Saturday, 12/31! GRAIL reaches the moon, hopefully!

Happy New Years, almost!! Today, in about 15 minutes, actually, Grail A will make its burn to insert into orbit around the moon! Grail B will enter orbit at a little after 5 pm tomorrow.

I hope all of you have had a wonderful vacation. Don't forget that your Long Term Observation journal is due for the first check on January 11th. I will be looking for, at the minimum, your original proposal, a blank site map, and 3 observation sheets (completed with all biotic and abiotic information). I won't collect it. There only needs to be one Notebook for 2 team members.

Saturday, 12/24

Happy holidays all!!! Here's for a wonderful 2012 for us all! Remember, you need to have done 3 observations by January 11th! In your notebook, or section of one, you need to have at least 3 observation site-maps completed, a copy of your proposal and a blank site-map.

Sunday, 12/18 During the Pats-Denver game!

Wow, what a game!! By this time, all students are to have had their conference with Ms. Bowen and handed in their contracts and site maps in for copying. Some hadn't had a parent/guardian signature and will be bringing them in tomorrow for partial credit. Students have 9 weeks to make at least 6 observations.

The first checkpoint will be January 11th. At that time, students should have their notebook with at least 3 observation sheets, a copy of their proposal and site map. Don't forget to take photos, specimens, sketches, videos, etc!

Friday, 12/16/11

Go to one of the following sites and choose an article to share with the class. In your Noteshare journal, time stamp, write your source in MLA standards (title, date, etc.) and write a synopsis of the article and why you feel it is important to the field of astrobiology. You will be sharing your article with the class on Monday.

You are not to share with anyone else in class.

The websites are on the board.

Wednesday, 12/14

Tomorrow, the proposals, signed by student and parent/guardian are due. I will make copies for student Observation Journals and will keep a copy. The site-map is also due (in color) tomorrow. I will make 10 copies in color for each student or team of 2 for use for the observations. The deadline for both the signed proposal and site-map is Friday (for full credit). Students MUST conference with me before beginning their observations!

For an excellent free resource (if you have a smart phone) is an app "Backyard Scat & Tracks" I've also added some links for help in identifying tracks, scat, and burrows for use in the observations.

Tuesday, 12/13/11

Students had a little practice in choosing a site and making a site-map. They have a planning calendar so they can make sure they complete 6 observations within the 9-10 week period. We will begin the conferences only after students have talked with their parent/s/guardian/s. They will also need to produce a site-map for their observations. They need to turn in a color site-map with their proposal. I will make copies of the site-map so that they don't have to repeat this process every time they observe.

Sunday, 12/11

Wow! Can't believe that Pats game!! This week we will be preparing for our Long-Term Observations. Students will be working either alone or with one other student. This will take place over about 10 weeks. We will go on with other work in the course, but students will do observations at their site once a week and will be required to do at least six good observations within that time period.

Students will learn about observation techniques, qualitative vs quantitative, and biotic vs abiotic observations. Students will submit proposals for their study sites to be signed by students, parent/guardians and by Ms. Bowen. They will also produce a detailed site-map!

Wednesday, 12/7

Students are presenting their Ultimate Carbon Road Trip projects in class. They have had a lot of in-class time to complete these projects. I have some students who "weren't ready" for their presentation today. I will be issuing detentions tomorrow to some of these students who, obviously need "more time" to work on their projects. The detention will be Friday after school until 4 pm. If they present tomorrow in class, they will just lose the points for being a day late and, in that case, they can tear up the detentions.

Monday, 12-5

The Ultimate Carbon Road Trip presentations will begin on Wednesday (for periods 1 and 2) and Thursday (for periods 5 and 6). Students have had a lot of in-class time to work on this project and I'm excited to see their projects! The required items are on this blog!