Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Caldwell Memorial Wildlife Area

Thanks to the Missouri Conservation Department and the Discover Nature Schools grant, Edgar Murray students had the opportunity to do field investigations at Caldwell Memorial Wildlife Area in Washington, MO.  Using the Nature Unleashed curriculum, students participated in inquiry based activities at the pond, prairie, and forest.  With out a doubt, their favorite location was the pond!


Sam Faith gives students last minute directions in the Prairie area.  Students learned that prairies aren't always plains with wildflowers.  Most of the prairies have very few trees because fires cleared the trees.  


Students measure the temperature in various locations to see where they can find a comfortable fit for their randomly chosen cold-blooded animal.  Students used strategies to change the temperature, such as placing the thermometer in the shade, sun, under a leaf, in a hole, etc... 


Our parent chaperons helped keep our young scientists on track.  The activities were student led, but our parent volunteers were available to help students with questions.


Jarod and Zachary view one of their living organisms through a hand lens.   They got a close look at their frog's webbed feet, a specialized structure of their frog friend. 

Here is a closer look of our froggy friend!





Jessica and Sophie discuss specialized structures they've discovered on living organisms in the pond.


Mrs. Hawkins enjoys observing an earthworm.   Don't eat it Mrs. Hawkins!

Students collected living organisms to view under the microscope.




Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Nature Unleashed

 The third, fourth, and fifth grade Challenge classes have been participating Nature Unleashed, curriculum provided by the MO Conservation Department.  In the pictures below, students are looking for producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers.  Their favorite part was digging in the soil.




Second and third grade students dissected owl pellets. As the dissected the pellets, they put the bones in categories. They then evaluated the data they collected.












Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Hoodwinked Movie Trailers

Some of our 7th grade students created flipped fairy tale movie trailers using MUVIZU.  Enjoy!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Rube Goldberg

I absolutely love Rube Goldberg machines!  The seventh and eighth grade students are currently participating in a friendly Rube Goldberg class competition.  They are required to create a theme that uses 10-20 cause/effect relationships to complete a task.  This little boy's Monster Machine is our inspiration.  Way to go Audri...very impressive!




This one is pretty cool too! It took 6 months to make. Unfortunately, my students do not have this much room, so each team is limited to a 2 ft. by 3 ft. space.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Squid Dissection

Sixth grade students recently dissected squid.  They enjoyed writing with the squid's ink even after they found out where the ink actually originated.


The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method

Kindergarten and first grade students are learning about the Scientific Method.  So far, their experiments have included:

What sinks and floats?
How can you turn salt water into drinking water?
How will fresh water and salt water affect Gummy Bears?

Below, students are testing items to see what floats and what sinks.




National History Day Winners

Two sixth grade teams will advance to the National History Day state competition on April 21, 2012!  Congratulations to:

"Free to Learn" Documentary:  Jonah, Brady, and Breanna
"Warsaw Ghetto Uprising" Webpage:  Amanda and Chloe

Congratulations and good luck!