DeadFish Herpetological
Photographs of Activities, The Science of Life, Session I
Our Daily Schedule (all times are approximate):

8:30   Arrival and freeplay/classroom choices
9:05   All Group Meeting
9:20   Science Activity Block 1 (½ w/Randy & ½ w/Lab Leader**)
10:10   Snack (all together)
10:30   Science Activity Block 2 (Groups switch)
11:20   Get organized/change for Swim & Lunch
12:00   Swim Lessons
12:30   Lunch
1:00   All Group Game
1:30   Change from Swimming
2:00   Choice Time (playground, games, etc)
2:45   Daily Wrap Up Meeting, and Story
3:20   Head to Buses, Carpool, and Extended Day
** Counselors oversee a 25 minute science exploration activity
designed by Randy and plan a 25 minute all group activity during
one Science Block.
Monday, June 28th:  Today we repotted begonias to get
them ready for some experiments later in the week.  We
also explored the leaf litter by the playground for some
isopods.  After swim time we got to play Gio games before
hiking to Lars Anderson to collect pond organisms.  
--Sorry, No pictures Today.  We'll add some tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 29th:  Today we talked about how to set up
a "choice" experiment by testing if isopods liked to be in
darkness or the light and then we designed a habitat
choice experiment.  We also got to work with Mike on the
digital microscope to explore our pond water samples from
Lars Anderson.  We found scuds, daphnia, worms,
mosquito larvae, damselfly larvae, little snails and lots of
really small things that were too fast to identify.
setting up an isopod habitat choice experiment
exploring pond water samples
exploring pond water samples
Page last updated:  July 3, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
Wednesday, June 30th:  Today we went on a field trip to
the Stone Zoo.  Each group of kids had a list of things to
try to find and brainstormed four things they thought they
might see to add to the list as well.  We had a great day
and got to see some very interesting creatures.  One
group even got to see the endangered Mexican gray
wolves being fed.  They eat frozen mice (after they get
thawed)!
even more excited when they came very close to us!
resting jaguar
an animal usually only seen in alphabet books: a zebu
very excited to have spotted the wolves!
the coyote den
the coyote we saw from inside the den
one of the goats we got to see really up close
flamingos with eggs in their mud nests
Thursday, July 1st:  Today we set up our food choice
experiments.  Some of us had to use millipedes and beetle
larvae though because unfortunately some of the isopods
escaped!  We also started our take home experiments by
designing a first test for our plants.  We brainstormed a list
of things we thought plants liked and didn't like and then
picked one to test.  Before making any changes, we had to
think of a hypothesis for what might happen.  We are
using begonias because they are very resilient to
mishandling and can even be cloned by making cuttings.
beelte larvae food choice experiment
isopod food choice experiment
plant with flowers removed
plant with most leaves removed (simulated being eatten)
plants with no night
plant with too much water
plant with lemonade instead of water
plant in the freezer (simulated winter)
Friday, July 2nd:  Today we wrapped up our food and
habitat choice experiments.  The most popular food items
were a piece of orange bell pepper, a dead fly, and a
teddy graham (pictured).  We also participated in a vomit
lab where we explored owl pellets to identify what kind of
animal the owl had eatten as well as having opportunities
to take out and explore some of the creatures we hadn't
gotten to this week.
an easily identifiable food preference
comparing actual bones with a bone chart
clearing away the fur from a rodent skull
picking through a pellet for smaller bones
exploring the hissing cockroach habitat
carefully touching Vishnu
another rodent skull after carefull cleaning