Clare Seguin, Third grade and REACH teacher, Lincoln, at the Madison School Forest campground.
We had the chance to use our sense of taste, as the Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Project and Whole Foods provided us with a plethora of delectable tomatoes to try out.
Students had to write observations of the looks, feels, smells, and tastes of five very distinctive tomatoes.
It was challenging for those who came in saying "I don't like tomatoes!" but you'd be amazed at how many of them changed their tune after bravely sampling them.
Nutritional aspects of eating fresh veggies were discussed, as well as the benefits of supporting local farmers and the meaning of 'organic farming'.
Thanks to all the volunteers who came in to help with this!
Grace Lanham and the tomato plant she got from Ms. Seguin in 5th grade at Lincoln.
rom this, we'll move into learning how to use microscopes.
After a session on how to effectively use and care for a microscope, each grade level works on a different type of microscopic drawing.
The third graders draw "What is It?" drawings, where the object is to find and draw something as it appears through the lens of the microscope, then to draw the whole object on the other side of the page.
People can then try to guess what the object is before looking at the answer. Things can definitely look strange and unfamiliar through the lens!
The fourth graders made drawings of the same object as it looks in three different views: with the unaided eye, under 10X magnification, and at 30X. It's interesting to notice how one can see less and less of an object as it is magnified, but in greater and greater detail.
The fifth graders search through a tub of pond water from the lagoon at Lake Wingra, to find, observe through the microscope, and draw small living things of all sorts.
This is after a short introduction to the work of Anton Leeuwenhoek, an early developer of the microscope- the first human to see the very small creatures that live in water.
It's hard to get these sometimes very fast critters in focus, but once we do, we find fabulous things:
Hydra, Moss Animals, Daphnia, Blood Worms, Stentor, and many more!
Many of the drawings will be on display in classrooms around the school. Ask your child about their work - hopefully they'll bring their drawings home at some point.
Daphnia
"Antony van Leeuwenhoek was an unlikely scientist. A tradesman of Delft, Holland, he came from a family of tradesmen, had no fortune, received no higher education or university degrees, and knew no languages other than his native Dutch. This would have been enough to exclude him from the scientific community of his time completely.
Yet with skill, diligence, an endless curiosity, and an open mind free of the scientific dogma of his day, Leeuwenhoek succeeded in making some of the most important discoveries in the history of biology. Leeuwenhoek's skill at grinding lenses, together with his naturally acute eyesight and great care in adjusting the lighting where he worked, enabled him to build microscopes that magnified over 200 times, with clearer and brighter images than any of his colleagues could achieve.
What further distinguished him was his curiosity to observe almost anything that could be placed under his lenses, and his care in describing what he saw. Although he himself could not draw well, he hired an illustrator to prepare drawings of the things he saw, to accompany his written descriptions. Most of his descriptions of microorganisms are instantly recognizable.
It was he who discovered bacteria, free-living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, microscopic nematodes and rotifers, and much more. His researches, which were widely circulated, opened up an entire world of microscopic life to the awareness of scientists.Leeuwenhoek looked at animal and plant tissues, at mineral crystals and at fossils. He was the first to see microscopic foraminifera, which he described as "little cockles. . . no bigger than a coarse sand-grain."
In 1698 he demonstrated circulation in the capillaries of an eel to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, and he continued to receive visitors curious to see the strange things he was describing. He continued his observations until the last days of his life. After his death on August 30, 1723, the pastor of the New Church at Delft wrote to the Royal Society:
". . . Antony van Leeuwenhoek considered that what is true in natural philosophy can be most fruitfully investigated by the experimental method, supported by the evidence of the senses; for which reason, by diligence and tireless labour he made with his own hand certain most excellent lenses, with the aid of which he discovered many secrets of Nature, now famous throughout the whole philosophical World."
"If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road."
In March, we'll once again hold a compact florescent lightbulb sale. This has been incredibly successful in the past, on many levels - students learn a lot about energy conservation while earning much-needed funds for our environmental education activities. This year, I'm planning to take it a little further by looking at all the ways we can reduce the CO2 output of our school community. We'll start with an estimate of our total CO2 output, and then learn about all the ways we can reduce that. Stay tuned for more information about this! Let me know if you have ideas for how we can do this.
Remember to save any good recyclables such as oatmeal containers, plastic jars with lids, interesting objects from nature - anything you think a science teacher could use. Also, please let me know whenever you have questions, concerns, resources, or ideas.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful children with me!
Sincerely,
lare Seguin
Last update: March 17, 2007
Editor/Publisher: Eileen Potts Dawson epottsdawson@madison.k12.wi.us
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