Studying Populations

We are studying populations in ecosystems inside habitats. The students are in the process of analyzing data to determine what factors caused these populations to increase or decrease. We will be reading and constructing many graphs over the next couple of weeks. There are also many vocabulary words that are new to them, so we will be doing a lot of games and activities to better learn these terms.

Graphing

While talking about classification of organisms my students observed seeds and grouped them according to similar characteristics that they had. They created a data table and then graphed that data table using a bar graph. My hope was that my students would see that things can be classified and graphed according to the similarities that they have. I hope that they can carry this knowledge over to the classification of animals when we get to that part of the unit. We spent a lot of time going over titles to the graph, and "X" and "Y" axis titles. I found it very interesting that many students weren't sure how to title their graphs. I will be working on this a lot more throughout the unit.

Life Sciences Pre-Test

My students took a pre-test before we get into depth with the Life Science unit. I think that it will be interesting to compare how they did on this pre-test with their post-test after the unit is finished. Some students did very well on this pre-test and therefore I will give them extensions throughout the unit. I found that several students get hung-up on the same questions. These will be areas that I will go into greater depth with throughout this study. Throughout this unit, students will analyze classification systems of organisms, identify how organisms react with their environment and with each other, and look at graphs and data tables to analyze characteristics or movements within populations. My hope is to graph some of these changes using excel later on.

How Living Things are Classified...

Since I have just begun the Life science unit, I haven't come up with any technology projects, however, I would like to graph some data using Excel. My students are graphing characteristics among organisms, and using Excel might be a good way for them to observe changes. More to come...

Adopt-an-Element Project - Finished

The Adopt-an-Element projects were handed in. Some of the posters of elements look awesome. Many students finished their online web-pages. The students also had an option to construct a 3-D model of their atoms. These turned out fabulous.
While working on the online web-pages, i found it interesting that several kids weren't sure how to copy/paste pictures. Several students did paste pictures, but there were some that weren't sure how to highlight these pictures do copy/paste.

Life Sciences

Now, in the third trimester, I am moving on to the life science unit. I have never taught life science before, but I'm looking forward to some cool projects and explorations I can do with my students. I'm in the search for some technology stuff that I could use in this unit.

Element Project Continues

The element project continues... The students are working on posting their web pages and modeling their atoms 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional. Some of the atoms are looking great. Many students seem to have a firm grasp on the web pages, yet some are still struggling. The students really enjoy using their own web pages, and I think it helps them to feel more independent by having their own. I may try to do some other projects using their web pages once this project is over.