Schoolhouse Ponds Project

5/18/10

sciencekids — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:57:35 +0000

Addison-Today we went to all the ponds and found a frog in rachel, the stream. He was very jumpy. At the end of our walk we let him go, and got a video of him leaving the container.

Jordan- Today we went to all of the ponds. We found a frog in Nari and kept it on the bridge in Rachel until the end of our walk, then we released it and it drifted through the culvert.

We focused on birds today. We saw a lot of red-winged blackbirds a few swallows and a few morning doves. I learned that female red-winged blackbirds look different from male red-winged balck birds. The females are a brown gray color.

TOday

sciencekids — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:15:48 +0000

Addison- Today we went to all the ponds. In Nari we saw a snapping turtle. we found some snails on Goose Island in the middle of Joni. We also found some snails in a puddle on the way to Fran. We took some samples of weird eggs that we found in another puddle near Fran. We also found some dead snails so we think the bugs that we found in another puddle, were eating them.

Jordan -Today Bill cut down some Buckthorn which is an evasive species and we walked and waded in puddles and ponds. We saw a few frogs and a big snapping turtle in Nari.

We went over to Goose Island which is an island in Joni with an old red chicken coop that looks like a miniature barn on it.

On the way back we picked up a lot of snails and sampled some red eggs that we looked at under the microscope later on. They look like small fortune cookies.

Maria-Today we went out to Nari (the pond) And Bill cut down an invasive species, Buck thorn. We went around the pond and along the way Bill cut down all the Buck thorn. Then we went to Rachel the stream and were glad to find that the bridge we made had not been destroyed (neighbor hood kids were destroying it). We made some changes and went on to Joni. Most kids went straight to the goose barn island because the water was lowish and we could squish across. It was A LOT of fun. WE squished back and forth and looked in the barn noticing some clams around it. Then we had to go to take samples. We cut across Crocus Creek (the beginning of Rachel) and took samples and looked at some snails. Then we headed back. Before, we had treaded through some puddles and now our footprints were embedded in the dirt. Then we came looked under the microscope at a crushed snail

THE END

3/2/10

sciencekids — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:57:11 +0000

Jordan- Today we went for a walk on the back road looking for signs of Spring. We didn’t find many, just a lot of slush. We took the temperature, conductivity and TDS which didn’t tell us much because we only got the top layer of snow.

When we came back inside we loaded all of the pictures onto the computer and weeded out the bad ones.

Maria- On Tuesday March 3 we went on a walk to see any difference often the big melting epidemic. We saw lots and lots of dog tracks some buds and melting ice and snow. Sparkling snow dying in one ray of cloudy sunshine. Anyway, we walked and took T.D.S readings, Conductivity and temperature of all the ponds-Nari, Fran and Joni and the stream Rachel-And took pictures of things like tracks of mice and other stuff , except the mice tracks turned out to be made from finger prints-heehee-we took pictures of all that an dcame back and blogged and set the mouse trap for a deer mouse.

sciencekids — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:17:00 +0000

Maria- Today we went to Bills work. We talked about our science power points and rules. Then we went into the lab. He introduced us to the three types of water. Tap water, R.O and Milique, which was the cleanest.

Jordan- Today we went to Bill’s work for the first time. We talked about rules and the powerpoint. We also got a tour of the lab. We learned about 3 types of water. Tap water, R.O and Milique.

Addison- Today we taste test the different types of water. My favorite was the R.O water. We also worked on a story board for our power point presentation.

January 12 2010

sciencekids — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:00:24 +0000

Will-Today was the first day we went to Bills lab. We set up our little space and talked about the rules. Bill took us on a tour of the office building. We also got notebooks. We got a new team member. When we went to the lab for the second time we learned about the three kinds of water. They are tap, RO and Milique. Bill said he uses RO water to make his coffee. In order of highest to lowest TDS they are tap, RO (Reverse Osmosis), and Milique. We tasted the water, all three types, and decided which ones we liked more. We also set up a storyboard for our powerpoint presentation. We used post-it notes to show things we want to say and facts.

December 9, 2009

sciencekids — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:17:02 +0000

Will- Today we collected samples in the snow, again. We also had a snowball fight. The snowball fight was when we were collecting samples. It started when maria threw a snowball at me. We also ran the mouse through the maze. It didn’t do much because the mouse didn’t go to the food. The last time we had done that the mouse had not eaten for a night so it went to food fairly quickly. We also put both of the mice, the wild and domestic, in the ball. We only took one TDS and one conductivity today. I put yesterdays and todays readings because yesterday we ran out of time.

Addison – After coming inside, after a snowball fight , and collecting water samples, we put the domestic mouse in a food maze. We put four long blocks around four small blocks with a door in one side , leaving a pathway to the food.

Maria-Today we went out to collect water samples. It was hard to stay on track because the snow was sticky and was good to make snow ball fights. About half way through somebody threw a big snow ball at someone else. This started a snow ball fight. When we got back with soaking pants and red noses we put the white mouse into the maze. This didn’t work out. probably because we didn’t starve it enough. While the white mouse was in the maze. The wild one was in the ball. The wild one didn’t seem in the mood but as everyone stared to become hyper the mouse picked it up and zipped away. When the maze ende without success and the wild mouse was rounded up. We put the white mouse in the cage. The wild one jumped out of the cage and on to the table luckily it was confused and jumped right back into the box. Gently we put the cages back onto shelf and took picture of the aquarium.

December 8, 2009

sciencekids — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:08:03 +0000

Maria- today we went out to collect water samples. It had snowed previously so we were checking for traps we found a couple. though it was more fun making tracks then finding them. When we got back we talked about the maze for the white mouse. We put her in the maze. This time it took 2 minutes when last time to took 4 minutes. We put the white mouse in the ball as soon as we put it down it set of. after 4 minutes we put her back in the cage. The wild mouse was next. When we lifted the top it went up my shoulder and into my hair. I think the mouse was scared because everybody was screaming. Wait I know it was scared. We put the wild mouse back into the cage. Then we took T.D.S readings and water samples.

December 4, 2009

sciencekids — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:49:00 +0000

Rachel pointed out this great video about a full circle food system in Hardwick, Vermont. It’s a really interesting and inspirational story. It’s called “High Mowing Organic Seeds on Dan Rather Reports”.

Enjoy

-Jess

December 2, 2009

sciencekids — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:04:19 +0000

Jordan- Today we mainly focused on the mouse. We built a bunch of different mazes for it and tested a few different foods on it. It didn’t touch any so we are going to not give it any food Monday night and then see if it’ll eat some of the motivation food.

Maria- Today we decide to make a maze for the white mouse. It sniffed the food-goldfish,timothy hay, jelly sandwich and cranberry- but it didn’t eat it. We decide to starve it fo one or two days if it was hungry it would eat its favorite we could use that as bait. For the brown mouse we put it in the yellow ball so it could roll around a bit. When it was done we put the brown mouse into its cage.

Addison- Today we did a couple of timed mazes the mouse,manly to see what it would eat, and how long it would take to go out a gap in the obstacle.

Aquarium

sciencekids — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:41:43 +0000

Desi- today we tested the waters conductivity of the water in the fish tank we are going to see if it change is over time.

Jess- we noticed the conductivity reading (520 microsiemens) was higher than the typical reading for Nari (434 microsiemens). This was interesting because the organisms and water in the aquarium came from Nari, but the number of ions in the water was higher.