Garvin's Scuba Academy (GSA)- Week of February 13th

Jellybeans? What in the world do jelly beans have to do with the coral reef ecosystem? Cadets have been studying the classification of living things for the past couple weeks. Last week we learned about Carl Linnaeus, the classification system, and binomial nomenclature. Students learned that at the top of the classification system there are many organisms with few things in common. However, as we travel further down the classification system, fewer organisms are in each group, but they have a greater number of similarities. We also learned that in order to avoid confusion, scientists worldwide use binomial nomenclature when referring to living organisms. That means they use the genus and species of each organism as the name for that particular creature.

This week, students learned to use a dichotomous key to classify jelly beans. Using the colors and various markings on the jelly beans, students were able to use the key to determine the flavor of the jelly bean without tasting it. Of course, we had to double check with a little taste test to make sure we were using the key correctly! Next week, cadets will demonstrate their understanding of a dichotomous key by classifying coral reef organisms.

Other classroom activities today included working on our hard coral research, reading One White Dolphin, logic puzzles, Hands on Equations and an affective lesson. In Hands on Equations fifth graders explored lesson 20. In this lesson, students solve equations involving red and green number-cubes as well as pawns of one color on both sides of the setup. Fourth grade worked on lesson 11 which explored more complex equations that could not be simplified or solved by simply removing x’s or *’s . In this lesson students learn that a pair of opposite pawns, being worth zero, may be added to either side of an equation. This strategy is designed to help isolate a number cube on one side of the equation.

In our affective curriculum fifth grade cadets focused on action steps. They discussed how developing action steps can help them advocate for themselves and work towards achieving short and long term goals. They also talked about the need for help in achieving their goals and considered how respecting the input of others and accepting constructive feedback could help them with both action steps and goals. Students then completed an action step ladder for their long term goal and a "Help I Need" sheet to determine what they might need to accomplish their goal.
Fourth graders began looking at several new skills for being an effective team member; the skills included: reliability, commitment, and active participation. After discussing and giving examples of each, students completed a Frayer Model Diagram on the skill they would like to focus on the most.