Beginning of the Year!

Welcome back!  Usually I update the blog sooner than this, so apologies on the delay.  Listed below is what we have done already and what we will be doing for the next week:

• Wed 8/28:  First Day of School!  Quick intro to class and Bingo Mingle.
• Thurs/Fri 8/29-8/30:  IB Learner Profile Characteristics.  Pick your top 3, share with your group, come up with your group's top 3, and then share out.  Start work on Ecology by doing 4.1 bookwork.  Read 4.1.
• Tues/Wed 9/2-9/3:  Go over Ecology concepts, especially how to do Chi-squared test.  Go outside to take some quadrat data on the school lawn.  Read C1.  Start C1 questions in your notebook.  Hand out Whitaker Ponds field trip forms to get signed.
• Thurs/Fri 9/4-9/5:  Go over C1 concepts and work on C1 DBQ's.  Introduce quadrat data-processing assignment.  Read C2.
• Mon/Tues 9/8-9/9:  Finish checking off C1 work.  Introduce mesocosm assignment and build class mesocosm using Whitaker Ponds "muck".  Testing water through macroinvertebrate sorting using Whitaker Ponds "muck".  Fill in the Field Trip prep worksheet as you go.  Work on Quadrat Data-processing poster.  Mesocosm Observation.
• Wed/Thurs 9/10-9/11:  Water quality testing using chemical tests.  Go outside and measure the height of 3 trees using a clinometer and tape measurer.  Mesocosm observation.
• Fri/Mon 9/12-9/16:  Check off C2 work.  Field Trip permission forms should be turned in.  Hand out field trip assignment.  Simpson's Diversity Index.  Finish the last part of the field trip prep hand-out.  Finish quadrat data group posters.  Read C3 and C4 and do 4 of the DBQ's in those 2 sections.  At least one of them should be from C4.  These are due Thurs/Fri 9/19-9/20 because the field trip is before that.  Pack up supplies for Field Trip.  Mesocosm observation.  Jane Poynter video on Biosphere 2.
• Tues/Wed 9/17-9/18:  Whitaker Ponds Field Trip!  Make sure that you come to Room 214 (11:45 for PM field trips and 8:10 for AM field trip) so that we don't miss you.  When we return from the field trip. bring supplies back to the classroom and enter your data in the class database.
• Thurs/Fri 9/19-9/20:  Debrief Whitaker Ponds field trip and make sure that everyone understands the assignment.   Check off C3 and C4 DBQ's.  4.4 questions on Climate Change.    Mesocosm observation.  I expect that many students in Periods 6 and 7 might miss this class due to the Climate Strike.  I will make the Climate Change Assignment available on-line so that students can do it on their own.
• Whitaker Ponds Field Trip Assignment is due 9/25-9/26 through turnitin.com!