May 29, 2012

May 29, 2012

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend.  We had a fun weekend at our house with baseball, family, and friends, none of which could have been enjoyed as much as they were without the sacrifices of our military personnel, past and present. 

Events of the Past Week

Last week we stuck to the script exactly as planned.  The kids are doing a great job continuing to work hard as we near the end here.  It's getting especially difficult to stay focused for everyone with the great weather outside and the end of the school year looming, but I have been impressed so far.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday - We will first review the homework on symbiotic relationships which the students completed over the weekend.  Then, we will finish our biomagnification case study that we began on Friday.  We will spend about 15-20 minutes reviewing some biogeochemical cycles after finishing the biomagnification (i.e. the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle), and then begin our study of populations with two population density worksheets that will be finished for homework.

Wednesday - After we go over the homework together, we will continue our study of populations by looking at factors that influence the growth of populations.  We will look at how the population size of predators affects the population size of their prey, and vice versa, by analyzing real-life data on the deer populations in the Kaibab plateau in Arizona, and also the population of moose of Isle Royale in Michigan.  Homework will be to complete the activity.

Thursday - I will collect the students' homework, and then we will move on to look at how to create and interpret an age structure graph.  This should take about 30 minutes for the students to complete.  When they finish, we will learn about survivorship curves.

Friday - Friday is a half day.  We will spend Friday learning about ecological succession, gross primary productivity, and net primary productivity.  There will be a short quiz on ecology on Monday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is John Parzynski, who has been a wonderful student to have in class all year long.  He has been very personable and engaging while also being respectful, and is also not afraid to ask questions.  Congratulations, John!