Calendar Items:
October 21st: SATURDAY optional field trip – Brighton Lakes. SIGN UP HERE ASAP. This will be about the same length as the last hike (4.5ish miles) but we will gain a bit more elevation. Trail info HERE. This is one of my favorite hikes! Dress warm with layers, good hiking shoes. Bring your field work equipment and water and snacks/lunch. We’ll meet at 9:00 am at the Park n Ride in Orem (off of Center Street by the freeway map here) and those in the south end of the county can meet me at the Spanish Fork Macey’s at 8:30 am.
October 26th: BIOME PRESENTATIONS: Esther Hunsaker (Coral Reef), Ivan Swan (Hydrothermal Vent), Cameron Barney (Desert), Daniel Silva (Urban), Joy Hopkins (Tropical Forest), and Simon Buck (Grassland)
November 2nd: BIOME PRESENTATIONS: Liberty Brems (Cloud Forest), Isabelle Savage (Marine), Esther Levie, Lila Andreason (Tundra), and Rebecca Twyman. SEE HERE (scroll down) for the presentation require
November 9th: Guest Speaker – Fungus!
November 16th: Remaining Reaction Papers DUE! (Total of 2 books and 2 documentaries for the semester.) Be ready to show me your 8 nature journal pages. Also, we’ll be going on our last in-class field trip for the semester. If there is SNOW, we’ll go looking for animal tracks. If not, we’ll head up to Slate Canyon.
Homework Items:
Work on reading those books and watching the documentaries so you can get your reaction papers in on time. (No harm getting them in early if you have time! SEE HERE for information about writing up a reaction paper and a link to the book and documentary spreadsheet.
If you are doing Personal Enrichment Projects, keep working on those! Don’t forget to write up your notes and keep good records of what you are doing. Depending on your project, this may be daily, weekly, or biweekly. If you haven’t picked a project or two to do (and these are technically optional) but you WANT to, come talk to me. I have LOTS of ideas for fun projects to do. More information on the Personal Enrichment Projects and Awards are linked here.
Work on those presentations. The list of WHEN you present is above, but I will copy and paste all the presentations requirements here:
Biome/Ecosystem/Habitat Presentation Requirements
Pick a biome/ecosystem.
Learn about its characteristics: where it can be found in the world, interesting or unique facts about this area, how people adapt or affect this biome. Become an EXPERT on this biome/ecosystem.
Identify at least:
4 produces
4 primary consumers
3 secondary consumers
2 tertiary consumers
Decomposers
See if you can identify a keystone species
(Watch “The Serengeti Rules” on Amazon Prime – can count as one of your documentaries – some language, talk to your parents first.)
Create a diorama or poster (large) to display the various ecosystem and biome elements that make this part of the world unique.
You can bring other visual aids or supplemental material – food, examples, specimens, photos, etc. – to help you with your presentation if you want. If you need the TV for a power point presentation, let me know ASAP.
Time your presentation to make sure you can fill 10 minutes without going over!!!
Lucas, Rebecca, and Esther L., ask me if you have any questions about this assignment. You guys are all scheduled to present on November 2nd. The following is the list of biomes you can choose from (EXCEPT TUNDRA). Let me know ASAP which biome you want so I can cross it off the list.
