Anatomy reviewing Mitosis and Meiosis

These are my anatomy Students reviewing the processes of Mitosis and Meiosis. Go kids. Glad you all are back and having a grand old time.

Oh...if anyone reads this...come tell me in the morning. Whomever tells me first will get a free cup of hot cocoa. Enjoy!

A new year...already behind

Welcome all!

It is a new year and guess what? Despite the fun we have already had, I have yet to post anything on our blog.

I have decided this will change. So, begin to look forward to pictures and information about what your kids are learning this year.

Kids, I will have a prize periodically for anyone who reads this and is asked to tell me you read it. So, look at the blog periodically, just to win a prize!

Oh, and everyone. Don't forget, hot chocolate for sale in Mrs. Slade's room before school.

Yea!

PIG GUTS

There are few words to describe this experience. I would say that a picture is worth a thousand words...and leave it at that.....a movie is worth at least ten thousand!

Heart day

Today we dissected the heart. What great fun. sorry you missed out Emily. Maybe next time. It was a bit of a shocker to find you curled up on the floor.

We saw all kinds of things. What an amazing organ the heart is. Hope you guys learned lots.

Enjoy!!!

Today

Clams!!!!!

WORMS

WORMS! enough said.

Spring clips

Here is our lab for 7th grade. Spring clips! Just enjoy the pictures...

Here are a few songs written and performed by my students in Anatomy.
They are all about hormones. They might be a bit silly and long but the kids had a great time. ENJOY!

seventh grade -- kinetic and potential energy

here are my students doing a simple lab demonstrating the wonder of the transfer of energy compared to mass. They had a lot of fun...Enjoy the pictures...

AP Biology and Shoes....

This is what happens when students whine and whine and whine and so finally I give in to repeat a lesson done years previously (eight grade). Here we are, creating a dichotomous key for shoes...Crazy fun, I know!

Earth time Line

O.k. I admit. I do not enjoy teaching the time periods of Earth's history. I am not sure other than it always turns out rather boring to me and it seems to my students also since they doze much more often than normal.

So, few years back I decided to try a different method. I give each student a time period to learn about. The next day I have them draw a depiction of their time line...with the amount of space they get proportional to the amount of time it lasted. This helps them stay awake and helps them at least learn one of the time periods in great detail.

The last day I have each student stand in front of their time period and teach the class about what happened. And then...we hang it up for all to see. So awesome. And me? Well I get to take pictures and then blog the entire thing to share with others.

exciting times today

Today in AP Biology we were supposed to have a test. Oh the whining I heard when I first came in was incredible. "OH please, please, let us take it on Monday, please, we will do anything!" MMM? I think some of them meant it. Oh the benefits of bribery.

In 7th grade we had our big boat competition. We have just finished learning about Archimede's principle of buoyancy and displacement. The assignment...build a boat no bigger than 6' x 6" x 3". A few boats sunk fairly fast (I think we might need a lesson on water proof material) Others held a great deal of pennies.

Our winner.....EMMA LYNN! Congratulations Emma. Your boat held 470+ pennied before it sunk. Unfortunately because you were our photographer we don't have a wonderful picture of you. But still you win!

Later

Teddy Graham Day

It's Teddy Graham day in 8th grade biology. During this class we use teddy grahams and a story about the land of Teddy Grahams and the swamp thing. You see the swamp thing can only see bears that have their hands up! Each year He can only eat 8 bears and each year each pair of bears can only have 1 baby bear (mating is completely random).

We begin the population with one hands down bear and 23 hands up bears. From generation to generation we see the population begin to change and the number of hands up bears decreases and the number of hands down bears increases until there are no more hands up bears for the swamp thing to eat.

This is one of the kids favorite activities to do every year. At the end they get to eat all the bears they want..YUM!

Brain Day!

You are probably wondering what it means...brain day. Well, here are a few pictures of my 9th grade anatomy students dissecting sheep brains. They had a lot of fun and were able to see many things like the corpus callosum, the arbor vitae, and the cerebrum vs. the cerebellum. If you don't know what these things are, just stop one of my anatomy students in the hallway and ask them.

Enjoy!

...and the student has surpassed the teacher!

I have been teaching here for 14 years. During these years I have tried hard to instill in my students the desire to be the best they can be. Today I am beginning to see many of my students become great and wonderful things.

These are two of my past students who have come into my life once again. One is going to be the new Head master here at Meridian and the other is a Sophomore at Dartmoth medical school.

It made me think...my students are surpassing me. How do I feel? Absolutely wonderful!

Being a teacher is very much like being a parent, especially when you open up your heart to your students. Your love for them increases each year and your desire truly is to see them succeed and become everything they can. To reach their potential, or at least to begin to and to live their dreams.

I am lucky enough to be a part of this. So, how do I feel working for someone who once sat in my room learning from me. How do I feel learning from them? Great! If I can only claim to be a small influence in their lives, then all this sacrifice is worth every minute.

Thanks to all my students who keep in touch. I am proud of each and every one of you. Live your dreams and find joy in your lives, that is the greatest thing you could ever do for me.