Today we reviewed the key term of chapter 2.1 in class and then we started in on the structure and function of a virus.  They were asked to complete a recreation of the picture on page 43 with the viruses in class, and they have a guided reading of the chapter for homework.

Today we did a test on section 1.3 in our Text and a review of the evolution section due to the poor showing on the last quiz.  The grades look pretty good so far.  There will be no retakes, but I’m not ruling out extra credit later on.

Today we spent a significant amount of time reviewing for tomorrow’s quiz.  We also began going through our Bloom’s Taxonomy questions over Chapter 2.1.  The only homework they have is to study for tomorrow.

Today we watched a couple of our classmates’ projects on the Transitional Fossil.  We definitely have some creative kids out there.   After that we started in on Chapter 2.1 over Viruses.  I introduced and taught Bloom’s Taxonomy to the kids and had them write 3 questions for each of the 6 levels of classification.  They should go through chapter 2 and come up with 18 questions of increasing difficulty for homework.

We looked at some of our Transitional Fossil Projects today in class. I really enjoy watching my students get up in front of class and show off their work.  We also reviewed section 1.3 in the text and had a little homework on a new phylum.  Tomorrow we start in Chapter 2 of our text.

Today we started on section 1.3 in our text, Bacteria, Archaea and Eykaryotes.  We’ll be moving through this short chapter pretty quick and into Bacteria and Viruses in depth.  They have a guided reading for homework.

We did a quiz today over this week’s material, and I heard a lot of groaning and grumbling about it.  I didn’t ask anything on the quiz that we hadn’t talked about in detail all week long.  I’m not sure if they want to take ownership of any possible bad grade.  We’re moving forward, though!

Today we went through a little exercise on what the earliest primates might have looked like.  We started by illustrating the misconception of the common evolution picture above, and then began to identify the specific characteristics of gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons before we predicted the earliest primates.  We also watched this video from PBS/Nova to wrap it up: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/first-primates.html. They should be working on their project for homework!!

Today we finished up our work on Darwin’s Predictions along with the worksheet and started asking some questions about transitional fossils.  In second period I showed a video on the evolution of head lice and how it helps us understand our own evolution.  I will show it tomorrow in first period.  I also introduced our Transitional Fossil Project which will be expanded in scope and form.  I want the kids to take ONE of the five transitional fossils fund here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/fossil-evidence.html and do an expose’ on it.  They are free to use their creativity in anyway that trips their trigger.  If they want to do a video, a rap, a skit, a Prezi, a Powerpoint, a poster board, a clay model, diorama, or write a paper on it they want.  However, if they choose to write a paper they cannot work with another student.  I’m trying to pull out a little creativity from the kids and I want to see what they come up with.  They have a week to finish it up.  I want to see some things answered about the transitional fossil such as:

What is it?  How old is it?  What is it a transition from or to?  Do we know who found it?  What is significant about it’s structure, limbs, diet, environment or life that make it unique?  Why is it important?  What don’t we know about it?

This project is meant to really open the kids up to using different mediums to show demonstrative mastery about the concept of a transitional fossil and how it relates to evolution.  Have fun with it!

Today I went through an interactive slide show over Darwin’s Predictions on the PBS/Nova website.  I developed a worksheet for the kids to follow along with, but they seem to be interested in anything but the school work.  My safe seat is going to get more use out of it in the coming weeks.  I feel like there is some blatant disrespect in my class.