Lesson 1 - Monday, Feb 17
Today in science: In preparation for Planting Day (Lesson 2), students were asked to create a WFP Growth Log from a template provided for them in the Google Science Classroom. In this digital data log we created a Cover/Title page and a carefully formatted data table in which to record the first two weeks of plant height data.
Homework: —
Lesson 2 (Day 1) - Tue, Feb 18 (B, C) & Wed, Feb 19 (H)
Today in science: Students planted their Wisconsin Fast Plant (mustard) seeds today, making this “Day 0” for their WFP life cycle investigations. For the next 25 days, students will be expected to maintain two data logs, a Growth Log and a Development Log, which Dr. M created for students in the Google Science Classroom. When finished preparing their soil and planting their four mustard seeds, students were asked to dissect some old, dried mustard plant seed pods harvested by previous classes of TASIS Middle School students. After removing the seeds from them, students were asked to take photographs of the seeds as seen with the dissecting microscopes (in tomorrow’s lesson, students will be shown how to insert and format these photos in their new Development Log).
Homework: —
Lesson 3 (Day 2) - Wed, Feb 19 (B, C) & Thu, Feb 20 (H)
Today in science: After seeing that their Wisconsin Fast Plant mustard seeds had not yet come above the soil, Dr. M showed students how we can enter this data into our WFP Growth Logs as a series of four zeros (“0”). Students were then asked to spend the day investigating five different seeds–including two seeds familiar to us from previous lessons, mustard and radish–and searching for the baby plant inside, which we called the “embryo.” To help guide students in this investigation (which we will eventually call INV#7 – Seed Dissection 1.0) Dr. M showed images and illustrations of the embryos they are searching for in their orca bean, pinto bean, green pea, radish, and mustard seed dissections.
As evidence of their learning, Dr. M asked students to take as many photos of embryos and other seed parts as they can during their seed dissections.
Homework: In Veracross, Dr. M asked students to begin putting their seed dissection photos into a new digital WFP Log called the “WFP – Development Log.” In the coming days, Dr. M will ask students to transform their photos into knowledge, understanding, and questions.
Lesson 4 (Day 3) - Thu, Feb 20 (B) & Fri, Feb 21 (C, H)
Today in science: Because many students’ mustard seeds germinated successfully and were visible above the soil today, students were asked to make a Day 3 entry in their WFP Growth Log. They were also asked to photograph their newly emerged seedlings and upload these photos into their WFP Development Log. Students can now access Dr. M’s WFP Development Log, which contains organizational tables, suggests photographs to take, lists key vocabulary words, and shares useful plant resources (e.g., labelled diagrams, photos, etc.).
Homework: —
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: Where does food come from?
C & H period homework collection days: Wednesday & Friday.
B period homework collection days: Tuesday & Thursday.
This week marks the fourth full week of the new Spring Semester.