Dear Kevin,
I am researching the lateral line on brook trout . I know many facts about it. I learned that trout use their lateral line to feel special sounds. I was wondering if we could have a working lunch together when your free to discuss more information about the lateral line. Thank you and let me know when your avalible. Sincerly,
Kimberly Amaya
We almost took out all the fungus from our tank. Our PH and Amonnia are getting better. The article about how to feed Brook Trout that Mr.Miller gave us helps. Now we are feeding the trout less food which may help bring the Amonnia and PH down.Are you still feeding your trout size 0? Should we still feed our trout size 0 or start to feed them size 1 food?Our trout are about an inch.What do you think?
We have a problem in our tank. The food is on the gravel .We’re wondering if the food will turn into fungus .What do you think we should do? We’re thinking we need to feed them less food. What do you think of our plan?
Sincerely,
Cierra Wolf
Dear Tatianna,
When will you be done with your collaborative meeting response? I would like to meet with you and read ” How do Airplanes Fly?”
Sincerley,
Kayla Newman
Dear Kayla,
I am almost done with my collaborative feedback writing and once I am done I will be glad to work with you on “How Airplanes Fly” reading.
Sincerely,
Tatianna Benjamin
Dear Tatianna,
When will you be finished with your collaborative meeting response? I would like to meet with you and read ” How Do Airplanes Fly?”
Sincerely,
Kayla Newman
Dear Mr.Miller,
I want to thank you for having me in your class this year. I”m happy to have you as my teacher this year.I’m also happy I get to work with some of the same peers as last year and some new peers this year.I just wanted to thank you so thank you Mr.Miller.
The Swan Lake field trip was very interesting. Our group stated off slow but ended off strong. If we started off strong we could have accomplished a great deal more. Most of that was on me because I was supposed to be making sure that everyone was doing the right thing. Before we acquired our samples I wish that we worked on our documents little more quickly to try and finish them. If we would have finished our documents there then we would not have to work on them in class. I would like to make the Trout release the most valuable field trip yet.
At Oyster Bay we improved a great deal. We wasted no time and went right to work. If you take my advice the next time you go to Swan Lake on a field trip it will be a whole lot easier. Our cohort worked very well together on both field trips.
Swan Lake brings numerous features that provides an efficient work area, but how efficient it is depends on how well our cohort worked. So now the question becomes did our group work efficient and if not why? From my standpoint I feel we were working efficient most of the time, but there is some things we need to work on. I believe that we should stay together and work on what we have to do and not go to other groups. We could fix this by having someone in our team watch over everyone while I would go collect the samples. If we all help out and work this way our work will get done faster and we would learn more. This field trip had many valuable parts to it that made this a great educational experience.
Dear Collaborative Peers,
Swan Lake was a great experience for me, and hopefully you too. I felt that the cohort worked efficiently to get things done. There were some ups and downs, but we all worked together to get to get things done. When it started to get towards the end, some people started to get off topic, and I had to give them reminders, but other than that , I felt that the cohort worked well. Some improvements could be made for Oyster Bay though. I believe that we can improve upon our communication skills because people were cutting each other off, and not paying atention to who found a macroinvertabrate. These are improvements that we need to make if we want to be successful in Oyster Bay. In total, this was a great experience indeed, I belive that the trout release will be even better, especially with the improvemenrs that we will make.
Dear Third Grade Cohort,
At Swan Lake I believe we worked very well together for the most part. Sometimes we could have veered off topic but we managed to pull it together and learn alot of new information about macroinvertebrates. In addition, I liked the way we all helped each other. In the end, this team was the best third grade team I was in, and I can’t wait to work with you at Oyster Bay.
Dear Peers,
Today we went to Swan Lake. I had fun! I went last year and I think we had better success this year than last year because we found more Macroinvertebrates. The water pH level was 7. I think we shoud all countinue our research on Macroinvertebrates. I would like to thank you for letting our class come with you.
Sincerly,
Emma Horgan
Dear “Ph” Presenters,
When you were presenting to my peers and I, your presentation was very enjoyable, and is something you could really learn a lot from, but I also think there could have been improvements within your presentation. First, when you were explaining acidic, neutral, and alkaline you could have mentioned why a range below seven is acidic, and why a range above seven is alkaline. Next, I noticed that some of you weren’t using as many hand gestures as you could have. Third, I feel as if some of you weren’t making much eye contact to the audience, you were looking more at the Eno-Board. Fourth, when you were presenting you could have balanced it out. What I mean by that is, you could have tried to give everyone an equal amount of speaking time. Last, you could have been more enthusiastic. You were mostly speaking with the same tone of voice. Despite the minor adjustments to be to be made, your presentation was very useful and I learned a lot of new things about “Ph”. To conclude, the minor improvements that you need to make are easy to fix, but also, it is a good thing you made those mistakes, because that is how we learn, I hope this information is useful, because your presentation was useful to me.
Sincerely,
Anthony Jean-Baptiste
Dear ”pH” presenters,
The presentation on ”pH” was fine. There were some spots were you could have improved. Some of you explained that a range below seven is acidic and I think that you should have explained why it would be acidic or basic. Another suggestion is to use more hand gestures by pointing at the board when saying something. One more thing you should improve on is to raise your voice when speaking. The manner in which you presented was very good and all of your information was correct. Your presentation was very informational and it could teach someone a great deal of knowledge on the”pH” scale.
Sincerely,
Jake Neira
Dear Jake,
Thank you for your feedback! We thought your feedback was valuable to our group. If we present again we will speak louder, use hand gestures and point to the board. We will also explain more information. Thank you for listening to our presentation.
Sincerely,
The pH Cohort
Thank you for sharing your presention and I don’t have fed back for you I thought that you did great. But I have complements I like how you did a exparement and how you thought me about the laws of motion. I learnd that when a bird wants to go up the bird pushes its wings down.
Dear Peers,
Yesterday morning the Mother Duck came back to the rock garden. I saw things she could use to build her nest. She just came yesterday morning. Mr. Miller saw her. We did not see the mother duck but we are going to keep looking for her. She is going to make a nest. She is going to use sticks, mud, leaves and rocks. We see the mom and the babies when they hatch.
Sincerely,
Nick White
Dear Peers ,
Yesterday a Mother Mallard came to the rock garden . I heard from classmates she had 11 or 12 eggs last year. I saw pieces for her nest. She uses twigs,mud and leaves to biuld her nest. I saw other birds but not her. She lays her eggs in an Ecosystem. A Ecosystem is a place were nonliviving thing interact with living things.
Today I want to thank you for teaching Eshan , Caiden and me how to take a pH test . The pH level was 6.4 and 6.5 . But I have two questions: Is the pH too low for the trout because Rainbow trout can die at a pH level of 6 ? The other question was how do you even out the water to a neutral range of 7?
Dear peers,
Four of my peers including myself will be presenting to second graders in a few weeks. We will be speaking about Brook trout, pH, the tank system, communication, the internal anatomy of Brook trout, the external anatomy and stewardship.First we had to think about what are some very important facts about brook trout because the second grader do not know anything about Brook trout.We wanted to change that and teach them all we know by the end of our presentation.
Sincerely,
Emma Horgan
Dear Caiden Leonardi,
The trout are doing good, but in the past couple of days we lost 9 trout because of fungus. We think the cause of the fungus was because of giving the trout to much food.Now we have been giving one little pitch of food for them.
sincerely,
Devin andrade
Dear Devin,
Thank you for your feedback!
I think my group and I should have to improve on speaking loud and clearly. We have to balance our speaking the same amount and we need to be happy about what we are learning about. I think we should have more knowledge about our topic.
Sincerely
The Brook Trout Life Cycle Group
Dear Brook Trout Life Cycle Group,
Here’s my feedback regarding your presentation.
After listening to your presentation, I have gained a lot of knowledge about the brook trout life cycle. I really liked how each person rotated when they were done speaking and how you used examples to show your thinking. I suggest that you should have a balanced amount of speaking parts and use more hand gestures. You should also know what your talking about and not read off your concept map. Overall, I think your presentation was good, but I believe that you can still improve.
Dear Caiden,
Their are about 100 trout in the tank so your estimate would be correct but we will be receiving more trout from Mr. fisher. We don’t know exactly how many we getting but will get alevins.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Eshan,Hope,Paige,Issac,Kevin and I are working on pH. We are going to learn more about pH. pH is the power of Hydrogen. We will be presenting to you. We`ll try our best. Also you can write back so I know about the Alevins. How many are alive? I don’t know a lot about pH. Please write back.
How many alevins are in the tank Emma said about 100-120. I hope so. I want to release alot of fingerlings and have fun. Also Justin thanks for writing back.How many will we release?I hope alot.what areyou working on. I`m working on PH with Eshan,Hope and Paige.We`ll do go I hope.
What do you think caused all this fungus to form in the tank? How are the anomoa levles in the tank? At the end of the year how many trout do you think we will have at this point?
Dear Emma Horgan,
In your comment, I noticed that you wrote “anomoa”. The correct to spell that word be Ammonia. I just wanted to let you know that you made a mistake. The questions that you asked I am not able to answer, but I am sure that someone who knows more about the trout tank than I do, would answer your questions.
Sincerely,
Anthony Jean-Baptiste
Dear hope,
Most of the trout are dead in the basket so we have to take them out on Monday. I think we have 3 trout still living in the hatching basket.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Thank you very much for the information. I do have something to ask you if you already don’t know, when ever you take out trout we created a system to write your name on an index card. Next, jot down how many trout were taken from the tank. Finally, You should tell us fifth-graders the information so we can log the info into the computer. Can you also tell your peers if they don’t know about this tomorrow in class. Thank you very much if you complete the task.
Dear lily,
Your group can present anytime you want. You can talk to me or other peers in the trout group about the time and the day you want to present.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Lily,
I noticed that you had a few mistakes in your response. First of all, you spelled able wrong. The way you spelled it was abel. The right way is spelled a b l e. Then you also spelled presentation wrong. You spelled it presentashon. Overall, You could present anytime you’re avaliable like around 12:30 would be fine, but that’s only if you have time. Me and the others would be delighted to hear your presentation.
Sincerely,
Olina Zheng
My Peers and I are working on some questions like how do you define communication? In what ways can communication evolove?And Can forms of communcation become obsolete? How would you awnser those questions? I think communcation means exchanging information with each other.
Dear Olina,
Are gills in the inside or outside? I’m not sure. How many opaque eggs were there in the hatching basket? How many Alivens are in the tank ?
Hay guys I found a video to help us study here is the link http://youtu.be/KIFz_-KzURY enjoy the video every one I hope you love it I will see you tomorrow have a great day!🎒
Dear Scholars,
This homework is suggested and you do not have to do this but if you do that would be great.I suggest that you should read pages 136-145 deeply.If you would like to create a concept map or a chart that shows your understanding of the pages that would be great.A reminder is to post on the blog once a week or maybe more.You could post comments that are suggested and what you have learned. Come in for extra help if you don’t have a computer.
Sincerely,
Olina
Dear Peers,
Today my collaborative team and I presented the parts of the microscope for the second time. The feedback the fifth graders gave us was very helpful. We improved by not cutting each other off and talking about our own parts. We improved our communication skills by exchanging information with each other .
Dear Issac,
I would like to add on that you all improved in give equal parts to everyone. The first time you presented not everyone knew the information. Also you knew what you were talking about in other words you used subject knowledge and had poise when you were talking.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Issac,
I agree that your presentation has improved a lot. You guys had poise (confident)and weren’t cutting each other off. Your presentation taught me a lot about microscopes. For example I learned about the stage clips which holds the slide in place and about the adjustment knobs.You taught me and some other fifth graders about the microscope.This afternoon when you came over to read your writing piece you taught our class about trout, you should be very proud of yourself for teaching the fifth
graders about trout.
Sincerely,
Olina Zheng
Dear Collaborative team,
Last Friday we went to Shu Swamp to release the 101 Brook trout. We took 3 Containers and we put the trout in them. Every 15 minutes we took the tempratrue to make sure it stays in 3 degres of 60.0 degrees F. The water in the ecosystem was clean and fresh. We saw 2 Adult Brook Trout. I released 3 trout. When the trout were released they swam against the current to get more stregth and food. The little ones swam a little farther back but the bigger ones were in the front . We met a man named Mr.Fisher. He showed us the trout and what they ate. We had fun!
Sincerely,
Issac
I have knowledge to share with you. I want to tell you the meanings of macro , invertebrate and vertebrate. Macro means you can see it with your eyes. Invertebrates mean living things that don’t have a backbone. Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone. When we go to Swan Lake we will observe them and the ecosystem they live in.
Dear Fifth Graders,
Thank you for your information from Fish Thicket. We would like to share what we learned on the field trip. We learned how to use a compass. The red tip needs to be on north so you know which direction you are going in. We learned how to mark and move using meters by using flags and meter sticks. We observed nonliving and living things in the area with a hand lens. We collected rocks and soil to make a teranian. A terraninan is an ecosystem in a bottle. When we went to Fish Thicket we saw a lot of trash there. We picked up some trash but we could not clean it all. Trash is not good for the environment. The garbage can cause pollution to the ecosystem. Fish Thicket has four ecosystems. An ecosystem is made up of living and nonliving things. We observed living things in Fish Thicket. Biotic factors in an ecosystem are the plants or animals that are alive. For example, plants, insects, trees and weeds. Abiotic factors are the nonliving things in an ecosystem. For example, temperature, soil, rocks, sunlight and water. The abiotic and biotic factors interact together in the ecosystem. If the ecosystem is not clean it will not be healthy. The plants and animals can die. We also took the temperature at Fish Thicket. It was 72 degrees farenhight. We learned to work together as a team.
Sincerely,
The Collaborative Team
I hope you all enjoyed your experince at Fish Thicket. What was your favorite part of the trip? Mine was how we were able to learn about something ,like lichens, then see them in nature.
Dear Collaborative Team,
I am posting to share facts and information that I have been learning with Isabelle. I learned about the four spheres of Earth. One of the speres is the lithoshere (land) and another is the Atmosphere (air). THe Hydrospere is water and the biospere which is all living things. I also learned about Ions. Ions are water molecules that break up into two separete molecules. One of the molecules is H+ . That is the symbol for positive hydrogen. The symbol for negative Hydrogen is OH-. I think Hydrogen means water. I hope you learned from the information I shared.
Sincerely,
Isabella Salducco
In your theory that Hydrogen means water, you are partially correct. One water molecule, or an H2O molecule, is made up of 2 Hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. That is why it is called H20.
I had a wonderful experience at Fish Thick Preserve and I saw and learned a bunch!
First when we were looking for a place to set up, we found a rock that had moss on it facing north(we checked with a compass to see if someone had moved it) and I learned that the rock was a sedimentary rock. Second thing I learned was erosion, honestly I did not know what that word meant but once I saw the places in Fish Thicket that had erosion… I figured out erosion meant (in my own words) a place where wind and water can (over time) make a opening that makes the ground uneven. Hopefully you can learn something or can build off from my information that I have learned.
Dear Collaborative team,
I hope you enjoy the Fish Thicket trip and I hope you learned something new.I will tell you what I learned is that you can use lichens to determine if the area is polluted or not.Even if we didn’t get to see the wetlands and take a pH sample of the water.We took a sample of the soil at Fish Thicket.Mr.Miller thank you for taking the class to Fish Thicket . Sam I hope you have a great trip to the wetlands.
Sincerely,
JunKai
Even though we did not get to view the wetlands yesterday, I believe it was still a valuable field trip. We had the latitude to choose where to work, and we even learned a new way to measure trees! This weekend, I am planning on going on the trail to the wetlands. I will post my observations on the blog.
I would just like to say I hope you enjoyed your trip to Fish Thicket and I hope you learned something new.In addition, can you please comment on the blog on what you learned for example, I learned that lichens determine if the area is polluted.So please comment on the blog on what you’ve learned.
I hope you liked Fish Thicket.We collected samples of rocks and soil.We made a perimeter that was 60 M.1 meter is = to 100 cm. I loved Fish Thicket because we lerned outside together.
Today we went to Fish Thicket. We took samples of soil, rocks and marked off the perimeter of the area. In the area we were looking for living and non-living things. It was
AWESOME!
Today we went to Fish Thicket.We had a lot of fun.We collected soil and rocks.My friends collected some tree bark.It was so much fun.There was a steep hill on the path and my friend Azlynn caught me before I fell.We used a compass to find our way.We looked for a lake but we ran out of time.
Dear Azlynn and Issac,
It is nice to see you both communicating on the Collaborative Team web page. I also share your enthusiasm in visiting Fish Thicket on April 30th. As we continue to prepare for our trip, I would like you to begin thinking about what we will need to take with us. How are you going to collect samples of rocks and soil? Once your items are collected, what do you plan to do with them?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
We will taking samples of rocks and soil with a measuring cup,spoon,string,hand lends, tape measure and gloves. When we take soil and rocks we will put the soil and rocks in soda bottles.
Dear Issac,
Thank you for that information. I’m happy that the collaborative team is going to the fish thicket altogether. The trout in the tank are four cm long.Some are smaller or bigger. On April 30th ,2015 we will go to
the fish thicket.
We started planting marigolds seeds and in a few weeks we are going to the Nature Preserve at Fish Thicket. We will be taking samples of soil and rocks . In Fish Thicket we are going to find living and nonliving things in the ecosystem.
I have two questions for you. The first question is “Do you know another name for living and nonliving?” The second question will be easy; “Where did you plant the marigolds?”
Dear Collaborative Team,
Anatomy means:The parts of the body. Some External parts are Caudal Fin,Darsal Fin,Anal Fin,Adipose Fin,Pectoral Fin and Pelvic Fin.
Sincerely,
Issac
Dear Issac Varghese,
The gills are inside and outside of a trout. The outside gills protect the inside gills. The gills take in oxygen and let out carbon dioxide.
We found out that the trout tank and bubbles are transparent. Eyed eggs are translucent and some can be opaque. Light can not go in the opaque eggs.The
In-line chiller,Chiller pump,thermometers,Air stone and the Filter are opaque items.
Dear Collaborative Team,
Thank you for sharing all of the interesting facts you have learned about Brook Trout and the vocabulary words we have been exploring. Keep up the great work observing and researching both with the group and on your own. Can you give examples of items that are transparent, translucent and opaque within the Brook Trout tank and life cycle?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Collaborative Team,
I learned that transparent means you can see through, for a example a window is transparent and translucent means that some light can go through.
By January some of the Brook Trout eggs are going to be hatched.
Now there where five hundred but the obeyed eggs where taken
out and five hatched so that would equal for hundred and
twenty two.
Dear Collaborative Team,
Five Brook trout eggs hatched and I found out that they are called Alevins. I also learned that
our Brook Trout live in fresh water that is cleaned by the filter under the trout tank.
Dear Mr.Miller,
I learned that some predators can be larger fish, or even bigger Brook Tout. Others include birds like herons, and kingfishers.Another predator is a river otter.
I learned that trout can camouflage in to their habitat, with the pattern on their body.This keeps away predators.Brook trout have a green back or a dark brown color. Their belly is white or orange.
Thank you for the interesting fact. However, I am interested in knowing the types of organisms that would be considered predators of trout ? In addition, make certain that you start your post with Dear and conclude your post Sincerely.
Dear Collaborative team,
I found information about our question on stream explorers. The information that I found was that some trout live in spring fed(fresh) water and some live in both fresh and salt water!
Sincerely,
Isabella Salducco
Dear Isabella,
I agree that there is a scientific name for salters, which is anadromous. Anadromous means that kind of trout can live part time in fresh water and part time in salt water.
Sincerly,
RobertFaning
The opportunity the group now has for communication to continue when you are not in school or meeting together is very exciting! Thank you for the effort you put forth in composing your thoughts and to your team members for supporting you in the editing process. Now that you have the correct structures in place, you should be able to post with ease.
Dear Collaborative Team,
Your thoughts on utilizing the blog to enhance communication skills within the group are encouraging. I do believe the group will benefit from sharing ideas interactively and more frequently. I compliment Isabella and Samuel for submitting organized responses and thank all of you for contributing. Please take a moment to review the “Homework” section on the main website page. If you click on the “Homework-Blog Response Structure” tab, you will find information pertaining to the structure in which your posts should be submitted. I hope this format assists you in your future posts.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Mrs.Halloran and Mr.Miller,
Answering the question above, I believe utilizing a blog can help with the development of our collaborative team because we can communicate with our group members about a topic. We can also ask questions to the team.Another good thing is that we don’t have to be in school to talk about a lesson learned during the day. You could respond to each others ideas and you can also post comments!!!
Dear the Collaborative Team,
I concur with all of your responses. I look forward to maybe being in the Collaborative Team and working with you.
Sincerely,
Samuel Lorenzo
Dear Mr. Miller,
I am here with Emma in independent research class, we received some free time; so we decided to write an entry to you. We were wondering how your class is and how the court yard looks. Are you still congregating with the collaborative team?
Sincerely,
Alexandra Salducco and Emma Kirschenheiter
Hope all is well and that you are enjoying your sixth grade experience. Our class is beginning the process of preparing the trout tank for the upcoming egg delivery. As for the courtyard, it is need of some cleaning and organization, which the students will address in the next few weeks. On a side note, you will be pleased to know that the eggs we discovered hatched over the summer and produced eleven healthy ducklings.
Dear Kevin,
Thank you for writing back. Friday is a good day to share what we know. I will come to your classroom with my notes.See you soon
Sincerely ,
Kimberly Amaya
Dear Kevin,
I am researching the lateral line on brook trout . I know many facts about it. I learned that trout use their lateral line to feel special sounds. I was wondering if we could have a working lunch together when your free to discuss more information about the lateral line. Thank you and let me know when your avalible. Sincerly,
Kimberly Amaya
Dear Kimberly Amaya,
Thank you for asking me. I am available on Friday at lunch period. See you soon!
Sincerely,
Kevin Zheng
Dear Katherine,
We almost took out all the fungus from our tank. Our PH and Amonnia are getting better. The article about how to feed Brook Trout that Mr.Miller gave us helps. Now we are feeding the trout less food which may help bring the Amonnia and PH down.Are you still feeding your trout size 0? Should we still feed our trout size 0 or start to feed them size 1 food?Our trout are about an inch.What do you think?
Sincerely,
Cierra Wolf
Dear Katharine,
We have a problem in our tank. The food is on the gravel .We’re wondering if the food will turn into fungus .What do you think we should do? We’re thinking we need to feed them less food. What do you think of our plan?
Sincerely,
Cierra Wolf
Dear Tatianna,
When will you be done with your collaborative meeting response? I would like to meet with you and read ” How do Airplanes Fly?”
Sincerley,
Kayla Newman
Dear Kayla,
I am almost done with my collaborative feedback writing and once I am done I will be glad to work with you on “How Airplanes Fly” reading.
Sincerely,
Tatianna Benjamin
Dear Tatianna,
When will you be finished with your collaborative meeting response? I would like to meet with you and read ” How Do Airplanes Fly?”
Sincerely,
Kayla Newman
Dear Mr.Miller,
I want to thank you for having me in your class this year. I”m happy to have you as my teacher this year.I’m also happy I get to work with some of the same peers as last year and some new peers this year.I just wanted to thank you so thank you Mr.Miller.
Sincerely,
Azlynn
Dear Swan Lake Cohort,
The Swan Lake field trip was very interesting. Our group stated off slow but ended off strong. If we started off strong we could have accomplished a great deal more. Most of that was on me because I was supposed to be making sure that everyone was doing the right thing. Before we acquired our samples I wish that we worked on our documents little more quickly to try and finish them. If we would have finished our documents there then we would not have to work on them in class. I would like to make the Trout release the most valuable field trip yet.
At Oyster Bay we improved a great deal. We wasted no time and went right to work. If you take my advice the next time you go to Swan Lake on a field trip it will be a whole lot easier. Our cohort worked very well together on both field trips.
Sincerely,
Jake Neira
Dear Swan Lake Collaborative Team,
Swan Lake brings numerous features that provides an efficient work area, but how efficient it is depends on how well our cohort worked. So now the question becomes did our group work efficient and if not why? From my standpoint I feel we were working efficient most of the time, but there is some things we need to work on. I believe that we should stay together and work on what we have to do and not go to other groups. We could fix this by having someone in our team watch over everyone while I would go collect the samples. If we all help out and work this way our work will get done faster and we would learn more. This field trip had many valuable parts to it that made this a great educational experience.
Sincerely,
Justin Schlendorf,
Dear Collaborative Peers,
Swan Lake was a great experience for me, and hopefully you too. I felt that the cohort worked efficiently to get things done. There were some ups and downs, but we all worked together to get to get things done. When it started to get towards the end, some people started to get off topic, and I had to give them reminders, but other than that , I felt that the cohort worked well. Some improvements could be made for Oyster Bay though. I believe that we can improve upon our communication skills because people were cutting each other off, and not paying atention to who found a macroinvertabrate. These are improvements that we need to make if we want to be successful in Oyster Bay. In total, this was a great experience indeed, I belive that the trout release will be even better, especially with the improvemenrs that we will make.
Sincerely,
Nick
Dear Third Grade Cohort,
At Swan Lake I believe we worked very well together for the most part. Sometimes we could have veered off topic but we managed to pull it together and learn alot of new information about macroinvertebrates. In addition, I liked the way we all helped each other. In the end, this team was the best third grade team I was in, and I can’t wait to work with you at Oyster Bay.
Sincerely,
Jordan Reyes-Wade
Dear Peers,
Today we went to Swan Lake. I had fun! I went last year and I think we had better success this year than last year because we found more Macroinvertebrates. The water pH level was 7. I think we shoud all countinue our research on Macroinvertebrates. I would like to thank you for letting our class come with you.
Sincerly,
Emma Horgan
Dear “Ph” Presenters,
When you were presenting to my peers and I, your presentation was very enjoyable, and is something you could really learn a lot from, but I also think there could have been improvements within your presentation. First, when you were explaining acidic, neutral, and alkaline you could have mentioned why a range below seven is acidic, and why a range above seven is alkaline. Next, I noticed that some of you weren’t using as many hand gestures as you could have. Third, I feel as if some of you weren’t making much eye contact to the audience, you were looking more at the Eno-Board. Fourth, when you were presenting you could have balanced it out. What I mean by that is, you could have tried to give everyone an equal amount of speaking time. Last, you could have been more enthusiastic. You were mostly speaking with the same tone of voice. Despite the minor adjustments to be to be made, your presentation was very useful and I learned a lot of new things about “Ph”. To conclude, the minor improvements that you need to make are easy to fix, but also, it is a good thing you made those mistakes, because that is how we learn, I hope this information is useful, because your presentation was useful to me.
Sincerely,
Anthony Jean-Baptiste
Dear ”pH” presenters,
The presentation on ”pH” was fine. There were some spots were you could have improved. Some of you explained that a range below seven is acidic and I think that you should have explained why it would be acidic or basic. Another suggestion is to use more hand gestures by pointing at the board when saying something. One more thing you should improve on is to raise your voice when speaking. The manner in which you presented was very good and all of your information was correct. Your presentation was very informational and it could teach someone a great deal of knowledge on the”pH” scale.
Sincerely,
Jake Neira
Dear Jake,
Thank you for your feedback! We thought your feedback was valuable to our group. If we present again we will speak louder, use hand gestures and point to the board. We will also explain more information. Thank you for listening to our presentation.
Sincerely,
The pH Cohort
Dear Devon and Nick,
Thank you for sharing your presention and I don’t have fed back for you I thought that you did great. But I have complements I like how you did a exparement and how you thought me about the laws of motion. I learnd that when a bird wants to go up the bird pushes its wings down.
Sincerely,
Connor
Dear Peers,
Yesterday morning the Mother Duck came back to the rock garden. I saw things she could use to build her nest. She just came yesterday morning. Mr. Miller saw her. We did not see the mother duck but we are going to keep looking for her. She is going to make a nest. She is going to use sticks, mud, leaves and rocks. We see the mom and the babies when they hatch.
Sincerely,
Nick White
Dear Peers ,
Yesterday a Mother Mallard came to the rock garden . I heard from classmates she had 11 or 12 eggs last year. I saw pieces for her nest. She uses twigs,mud and leaves to biuld her nest. I saw other birds but not her. She lays her eggs in an Ecosystem. A Ecosystem is a place were nonliviving thing interact with living things.
Sincerly,
Caiden Leonardi
Dear Fifth Graders ,
Today I want to thank you for teaching Eshan , Caiden and me how to take a pH test . The pH level was 6.4 and 6.5 . But I have two questions: Is the pH too low for the trout because Rainbow trout can die at a pH level of 6 ? The other question was how do you even out the water to a neutral range of 7?
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear peers,
Four of my peers including myself will be presenting to second graders in a few weeks. We will be speaking about Brook trout, pH, the tank system, communication, the internal anatomy of Brook trout, the external anatomy and stewardship.First we had to think about what are some very important facts about brook trout because the second grader do not know anything about Brook trout.We wanted to change that and teach them all we know by the end of our presentation.
Sincerely,
Emma Horgan
Dear Caiden Leonardi,
The trout are doing good, but in the past couple of days we lost 9 trout because of fungus. We think the cause of the fungus was because of giving the trout to much food.Now we have been giving one little pitch of food for them.
sincerely,
Devin andrade
Dear Justin,
The Brook Trout Life Cycle presented I think you ,Devin and Olina I`m not shore
How are the Trout are there in the tank?Is there a lot of fungus.
Dear Devin,
Thank you for your feedback!
I think my group and I should have to improve on speaking loud and clearly. We have to balance our speaking the same amount and we need to be happy about what we are learning about. I think we should have more knowledge about our topic.
Sincerely
The Brook Trout Life Cycle Group
Dear Brook Trout Life Cycle Group,
Here’s my feedback regarding your presentation.
After listening to your presentation, I have gained a lot of knowledge about the brook trout life cycle. I really liked how each person rotated when they were done speaking and how you used examples to show your thinking. I suggest that you should have a balanced amount of speaking parts and use more hand gestures. You should also know what your talking about and not read off your concept map. Overall, I think your presentation was good, but I believe that you can still improve.
Dear Justin,
How many Trout are in the tank? I think about 100.
Dear Caiden,
Their are about 100 trout in the tank so your estimate would be correct but we will be receiving more trout from Mr. fisher. We don’t know exactly how many we getting but will get alevins.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Justin,
Eshan,Hope,Paige,Issac,Kevin and I are working on pH. We are going to learn more about pH. pH is the power of Hydrogen. We will be presenting to you. We`ll try our best. Also you can write back so I know about the Alevins. How many are alive? I don’t know a lot about pH. Please write back.
Sincerely
Caiden Leonardi
Dear Fifth graders,
I would like to know “What is the difference between fry and fingerlings?”
Dear,peers
How many alevins are in the tank Emma said about 100-120. I hope so. I want to release alot of fingerlings and have fun. Also Justin thanks for writing back.How many will we release?I hope alot.what areyou working on. I`m working on PH with Eshan,Hope and Paige.We`ll do go I hope.
sincerely,
Caiden Leonardi
Dear Elizebith,
What do you think caused all this fungus to form in the tank? How are the anomoa levles in the tank? At the end of the year how many trout do you think we will have at this point?
Sincerly,
Emma Horgan
Dear Emma Horgan,
In your comment, I noticed that you wrote “anomoa”. The correct to spell that word be Ammonia. I just wanted to let you know that you made a mistake. The questions that you asked I am not able to answer, but I am sure that someone who knows more about the trout tank than I do, would answer your questions.
Sincerely,
Anthony Jean-Baptiste
Dear peers,
How manny trout are still in the hatching basket.
Sincerely,
Hope
Dear hope,
Most of the trout are dead in the basket so we have to take them out on Monday. I think we have 3 trout still living in the hatching basket.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Justin,
Hope and I are going to work on PH this morning. Kevin, Issac and Emma took out about 13 alevins with fungus on them.
Sincerely,
Caiden Leonardi
Dear Caiden Leonardi,
Thank you very much for the information. I do have something to ask you if you already don’t know, when ever you take out trout we created a system to write your name on an index card. Next, jot down how many trout were taken from the tank. Finally, You should tell us fifth-graders the information so we can log the info into the computer. Can you also tell your peers if they don’t know about this tomorrow in class. Thank you very much if you complete the task.
Sincerely,
Justin Schlendorf
Dear,peers
How many alevins are there.
sincerly,Hope
Dear Hope,
There are about 349 alevins in the fish tank 🎏❤️☮
Sincerely Lilly
Dear Lilly,
Thank you for that information.
Sincerely,
Hope
Dear peers,
Thank you for getting back to me.
Sincerely,
Lilly
Dear Tatiana
Do you know when we are doing the presentation
Sincerely Lilly
Dear friends,
I thank you for the information I just want to say thank you
Sincerely Lilly
Dear Justin,
How are you?I am doing great! When can my group and I be abel to present our presentashon?
Sincerly ,
Lilly Heege
Dear lily,
Your group can present anytime you want. You can talk to me or other peers in the trout group about the time and the day you want to present.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Lily,
I noticed that you had a few mistakes in your response. First of all, you spelled able wrong. The way you spelled it was abel. The right way is spelled a b l e. Then you also spelled presentation wrong. You spelled it presentashon. Overall, You could present anytime you’re avaliable like around 12:30 would be fine, but that’s only if you have time. Me and the others would be delighted to hear your presentation.
Sincerely,
Olina Zheng
Dear Peers,
My Peers and I are working on some questions like how do you define communication? In what ways can communication evolove?And Can forms of communcation become obsolete? How would you awnser those questions? I think communcation means exchanging information with each other.
Sincerly,
Issac Varghese
Dear Olina,
Are gills in the inside or outside? I’m not sure. How many opaque eggs were there in the hatching basket? How many Alivens are in the tank ?
Sincerely ,
Caiden Leonardi
Hay guys I found a video to help us study here is the link http://youtu.be/KIFz_-KzURY enjoy the video every one I hope you love it I will see you tomorrow have a great day!🎒
Hey problem solvers good luck on the test I wish you all my luck rember it dose not mater what you get just try your best see you guys tommrow 😀📚
❤️Love, Paige❤️
Dear Scholars,
This homework is suggested and you do not have to do this but if you do that would be great.I suggest that you should read pages 136-145 deeply.If you would like to create a concept map or a chart that shows your understanding of the pages that would be great.A reminder is to post on the blog once a week or maybe more.You could post comments that are suggested and what you have learned. Come in for extra help if you don’t have a computer.
Sincerely,
Olina
Dear Peers,
Today my collaborative team and I presented the parts of the microscope for the second time. The feedback the fifth graders gave us was very helpful. We improved by not cutting each other off and talking about our own parts. We improved our communication skills by exchanging information with each other .
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear Issac,
I would like to add on that you all improved in give equal parts to everyone. The first time you presented not everyone knew the information. Also you knew what you were talking about in other words you used subject knowledge and had poise when you were talking.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Dear Issac,
I agree that your presentation has improved a lot. You guys had poise (confident)and weren’t cutting each other off. Your presentation taught me a lot about microscopes. For example I learned about the stage clips which holds the slide in place and about the adjustment knobs.You taught me and some other fifth graders about the microscope.This afternoon when you came over to read your writing piece you taught our class about trout, you should be very proud of yourself for teaching the fifth
graders about trout.
Sincerely,
Olina Zheng
Dear Collaborative team,
Last Friday we went to Shu Swamp to release the 101 Brook trout. We took 3 Containers and we put the trout in them. Every 15 minutes we took the tempratrue to make sure it stays in 3 degres of 60.0 degrees F. The water in the ecosystem was clean and fresh. We saw 2 Adult Brook Trout. I released 3 trout. When the trout were released they swam against the current to get more stregth and food. The little ones swam a little farther back but the bigger ones were in the front . We met a man named Mr.Fisher. He showed us the trout and what they ate. We had fun!
Sincerely,
Issac
Dear Collaborative team,
I have knowledge to share with you. I want to tell you the meanings of macro , invertebrate and vertebrate. Macro means you can see it with your eyes. Invertebrates mean living things that don’t have a backbone. Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone. When we go to Swan Lake we will observe them and the ecosystem they live in.
Sincerely,
Issac
Dear collaborative team,
We are preparing for Swan Lake.We are so excited.
We are packing measuring cups and that kind of stuff.
Dear Fifth Graders,
Thank you for your information from Fish Thicket. We would like to share what we learned on the field trip. We learned how to use a compass. The red tip needs to be on north so you know which direction you are going in. We learned how to mark and move using meters by using flags and meter sticks. We observed nonliving and living things in the area with a hand lens. We collected rocks and soil to make a teranian. A terraninan is an ecosystem in a bottle. When we went to Fish Thicket we saw a lot of trash there. We picked up some trash but we could not clean it all. Trash is not good for the environment. The garbage can cause pollution to the ecosystem. Fish Thicket has four ecosystems. An ecosystem is made up of living and nonliving things. We observed living things in Fish Thicket. Biotic factors in an ecosystem are the plants or animals that are alive. For example, plants, insects, trees and weeds. Abiotic factors are the nonliving things in an ecosystem. For example, temperature, soil, rocks, sunlight and water. The abiotic and biotic factors interact together in the ecosystem. If the ecosystem is not clean it will not be healthy. The plants and animals can die. We also took the temperature at Fish Thicket. It was 72 degrees farenhight. We learned to work together as a team.
Sincerely,
The Collaborative Team
Dear Collaborative Team,
I hope you all enjoyed your experince at Fish Thicket. What was your favorite part of the trip? Mine was how we were able to learn about something ,like lichens, then see them in nature.
Sincerely,
Darien
Dear Collaborative Team,
I am posting to share facts and information that I have been learning with Isabelle. I learned about the four spheres of Earth. One of the speres is the lithoshere (land) and another is the Atmosphere (air). THe Hydrospere is water and the biospere which is all living things. I also learned about Ions. Ions are water molecules that break up into two separete molecules. One of the molecules is H+ . That is the symbol for positive hydrogen. The symbol for negative Hydrogen is OH-. I think Hydrogen means water. I hope you learned from the information I shared.
Sincerely,
Isabella Salducco
Dear Isabella,
In your theory that Hydrogen means water, you are partially correct. One water molecule, or an H2O molecule, is made up of 2 Hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. That is why it is called H20.
Sincerely,
Sam
Dear Collaborative Team,
I had a wonderful experience at Fish Thick Preserve and I saw and learned a bunch!
First when we were looking for a place to set up, we found a rock that had moss on it facing north(we checked with a compass to see if someone had moved it) and I learned that the rock was a sedimentary rock. Second thing I learned was erosion, honestly I did not know what that word meant but once I saw the places in Fish Thicket that had erosion… I figured out erosion meant (in my own words) a place where wind and water can (over time) make a opening that makes the ground uneven. Hopefully you can learn something or can build off from my information that I have learned.
Sincerely,
Gianna Sacco
Dear Collaborative team,
I hope you enjoy the Fish Thicket trip and I hope you learned something new.I will tell you what I learned is that you can use lichens to determine if the area is polluted or not.Even if we didn’t get to see the wetlands and take a pH sample of the water.We took a sample of the soil at Fish Thicket.Mr.Miller thank you for taking the class to Fish Thicket . Sam I hope you have a great trip to the wetlands.
Sincerely,
JunKai
Dear Collaborative Team,
I believe you are communicating very well using the blog. If you have any questions about anything we are working on, please don’t hesitate to ask me.
Sincerely,
Sam
Dear Collaborative Team,
Even though we did not get to view the wetlands yesterday, I believe it was still a valuable field trip. We had the latitude to choose where to work, and we even learned a new way to measure trees! This weekend, I am planning on going on the trail to the wetlands. I will post my observations on the blog.
Sincerely,
Sam
Dear Collaborative Team,
I would just like to say I hope you enjoyed your trip to Fish Thicket and I hope you learned something new.In addition, can you please comment on the blog on what you learned for example, I learned that lichens determine if the area is polluted.So please comment on the blog on what you’ve learned.
Sincerely,
Isabelle Baginski
Dear Collaborative Team,
I hope you liked Fish Thicket.We collected samples of rocks and soil.We made a perimeter that was 60 M.1 meter is = to 100 cm. I loved Fish Thicket because we lerned outside together.
Sincerely,
eshan abdi
Dear Collaborative Team,
Today we went to Fish Thicket. We took samples of soil, rocks and marked off the perimeter of the area. In the area we were looking for living and non-living things. It was
AWESOME!
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long
Dear Collaborative Team,
Today we went to Fish Thicket.We had a lot of fun.We collected soil and rocks.My friends collected some tree bark.It was so much fun.There was a steep hill on the path and my friend Azlynn caught me before I fell.We used a compass to find our way.We looked for a lake but we ran out of time.
Sincerely,
Paige McGowan
Dear Azlynn and Issac,
It is nice to see you both communicating on the Collaborative Team web page. I also share your enthusiasm in visiting Fish Thicket on April 30th. As we continue to prepare for our trip, I would like you to begin thinking about what we will need to take with us. How are you going to collect samples of rocks and soil? Once your items are collected, what do you plan to do with them?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Mrs.Halloran,
We will taking samples of rocks and soil with a measuring cup,spoon,string,hand lends, tape measure and gloves. When we take soil and rocks we will put the soil and rocks in soda bottles.
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long And
Issac Varghese
Dear Issac,
Thank you for that information. I’m happy that the collaborative team is going to the fish thicket altogether. The trout in the tank are four cm long.Some are smaller or bigger. On April 30th ,2015 we will go to
the fish thicket.
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long
Dear Collaborative team,
We started planting marigolds seeds and in a few weeks we are going to the Nature Preserve at Fish Thicket. We will be taking samples of soil and rocks . In Fish Thicket we are going to find living and nonliving things in the ecosystem.
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear Issac,
I have two questions for you. The first question is “Do you know another name for living and nonliving?” The second question will be easy; “Where did you plant the marigolds?”
Sincerely,
Sam
Dear Collaborative Team,
Anatomy means:The parts of the body. Some External parts are Caudal Fin,Darsal Fin,Anal Fin,Adipose Fin,Pectoral Fin and Pelvic Fin.
Sincerely,
Issac
Dear Mrs.Halloran,
Are the Gills on the inside,outside or both?
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear Issac Varghese,
The gills are inside and outside of a trout. The outside gills protect the inside gills. The gills take in oxygen and let out carbon dioxide.
Sincerely,
Eshan Abdi
Dear Mrs.Halloran,
We found out that the trout tank and bubbles are transparent. Eyed eggs are translucent and some can be opaque. Light can not go in the opaque eggs.The
In-line chiller,Chiller pump,thermometers,Air stone and the Filter are opaque items.
Sincerely,
Azlynn and Issac
Dear Collaborative Team,
Thank you for sharing all of the interesting facts you have learned about Brook Trout and the vocabulary words we have been exploring. Keep up the great work observing and researching both with the group and on your own. Can you give examples of items that are transparent, translucent and opaque within the Brook Trout tank and life cycle?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Collaboration Team,
Opaque means you can’t see through it at all. All the opaque eggs didn’t develop.
Sincerely,
Emma Horgan
Dear Collaborative Team,
I learned that transparent means you can see through, for a example a window is transparent and translucent means that some light can go through.
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear Collaborative Team,
Five trout came out of the hatching baskets so they are called
fingilings and almost all of the trout are going to jump out of the hatching baskets.
Dear Issac ,
Yes I meant opaque eggs. The opaque eggs didn’t develop.
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long
Dear Issac,
The opaque eggs are nothing like the Brook trout eggs because opaque eggs will not hatched.
Dear Azlynn Long,
Do you mean opaque eggs have been taken out of the tank?
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
dear collaborative Team,
By January some of the Brook Trout eggs are going to be hatched.
Now there where five hundred but the obeyed eggs where taken
out and five hatched so that would equal for hundred and
twenty two.
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long
Dear Collaborative team,
I learned organisms are living things such as people,plants and animals. People and bigger animals eat trout.
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
Dear Collaborative Team,
Five Brook trout eggs hatched and I found out that they are called Alevins. I also learned that
our Brook Trout live in fresh water that is cleaned by the filter under the trout tank.
Sincerely,
Azlynn Long
Dear Mr.Miller,
I learned that some predators can be larger fish, or even bigger Brook Tout. Others include birds like herons, and kingfishers.Another predator is a river otter.
Sincerely,
Issac Varghese
I learned that trout can camouflage in to their habitat, with the pattern on their body.This keeps away predators.Brook trout have a green back or a dark brown color. Their belly is white or orange.
Dear Issac,
Thank you for the interesting fact. However, I am interested in knowing the types of organisms that would be considered predators of trout ? In addition, make certain that you start your post with Dear and conclude your post Sincerely.
Sincerely,
Mr. Miller
Dear Collaborative team,
I found information about our question on stream explorers. The information that I found was that some trout live in spring fed(fresh) water and some live in both fresh and salt water!
Sincerely,
Isabella Salducco
Dear Isabella,
Thank you for sharing your valuable research. The following questions might be helpful in deepening your understanding.
Utilizing the link below, can you explain what it means to be spring fed ?
http://www.srwmd.state.fl.us/images/pages/N56//spring_anatomy.jpg
Is there a scientific name given to fish that can live in water that is both fresh and salt ?
Sincerely,
Mr. Miller
Dear Mr.Miller
Yes! There is a scientific name for trout that live part time in fresh water and part in salt .They are called salters!!
Dear Isabella,
I agree that there is a scientific name for salters, which is anadromous. Anadromous means that kind of trout can live part time in fresh water and part time in salt water.
Sincerly,
RobertFaning
Dear Mrs.Halloran and Mr Miller,
The blog can help us communicate from far distances and stay in touch with the collaborative team. You can go on the blog whenever you want.
Sincerely,
Robert Fanning
Dear Robert,
The opportunity the group now has for communication to continue when you are not in school or meeting together is very exciting! Thank you for the effort you put forth in composing your thoughts and to your team members for supporting you in the editing process. Now that you have the correct structures in place, you should be able to post with ease.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Collaborative Team,
Your thoughts on utilizing the blog to enhance communication skills within the group are encouraging. I do believe the group will benefit from sharing ideas interactively and more frequently. I compliment Isabella and Samuel for submitting organized responses and thank all of you for contributing. Please take a moment to review the “Homework” section on the main website page. If you click on the “Homework-Blog Response Structure” tab, you will find information pertaining to the structure in which your posts should be submitted. I hope this format assists you in your future posts.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Halloran
Dear Mrs.Halloran and Mr.Miller,
Answering the question above, I believe utilizing a blog can help with the development of our collaborative team because we can communicate with our group members about a topic. We can also ask questions to the team.Another good thing is that we don’t have to be in school to talk about a lesson learned during the day. You could respond to each others ideas and you can also post comments!!!
Sincerely,
Isabella Salducco
Dear the Collaborative Team,
I concur with all of your responses. I look forward to maybe being in the Collaborative Team and working with you.
Sincerely,
Samuel Lorenzo
Dear Mr. Miller,
I am here with Emma in independent research class, we received some free time; so we decided to write an entry to you. We were wondering how your class is and how the court yard looks. Are you still congregating with the collaborative team?
Sincerely,
Alexandra Salducco and Emma Kirschenheiter
Dear Alexandra and Emma,
Hope all is well and that you are enjoying your sixth grade experience. Our class is beginning the process of preparing the trout tank for the upcoming egg delivery. As for the courtyard, it is need of some cleaning and organization, which the students will address in the next few weeks. On a side note, you will be pleased to know that the eggs we discovered hatched over the summer and produced eleven healthy ducklings.
All the Best,
Mr. Miller