be a written description of the three process and how they work.  They should be as detailed, creative and colorful as possible.  It’s due tomorrow.  The link to the interactive can be found here: http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/cellularrespiration.html.  They only need to view “The Big Picture” portion of the animation for the project.  The live link isn’t working, so copy and paste the address into your browser.