Rubrics

Finally! I finished the rubrics. They are here: http://ca.geocities.com/cherubichomer/hillcrest/rubrics-posters.pdf or you can click on the the tab on the right column.
Mr.Jay

week of May 23rd

So, we spent Tuesday making your puppets. Presentations for the biome projects will be Wednesday, unless something requires me to change the date. Everything is explained on the handout and everything you need to get to me is indicated on the handouts that you received, too.

I'll have the rubrics for the posters, presentations, and peer evaluations on this blog latter today or tonight.

I hope Chewy is doing well.
Mr.Jay

So many animals . . .

So, I went to the pet store today. There are literally thousands upon thousands of different things I could get to be our class pet. I don't know what to get. Please, if any of you have a suggestion for what I should get, email me. Rat, hamster, gerbil, a muppet, whatever.
Mr.Jay

Nobel Update

Here's a new leaderboard. The Number in brackets behind your name represents how many points you have. There are two numbers before your name. The first number represents what position you are in as of today, May 21st and the second number represents what position you were in January 14th.
1-1 Chelsea (8 points)
1-1 Lyndsay (8)
1-10 Ian (8)
4-3 Leah (7)
5-3 Wyatt (6)
5-3 Janna (6)
5-6 Heather (6)
8-6 Rachel R. (5)
8-6 Denise (5)
8-6 Will (5)
8-15 Ronald (5)
8-18 Denny (5)
13-10 Michael C. (4)
13-10 Rachel C. (4)
13-10 Katie (4)
13-22 Tara (4)
17-15 Paul (3)
17-15 Jake (3)
17-18 Sebastian (3)
20-18 Nicola (2)
20-18 Laurissa (2)
20-22 Christine (2)
23-22 Raquel (1)
23-22 Stephaine (1)
23-N Lindsay (1)

That's all.

May 20th

So, we didn't get to the socks but we will do them Tuesday. If you want to do this at home, feel free. I'll link some sites that you can go to if you need ideas or help in producing your sock puppet. Remember, each of you in your group have to have a puppet.

Double block of science yesterday. That's a total of four blocks on your projects. I don't have any more time allotted for you to do your projects. So, you should be thinking of doing some of this stuff as a group outside of class.

If you haven't handed in the climagraph, food chain, food web, and energy pyramid for me yet, it is now officially late. Please get them in on Tuesday.

I have looked at some of the stuff already handed in to me and I'm happy with most of them but some are lacking. Read the rubric!!!! If you want top marks, look at the rubric and include what it asks for. If you do as it states, you will do fine.

The Nobel Question was: why are people allergic to cats?

I'll update the Nobel top 20 soon. Keep your peepers open for it.

Yesterday, I saw a cat eat some chicken.

Mr.Jay

BTW, I expect to have a classroom pet by Tuesday. Furry with teeth.

May 19th

Science. The essence of life. So, you all had enough time to finish your climagraphs and food chains. Tomorrow, it's food web and energy pyramid. Your P.A.M. should have given you notice that you also have to produce 2 bios on animals in your biome and how they have adapted to live in your ecosystem.

First block: Make sock puppets.
Second block: Project time.

I recommend that some of you get together or something to work on your biome projects.

Nobel Question: when is the longest day of the year and what do scientist call it?

Adaptation worksheet is due tomorrow. I'm marking it. For those that I didn't get to, you will be informed of your overall marks tomorrow.

BRING SOCKS, BUTTONS, SEWING STUFF, ETC FOR TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr.Jay

May 16 and 17

So, Monday we spent the science block researching our biomes. I hope you all have a good start at it. Today, we devised an idea of what adaptation is. Please have the adaptation worksheets (the one with the very cute water vole on it) ready to hand in on Thursday. It's for marks!!!! Thursday, you will have a double block of library and computer time to research your project. You will be given enough time, I believe, to finish at least the climagraph and the food chain for your biome. They will be due by the end of the school day (general managers job) and they will be marked. Your pre-activity managers have a rubric for how I will be marking them. If you can, you should try to get some of the other things done as well, like the food web and the energy pyramid. I haven't told you yet but you will also have to produce profiles on two of your biome animals indicating how they have adapted to live in your biome. Just like the homework sheet.

Friday, you will be given another double block to work on your project. You will be making your puppets this day!!!! Bring socks, buttons, needle, sewing string, and anything else you want to use to doll up your puppet. You will also be given time to do the food web and the pyramid, which will be due by the end of Friday.

You should be thinking about doing some work as a group outside of school. I'm only giving one more project block next week. After that, we'll have to talk about a marking rubric for the presentation and the presentations themselves.

Some silencers have not emailed me yet. Your group is getting marks for this as it's part of your project. Email me soon.
Cheers
MrJay

Friday the 13th

Howdy. We worked on producing an idea of what a food web was. We also defined and worked on categorizing symbiotic relationships including:Mutualistic, Commensalistic, and Parasitic relationships.

Things I'm giving marks for are:
1. Bill Nye worksheet
2. Climagraph with the worksheet
3. Lab Write-Up
4. Symbiosis Page
5. The Ecology worksheets as a package
6. Concept Map you created in class

If any of these are outstanding, please hand them in on Monday. I have incomplete grades for everyone except 4 or 5 for both divisions. If you promise to get them in soon, I promise never to draw an eagle ever again . . . well for the next week.
Mr.Jay

May 12th Again

Forgot to mention the nobel prize questions again:
1. What biome is Vancouver found in?
2. What would you name our class pet if we had one?
Mr.Jay

May 12th

Sorry. I was a little hyper today. We covered defining what a producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, and higher order consumer was. We figured out what decomposers do and that they comprise the majority of the organisms found in this world. You had some worksheets to do for me including a food chain, food web, energy pyramid and producer, consumer, decomposer page. If you need copies, there are .pdfs of these on the right side. Tomorrow, onto food webs.
Mr.Jay

May 11th

You watched a William S. Nye video today and did a worksheet on it. I also described the project for you. Be prepared to submit your groups to me. Labs have been due for a couple of days. Please get them in soon. If you need any of the handouts, you can get them all on this website . . . except for the map of Mundy Park. Copyright. Not mine. Can't publish it.
I've also included the Bill Nye worksheet and the Project information sheet.
Mr.Jay

May 10th

Labs due today. Everyone that got it in on time got $50 homework money. Division 18, we begin looking at the project next class. Climagraphs are due. Division 17, we will look at climate.

Mr.Jay

May 9th

Vancouver Average Temperature (Celsius)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
3 5 6 9 12 15 17 17 14 10 6 3
Vancouver Average Precipitation (mm)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
144 121 101 68 55 48 30 38 58 116 154 172

Las Vegas Average Temperature (Celsius)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
8.3 11.2 14.6 18.9 24.1 29.8 32.9 31.8 27.4 20.4 12.8 8.3
Las Vegas Average Precipitation (mm)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
14.9 17.5 14.9 3.8 6.9 2.0 11.2 11.4 7.9 6.1 7.9 10.2

Homework for tomorrow is the lab and this climograph and the related homework sheet. Sign-up for groups is tomorrow. the Nobel question is: What biome does Vancouver fall into?
Mr.Jay

May 5th and 6th

So, the 5th was the field trip out into Mundy Park where you were looking for signs of abiotic and biotic factors. As well, you were to look for signs of wildlife in the park. In all instances, you were to take down observations and data so you could write this up as a lab. The lab write up is due on Tuesday and should contain all observations and data as required. The discussion questions to be answered are on the back side of the Mundy Park map. If you require a list of discussion questions, they are available in .pdf formate on the right hand side of the website. Also, if you need the hand out for doing a proper lab write-up, that's also available as .pdf on the right hand side of the website.

The 6th involved making a mini-garbage dump. This is also an activity that you will do a formal lab write up on. However, the lab doesn't wrap-up for a couple of weeks so the lab won't be due until near the end of the month. You should have taken data and observations down during the lab so you can compare and contrast the start of the lab to the finish. As well, I handed out a sheet for you to fill in. This sheet will be your hypotheses for what happens to the material buried under the dirt. You should be explaning what you think will happen and why. This is data essential for your lab write-up.
Mr.Jay

May 1st and May 3rd

Homework is to read 18.1 in the Science Probe 8 and do review questions 1, 4, 5. Prepare for Lab Activity 18B.

The Nobel Question is: Who is/are leading the Nobel Contest currently?

Mr Jay