River Kids field trip to Sope Creek

I was fortunate to be asked to sub for a very pregnant Mrs. Walker on Target's field trip today to Sope Creek, part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Our Park Ranger was Mr. Jerry Hightower, who first taught me about the Chattahoochee River Watershed over 10 years ago! The students were able to search through leaf litter to find macroinvertebrates, indicators of the health of Sibley Pond, and by extension Sope Creek and the Chattahoochee River. The more biodiversity, the healthier the water! It didn't look healthy today though, as much needed rain brought silt into the creek from the surrounding areas. 

DRIFTWOOD!

I was so excited to join Mrs. Pirlot's class on their trip to Driftwood! It was 3 days full of science: reptile demos (Gators, Gopher Tortoises, Copperheads, etc.), an encounter with a Barred Owl, a nighttime hike all about our five senses, dipping into the inter coastal to capture microscopic plankton - and finding them under the microscopes, team building activities (trust fall!), campfires (I know the counselors secret language), a ferry ride, tree climbing, picnic lunches, old ruins, wild horses, a beach hike (with discoveries of crabs, fish, Cannonball jellyfish, and horseshoe crab exoskeletons), and even more when we used our seine nets! Here are just some of the pictures that I was able to take of our class and others!

Spring has Sprung :-)

I love the transitional seasons, Spring and Fall. Sure, the weather can be hard to predict: 80 degrees and sunny one day, and literally freezing a couple days later - but that is kind of exciting, right?! And Green Paws, First and Third Grades are all starting planting/gardening projects, which is SUPER exciting. 

So when does Spring really begin? Even though March is almost over, I like to go by the equinox. Because the Earth orbits the sun on a tilted axis, our days are shorter in the Winter and longer in the Summer - really, that is what makes them Winter and Summer! But twice a year, on the Equinox, the days and night are exactly the same length: 12 hours each. The Spring Equinox was this weekend, so.... WELCOME SPRING!!!

 

Harvesting Carrots and Helping Birds!

After a week of playing habitat games before the February break, it was back to work in Green Paws. While we were weeding, the Thursday class harvested about 60 carrots between 1-4" each. These were holdovers from the class that ended last November, but moving forward we'll always plant some root veggies to grow over the winter. 

Friday's class helped plan out our garden schedule for the semester, but even more fun were the bird nesting boxes we created! We cut doors in recycled milk jugs (I'm always collecting those) and added a bunch of red string. Our hope is that nesting song birds use the strings to help build/line their nests and that we can spy on them from the ground. You could also add dryer lint, hair from a brush, and other yarns and strings to entice them to use your nesting box! 

There's a party over here...

... and there's a party over there. Some of our partners from Georgia Tech will be here with telescopes to share, but you are encouraged to bring your own and they'll help you set them up! Dress warmly! Parents are required to stay. All are welcome, but this is a 4th grade party! 

Tritt Elementary, Simpson Middle ‘Lead the Way’ on STEM Education Tour

We made the Cobb County School District newsreel! We had about 10 visitors from Project Lead the Way (Indianapolis), Gwinnett County Schools, and Cobb County Schools visit during Mrs. Friends 1st grade class a couple of weeks ago. They were interested in how we were implementing this engineering curriculum with our state science standards. You can see pictures and read all about it here: http://cobbcast.cobbk12.org/?p=17533! 

 

Grasping the concept of structure and function:

Kindergarten is continuing to investigate structure and function as you can see here with Mrs. Smith's class. Like any good scientist, we recorded before / after data and compared the results of our ability to put pegs in a foam board without and with our fingers taped! Most students saw a decrease in the number of pegs placed. Next we'll look at what doctors use to keep our bones from moving and brainstorm some ways to help our fictional friend Angelina with her broken wrist. 

And the winners are....

The judges were so impressed with all of the projects. In many cases only a few points separated the places, but they were able to choose the winners from each class. 

Lupiani
First: Jackson, “Does what a physician wear make the patient feel different?”
Second: Alaina, Nana + Lauren, “Time to Melt Some Crayons”
Third: Elizabeth, “Food Choices Matter”

Pirlot
First: Jacob, “Best Place for Bacteria Growth”
Second: Ethan, “How well do different liquids and light conditions help grow red bell peppers?”
Tie Third: Lilly, “Enzymatic!”
Tie Third: Elise + Maddie, “The Temperature Test”

Pizzuto
First: Prakash, “Electrolytes”
Second: Nathan, “What liquids work best for plants?”
Tie Third: Johanna + Kara, “Excellent Education”
Tie Third: Cavan, “Pressure”

Smith
First: Lucas, Howie + Henry, “Electric Potato”
Second: Ava, “Bubblicious”
Third: Amanda + Heather, “Candy Coke Explosion”

Stone
First: Allison, “The Golden Age of Sugar is NOT as Sweet as you Think!”
Second: Kendall, “A Plant’s Taste”
Third: Watson, “Mesh Speeds”

Swierski
First: Reed, “How do video games affect vital signs in kids?”
Second: Sila, “Does music with lyrics help people concentrate better or not?”
Tie Third: Carter + Ryan, “Drone Speed Test”
Tie Third: Ethan, “How do liquids affect metals?”

The following projects will be advancing to the District Science Fair on February 11th:
Jackson Hornsby, “Does what a physician wear make the patient feel different?” 
Allison Chaloupek, “The Golden Age of Sugar is NOT as Sweet as you Think!”
Reed Glaser “How do video games affect vital signs in kids?” 
Sila Karakayali, “Does music with lyrics help people concentrate better or not?”
Jacob Mark, “Best Place for Bacteria Growth”
Prakash Mitra, “Electrolytes”