check out procedure

Hello BioSITE Teachers,
Ready to bring some BioSITE into your classroom? Leah has been doing some great work on our kits, as those of you who attended our second training were able to see first hand. We would like to encourage you to check it out!
Favorite kits: Snail Kit (exploring inquiry), Sorting Thru Sediment Kit (observing details), Map Explorations (locating our watershed), Animal Cards (finding out who lives near our river), Leaf Observations (observing and drawing), Photosynthesis Pencils (amazing trees)
More ideas: Water Quality Extension Kits (pH, DO, Turbidity- with more explanations), Dissect a Feather (amazing birds)
And more to come! Let us know what you would like to try and we will help you enhance your students BioSITE experience! We welcome ideas too-- what kits would you like to see us create?
Just a reminder- we schedule for kits to be checked out for one week-each school. Please let us know as soon as you are finished with a kit, and we will make sure it gets back here for the next school.
Thanks all!
Sandy

ACE Day 2s

Greetings ACE Teachers,
Yes, we are moving along! We have completed several Day 1 classroom visits, and we will be beginning Day 2 visits here at CDM. Looking at January, these days are scheduled: 1/13- Hathway- Day 1, 1/15- LoForti- Day 2, 1/21- Snelham- Day 1, 1/21 Emerson- Day 1, 1/22-Pham, 1/29- Civitell. Let me know if you have any questions about these dates. If you have not signed up for your ACE Days- we need to do that.
Details for Day 2s and Day3s will be completed on an individual basis, thru emails. Those teachers scheduled for January Day 2s will be receiving an email this week about where, when, etc. Looking forward to seeing you here at the Guadalupe!
Sandy

Journal Reflections- River of Words

Here we are- moving into winter! 2008 has gone by very fast! As we approach 2009, we would like to find out how our BioSITE students are feeling about their role as young field scientists and river guardians. First, if you were able to complete the Draw Yourself at the River page in the student journals, we would like to save some samples of that work. We will be copying some of those pages as we collect journals for review. Or you could select some samples for us and we can pick them up- just let me know. Second, we would like you to do another special reflection piece as we move into the middle part of our year. This page is in the BioSITE journals and is titled River of Words. We do not expect you to participate in the contest but if you would like to- the contest info can be found at : http://www.riverofwords.org/contest/index.html. A sampling for you---
If I Could Be Water
If I could be waterI wouldn't be a pondMuddy and brown,
I wouldn't be an oceanBig and alone,
I wouldn't be rainFalling again and again,
I wouldn't be iceCold and frozen,
I would be a riverLong, wide and free.
Bailey Bystry, age 11
2008 FinalistGlen Ellyn, IllinoisWriters' StudioTeacher: Naazish Yarkan

We would like to collect your students' work for this exercise also- so let me know when you have completed this reflection. Of course we look forward to reading what your students have to share- and we also look forward to showcasing their work for our BioSITE Open House-- Mark that date! April 11-15th!!

December-January BioSITE Update

Hello Teachers
Glad you are reading this- that means you have linked to our new BioSITE blog for teachers! We will be using this for program information that will be easy for you to check and access any time. Today I am posting the usual monthly update- and I have broken it into several different posts- so happy reading!
General information: Thanks to those who attended our second BioSITE training of the year. I appreciate all of your efforts and support. We had a inspiring and productive evening. I will send out stipends this week so if you want me to send them to a home address, let me know by Friday. I am hoping you could have the extra bonus for some holiday fun.
Fall has gone by so fast! All programs moving along very strong- with many new ideas and strategies falling into place- we are having a great year!
Field Days: Rain is happening, so we will make sure our rainy day plans are all in order. For specific ACE Day information- see that posting. For Pioneer and Leland, now that everyone has had a few field days- we would like to have you conduct an mid-year reflection piece. See River of Words posting for that info.
Kits: Yes, we heard your encouragement! We are working on standardizing the favorites, creating some new ones, and posting all the kit information here for you- So hope this makes is super easy! See that post for all the latest!!
Thanks all!
Sandy

Coming soon!

We're in the process of developing more online resources this year -- an example is a series of high resolution panoramic photographs of our creek sites for rainy-day or in-classroom scavenger hunts. You can see examples of these at the following links: upstream at CDM, upstream at Pioneer High School, or at the bottom of the watershed at Alviso. Try using the controls to pan around the photo and zoom in on details -- you might be surprised at what there is to find!

We will be following these up with activity documentation in the coming months, and would love your feedback as the new activities are rolled out.