We've started a garden using the grow-lights in the lab! Actually we've done this two times. Our first garden died over Christmas vacation. My students planted beans, squash, appleseeds, radishes, carrots, spinach and cauliflower. We also tried pomegranate and avocadoes but no luck there. One of my students, Kim, took her squash plant home over the holidays and it's still growing. It flowered and so now we're curiously waiting to see if it produces a squash! We really wanted to transplant some things onto the tundra near our school with hopes of having a community garden. But I don't think the soil will be thawed by May 15--that's the last day of school.
In Health Careers we learned CPR. (I have no idea why the font changed to red)
In Biology students learned about cell organelles, their functions and cell reproduction. Below are my students making posters of mitosis.
After we learned about DNA, we made paper origami models of DNA and hung them along the wall.
Then we made candy models of DNA. Students had to build the model and pass a verbal test identifying the parts. Rewards of a job well done--- getting to eat it!
The culmination of our genetics study was extracting DNA from peas! We selected peas in honor of Gregor Mendel the "Father of Genetics".
The white cloud in the center of the liquid is the DNA.
Students explored the microscopic world using our lab microscopes. They looked at printed ink, cloth fibers, hair, bugs, dirt, and prepared slides of various things including paramecium and amoebas.
(It's a requirement to wear orange during microscope lab........................ Just kidding:)
We dissected squid while teleconferencing with the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward. Believe it or not, this was my first time to dissect a squid too! It's a great adventure exploring the details of God's creation!
Then my 12th graders invited the 3rd graders into the lab to teach them all about squid and dissecting. They opened the ink sac and wrote their names with the squid ink! Dissecting squid was fun! --a little smelly but great fun anyway.
This is one of my health classes lining up for lunch. They are telling my sister Candace, "Thank you for the gum." Out here in Scammon Bay, I say we are on "island time" meaning there's a relaxed attitude about start times. Except for lunch time---we are never late for lunch! Funny how we suddenly become punctual.
This my first year of teaching and living in Scammon Bay has been good. There have been lots of challenges for my students and I. We must accept the fact that teaching and communicating across cultures is not easy. We must approach it with respect, patience and forgiveness. I am thankful to my students and their families for hanging in there and giving me a chance. I have learned more from them than I have taught. I am thankful for the Lord's blessings.
