ACT on the horizon ...

We did not have class first block.  Seniors were in the gym where they listened to student performances for class night ... juniors filled out their ACT forms in their testing rooms grouped by homerooms.  The rest of the day was on a normal schedule.  

Third block, we did AP Lab 8 ... Population genetics lab ... we did simulations with selection favoring one allele and simulated the heterozygous advantage.  We also did several Hardy-Weinberg problems.  Tomorrow we will have to catch up first block AP ... third block will finish the paperwork on this lab and wrap up evolution.

http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/lab8/intro.html

First block will miss both Thursday and Friday for ACT review ...

Selected Topics did a small lab on gravity and hangtime ... also, we worked on our structures to be tested on Friday.  Tomorrow, physics will continue and we start wrapping up our structures.

Softball after school today ... several drills and some live play.  We will not have practice on Friday but will have our Red/Blue scrimmage on Saturday afternoon starting at 1:00 PM.  First scrimmage will be at Beech on March 10th.  

Got home after dark ... calling for storms tonight and tomorrow ... still too warm for this time of year!

ACT test will be on Tuesday of next week. 

Population Genetics Lab and Super Structure Lab

In AP Biology today, we worked on evolution  ( the changes of organisms over time!) ... the story of Darwin, speciation, proofs of evolution, isolation and more.  We also prepped up the Hardy - Weinberg Lab ... third block will do this lab tomorrow.  First block will miss class on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday ... also, next Tuesday for ACT prep and testing.  A real problem to miss that much class time in AP!

In Selected Topics, we did the paperwork on our catapult lab and introduced our next lab ... the super structure lab in which students will build a tower that is 8 inches tall (34 grams of wood / popsicle sticks) and hold the maximum amount weight ... record is 255 lbs.   It will take us about four days to complete the project but, we will work on some other physics concepts each day.

We had softball practice outside today ... it was a beautiful day!  We did a lot of drill work with some live pitching.  North Central / NCTC came out to do a special for their cable network about our softball team.  It will show next week.

Below ... the winners of our catapult contest. ... Maria, Kristen and Makaleigh ... congrats!!!

Saturday - AP Review

This was AP Science Review day at Barren County for our Chemistry, Environmental Science and Biology students ... over 50 attended, leaving the high school at 7:15 and returning at 3:30.  Students attend four sessions during the day.  In Biology the sessions were replication, Hardy-Weinberg, plant reproduction, plant anatomy, evolution and ecology.  Todays program was part of the Advance Kentucky initiative.

http://www.advanceky.com/Default.aspx

We sang "DNA BABY" during lunch for the students from other schools.

Got home in time to take a walk down to Long Creek ... a pair of red tail hawks were working the bottom, barred owls were marking territory as I finished my walk ... some of the maples are blooming.  It has been a strange winter and I am afraid our plants will start up and then get nipped with a hard freeze.

Homeroom and gene regulation

We missed half of first block today because of homeroom.

In AP Biology today, we worked through some Hardy-Weinberg problems before studying gene regulation in prokaryotes (lac operon and trp operon), eukaryotic gene regulation and HOX genes.  Tomorrow we start evolution and will review for our session at Barren County HS on Saturday.

In Selected Topics we finish up our construction of catapults ... tomorrow we will have a contest for accuracy at 12 feet distance.  We will also do a couple of ACT questions tomorrow for practice.

Softball after school today on the field since it was over 70 degrees outside.  We worked on first and third situations, bunt defense and pickoff plays.  We hit indoors in flights.  Practice tomorrow from 3-5.

There was a softball booster club meeting at 6:00 ... so home late.

Good news of the day, is that Red Hurt did not pass away ... another James Hurt and bad information from a family member  ...  I am so glad!  ...  I will try and go out to see him this weekend.

Will take some pictures of our catapults tomorrow and our review session this Saturday.

rr

www.patscience.com

Physics - Catapult Lab

In Selected Topics in Science today we took what we have learned in our physics simulations to a practical application.  Students are designing their catapults that will deliver marshmellows from a table to a table 12 feet away.  Highest scores comes from putting the marshmellow into a bucket sitting on the second table.  In addition, students must trigger the launch of the catapult rather that just pull it back and shooting it ... physic concepts of kinetic/potential energy, launch velocity, angle of launch, force and trajectory are being studied.  This lab will continue tomorrow.

In AP Biology we worked on plasmid mapping, gel electrophoresis analysis, transformation of bacteria and Hardy - Weinberg calculations.  Tomorrow, we will be studying gene regulation and the lac operon.

I had PD after school so Coach Bunton took softball practice.  Yesterday, we were outside and had a good practice ... lots of fielding and game-like play.  We will have practice tomorrow inside where we will hit and work on signaling ...

Yesterday, we took Sue's mother to the basketball boys district game.  ACS lost in overtime but, Granny had a great time.

Red Hurt passed away today.  We rented a house from he and Katie when we first moved to Allen County.  He was a great and kind man and ...  he was very good to our children when they were young.

President's Day ...

We had a little snow on Sunday morning but it didn't last long on the warm ground and was gone by the afternoon.  I made bee candy at Granny's Sunday afternoon.

Today, I walked on some hairy vetch seed and some crimson clover seed.  By mid-morning, I started checking hives ... most were good and had eaten on the candy I put in about 10 days ago.  Three hives had eaten it all and one was trying to build comb so I put a empty super with foundation on that hive.  I put on about 35 pounds of candy (sugar, fructose and water boiled into a fudge) all together.

This afternoon, we had softball practice ...  we hit indoors and our pitchers and catcher threw afterwards.

I stayed in town and met Sue Neal for supper.  We went to see our girls basketball team play in the first round of the district.  Unfortunately, they had to play Monroe County which is in the top-twenty in the state.  Good effort but lost by about 20 points.

Back to school tomorrow ... AP will review and prep up some upcoming labs.  Selected Topics will start their catapult lab.  Softball practice is after school.

Picture below is from one our best hives with the top off  ... they had eaten all their candy, many bees entering and exiting the hive ... several coming in with pollen ... from winter mint (purple deadnettle).   Also below is a winter wren ... I have seen one at the feeder at Granny's ... they are so small, about the size of a mouse!  Their tail is short and narrow  ... Winter wren is not my picture, did not have my camera with me.

maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com

Clover seed, softball, frogs and snow!

This morning, I picked up one of the hives that was in the goat field ... a dead out.  It was from a walk-away split last summer and never was very strong.  Going into the winter it was our weakest hive and I suspect a queen problem since there were several full medium frames of honey yet in the hive.  I put eight frames in the freezer to use on other weaker hive during the next few weeks.
I am making bee candy again tomorrow and on Monday will check hives and see how they are doing.

I spread clover seed today in several spots ... yellow and white sweet clover.  I know they are not native plants but, these areas were highly erodible.  Sorry!

We had softball practice at 1:00.  I went in to get the field ready and we played until after 3:00.  While we were practicing a very large V of sandhill cranes flew over ... they were beautiful and making a lot of noise as they headed toward the lake.

Afterwards, I spread grass seed on Granny's yard.

This evening late as I was putting the seeder and equipment away I could hear frogs down at the creek chirping away.  They have been busy every evening this week.  Also even though it was getting pretty dark, I could here a woodcock making noise behind the house.  I know they are calling for 2 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow but, Spring is here ... the snow, a farewell wave from winter!

Friday and a three day weekend ...

Today in AP Biology, we worked on translation problems and how mutations on DNA would result in proteins with different amino acid sequences.  We will move on to gene regulation, Chapter 18 on return on Tuesday.  Next Saturday, we have a review session at Barren County HS.

We started our take home test in Selected Topics ... Astronomy and Earth Science.  This is due on Tuesday.  Next week we have our catapult lab next week and will continue to work in our physics unit.

No softball after school today since we posted our team after tryouts.  Tomorrow, we will have practice at 1:00.

I got home in time to walk on some sweet clover seed before dark.  It was good to be outside.

DNA Baby!

Club Schedule at school today ... lots of students in and out of class all day.  Our AP classes worked to finish Transcription and Translation before going on tour to sing "DNA Baby".  Best rendition yet ... good singers and some extra instrumentation ... it was fun ... the chorus and pictures below.

D N A Baby, D N A
It makes you tall, it makes you small,
it makes you look that way.
And if you eyes are blue like the sky on a cloudless day,
you can thank your Mom and thank your Dad, for your DNA!

In Selected Topics, we reviewed for our test and worked in the Mac Lab on our Physics simulations.  Tomorrow we will wrap up our physics simulations and finish some odds and ends before heading in to a three day weekend.

Our last day of softball tryouts was today ... our first official practice will be be on Saturday at 1:00 on the field.  Congrats to all that made the team for 2012.

Softball, Crick's Central Dogma and Physics ...

Today in AP Biology, we finished up some practice problems in genetics.  We started our student of Crick's Central Dogma ... Replication - Transcription - Translation ... DNA to proteins.  Lots of people were tired from the ballgame at Warren Central last night.  Tomorrow is club day so we will have some people out but, we will be working on the details of Transcription and Translation.  Tomorrow we will take a little time to go on tour with our AP signature song ... "DNA Baby!"

We had several people out of Selected Topics today, but continued to work on our physic simulations in the Mac Lab.  Tomorrow, we will review for our test over Earth Science and Astronomy which is schedule for Friday.

First day of the official softball tryouts today ... we had 34 girls not including our basketball players ... tryouts will end tomorrow and we will select our teams.

www.patscience.com

Valentine's Day ... Softball Tryouts start tomorrow

Today was Valentine's Day ... also, the birthday of our youngest daughter, Hannah.  That was a great day 28 years ago!  Here in Kentucky, Valentine's Day marks the beginning of warmer weather and I hope that holds true this year.

Today in AP Biology we finished AP Lab 3 which is due in the morning.  We are still working on Genetics and will finish tomorrow.  If we have time, we will start our study of replication - transcription - and translation of DNA - mRNA - proteins.  Club schedule will be on Thursday so we will have some people out of class.

In Selected Topics today we were in the the lab working on physics ... PhET software.  We worked on the projectile and mass/springs simulations today ... running some simulations, recording the data and graphing the information. Tomorrow we will analyze some of the data in class, review for our test Friday, and practice on ACT - Science questions.

phet.colorado.edu/

We did not have softball practice today but our final tryouts will be tomorrow and Thursday.  Good luck to all.

AP Lab 3 tomorrow ...

Mitosis and Meiosis Lab tomorrow ... This means we will be half way through the labs for this semester ... genetics continues in AP Biology on Tuesday.  Remember AP Review day is on February 25th !!!

► 5:32► 5:32

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5g5hjZNLpQ

In Selected Topics, we will finish up on Astronomy and some earth science of Allen County ... the oil boom of 1915-1920 and crinoid fossils.

Drilling for Oil in Allen County 1919
left to right Cecil Oliver, Felix Motley , Unknown , Unknown , Unknown,
Burnice Oliver, Malon Oliver, William Corbitt, Willie Gray Oliver , Unknown ...submitted by:
Mike Oliver
allencountyky@gmail.com

Softball practice tomorrow is after school unless too cold ... else, 5-7.   Final tryouts will be February 15-16.  Beech Play Day will be March 10th!

Basketball Homecoming and snow ...

We worked on genetics in AP Biology today ... Mendelian genetics and modes of inheritance.  We handed back the multiple choice portion of Thursday's test and went over the free response rubrics.  Monday we will have a lab on mitosis and meiosis ... one of the 12 required labs for AP.

In Selected Topics, we only met for half of the block since the pep rally for homecoming took up the second half of the block.  In addition, we had six students absent today.  We worked on our deep space and star development worksheet we started on Thursday.  Part of this assignment was to draw and label a "Space Truck" that would hold 100 people and transport them in deep space.  Student were to have a solution for the carbon / oxygen cycle as part of the problem to solve.  Below is a couple of the entries from Jonathan and Kacy ...

On Monday we will finish up our study of astronomy and earth science before starting our unit in physics later in the week.

For softball, we had hitting after school and finished at 4:30 and headed for home since it was snowing.

Tonight is the basketball homecoming games and festivities ...  vs. Franklin Simpson HS.

rr
www.patscience.com

Genetics tomorrow in AP and Space Trucks ... picts

We had our second test in AP today.  Tough questions from the Campbell question bank and two free response questions.  The multiple choice part was not very good but some great free responses!  Tomorrow we will start genetics and on Monday, our Mitosis and Meiosis Lab.

Selected Topics finished their weather recording lab and worked on astronomy ... stars and deep space.  Students are designing a space truck for deep space travel for tomorrow... must transport 100 people and maintain the carbon / oxygen cycle.  Some interesting designs so far!

We had softball practice outside today.  Practice tomorrow after school 3-4:45.  Our softball boosters met in my room at 6:00.  We will be meeting again later in the month after posting rosters for our teams.

Some pictures below from class ...  the first picture is for Vivien's mother ... we are having basketball homecoming this week ... this picture is from dress like a Harley biker day ... don't worry, Zac is harmless!
The second picture is from our review session ... playing our review game.

AP Test II tomorrow and Constellations

In AP Biology today, we reviewed for our second test of the semester ... Chapters 1-12 ... biochemistry, cells, photosynthesis and respiration.  Also, AP Labs 1, 2, 4, and 5.  We had a review session about school today.  This test will be about 40 questions and 2 free response questions ... remember, up to now it mostly about proteins!

On Friday in AP, we will start our genetics unit and Monday is our meiosis and mitosis lab.

In Selected Topics after working on today's weather, we went to the Mac Lab to study constellations (Orion, Ursa Major and more) and the brightest stars in the Milky Way ... our galaxy. Tomorrow we will start wrapping up our astronomy unit and prepare for our rock lab on Friday.

Coach Carter took softball practice after school today ... I joined them late after our AP review.  Practice after school tomorrow is for all players as in Friday after school.  Our last tryout days will be February 15 and 16th ... we will post rosters on February 17th.

AP test on Thursday and our Solar System Modeling

Today in AP Biology we spent some time on meiosis ... difference between meiosis in males and females.  Also crossing-over in Prophase I.  Afterwards had a spirited review game with vocabulary from the content we have covered this semester.  Tomorrow is review day and I will stay after school for awhile to review for our test (Chapters 1-12 and AP Labs 1, 2, 4, 5).  We will starting our study of genetics on Friday and have our Mitosis and Meiosis Lab - AP Lab 3 on Monday.

In Selected Topics after finishing our daily weather analysis, we went outside and built a model of our solar system using a softball for the sun ... everything including the size of the planets and distance from the sun was to scale ... the planets were tiny and a long way from the softball/sun.  Building this model really brings home how empty space is and the difficulties in space travel.  We finished up most of the lab report when we returned to class.
Tomorrow space and earth science will continue...

We had softball practice outside today on the field.  It was good to get outside to field and run ... we worked on bunting and bunt defense.  We have a lot of players out this year and will try to keep as many as possible but, we will not carry the number we had last season during this transition year.

Mitosis and Astronomy today ...

Mitosis - somatic cell division was on the burner today for AP Biology ... Stages of interphase, stages of mitosis, mitosis checkpoints and what happens in cancerous cells.  Also, we finished up Lab 5 and handed it in.  Tomorrow, we will review for our test which will be on Thursday and start our unit on genetics.

In Selected Topics, we continued our study of weather, practiced on ACT science questions and finished up our modeling lab of the solar system which we will do outside tomorrow.   We used a softball to model the sun then modeled the planets to size ... we used the website below for calculations ...

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/

We had softball practice late today from 5-7 ... lifting, hitting and some throwing.  Tomorrow we are going outside to workout since it is suppose to be warm.  

Bucks, mitosis and bees

Even though I had a bad cold that started yesterday, I was able this afternoon to open 17 of our hives for a quick look.  Still have bees in all hives and most were working on the bee candy inside the hives.  It appears some populations are pretty high which could be a problem since it will be awhile for spring flowers ... although there are a few small flowers blooming.  So far, so good.

After lunch our son John looked behind the house and there were five bucks and a doe in our back yard.  Seems impossible to believe they are hard to hunt down and kill!

Tomorrow at school, in AP Biology we will be working on mitosis, somatic cell division.  In Selected Topics, we will continue our study on earth science and astronomy.  We will also have practice ACT questions.  Softball practice will be 5-7 and afterwards, a few younger girls will come in to throw.  A busy day for Monday.

rr

Bee School ...

Coach Carter and Coach Bunton took softball conditioning this morning while I helped at Bee School.

Allen County Bee School was today ... well over 100 beekeepers in attendance with several vendors.  There was a keynote address to start the morning followed by four 45 minutes sessions, each session had four options for speakers.  There was a beginner's track throughout the day for new beekeepers. After the second sessions was an hour lunch break.  Rachel came down from Champaign for bee school and we had a good time.  We attended most of the sessions on making your own queens and requeening hives.  I hope to get by this season without much requeening since I am still coaching ... next year, I will have to replace some queens.
I picked up some small bear containers that John and Claire will use at their wedding for favors ...

https://kelleybees.com/

http://www.dadant.com/

Review, Stars and some picts ...

We put our classroom data for our respiration lab on the board in AP Biology this morning and generally the results were good.  We went over a few of the questions ... lab report and graphs due Monday.  We also spent some time reviewing ecology.  On Monday, we will start mitosis ... second test of the course will be on Wednesday or Thursday ... Chapters 1-12 ... and labs.

In Selected Topics today we worked on earth science ... plate tectonics and rock cycle.  We also started prepping our astronomy lab ... a solar system model to scale.

Softball practice after school were our older players ... we mostly worked on fielding and throwing.

After softball practice, I helped set up for the Allen County Bee School tomorrow (held at the high school) ... will take some picts.  Rachel (our oldest daughter) and her husband Kyle are on their way down from Champaign IL for the weekend ... John and Claire are over from Bowling Green for the weekend.  I will be fun having them home for awhile!

Some picts from our lab on Thursday!

Respiration Lab finished ...

AP Biology started and finished their Lab 5 - Respiration today.  Students used respirometers to measure oxygen being used by germinating pea seeds under warm and cool conditions.  We will analyze our data tomorrow and start mitosis / cell division.  We have finished five of the required 12 labs so are making good progress ... no snow days makes a difference in AP!

In Selected Topics, we had several students finish their first test.  We recorded our weather condition in Allen County and the continental USA.  We started to work on some earth science concepts ... plate tectonics and the rock cycle.  We will continue earth science tomorrow and prep up our rock lab.

In softball, we had hitting with live pitching after school today.  We will be moving outside soon ...

I took pictures of our lab today but forgot to bring my camera home ... will put them on tomorrow.

rr

AP Lab 5 tomorrow and Topics starts weather

Our AP Biology classes will be doing AP Lab 5 tomorrow.  This is the cell respiration lab and involves using respirometers to calculate oxygen usages by germinating pea seeds compared to non-germinating pea seeds.  The respirometers are put under water in water baths at two different temperatures.  Discussion revolves around enzymes and temperature as related to aerobic respiration.  We had a lot of people gone on a DECA trip today ... we discussed Cell Communication - Signal Transduction today and prepped up Lab 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJbperz43rk

We had our Biology Unit test in Selected Topics today after continuing our 7 days of weather lab.

After school was softball conditioning.  I stayed in and helped with  a Science Olympiad while Coach Bunton and Coach Carter took practice.

rr