Class Pet Update

Good news!  The class pet is on its way!  I still can't give you an estimated time of arrival, but I can tell you that it will be sooner rather than later.  I'm going to combine our order with the Discovery Science Center's.

As a side note, car rides are a great way to look for some of our Colorado birds.  There is not a trip that goes by that I don't see some kind of neat raptor.  

Red-tailed Hawks can be seen near the top of large cottonwood trees and utility posts along the side of open country roads.  They can be identified by a dark belly band across a pale chest, a "V" shape that outlines the shoulders of their wings, and of course a red tail.

American Kestrels are usually seen on telephone lines, doing a characteristic tail "flick."  These awesome birds have light grey wings and a dark mustache.

If you see a bird or other animal and are not sure of its identity, look for identifying characteristics (color, shape, anything unique) and consult a field guide or ask me.  With practice, you'll be able to identify most anything on sight!

-Mr. Freeman

Lab Write-Up Guidelines

As promised, here are the guidelines for the formal lab report due on Monday.  Most everyone was at a good point when class ended, so I hope that you don't have much work over the weekend.

Formal Lab Write-Up Guidelines

 

1. Purpose (1 point): -Why am I doing this experiment?

 

2. Materials (1 point): -What will I need and how much will I use?

 

3. Procedure (2 points): -How will my experiment be run? 

-Will someone be able to repeat my experiment without asking me any questions?

 

4. Hypothesis (1 point): -What do I predict will happen?

 

5. Results (2 points): -What data did I collect? 

                                       -Is it easy to follow?

                                       -Did I make a graph or some other visual of my data?

 

6. Conclusion (3 points): -What do my results show about my experiment? 

-Did I revisit my hypothesis?  Was I correct or incorrect?  Why? 

-Did something happen during my procedure that led to different results? 

    -Would I do anything differently if I were to do this experiment again? 

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Freeman

Planetarium

This is just too cool of a website to wait until we get to the Astronomy unit.  The Neave Planetarium lets you look at any modern constellation (there are 88 of them) by entering in your coordinates, date, and time.  The coordinates for good ole' Longmont are Latitude: 40° North, Longitude: 105° West.

Screenshot of Orion, one of the most recognizable constellations in our sky.

Another cool feature of the site is moon phases and planet positions for any given date and time.  Have fun with it.  Get outside and find the same constellations in the sky!  Venus is especially bright in the early evening in the Southwestern part of the sky.

-Mr. Freeman

Welcome

Welcome, students from Mr. Freeman's class! This blog could be used as a great tool for communication outside of the classroom, so let's use it wisely.

First off, everyone's voice deserves to be heard. I don't want to see any cyber-bullying or putting down other student's comments. It is hard to understand the tone that someone has used when writing a comment, so if you think it might be taken the wrong way, please change the wording or keep it off.

Second, let's keep the discussions to the topics that started them.  But if you have a science question that isn't related to the topic, please feel free to ask it!  I just don't want to hear about every one's favorite color, food, music, etc.

Last of all, have fun with this!  I would like this to a place where science can be discussed outside of the classroom.  I wish upon all of you that your curiosity is never satisfied.

-Mr. Freeman

Fish Tank

Everything is all set for our class pet now.  This morning I used the band-saw in the Tech room (Thank you, Mr. Belvin) to cut off a couple of inches from the branch that I brought in on Saturday.  It is floating nicely at the top of the tank, but we will have to see if our class pet uses it.  Here are a couple of pictures of the aquarium and its new inhabitants.

Peeking inside.

From the other side.

Granitic rocks and sword plants.

Some of our fish.

If you haven't heard yet, our class pet(s) will be one or two Belostomatidae.  I haven't ordered them yet, but I'll be able to hopefully within the week.  Even after I order them, quick shipping is not guaranteed because the weather has to be nice.  We do need them alive when they get here!

Class Pet

We are now one step closer to having a class pet in our room!  My dad and I set up the aquarium today with some rocks and nice plants.  The branch that I had cut to put in there turned out to be about 4 inches too long.  Dang it.  I'll probably be putting some fish in tomorrow or Monday once the water is at room temp.  I'll post some pictures once the fish are in, and then our new class pet will have a beautiful home with plenty of food!

This is only a test

If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been told how to proceed to the nearest legitimate blog and read its contents.  Thank you for tuning in to Woodland Paths.  End transmission.