Otsego Science

With the warmer weather, we are finally back out at the Fox-Shank Living Laboratory exploring life. This week in the classroom we brushed up on some nature journaling skills. We put those skills to work today in the wetland. Ask your student about some of the biotic and abiotic factors they saw while outside.

During Success on Thursday, we did some neurographic art. It was a great way to calm the nervous system in the middle of the day. I am hoping to do another similar project next week with some of the students.

Today students are learning more about different types of mixtures by making lemonade, salad dressing, and butter. Their favorite part is getting to taste the mixtures.

On November 19, twenty-one Otsego 7th graders went to the Toledo Zoo to participate in TMACOG’s Student Watershed Watch Summit. We had one group of students who presented the results of our testing of Tontogany Creek while another group had a poster on display. Along with listening to the results from other schools, students also had the chance to participate in a job fair as well as a scavenger hunt around the zoo.

Today we are continuing our exploration of ocean currents. In part 2 of our lab, we placed two dots of red food coloring at one end of our box. We placed two cups of hot water under the dots. Then we placed 2 blue ice cubes in the other end. Can anyone tell us why the red rises and the blue falls? Check with your student for the correct answer.

Today, we continued to learn about the causes of ocean currents by exploring how adding salt, making the water hot, or making the water cold changes the density of the water.

Today we had standing room only during a presentation from a special visitor. Dr. Midden, from BGSU, came in to speak to 7th graders about the role wetlands play in helping to prevent algal blooms. Dr. Midden was not able to be here all day, so he spoke to students during study hall and success only. Students voluntarily gave up their study time to come and learn more about wetlands and algal blooms. This information will help them tomorrow during our town hall meeting about algal blooms and the impact they have on a community. Thank you, Dr. Midden, for coming in to share your knowledge with us! I am excited to see their new knowledge in action tomorrow.

What a week it has been in the seventh grade! On Monday, we walked down to the creek to conduct our chemical and physical tests to discover the quality of Tontogany Creek. On Tuesday, we brought our leaf packs into the classroom to discover what macroinvertebrates call the creek home. The rest of the week was spent working on putting our results into presentations. The groups with the best presentations will be chosen to attend TMACOG’s Student Watershed Watch Summit with other area students. We will be sharing our results while there. Thank you Laura Rodriguez from the Black Swamp Conservancy for helping us out this week! Ask your seventh grader about the quality of the creek.

Today, 7th graders learned how to use a dichotomous key to identify macroinvertebrates. On Monday, students will be using this new skill to identify the macroinvertebrates that live in Tontogany Creek. The amount and diversity of macroinvertebrates that live in a body of water is one factor we use to determine the quality of the water.