• Complete a thorough cleaning of the inside
• Repair stairs and handrails
• Clear the area around the greenhouse of saplings and brush (get out the chain saws!!!)
• Either finish running the pvc pipe and/or run garden hose to supply water
• Cut out the planting areas (internal pvc pipe needs to be cut in half length-wise to make planting beds)
• Install submersible pump to circulate the water in the greenhouse
• Run electricity from the outdoor classroom to run pump, fan, and heater

• They’re here. Our classroom now has two new residents - Guinea Pigs. No names yet, but we are compiling a list. We’ll vote on names soon. Rumor has it that one of the guinnies is pregnant. So don’t be surprised when your child starts campaigning for a baby or a weekend visit (and you thought presidential politics was rough). Photos are here.

• First, the recent Parent conferences were great. I learned an awful lot that will allow me to teach more effectively. Thanks to all the parents that took time to meet with me.

• Second, we are in the middle of our unit on classification of living things. Students are working on creating a children’s story about plants and animals. I’m excited to see what they will accomplish.

• Third, we will be using the outdoor classroom and greenhouse very soon (possibly this coming week), as we transition to the unit on genetics.

• Lastly, I’ve fallen behind in updating this blog (I’ll try to do better). Remember, grades and individual comments are updated each week on NetClassroom.

We had a great time creating clay cell models last week. Students did a great job following directions, transferring information from 2-D diagrams to 3-D models, labeling parts, and working with analogies. Take a look at the models here.

The time is passing quickly. Here we are 4 weeks into the school year and closing in on our first tests and projects. This last week we have worked on understanding the differences between animal and plant cells. Students created 3-D models from clay of cells. Photos will be posted on the site soon.Next project concerns the third type of single cell life - microbes. We will create wanted posters (take a look under Projects for more info).

This week we started our journey into the microscopic world that surrounds us. We looked at compound microscopes and how they work. First we looked at a variety of prepared slides - honey bee wings, plants, single cell animals. Then we prepared our own slides to investigate the differences in bottled water and pond water. Lastly, we viewed a large variety of student provided materials under the microscopes.

Our two big questions this week were:

• Where did all of those little things come from?

• Why aren’t microorganisms in tap water?

We have started discussing bringing animals into the classroom. As a class, each group is brainstorming appropriate reptiles, fish, birds, and mammals. I’ve had to reject some of the ideas (elephants, attack dogs, anacondas). Students are choosing based on available space, difficulty in maintanence, allergies, feeding requirements, interactivity, distraction quotient, and several other critieria.Before anything is brought into the classroom, I will send out a notice so that parents can get involved (especially if there are allergies or other factors). This will lead into building several environments - aquatic and vivariums.

We are coming to the end of our first week of school. I just don’t have words for how impressed I am with the students in my science classes. We’ve had some spirited discussions and remained courteous. We are beginning to form a true learning community. This is going to be a great year.We have started a unit on microorganisms, plant and animal cells with a webquest covering the use of microscopes and slide preparation. We’ll be collecting samples outside to investigate in addition to the prepared slides I have. We are using this website - http://www-pbm.stjohns.k12.fl.us/teachers/jacobsd/microscope_webquest This will lead us into a unit on classification, which takes us into rocks and minerals.