Working at the Yarmouth Shellfish Nursery with Oysters

Today, students went down to Bayview to visit the Oyster seedlings that are growing in the Yarmouth Shellfish Nursery upweller.  We learned about the oyster life cycle, how the upweller works as a system, and how to collect growth data of oysters in all eight silos. Here is a reading if you are interested in oyster aquaculture here in Maine.

Students worked in small groups to collect data from each of the eight silos, and recorded lengths of 40 oysters.  When we returned to the classroom, students learned how to use Google Sheets to enter their data, find the =sum and the



=average of their data sets. Then, they learned how to generate graphs from their tables of data. This proved to be very challenging, but they handled this tremendously well and worked together so that everyone learned the basics of spreadsheets, and the importance of entering data correctly. :)  These images are examples of student data tables and graphs.

Here are some images taken while students were working together measuring the oysters. They were very engaged and really taking their work seriously! A great day! 

While one homeroom was busy at the upweller, the other homeroom was enjoying the beautiful outdoors with Mr. Hagerty at the other end of the landing. 

Artifact Project

I just wanted to give you all a heads up about a new project students will be doing in social studies (due next week-exact date will be found on the homework calendar soon) called the Artifact Project. 

Your students will be coming home with some ideas on what they could do their project on, but it would be wonderful if you could brainstorm with them tonight what kinds of artifacts (or historical family items) you may know about.  Today in social studies class, I had students navigate the web page that I created for the project, and I'm hoping that this will be helpful to them so they know what is expected from this project. This will be their first graded assignment that will count towards the semester grade (so they are a bit nervous about it).  If you wish to have a look at the web page click here.

These are a lot of fun to see in the end!  I'll add some photos up on my teacher page in the end. I hope this allows you all to talk with your child about something you've held onto through the years, a memory, or perhaps even a treasured item passed down through your family.  

Cubelet Explorations

Thanks to YEF we received a grant for sets of Cubelets that we were so thrilled to experiment with this fall.  To begin the year, we discuss the role that systems play in several of our subjects. Systems can be found everywhere! Systems in note-taking, systems in reading, systems in mathematics, in solving ancient civilization mysteries, and especially in science. 7th grade's theme is systems and using Cubelets was a fantastic way for students to explore how systems work, and all the vocabulary they needed to learn as well as incorporating the scientific method. :) 

Key Terms: System, subsystem, inputs, outputs, process/think, boundaries, energy flow, matter flow

Students had so much fun exploring all the different cubes! If you're interested in having a look at what they are all about, here is a link.

What's on the underside of the mystery cube?

Students worked together asking questions and giving clues to figure out what might have been written on the underside of the mystery cube. There was only two rules:  you can not stand or move from your seat and you may only ask one directional question at a time.





They nearly had it! Francine was a tricky one!  They found all the color and number patterns by discussing with each other, taking notes, and asking excellent questions.  

Sharing Favorite Places

Map of My Favorite Childhood Place

From memory, sketch your favorite childhood place. It might be a summer house,
camp, hiking trail, playground, your room, etc. You might include the geographic
location of your childhood play space (city, state, country) and as many details as
you can remember.

On the back, write a brief description of the “place”. Explain key elements,
landscape features and/or the size.

What do you remember doing in this place? Did you spend time here alone or
with others? What age(s) were you when you spent time here? How did you feel
in this place? What did you learn in or from this place?

Places from your childhood trigger meaningful memories to write about. Hopefully
you can add this to your Writer’s Territories.

Sketch:

• Sketch your favorite childhood place

Description:

• Explain key elements (parts or components)
• Landscape features
• Size
• What do you remember doing in this place?
• What age(s) were you when you spent time here?
• How did you feel in this place?
• What did you learn in or from this place?