UPCOMING EVENTS

Mr. Kukulski's 3rd grade class will visit the Cleveland Zoo on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 from 1:00 to 1:45, and participate in a program called "A Bite-Sized Look at Sharks".

Roller Coaster Science

Mrs. Hunt's and Mrs. Santoro's 5th grade class attended a "Roller Coaster Science" program hosted by Andy Campbell at COSI Toledo. The students learned all about friction, gravity, and centrifugul force. Mr. Campbell sent a kit to us a few days before the program containing all sorts of things to help the students do experiments to learn about these concepts. The students were actively engaged, enjoyed the experiments, and learned more about roller coasters than they ever thought they would!

Contact info:

Andy Campbell
COSI Toledo
www.cositoledo.org

Shark Snack Attack! at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota

Mrs. Rice's and Mr. Kukulksi's third grade class enjoyed a fun science lesson today via the Tandberg. We connected with the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida and the students got to observe the morning feeding in the shark tank. Students saw tiger sharks, barracuda, bluefish, stingrays and more. An informative question and answer session followed the feeding and students learned about what sharks eat (fish, plankton, etc.), how big sharks can be (they range from 8 inches to 50 ft!), and where different species are normally found. Students enjoyed this videoconference, and completed a worksheet provided by Mote Marine Laboratory as a follow-up assignment.

To book this program:

http://www.seatrek.org/prog_snack.htm

Cost: $35

Read Across America - Mrs. Gomez' class

Today Mrs. Gomez' 8th grade bilingual class videoconferenced with Mrs. Bauer's 8th grade class in New Buffalo, MI for Read Across America. Mrs. Gomez' class had a wonderful presentation about immigration, complete with a movie that they created to broadcast to Mrs. Bauer's class. Then, three of Mrs. Gomez' students read essays about immigration to the other school. When it was New Buffalo's turn, they did a great presentation about how to reach goals. Finally, each class had the opportunity to ask questions of the other group to find out how their schools are similar, and different. It was very interesting to find out things like how the length of school days compare, what each group likes to do for fun after school, and what subjects they like in school. Mrs. Bauer and Mrs. Gomez have decided to work on another videoconferencing project outside of the Read Across America program and have both classes meet again using the Tandberg!

Physics Rules, Louisville Science Center

Today we had a wonderful virtual visit to the Louisville Science Center in Louisville, KY. Mrs. Navarro's 6th grade class had a great time learning about mass, acceleration, force, gravity, and friction. We received a kit that contained quite a few items to use during the experiments, the class was divided into four groups, and each was led through a series of experiments using the materials sent to us by the Science Center. The kids were very engaged, loved their experiments, and participated fully. This was an excellent program which was booked through the Tandberg Connections website. For an added bonus, we can keep the science kit that was sent to us for 10 days so that the students in Mrs. Navarro's class can do some more experiments. After 10 days we'll need to send the kit back. Loved this program!

Awesome Amphibians, Lee Richardson Zoo

Once again, Ms. Hunt's 5th grade class had a great time visiting Ryan Schaffer of the Lee Richardson Zoo in Kansas. Today's topic was Awesome Amphibians, a topic that was highly anticipated by the class since recently adopting a toad as their class pet. Ryan taught us how to tell a toad from a frog, showed us several really neat amphibians, including the State Amphibian of Kansas, the Barred Tiger Salamander. We learned how amphibians defend themselves against predators, did an experiment using crackers and dish soap to replicate what a predator would think about eating a toad, and got to see just how far a bullfrog can jump. We're looking forward to the next visit with Ryan - the kids had a great time!

For contact information regarding this Virtual Field Trip, see the November 18 post regarding the Lee Richardson Zoo.

Animal Adaptations, Lee Richardson Zoo

Once again, Ryan Schaffer of the Lee Richardson Zoo gave our students a great presentation about the ways that animals adapt to their environments. Along with lots of great information, we saw a bearded dragon, a chinchilla and a hedgehog. Seeing the animals up close, and watching Ryan interact with them was a lot of fun, and very educational. We also got to see some plastic replicas of animal parts, and some skulls and teeth. Mrs. Marshall's 5th grade class had a great time, and they are anxious to participate in another program with The Lee Richardson zoo in the future.

Contact information for this program can be found below in the November 18 post regarding the Lee Richardson Zoo.