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| Just some of the amazing beauty of Oregon to go with my last post. Pinterest has an amazing collection of beautiful pictures if you are curious. Happy teaching!!! |
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Westward HO!
I bet most of you remember the Oregon Trail game that you played on the computer in school, maybe 4th grade? Well, I was fortunate to grow up in the state of Oregon and went to an excellent school, with an excellent science program. I might have mentioned already in my blog how when I was in elementary school, 4th, 5th and 6th grade, our science study consisted of whole units on the regions of the state and we ended the year with a 4 day, overnight trip to these areas. If you aren't familiar with the state, here is a map that is reminiscent of what you might remember from school.
A common misconception that many people have is that the Cascade Mountains divide the state in half, which is as you can see, is not accurate. Another misconception is that the whole state is lush and green with fern-filled, fir forests. Actually, the dense forests are from the Cascade Mountains west to the coast and the eastern part of the state consists of pine forests and high desert. Also not pictured on this map is the coastal mountain range. The area between the coastal range and the Cascade Mountains, the Willamette Valley, is rich farm land known for grass seed production, hay, wheat and is excellent for growing grapes. The Willamette Valley has tons of vineyards!
As we have been talking about in class, the idea of integrated curriculum and making learning "relevant" for kids really isn't a new idea. This was how I grew up learning science. These units of study in late elementary school were covered over every subject area. Our social studies units related to what we were studying in science, our vocabulary and reading were all related to the science units as was math. A lot of you probably experiences something like this in school as well, but I had the advantage of being able to EXPERIENCE what we were studying, by visiting it, touching it, tasting it, smelling it...DOING it. In fact, these trips left such an impression on me when I was in elementary school, that I volunteered in high school to go on the trips again as a "camp counselor"...my first experiences as a teacher were when I was a Junior and Senior in high school. This might explain why I get so excited about hands on learning. I don't want to read about what kinds of creatures I will find in a pond, I want to be out there with the net fishing them out! I don't want to read about the lava flows that left casts in an ancient forest, I want to climb through the casts and see the log jam for myself. I want to hike to the waterfall and smell the forest. I want to touch the urchins, starfish and crabs in the tide pool with my own hands. I can't even explain all of the amazing things we did on those trips. Trust me...this stuff leaves impressions on kids. If you are ever bored visit some of these places...
http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/
http://www.thegreatoutdoorsoregon.com/lava_cast_forest.php
http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/
http://www.craterlakelodges.com/activities/
I bet most of you remember the Oregon Trail game that you played on the computer in school, maybe 4th grade? Well, I was fortunate to grow up in the state of Oregon and went to an excellent school, with an excellent science program. I might have mentioned already in my blog how when I was in elementary school, 4th, 5th and 6th grade, our science study consisted of whole units on the regions of the state and we ended the year with a 4 day, overnight trip to these areas. If you aren't familiar with the state, here is a map that is reminiscent of what you might remember from school.
A common misconception that many people have is that the Cascade Mountains divide the state in half, which is as you can see, is not accurate. Another misconception is that the whole state is lush and green with fern-filled, fir forests. Actually, the dense forests are from the Cascade Mountains west to the coast and the eastern part of the state consists of pine forests and high desert. Also not pictured on this map is the coastal mountain range. The area between the coastal range and the Cascade Mountains, the Willamette Valley, is rich farm land known for grass seed production, hay, wheat and is excellent for growing grapes. The Willamette Valley has tons of vineyards!
As we have been talking about in class, the idea of integrated curriculum and making learning "relevant" for kids really isn't a new idea. This was how I grew up learning science. These units of study in late elementary school were covered over every subject area. Our social studies units related to what we were studying in science, our vocabulary and reading were all related to the science units as was math. A lot of you probably experiences something like this in school as well, but I had the advantage of being able to EXPERIENCE what we were studying, by visiting it, touching it, tasting it, smelling it...DOING it. In fact, these trips left such an impression on me when I was in elementary school, that I volunteered in high school to go on the trips again as a "camp counselor"...my first experiences as a teacher were when I was a Junior and Senior in high school. This might explain why I get so excited about hands on learning. I don't want to read about what kinds of creatures I will find in a pond, I want to be out there with the net fishing them out! I don't want to read about the lava flows that left casts in an ancient forest, I want to climb through the casts and see the log jam for myself. I want to hike to the waterfall and smell the forest. I want to touch the urchins, starfish and crabs in the tide pool with my own hands. I can't even explain all of the amazing things we did on those trips. Trust me...this stuff leaves impressions on kids. If you are ever bored visit some of these places...
http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/
http://www.thegreatoutdoorsoregon.com/lava_cast_forest.php
http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/
http://www.craterlakelodges.com/activities/
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
What the heck is it?
I don't want to be responsible for spreading a misconception, but it was brought to my attention that I was incorrect in my conclusion that a mushroom was a plant. I was correct when I said that it was a fungi...but that's about it.
Some mushroom info that I found tonight that matches what I learned in Science class tonight...
The Mushroom
Mushrooms are fungi, and are usually placed in a Kingdom of there own apart from plants and animals. Mushrooms contain no chlorophyll and most are considered saprophytes. That is, they obtain their nutrition from metabolizing non living organic matter. This means they break down and "eat" dead plants, like your compost pile does.
The body of the mushroom stores nutrients and other essential compounds, and when enough material is stored and the conditions are right they start to fruit - produce mushrooms. It is a hidden kingdom. The part of the fungus that we see is only the “fruit” of the organism. The living body of the fungus is a mycelium made out of a web of tiny filaments called hyphae. The mycelium is usually hidden in the soil, in wood, or another food source. A mycelium may fill a single ant, or cover many acres. The branching hyphae can add over a half mile (1 km) of total length to the mycelium each day. These webs live unseen until they develop mushrooms, puffballs, truffles, brackets, cups, “birds nests,” “corals” or other fruiting bodies. If the mycelium produces microscopic fruiting bodies, people may never notice the fungus.
Most fungi build their cell walls out of chitin. This is the same material as the hard outer shells of insects and other arthropods. Plants do not make chitin.
Fungi feed by absorbing nutrients from the organic material in which they live. Fungi do not have stomachs. They must digest their food before it can pass through the cell wall into the hyphae. Hyphae secrete acids and enzymes that break the surrounding organic material down into simple molecules they can easily absorb - this is composting. http://www.gmushrooms.com/info.htm
These are pretty amazing looking!
Sleeping like a baby?
I hope I don't sound obsessed with sleep, but I was intrigued with my findings last night so I decided to dig a little deeper for some more facts about sleep. Did you know...
Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep.
The higher the altitude, the greater the sleep disruption. Generally, sleep disturbance becomes greater at altitudes of 13,200 feet or more. The disturbance is thought to be caused by diminished oxygen levels and accompanying changes in respiration. Most people adjust to new altitudes in approximately two to three weeks .
In general, exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult .
Divorced, widowed and separated people report more insomnia. (I've experienced this!)
Six in ten healthcare professionals do not feel that they have enough time to have a discussion with their patients about insomnia during regular office visits.
More than eight in ten survey respondents think that people often or sometimes misuse prescription sleep aids.
Caffeine has been called the most popular drug in the world. All over the world people consume caffeine on a daily basis in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and some drugs .
In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours .
We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip .
Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift workers are at increased risk for a variety of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.
Newborns sleep a total of 10.5 to 18 hours a day on an irregular schedule with periods of one to three hours spent asleep.
When infants are put to bed drowsy but not asleep, they are more likely to become "self- soothers," which enables them to fall asleep independently at bedtime and put themselves back to sleep during the night.
Eighty-two percent of healthcare professionals believe that it is the responsibility of both the patient and the healthcare professional to bring up symptoms of insomnia during an appointment.
The body never adjusts to shift work!
There are individual differences in the need to nap. Some adults and children need to nap. However, the majority of teenagers probably nap in the afternoon because they are not sleeping enough at night .
Snoring is the primary cause of sleep disruption for approximately 90 million American adults; 37 million on a regular basis .
Scientists still don't know — and probably never will — if animals dream during REM sleep, as humans do.
Some studies show promise for the use of melatonin in shortening the time it takes to fall asleep and reducing the number of awakenings, but not necessarily total sleep time. Other studies show no benefit at all with melatonin .
One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.
According to the results of NSF's 2008 Sleep in America poll, 36 percent of American drive drowsy or fall asleep while driving.
According to the results of NSF's 2008 Sleep in America poll, a surprising 34 percent of respondents reported their employer allows them to nap during breaks and 16 percent provide a place to do so.
People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.
Rates of insomnia increase as a function of age, but most often the sleep disturbance is attributable to some other medical condition.
And did you know seasonal affective disorder is believed to be influenced by the changing patterns of light and darkness that occur with the approach of winter?
http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/25-random-facts-about-sleep/page/0%2C1/
The SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is interesting to me. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, where the winters and cold, wet and gray, I really do think that I suffered from this to a certain degree. Three to four months of gray days and rain can really wear on you. One of the things I love about TN is that the sun shines in the winter! Sun shine does a lot to elevate my mood.
Bottom line...sleep is important and I plan on getting some soon! ;)
I hope I don't sound obsessed with sleep, but I was intrigued with my findings last night so I decided to dig a little deeper for some more facts about sleep. Did you know...
Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep.
The higher the altitude, the greater the sleep disruption. Generally, sleep disturbance becomes greater at altitudes of 13,200 feet or more. The disturbance is thought to be caused by diminished oxygen levels and accompanying changes in respiration. Most people adjust to new altitudes in approximately two to three weeks .
In general, exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult .
Divorced, widowed and separated people report more insomnia. (I've experienced this!)
Six in ten healthcare professionals do not feel that they have enough time to have a discussion with their patients about insomnia during regular office visits.
More than eight in ten survey respondents think that people often or sometimes misuse prescription sleep aids.
Caffeine has been called the most popular drug in the world. All over the world people consume caffeine on a daily basis in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and some drugs .
In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours .
We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip .
Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
According to the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders, shift workers are at increased risk for a variety of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.
Newborns sleep a total of 10.5 to 18 hours a day on an irregular schedule with periods of one to three hours spent asleep.
When infants are put to bed drowsy but not asleep, they are more likely to become "self- soothers," which enables them to fall asleep independently at bedtime and put themselves back to sleep during the night.
Eighty-two percent of healthcare professionals believe that it is the responsibility of both the patient and the healthcare professional to bring up symptoms of insomnia during an appointment.
The body never adjusts to shift work!
There are individual differences in the need to nap. Some adults and children need to nap. However, the majority of teenagers probably nap in the afternoon because they are not sleeping enough at night .
Snoring is the primary cause of sleep disruption for approximately 90 million American adults; 37 million on a regular basis .
Scientists still don't know — and probably never will — if animals dream during REM sleep, as humans do.
Some studies show promise for the use of melatonin in shortening the time it takes to fall asleep and reducing the number of awakenings, but not necessarily total sleep time. Other studies show no benefit at all with melatonin .
One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.
According to the results of NSF's 2008 Sleep in America poll, 36 percent of American drive drowsy or fall asleep while driving.
According to the results of NSF's 2008 Sleep in America poll, a surprising 34 percent of respondents reported their employer allows them to nap during breaks and 16 percent provide a place to do so.
People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.
Rates of insomnia increase as a function of age, but most often the sleep disturbance is attributable to some other medical condition.
And did you know seasonal affective disorder is believed to be influenced by the changing patterns of light and darkness that occur with the approach of winter?
http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/25-random-facts-about-sleep/page/0%2C1/
The SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is interesting to me. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, where the winters and cold, wet and gray, I really do think that I suffered from this to a certain degree. Three to four months of gray days and rain can really wear on you. One of the things I love about TN is that the sun shines in the winter! Sun shine does a lot to elevate my mood.
Bottom line...sleep is important and I plan on getting some soon! ;)
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Zzzzzzzz.......
Over the last two weeks I've been so busy with school, work and graduation activities that I find it hard to have enough time for everything during the course of the day. In order to keep up with my obligations, I've had to give up some precious sleep time. I have always been one of those people that needed to sleep my full 8 hours, I typically don't stay up late (past 11) and I prefer to get up around 6 or 7 and get the day started. Lately, I've been up past midnight, getting up an hour earlier and going from one place to the other with little lag time in between. I know that my kids have been able to tell that lack of sleep makes for a cranky Mama. I was curious about what sleep really does for us and how lack of sleep effects people. Here's what I found out:
Myths and Facts about Sleep
Myth 1: Getting just one hour less sleep per night won’t affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day, but losing even one hour of sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly. It also compromises your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.
Myth 2: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by one–two hours per day at best. Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.
Myth 3: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. The quantity of sleep you get is important, sure, but it's the quality of your sleep that you really have to pay attention to. Some people sleep eight or nine hours a night but don’t feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.
Myth 4: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends. Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Furthermore, sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings. http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm
I really thought that sleeping late on the weekends was helping me, but according to this information, it's not. On the days that I sleep late, I tend to feel more tired late in the afternoon and almost want to take a nap. So...since it's late now, past my bedtime as a matter of fact, I'm going to bed to hopefully get a QUALITY 7 hours in before tomorrow morning. ;) Night, night!
Science is everywhere!
I was a little disappointed to discover that I had accidently deleted this post. :( I still don't have the hang of blogging. So, for my friends who already read this, or something similar, I apologize for the repeat.
Saturday my 17 year old son graduated from high school. It's been a busy weekend with parties and all of the festivities that go into a graduation, but I was excited that I found something to blog about in the midst of the chaos. Saturday night, we went to a crawfish boil. I've been to one before, but had never seen the crawfish before they became supper. I was the only nerdy person that was remotely interested in the crawfish before going into the pot!
The little guy in my hand was the one that got away! He somehow climbed out of the pool and was halfway across the yard before he was discovered. We let him go to the creek so maybe he'll breed with a TN crawfish. These crawfish came from Mississippi and apparently if you ice them, they go into "hibernation" until they thaw out. Other crawfish facts:
"Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, or mudbugs, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related; taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills and are found in bodies of water that do not freeze to the bottom. They are mostly found in brooks and streams where there is fresh water running, and which have shelter against predators. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species such as the invasive Procambarus clarkii are hardier. Crayfish feed on living and dead animals and plants."
Clyde, as we named him, is living free in Mill Creek!
I was a little disappointed to discover that I had accidently deleted this post. :( I still don't have the hang of blogging. So, for my friends who already read this, or something similar, I apologize for the repeat.
Saturday my 17 year old son graduated from high school. It's been a busy weekend with parties and all of the festivities that go into a graduation, but I was excited that I found something to blog about in the midst of the chaos. Saturday night, we went to a crawfish boil. I've been to one before, but had never seen the crawfish before they became supper. I was the only nerdy person that was remotely interested in the crawfish before going into the pot!
The little guy in my hand was the one that got away! He somehow climbed out of the pool and was halfway across the yard before he was discovered. We let him go to the creek so maybe he'll breed with a TN crawfish. These crawfish came from Mississippi and apparently if you ice them, they go into "hibernation" until they thaw out. Other crawfish facts:
"Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, or mudbugs, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related; taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills and are found in bodies of water that do not freeze to the bottom. They are mostly found in brooks and streams where there is fresh water running, and which have shelter against predators. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species such as the invasive Procambarus clarkii are hardier. Crayfish feed on living and dead animals and plants."
Clyde, as we named him, is living free in Mill Creek!
Misconceptions...
I've seen all the adds for Miracle Grow products and the special potting soils for your plants. My daughter even asked me when we bought flowers recently if I was going to get more potting soil. I said no, because my pots already had soil in them. She said, "But Miracle Grow is better for the plants." Why did she think that? Was it just based on what she had heard on TV or did she really think that they plants "ate" the soil?
I found some explanation to that question. http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/nutrient.htm
"In general, most plants grow by absorbing nutrients from the soil. Their ability to do this depends on the nature of the soil. Depending on its location, a soil contains some combination of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. The makeup of a soil (soil texture) and its acidity (pH) determine the extent to which nutrients are available to plants."
Ok...so that explains why when I mix up "plant food" in my watering can and it dissolves in the water, I'm feeding my plants, because they are getting the dissolved minerals from the water...BUT the soil isn't necessary for the plant's food. I've sprouted beans in a wet paper towel. There was no soil. The purpose of soil is to support the plant and stabilize the roots.
I hope that I have correctly concluded that plants do not require soil to get their food, as many plants don't require soil at all, but that plants have the ability to make their own food through photosynthesis and nutrients that a plant needs would be delivered to the plant by the water that it absorbs.
I've seen all the adds for Miracle Grow products and the special potting soils for your plants. My daughter even asked me when we bought flowers recently if I was going to get more potting soil. I said no, because my pots already had soil in them. She said, "But Miracle Grow is better for the plants." Why did she think that? Was it just based on what she had heard on TV or did she really think that they plants "ate" the soil?
I found some explanation to that question. http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/nutrient.htm
"In general, most plants grow by absorbing nutrients from the soil. Their ability to do this depends on the nature of the soil. Depending on its location, a soil contains some combination of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. The makeup of a soil (soil texture) and its acidity (pH) determine the extent to which nutrients are available to plants."
Ok...so that explains why when I mix up "plant food" in my watering can and it dissolves in the water, I'm feeding my plants, because they are getting the dissolved minerals from the water...BUT the soil isn't necessary for the plant's food. I've sprouted beans in a wet paper towel. There was no soil. The purpose of soil is to support the plant and stabilize the roots.
I hope that I have correctly concluded that plants do not require soil to get their food, as many plants don't require soil at all, but that plants have the ability to make their own food through photosynthesis and nutrients that a plant needs would be delivered to the plant by the water that it absorbs.
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