classes of 2011-2012

This is the first blog of the year. Students will be updating classroom information at this blog site. There will be more to follow so stay tuned.

2011, 2012

Welcome to the first blog of the year. Students have expressed some interest in having a classroom blog. We can give a summary of what we are learning at this blog site. I will allow them to type something here so that they can share their information with others.

Taft

In science we are learning about animal behavior. We finished up a cool unit on birds where we created bird books. Right now we are learning about mammals. The video we watched had the top ten animals rated by their intelligence. The smartest animal was the Chimp. The least intelligent was the squirrel. We also had to do a report on mammal behavior over the break. Dissecting owl pellets was very cool and we did that a few weeks ago. Right now we are learning about animal migrations. Soon we are going on a trip to the Zoo to learn more about animals!

Morelands Class

In our science class, we are learning about animal behavior. We learned about stimulus, and response when Mr. Cowen irritated us with his whistle and freaked us out. When learning about trial and error learning, we discussed our first time riding a bike. We are also learning about animal territory. Last Friday we watched a cool video about the top ten animal intelligences. We are learning about coutship behavior. In the video we learned that crows would drop nuts in the road so that cars would drive over them and crack them. We learned that the Grey Squirrel was brought to Europe. We found out that a pig is the 6th smartest animal, even smarter than dogs!
Elephants Dolphins and Apes recognize death.

Animal Intelligence and Behavior

In the last week we have learned about mammal behavior. We learned that pigs are smarter than dogs. Other animals can communicate. Once we take a trip to the zoo on the 11th, we will be able to observe animals in action. The smartest animals other than humans are the chimpanzees. In communications we are reading Hatchet (one of Mr. Cowen's favorites)
We learned how smart squirrels are and that a parrot can live up to 50 years. Crows can also drop nuts in front of cars to have then cracked for them.
There may be a kickball tournament at lunch time.

2011

It has been a long time since I last blogged. I have not completed my Masters program as well as an online teacher certification. Last week, I was in Sunny Florida for a few days and returned to some very cold weather. A lot has transpired since I last blogged. In the classroom, we are doing more each week with our wiki sites. Students are now embedding video into their presentations, and they have created some amazing powerpoints and prezi presentations. It always amazes me how quickly students pick up on technology. In the classroom, I now have a webcam! Skype just got hooked up and I look forward to using that as well.
As far as my outside interests, I have been playing some good hockey with my buddies on a nice outdoor rink. On top of that, I am still coaching my sons league. When I have time, I have also been out cross country skiing and on Friday, I did some downhill skiing. People complain about Wisconsin winters, but if you get out there and do stuff, it is not bad at all!

Plants

We are starting a unit on plants this week. Although it might sound boring, it isn't. We will combine a wiki project along with our reading to spice it up.
On a personal note, I completed my last graduate class last week and am very excited to be able to focus on more interesting and exciting things for a while.
I am glad to be back after our Thanksgiving break!