Due Dates!

2009-05-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

May 22 (End of class) Observation 1 - Description of the Area
May 26 (End of class) Observation 2
May 28th (End of class) Flora/Fauna Report #1
June 2nd (End of class) Observation 3
June 4th (End of class) Observation 4
June 9th (End of class) Flora/Fauna Report #2
June 11th (End of class) Observation 5

Ms. O's Honors Earth Science Field Study 09

2009-05-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

After everything we've covered, from Giant Sloths to rocks and minerals, we are going to finish this year revisting ecology. This Field Journal Project will engage you in noticing nature here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where you live. You will be sharing your observations with some of your classmates by reading and responding to some of their observations. In making these observations, you will connect our classroom lessons to the world around you.Your first assignment is to select a nature study area to observe twice a week. The size of the area should be about half the size of a soccer field or football field. If you select an area that has a mixture of different kinds of food, shelter, nest sites, and water sources, it will have the habitat components many different animals require. You will be more likely to get to see a variety of animals. The more things there are to observe, the more interesting your project may turn out to be for you and for others who read your observations.

In weeks to come, you will be making and recording observations of living plants and animals as well as the non-living environment in which they are found. In other words, you will be studying a small ecosystem. You decide on the location and boundaries of your study area. There may be some natural boundaries such as the edge of the woods or a briar patch. There may be a path, trail, or a fence to use as a boundary. You may simply establish the edges of your area in your own fashion.

You can complete blog entries in class but you can also complete your work from any computer with Internet access. You will receive credit for completing assignments as they are due. If you are absent when we use the classroom computers, you must find other computers to complete your assignment outside class time. There will not be a final date when the entire project will be turned in. This project will be done in pieces over the last four weeks of school. Each assignment will be scored individually and entered into PowerSchool.