The 7th Grade Science Classes were visited by Kyle Warren, Head Steward, of the Royal River Conservation Trust and Ember Hummel from the Maine Conservation Corps.  Together they presented a wonderful talk on invasive insects that are being introduced or could be introduced to the State of Maine. This will be followed up with a field trip next week to Spear Farm where students will walk the trails and get a hands-on approach to invasive plant species and how the RRCT maintains the green spaces in Yarmouth.

Here are some pictures of the talk.

Wednesday September 26th

Today we went over the provided Study Guide for Tuesday's Quiz.

We also showed how to use the Apple Word Document "Pages" to create a poster.

The following are some examples from past years.

Tuesday September 25th

Students had class time to work on researching their invasive species.
The America's Most Unwanted Project can be found here.

A reminder that all of their work can be checked against the following rubric.

The project will be due on October 2nd

September 24th - Class

Today in class the students chose their invasive species that they will research for the America's Most Unwanted Project.  For more information on the project access the link.

We were fortunate to have Ms Stuhr (our school librarian) come in and work with us on citation format.  For the most part the two major citations that will need to be used are:

    1. Website and
    2. Web Image

For Wednesday September 26th you should have all of your research completed and be ready to begin formatting your project layout.

Thursday September 20th

Two great articles published recently that relate to our study of lake ecosystems.

Protection of Maine Trout from the Portland Press Herald and from the Sun Journal an article on Algae Blamed for Fish Kill.

The following is a link to the America's Most Unwanted Project.  Please read over the rubric and go to the supplied links to find out more on this project as well as to choose an interesting invasive species.

Wednesday Septmber 19th- Class

Today in class we started our discussion on Invasive Species.

We watched the following PBS video on "Biological Invaders."

Quick Summary:

From southern India to South America, from Guam to the Great Lakes, a quiet but significant threat to ecological health and biodiversity is outrunning all efforts to control it. Invasive species -- foreign organisms taking up residence in ecosystems where they didn't evolve -- are decimating crops and displacing native populations, even loosing new human diseases, and costing the world economy billions of dollars a year.

The invasions haven't gotten wide attention until recently, and attempts to beat back the intruders have not met with great success. Finally, though, governments are starting to take notice and mount new efforts to combat the bioinvasion that has been spread by the surge in global commerce.

It's estimated that since Columbus, some 30,000 species of imported plants, animals, and microbes have taken hold in North America. In some cases, invasive species have been purposely introduced, and in many others they have stowed away in ballast water of ships, in crevices of airplanes, or aboard unsuspecting travelers.

Most of the time the foreign transplant doesn't gain a foothold in the new environment, but sometimes the organism has neither opponents nor predators and thrives in its new habitat. Examples include the zebra mussels that invaded the Great Lakes, fouling shipping and water systems; the pesticide-resistant whitefly in South America, capable of transmitting 60 kinds of plant viruses; and a comb jelly from the Americas that was accidentally released into the Black Sea, causing $350 million damage to fish stocks. 

We also read the following article from the University of Maine Cooperative Extention Publications on invasive plants in the State of Maine.

I had the students work in small groups to chunk the information using a Jig Saw Protocol and then had them share the information in a Google Document with the entire class.

September 18th - Class

Today we performed a task called the Human Bar Graph. Students used cards to represent the population of different species. When given a scenario they would hold the cards still, raise the card (increase in population) or lower the card (decrease in population) when a specific scenario was given.





Below you can find the link to a movie detailing a trophic cascade.  This can help you in your studies reviewing the material we went over in class.





Tonight's homework is to revise your Ecobeaker handouts and to complete the Constructed Response Question #11.

See these notes to aid you in this. 

September 17th - Class Notes

Today in science we started by reviewing some vocabulary.  Students brainstormed and charted ideas for the terms: trophic level, cascade, invasive species and native species.  The following notes document our discussion.

Students completed their journal entries to the below questions and then continued on with Ecobeaker Lesson #3 - Big Fish, Little Fish

Lake Invaders: Exercise #2 - Go Fish Follow-up

1. How is the Lake Invaders computer model different from the food chain/web we have seen or drawn in the past? How are they similar?

2. Describe what happened to the lake ecosystem when the trout (top predator) was removed?

3. What do you think might happen to the populations of other species when we add pike to the lake ecosystem?

The following image is of a marine trophic level sequence.  We will be discussing what happens to a specific level when an organism is removed from the overall food chain.  In most instances trophic cascades occur.  

September 13th and 14th - Thursday/Friday

Today in class we introduced the vocabulary term Troph-.  This term means "to nourish."  In the context of ecology we see what is the flow of nourishment from organism to organism.  In the Ecobeaker modeling program the organisms we are dealing with are algae, zooplankton, trout and pike.  Students will work with the program to see what happens in terms of an organisms population when one of the organisms is removed or introduced back into the food chain.

When students have completed the modeling activity they will answer the following journal questions on their Google document.

Lake Invaders: Exercise #2 - Go Fish Follow-up

1. How is the Lake Invaders computer model different from the food chain/web we have seen or drawn in the past? How are they similar?

2. Describe what happened to the lake ecosystem when the trout (top predator) was removed?

3. What do you think might happen to the populations of other species when we add pike to the lake ecosystem?

September 12th - Class

Today we had a great discussion around the differences and similarities between a food web and food chain.  Students generated lists of organisms in different ecosystems around them.  They will use these lists to create food webs tonight around the below journal prompt.

Journal Entry:  Create a food web for another ecosystem that is nearby.  For example; forest, stream, backyard, saltmarsh, or beach.  You are encourage to choose an ecosystem that you are familiar with.  You should organize your food web so that relationships between organisms are demonstrated (like we did in class).

Vocabulary:
ecosystem        organism        producer        consumer       decomposer        food web


Below is an example of a food web and food chain.

Marine Food Chain

Arctic Food Web

September 11th- Google Day

Today we had a technology day where students learned about the different Google Apps on their computers.

For science class tomorrow they should be completing their constructed response to the Lorax Debrief:

Describe a real life example where humans have had a negative impact on the environment and/or its inhabitants.

The following rubric will be used to grade their responses.

September 10th 2012 - Class

Today in class the students worked on their Lorax Debrief Question:

Describe a real life example where humans have had a negative impact on the environment and/or its inhabitants.

They were given in class writing time to create a response in their science journals.  I will be reading and commenting on the writing to provide feedback.

We also discussed ways to read informational text and use symbols to make notes.  The following is a link to the Ecology Reading and symbols we looked at in class.

Finally, the students started to think about lake ecosystems and we used a 4-Square graphic organizer to start some dialogue.

September 6th Science Class

Today in class we read the Lorax and connected it to the following discussion questions.

 1. How do you think the Once-ler could have used the Truffula Tree without cutting it down?  What are some ways that we use trees without destorying them?

2. Why do you think the Once-ler doesn't want to listen to the Lorax?  Do you think the Lorax is right when he tells the Once-ler, "You are crazy with greed"? Why or why not?

3. What effect does the Onc-lers's buisness have on the Swomee-Swans, the Brown Bar-ba-loots, and the Humming-Fish?  What comparisons can you make between the story and how businesses affect the animals in our enviornment?  Do you think buisnesses have a responsability to protect the environment?  Why or why not?


Tonight's homework is to choose one of the following questions and create a constructed response around it.
Constructed responses need to have the following parts:

1. Restate the question
2. Supply supporting evidence
3. Conclude

Good luck and have fun with it!

Lorax Ebook Reading

On Thursday September 6th we will be reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss in class. We will look at this classic in terms of human impact on an ecosystem. This attached eBook reading is a way to review the story.

Tuesday September 4th - 1st Day Back

We had a shortened schedule today in science due to the first day back.

We did cover how to set up our science binders in 2 sections:
1. General Handouts and
2. Current Unit- Notes

I explained the layout of the room and what the usual daily routine would look like.
We also had a chance to perform a "Toss-a-Name" Activity to learn people's names and become re-acquainted with students in the class.