Period 4

Congratulation, Period 4, on earning 50 Points in the Top Ten Challenge! That means you have followed all of our Classroom Rules on 50 separate occassions. That's quite an accomplishment! Be proud of yourselves, and I hope you enjoyed your King Cake, popcorn, and Capri Suns. Now, let's get to work on reaching 100! Do you think you can earn another 50 points before the iLEAP? I challenge you.

As for classwork...

1. We completed a True/False Catalyst today, correcting some misunderstandings about natural selection.


2. Next, we checked Homework. The homework due today was the fossil record of our trilobite-like organisms. If you were one of the people who did not complete your fossil record, you may turn it in on Monday for a late-grade. You can find the instructions below.


3. We read about structural (physical) and behavioral adaptations in plants, and practiced active reading strategies.

HOMEWORK: (Due Monday, 02/09/09) Complete the chart on the back of the Plant Adaptations packet. You must read the description of each adaptation, and determine whether it is structural or behavioral.


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FOSSIL RECORD HOMEWORK (Due Thursday, 02/05/09)

Step 1) You were given 5 sheets of colored paper. You are going to create a chart with 3 columns and at least 9 rows. Every row must be tall enough to hold 3 of your fossils, and at least one of the columns must be wide enough to contain 2 fossils side-by-side.

I demonstrated in class my preferred way of constructing this chart. However, you may design it any way you like so long as the final chart contains all of the necessary information described in the following steps. What follows is the method I demonstrated in class to construct this large chart:

Fold each sheet once long-ways (hotdog fold) and once short-ways (hamburger fold). Then, take one of the shorter ends and fold it in to the half-way mark. You are left with a piece of paper with 6 squares total, 4 of them half the size of the other two. (See Diagram 1 below. Dotted lines = folds.)

After folding all 5 like this, tape them together in one long chain.
(See Diagram 2, showing 3 sheets taped together.)

After taping the sheets to construct your chart, next you need to beging filling in the information.
Step 2) The first small column of your chart should contain the names of the fictional Geologic Eras that our fossils lived in. These historical epochs were named after states in the United States. For example, the first (and oldest) time-period is called "Wyomington." The next is Ohioian, named after Ohio. Then Nevadian for Nevada, Texian for Texas, and so on. Next to each era's name is written how many years ago the era was supposed to have begun. So for example...

Wyomington occurred 995,000 years ago, according to our chart. Texian was 445,000 years ago.

I asked everyone to copy all this information off the board and on to their charts before beginning any work with the fossils. However, many students failed to do this, in spite of numerous reminders. So for those wishing to make-up this assignment for a late-grade, here again is the list.

TIME PERIOD BEGAN (YEARS AGO)
Wyomington (oldest) 995,000
Ohioian 745,000
Nevadian 545,000
Texian 445,000
Oregonian 395,000
Coloradian 320,000
Montanian 170,000
Californian 80,000
Idahoan (the present) 30,000