What's happening in Mrs. B's classes???

ARENA CONFERENCES will be held this TUESDAY, Feb. 26.  Due to administrative circumstances, cluster 6-3 teachers will be able to meet with parents from 4:00-6:30 only.  We look forward to meeting with you between those times.

      Congratulations on completing the first semester of middle school.  Here's what's in store for third quarter.

Reading - This quarter in reading students will apply the reading strategies we focused on during first quarter to our unit of study.  Our unit focuses on two books by the same author, Jerry Spinelli.  We will be sharing Spinelli's autobiograpy, Knots in My Yo-Yo Strings, aloud in class, and the students will be reading Spinelli's beloved novel, Maniac Magee.  Also, during this time the students will be required to read a self-chosen biography.  We have many goals to focus on while we use these books:

1.  Compare fiction and non-fiction

2.  Determine if real-life inspired Spinelli's art

3.  Examine how figurative and descriptive language entice and entertain readers

4.  Continue exploring our over-arching theme of "Everybody is different, but the same, too."

5.  Encourage reading of non-fiction texts

Science -  During third quarte we will be working on an ECOLOGY unit.  Students usually love this unit as it deals with animals and plants.  We will look at the following topics: levels of organization of the environment, interactions of living things, cycles in nature, adaptations, and land and water biomes of the world.  Students will experience less labs this quarter, but they will use the computer lab and internet often for researching an organism and biomes of the world, create a project on an adapted organism (see below) and even get to dissect a squid!  Below is a list of quizzes, quests, test, projects and, of course, the dissection.

Interactions of living things - Quiz - Completed

Adaptation Project - due Tuesday, February 5/completed

Cycles in nature- Quest - Wednesday, February 13/completed

Land,  freshwater and forrest biomes - Quest -

Marine biomes - Quest -

Squid dissection - sometime near Spring Break

Adaptation:  It’s a Way of Life

All organisms develop characteristics that help them better survive in their environment.  These characteristics are called adaptations.  Adaptations can include behaviors (e.g. what they eat or how they move) or structures (e.g. how they look or are built).  They may take thousands of years and many generations to appear.  Adaptations are not changes that occur in one organism.  They must occur in the entire species. 

Many adaptations are caused by changes to the organism’s environment.  These changes could be climate changes, a change in the food supply, or a disease.  These changes can cause a population to die out unless some members of the group have adaptations that help them survive.  (As an example, a bird may have an adaptation for eating sunflower seeds and ants.  If the ants die out, the bird can still eat seeds in order to survive.)

In this activity, you will investigate the adaptations of a specific organism and how these adaptations improve the organism’s chances of survival.  Be careful to review the scoring rubric for guidelines.

Procedure:

1)     Read  and discuss “How does the Polar Bear Adapt to its Environment?”

2)     Choose one organism to investigate.

3)     Research the organism. 

a.      What is the organism’s habitat?

b.     What is the diet adaptation of the organism?  (e.g. carnivore, scavenger)

c.      What is the movement adaptation of the organism?  (e.g. flies, swims, runs fast)

d.     What are three special adaptations of the organism?  (e.g. night vision, horns, poison, camouflage)

e.      What is the organism’s food chain?

4)     Create a poster of the information collected about your organism.  (See scoring rubric for guidelines.)  A sample of one type of poster can be found at http://hometown.aol.com/cre82/page2.html.

5)     Answer the following question.

a.      Select another habitat for your organism.  (It must be a habitat where your animal does not currently live.)

b.     Predict two adaptations your organism might develop to live in this area.

c.      Use specifics to explain the adaptations and how the adaptations would increase your organism’s ability to survive in its new habitat.

Your project will be due on Tuesday, February 5, 2008

How Does The Polar Bear Adapt To Its Environment?

By Ada Lio

Have you ever seen a Polar Bear in the wild? Most likely not, because Polar Bears only live around the North Pole and in the far northern areas of the Arctic! Those are some of the coldest regions on earth, where temperatures can be as low as -50°F. How do Polar Bears stay warm, keep safe and find food in such bitter cold? Good question! Over time, Polar Bears have developed physical features to help them survive in the harsh environmental conditions of its habitat, or the area it calls home. These changes are called adaptations. Adaptations happen over thousands and thousands of years.

So, how have Polar Bears adapted to the cold weather? A Polar Bear’s thick, white fur keeps its body warm. Under the dense creamy fur is the polar bear’s black skin, which absorbs heat from the sun instead of reflecting it away from the skin. And a layer of stored fat under the skin provides even more warmth for the polar bear’s body. The soles of its feet are covered with pads of fur, which help the animal to walk on slippery ice.

Polar Bears’ adaptations also help them to find food and keep safe in their habitat. Their white fur blends in with the snowy background. The white fur serves as an invisible cloak as a Polar Bear creeps quietly toward its prey. In addition, an adult male can run up to 35 miles per hour and swim as fast as 6 miles per hour. This excellent hunter also has a keen sense of smell. It can sniff seal dens covered by snow and ice from 10 miles away! Polar Bears are certainly well adapted to their environment.

Sadly, there are only about 22,000 Polar Bears left in the wild. If they are so well adapted to this harsh climate, why are there so few left? Global warming, pollutants from around the world, hunting, and increased human activity in their habitat [may be causing] health and reproductive problems for [the Polar Bear]. The Polar Bear is currently considered a potentially threatened species.

Resource:

http://www.greenscreen.org/articles_jr/EndangeredAnimals.htm#PolarBearAdaptations

Name:  __________________________________

Organism:  _______________________________

Adaptation:  It’s a Way of Life Scoring Rubric

Poster  (1 point each):

_______  Poster is turned in on time.

_______  Name is on poster.

_______  Poster is clean and neat.

_______  Poster is in color.

_______  Poster is organized.

                        Total:  _______ /5 Responsibility points

Writing (10 points):

_______ Explanations are written using complete sentences.

                        Total:  _______ /10 Skills points

Content (3 points each):

_______ The organism’s current habitat is accurately and completely described.

_______  The organism’s current diet adaptation that improves its ability to survive is accurately and

    completely described.

_______  One of the organism’s current movement adaptations that improves its ability to survive is

    accurately and completely described.

_______  The organism’s current special adaptations that improve its ability to survive are accurately

    and completely described.  (3 points each)

                        #1  _______                #2  _______                #3  _______

_______  The organism’s current place in the food chain is accurately and completely shown in a

    diagram with at least four other organisms.

                        Total:  _______ /21 Content Knowledge points

Application (4 points each unless noted otherwise):  

_______  Organism’s new habitat is described (temperature, moisture, etc.) [3 points]

_______  New adaptations are accurately and completely described. 

                        #1  _______                #2  _______

_______  New adaptations are relevant to the new habitat.

                        #1  _______                #2  _______

_______  An accurate and complete description of how the new adaptations would help the

    organism survive in the new habitat is included.

                        #1  _______                #2  _______

_______  An accurate and complete drawing of how the new adaptations would look on the

    organism is included.

                        #1  _______                #2  _______

                        Total:  _______/19  Application and Understanding points

Overall Total: _____/55 points

Social Studies -  During third quarter students will get to explore several more ancient civilizations.  About half of the quarter will be spent getting to know the Ancient Chinese Civilization and the other half will be spent understanding ancient American civilizations, including the Olmec, Aztec, Maya and Incas.  While studying both Ancient China and Ancient America, students will have a group project and a test.  More information will follow.

See below for Ancient America project expectations:

 ANCIENT AMERICA PROJECT EXPECTATIONS (STUDENTS HAVE THEIR OWN COPIES):