Science Students attend the Nashville Symphony because of their awesome performance during the 3rd nine weeks. We all enjoyed the Spaghetti Factory and the weather was perfect for a walk on the pedestrian bridge. Here is the outline of the performance we got to enjoy:

Roberto Sierra’s Sinfonía No. 4 caused such a sensation when it was performed here two years ago that we’re bringing it back — and this time we’re recording it! The composer has created a vibrant signature style by infusing classical music with Latin American sounds, and Chabrier’s Habanera will add an extra dash of Spanish flair. Augustin Hadelich is a phenomenal violinist, completely up to the incredible technical demands of Brahms’ Violin Concerto — a piece he has been honing to perfection for more than a decade.

The violinist, Augustin Hadelich, had an interesting and tragic background that gave us all an opportunity to look within ourselves and question our own excuse in the future:

Augustin Hadelich (born 1984 in Italy) is a German violinist and winner of the 2009 Avery Fisher Grant. He was also the gold medallist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He also received that competition’s special awards for best performance of a Romantic concerto, Classical concerto, Beethoven sonata, violin sonata other than Beethoven, Bach work, commissioned work, encore piece and Paganini caprice. In 2011 he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. He plays on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. In 1999, when Augustin Hadelich was fifteen years old, a fire on his family’s farm severely burned much of his upper body, including his face and bow arm. He started to play again in 2001.

The performance was inspiring and lively. The Nashville Symphony was recording the two pieces by the composer, Roberto Sierra, and he was at the concert to hear the performance in person. The concert will be released on CD in the near future! The evening was just about perfect!

TEST MONDAY (16th) over Chapters 13, 14, & 15!

Chapter 13 & 14 Work is due Monday. Extra Credit for chapters 13 & 14 is also due Monday. It was all suppose to be due today, but students are keeping their materials to study for the test.

Chapter 15 materials and extra credit are due Friday the 20th.

TCAP Review will be Tues. the 17th – Wed. the 25th, the day of the Science TCAP test.

After the TCAP, we will begin working on the 8th grade curriculum. We will continue to have class and expect the same high standards from students!

We will be doing as many hands-on activities as possible, but we will be working hard.

Two of our 6 houses now have hatchlings looking to be fed by their Bluebird parents. One set of hatchlings showed up at the end of last week and the second set showed up at the beginning of this week. Unfortunately, we lost the the first set of babies that hatched out 3 weeks ago when we had the warm spell. We think that the parents were either run off by house sparrows or they just hatched out before the normal food sources were out for feeding the hatchlings. That is one of the problems that may be occurring with changes in the climate; animals, insects, and plants do not all run on the same clock and drastic changes in temperatures affects the coordination between species (food and food sources)! Some organisms base their life cycle changes on the length of the day, the amount of daylight hours each day. Others base their cyclical changes on the temperature, so the temperature could be warm enough for plants to sprout, but the length of the day is too short for birds to be present or the insects that normally pollinate plants and act as food sources are too early or too late. Phenology, the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, is an area of scientific study that is becoming more important as we wrestle with these questions. If you look up Phenology you will see a connection between this scientific field and the Farmer’s Almanac. Check it out and take a minute to watch the birds and be peaceful this Spring weekend. Its suppose to be beautiful!

Click on the pictures below to enlarge them!

We continued monitoring our 6 nest boxes on March 28th. The activity at our Bluebird Houses had increased!

Look below to see our initial findings and the current level of activity at our nest boxes.

Nest Box #1: After Spring Break, there was a complete nest with 3 eggs present in the nest. A Bluebird was in the nest box when we went out to begin our observations.

Nest Box #2: After Spring Break, there were 5 eggs in the already completed nest. A bluebird flew out of the nest box and then dive bombed us as we observed the eggs.

Nest Box #3: There was activity observed in the nest box. It appeared that the nest materials were different from the other nests, but it was in the beginning stages so its structure was not visible yet. There were Tree Swallows observed perched on the wire over the nest box and on the nearby fence as well. Tree Swallows inhabit similar open grassy areas and require nest boxes which are very similar in size.

Nest Box #4: There was no activity observes.

Nest Box #5: There was activity observed in the nest box. It appeared to have similar nesting materials as those found in nest box #3. There were also Tree Swallows present at this nest box and perched on top. The nest within this box was barely begun.

Nest Box #6: There were 5 eggs in the already begun nest. No bluebirds were observed at this nest box.

Bluebird

Tree Swallow

7^th Grade TCAP Study Session

Where: Walter J Baird – Computer Lab & Cafeteria

When: Saturday, March 31^st         10am – 1 pm

Students must attend a minimum of 1 hour during this time period to be in the drawing for an iTunes gift card!

How: Students will sign in at the Study Center.

Students may use the computers in the computer lab or go to the cafeteria, where study activities and games will be set up covering the 7^th grade science curriculum.

Students may come in study groups and bring a snack if they wish.

When students wish to go home, they may call parents to come get them.

Students wishing to stay the entire time may, but they will have to attend Study Center and work on the computers or classroom assignments.

Note: Students that are not working and reviewing for the TCAP will be asked to leave. This is an opportunity for students that want to prepare for the TCAP!

This week we are focusing on Heredity and Genetics.
Today we discussed and work through several examples using the Punnett Square. Students were given several more examples to work through for further practice and to build up experience. We will be talking about the specifics of DNA and how we can determine the genetics make-up of organisms. The one video we will be watching is “Dirty Jobs” Cow Midwife, which the students love and it does an awesome job explaining the process and goes into the manipulating of genetics to develop and improve cattle.

We will be “Making Babies” in class this week by flipping pennies to determine the alleles of the baby’s genetic code to create a baby based on select traits. Some students are a little concerned about our making babies in class because I have not given them any details. This always turns out to be a fun activity and very revealing about the general genetic make-up on a human being.

Please take advantage of our present subject, reproduction. It would be a good time to have a conversation with your child in reference to your beliefs along those lines and to make them aware of the many varied changes that have or will be taking hold of them over the next few years. My own daughter will be at Walter J. next year, so I know how difficult this can be, and scary!

Here is an address that might be a conversation starter for your discussion:
“Teen moms clueless about how they got pregnant”
http://tweentribune.com/teen/many-teenage-girls-clueless-about-getting-pregnant

Reproduction is a 7th grade state standard. I do not touch on the morality of reproduction with students. Its not my place to tell students what to think about this topic, but we will be going more in depth into human reproduction and birth at the end of this nine weeks. I will explain the parts and how they work in the general context of mammals, which of course specifically will include humans.

*Monday the 20th – President’s Day / No School
*Tuesday the 21st – Lab Books are Due for the Nine Weeks (Self-Evaluation & Teacher Evaluation)
*Wednesday the 22nd – 3rd Nine Weeks Final
*Thursday the 23rd – Makeups for the Final & ALL Extra Credit is Due

*Friday the 24th – Tuesday the 28th – TREMONT TRIP (Only for Participating Students)

*Wednesday the 29th – All Chapter 8 Assignments Due
*Friday the 2nd – End of the 3rd 9 Weeks(All make-up & late assignments Due

*Monday the 5th – Beginning of the 4th Nine Weeks
*Wednesday the 7th – Report Cards go Home

Today (1/31/12) a Sharp-Shinned Hawk was observed perched in a crabapple tree within the Baird Bird Blind. The students were very excited!!!
This is the 3d time this year for such a siting and a hawk has never been observed within the birding area over the past 8 years. The students have been very excited to observe the hawk up close. The bird blind really does its job in concealing the student scientists from view.
The Sharp-shinned hawk was showing observers some pretty interesting behavior by puffing up its feathers and trapping air within to stay warm. It had a pretty nice down jacket on. You can make out some of that behavior in these pictures, but it was very hard to get a clear shot of the hawk because of its location.

The one bad thing about having a hawk in the feeding are is that it takes hours for the feeder birds to return. I would guess they are playing it pretty safe with such a large predator being seen inside a rather confined space. We had actually wondered if the hawk wouldn’t catch something to eat and devour it in front of us, but no such luck!

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
Length: 11″ Wingspan: 23″ Weight: 5oz. 140 g.
The smallest of the Accipiters, realatively small head and bill, but short broad wings and long tails. They are very agile in pursuing small birds through trees and bushes. Often found on the edges of mixed forests , hunting birds in ambush attacks through dense cover. The sharp-shinned hawk is easily confused with the Cooper’s Hawk, which is larger with a larger head and bill. The Cooper’s Hawk also has a more rounded ending to it’s tail and is lankier overall. Cooper’s tend to perch on posts and fences; whereas, Sharp-shinned hawks almost always prefer tree branches to perch in.

Parents, please check that your child has completed the chapter 6 and chapter 7 assignments, which were made the first week of the month.
These assignments are all due on the 31st, which is next Tuesday.
Mid-Term Reports will go home next Wednesday, Feb. 1st.

We are currently working on discussing Mitosis and taking notes, so they are not able to complete the three assignments related to Mitosis. Students should be able to do all of the other assignments at this point!

There is at Study Center Saturday meeting this Saturday, so if you child is very behind on Friday, then take them to Study Center so they can work from 10 – 1pm on their assignments. Students will have had over a month to complete these assignments. Students also have the opportunity to do extra credit and enrichment for chapters 6, 7, & 8.

**Chapter 6 & 7 Test – Friday, Feb. 3rd

Please refer to the attached assignment sheet(Below) for details about assignments and due dates.
3-9Weeks Assignments

Parents, please take a look at your child’s Lab Book and compare it to the required materials on their assignment sheet.
This Friday, students will utilize a rubric and check sheet to self-evaluating the work in their Lab Books up to this point in the nine weeks.
Students should have Asexual & Sexual Notes, Plant Notes, and Mitosis Notes in their Lab Books. They should also have their figures from chapters 6 & 7; colored & labeled with complete captions. Each figure should also be large and placed one per page in the lab book. Students should also have several foldables in their lab books on Friday. We have not had a Mid-Term Lab Book evaluation this year, but it has become necessary due to the number of students I currently serve and the limited amount of time available at the end of the nine weeks. I hope this will lower the number of pages per student that I am required to evaluate at the end of the grading period.

We were running early and walked out on the pedestrian bridge. It was nice and windy, but pretty warm for January. The background is awesome and the music city star was pulling into the downtown station as we looked out over the Cumberland River.

The Spaghetti Factory was a first for all but one student. Its was a nice, almost too quiet dinner. I think that everyone enjoyed their choices and especially the spumoni ice cream.



Here are some pictures of our Super Science Students outside the Symphony by the fountain and inside the lobby on one of the many balconies.



This is a picture with the Soloist,Tianwa Yang. She was an incredible performer, possibly one of the best in the world and only in her early 20′s. Everyone was amazed and everything played was big and loud and I think everyone stayed awake the whole evening. We sat in the 1st & 2nd rows right by the violin section, so we heard every sound from every touch of a string. A great first experience!
Thanks to the Nashville Symphony and SunTrust for the tickets!!!