Black Swallowtail, Wood Ducks and Spring Break ...

Friday was Selected Topics in Science Day ... we continued to work on organ systems of the human body ... info, drawings, discussions and ailments.  We also continued our bird identification project ... learning 100 birds from the Midwest.  Sixty learned, forty to go!

Computer programming classes are finishing their first set of programming problems in Visual BASIC ... animation of objects will be our next problem.

AP Biology has a spring break project ... ecology discussion questions and a sample AP Bio Exam.  We will have our transpiration lab the Thursday when we return.

Last weekend while on a walk with Hannah, we saw a black swallowtail fly by.  I thought they overwintered as a chyralis ???  We have not had much warm weather but there it was, a male flying along in a hurry.  A mystery!

This morning there was a mating pair of wood ducks in a backyard tree.  I see them flying occasionally while on walks but have never seen them in a tree.  A warm up is on the way, just in time for spring break.  Black Swallowtails below are from our yard last summer.

Yellow Corydalis, AP Bio, and Snow today ...

Today, we missed first block for an assembly on drunk driving.  Second block ... we worked on the three organ systems now in  the new AP Bio curriculum ... immune, endocrine and nervous.  Lots of talk about homeostasis in mammals.  Over spring break students have questions on the ecology chapters which will finish our content for the year.  We are reviewing 5-10 minutes each period ... today was genetics, H-W and Crick's Central Dogma.

In computer programming students are finishing up their math tutorial program and some are working on the casino programming problem.  This problem simulates a slot machine and controls the money deposited, won and loss.  In the end, the user cashes out their winnings or the amount remaining after losses.  The only programming problem remaining in this first set of easy Microsoft Visual BASIC programming is a multiple choice questioning program on WWII or Astronomy written for middle school students.

We have several flats of wildflowers planted at school for the Patriot Pollinator Project ... several kinds of milkweed, coneflowers, compass plant, cup plants and more.

Even though it snowed some today and our spring is late in arriving, this weekend was warmer and a few spring flowers are out (even though there is no sign of twinleaf or mayapples).  Below, there were several patches of yellow corydalis ... also called scrambled eggs (Corydalis flavula).  Also below ... maybe gray beardtongue or ?? spring cress.

Hellebore, Daffodils and Spring

While working in our gardens this weekend, I took some time in the afternoon to take some pictures.  Our daffodils and hellebore are in full bloom and there are many smaller flowers nearby.  I planted potatoes and lettuce this weekend ... still, no sign of asparagus.

Honeybees and Planting Potatoes

Friday, in Selected Topics in Science, we continued reading The Beatinest Boy by Jesse Stuart.  We will finish this book on Monday.  As part of our study on invertebrates and vertebrates, I brought in my beekeeping equipment and talked about beekeeping and gathering honey (robbing bees is a part of the Jesse Stuart book we are reading).  Below are two of our volunteers dressed to work a beehive ... thanks ... James and Mikey!

It was warm on Saturday and the ground was dry enough to plant potatoes.  I planted some seed potatoes and then took some from our basement that was sprouted.  After doing some research on the internet I planted the best of the left-over potatoes after cutting back the sprouts to a 6".  We will see if they make it ... if not I will replant later.

American Woodcocks

Today in AP Biology we continued our Artificial Selection Lab, taking data on plant growth and selecting the plant characteristics we are going to select for in the F2 generation.  We have three organ systems to cover and ecology before starting review.

Computer programming is working through some simple Visual BASIC problems.  Todays problem was designing a math tutoring program for a elementary student.  Students have enjoyed the GUI of Visual BASIC after working in qBASIC for several weeks.

The last few days of school I have seen several American woodcocks along our lane and along the road on the way to school.  They are busy with their mating rituals and are not paying much attention to traffic.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_woodcock/lifehistory

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Daffodils, Bee feedings and ACT on Tuesday.

The makeup ACT test for our juniors will be Tuesday morning.  This is part of our schools assessment (I don't know why???) and it is a real ACT test that can be used by our juniors for college or SKYCTC (Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, formerly BGTech).  Unfortunately for most of juniors it is a starting point and the first official ACT they have taken.  It is a reading bias test and many of our students are weak readers.  Hoping for the best!  Good luck to all!

In AP Biology Thursday, we worked on taxonomy of animals and flowering plants.  We will finish up plant science on Monday with a study of plant hormones.

Selected Topics worked on vertebrate anatomy and classification.  Next week, we will finish reading our Jesse Stuart book and head to organ systems of the body.

Computer Programming have finished two Visual BASIC programs and will continue to program in Visual BASIC until spring break.

Daffodils are in bloom here ... finally!  I am still feeding our bees but they are bringing in pollen from maple trees and other sources.  Not much nectar available.  Also tilled one of our gardens to plant potatoes but, raining and cooler today.

Monarchs headed north, milkweed planted and AP Bio tomorrow

Today in Selected Topics in Science, we finished our study of invertebrate animals.  Students spent some time learning about the major phyla of invertebrates.  It is hard to care about the environment unless you know a little about the organisms that live there.  We concentrated on invertebrates found in Kentucky and Allen County.  We also began reading a book in class by Kentucky author Jesse Steward.  Friday I am doing a demo on beekeeping which has a connection to our invertebrate study and the book we are reading.

In AP Biology, we will have all the students in class for the first time in three weeks ... lots of field trips and other distractions.  It is not easy to pass an AP exam in you miss a lot of class time.  We will check our lab (Artificial Selection) which we started on Tuesday and we working on angiosperms / plant hormones.

Yesterday, we had a meeting during our planning period and PD after school today so I was late getting home.

We have started the 2014 Patriot Pollinator project ... several flats of milkweeds planted ... common, butterfly weed, whorled, swamp and spider varieties.  The seed had been in the refrigerator for over 30 days ... hoping to get a better germination rate this year.  Monarchs are on their way north from Mexico ... hoping for a great Monarch year!

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/News.html

Honeybee feeding time ...

Fed our honeybees today ... temperature was 60 degrees F.  The hives are light without much stored honey ... so, today I mixed up some sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio.  I put this sugar water in ziplock bags (I made two cuts with a razor blade in the top of each bag) and placed them in the top of each hive with a small 2.5" spacer between the frames and the inner hive cover.  Also, I included half a protein patty.  It appears the queen has been busy, there were lots of bees in most hives.

Some bees came up to check it out!

Mountain Mint, Invertebrates and busy bees!

We finally had school after four snow/ice days and slick roads.  We were on an hour delay.  Our last day for students now is June 4th!

In Selected Topics today we worked on invertebrates ... lots of information and discussion on parasites. We had several good questions and comments from students.

My eighth period computer programming class showed me their solutions for the last two qBASIC problems.  All programming classes will be starting Visual BASIC on Monday (which is club schedule).

Warm weather has returned and our honeybees were out looking around late this evening.  Will check them and feed them tomorrow.

I screened and cleaned some of our wildflower seed this evening using my new screens from Christmas ... coneflower, slender mountain mint and hoary mountain mint.  The mountain mint seed were tiny.  I put them in the refrigerator for awhile and will plant later this month in flats.  Picture below is from mountain mints in our garden and farm taken last summer ... slender mountain mint with bumblebee top and hoary mountain mint below.  Spring is just around the corner in southern Kentucky.

No School again today ... and tomorrow for students!

AP Blast Lab due on our return ... may be an 8 period day on Friday when students return.  Maybe the snow is over for this winter.

Selected Topics will be working on Invertebrates tomorrow ...

Computer programming will start Visual BASIC.

Still snow and ice out in Holland.  I am about caught up grading papers.

Ice Storm, Juncos and Birdfest

No school today after an ice storm last night.  Our electricity was off in Holland for awhile.  A coating of ice followed by a 2-3 inches of blowing snow.  No school tomorrow but, looks good for Wednesday.

AP Biology has a lab report due (BLAST LAB)  ... no excuse now that you have extra time to work on it.  Finishing up Chapter 26 (you have sample questions!) and bacteria on Thursday.  

Selected Topics will continue to work on Invertebrates on Wednesday.  

Computer Programming will begin with some simple programming problems in Microsoft Visual BASIC.

Below a few pictures from today ... birds at the feeder by our house after our mockingbird gave up protecting his territory.  Also the sun came out for a few minutes this evening in time for some pictures of ice on our trees.