Winter Break

Seasons Greetings from my comfy chair!
I thought I would take the time out of my busy schedule of sitting around eating too much chocolate and drinking eggnog to wish everyone a Happy Holiday.
I always look forward to the Winter Break with mixed feelings. On one hand it is a great time to recharge my batteries and get ready for the new year. On the other hand, my students always come back slightly different; a little bit taller, a little bit wiser, a little more mature. I also have to admit that after the break I spend the first couple of days trying to remember names!
I hope you all enjoy this time with your family and friends. I know the end of the break will come much sooner than you will be ready to go back to school!
Take care,
Mr. Honer

Layers of the Earth Quiz

Take the quiz and then let Mr. Honer know how well you did!

Layers of the Earth

Wegener's Theory

Click here to read an article about Alfred Wegener.

Check out the following website for a great animation on continental drift

Earth Science

We just started a new unit in 6th grade science. We will spend the next several weeks talking about Earth Science. This is one of my favorites to teach and learn about! I am excited to dive into this subject!
My question for the week is; How is Earth Science (Geology) in the news? Do a little searching around and report back on the blog. You can use what you find in newspapers, magazines, television, or the internet. Just read, watch, or listen to a report that has to do with Earth Science and post a comment about it.

Here are a few sites to start with:
http://geology.com/ - click on the NEWS link.

Volcano World

Life Science Review Quiz

Try out the following quiz. Discuss the answers as a group before you choose!

Selective Breeding

Check out the following slide show and discuss the answers to the questions with your group.



How does the growth and survival of the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay depend on the evolution of the oysters?

* think about what you learned about the selective breeding of oysters

Litter Behind the School

By the way, here is the breakdown of the litter we found outside on November 18, 2008:

Follow On Visit

We had a great time yesterday! Meghan and Selena from NorthBay came to visit CRMS and we got to spend a chilly but fun day outside! The day was divided up into nature trail investigation and vulture studies. I think there is a lot of potential for great learning out on the nature trail and I was really impressed with the opportunities we had to observe the vultures up close!
The most important thing we did was to pick up all of the litter behind the school. Do you think we found more trash or more recyclable materials?

What was the most memorable part of the outdoor experience for you? Post your answer this week!

Return to Caroline

WOW! What a great trip to NorthBay!
I think that I am pretty safe in saying that everyone really enjoyed the trip. Besides having fun we also learned a lot about the natural environment as well as learning a bit about ourselves. Filters, invasive species, and degraded conditions have really been on my mind for the last week. I'm wondering if there is something I can do around Caroline County to make a positive change.
What do you think? What are you going to do with everything that you learned at NorthBay? Post your answer this week!

By the way, check out NorthBay Live.net!

Community Issue

What is an issue that people in your community care about? What is a possible solution to the problem? Post your answer this week!

Owl Pellet Investigation

Now that you have completed the investigation on owl pellets you should be able to answer the question. Please respond as a group and put your group number and period number as your signature. For example: group5period1

How does the owl act as a limiting factor for the population of voles or field mice?

Changes in Population

Here is an activity that helps explain how populations can change.
Play the game and then take the self test.

Food Web Game

I found a great site to learn about food chains and food webs.
It's a game that shows how food chains can be linked to each other. Each level of a food chain is called a trophic level. The word trophic refers to organisms gaining energy - usually by eating. The game takes you through the different trophic levels that exist in a food web.
Play it and see how many points you can score!

Click HERE to play the game.

PHSchool

For a review of the scientific method go to the following site:
The Nature of Inquiry
Click start and then follow the directions to complete the task. Make sure you read the directions!!!
After you have successfully completed the task, close the window and take the Self Test.

Frog Science

Check out the following story.

There once was a scientist who studied frogs. One day, the scientist put the frog on the ground and told it to jump. The frog jumped four feet. So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with four feet, jumps four feet."
So the scientist taped up one of the frog’s legs. The scientist told the frog to jump. The frog jumped three feet. The scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with three feet, jumps three feet."
So the scientist taped up another leg. He told the frog to jump. The frog jumped two feet. So the scientist wrote in his notebook "Frog with two feet, jumps two feet."
The scientist taped up one more leg. He told the frog to jump. The frog jumped one foot. So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with one foot, jumps one foot."
So the scientist taped up his last leg. He said, "Frog jump. Frog jump. FROG JUMP!" So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with no feet, loses hearing."

Do you agree with the scientist? Do you have a different conclusion? Tell me what you think about thhe scientist's thinking.

NorthBay Parent Meeting Scheduled

NorthBay Parent Meeting Scheduled

An informational meeting will be held on September 24, 2008 in the CRMS Cafeteria beginning at 6:00 PM. Michael Parker, the school coordinator from NorthBay Adventure Camp will be here to share information about the programs and what CRMS students can expect. Please contact the school if you have any questions.

You can also visit http://northbayadventure.com for more information.

Egg Lab

The big question on your mind is "What was in the beakers?"
Our first observations showed that the hard-boiled egg floated in sample A but sunk very quickly in Sample B.
During today's experiments a lot of students made some great observations. There were quite a few different hypotheses in the different classes. The guesses ranged from vinegar to Sprite. Many of the choices were eliminated through careful experimentation. Several groups also observed that sample A was lighter than sample B.
So, the question is; What do you think was in the beakers? Post your answer soon!

Laptop Lab

I hope you enjoyed your first experience with the laptop lab. You will use them in many of your classes this year. Please remember your password! You will need it all three years at CRMS.
Here is the question:
What are the two most important rules of using the laptops?

Great First Week

This has been a great first week of school. I have really enjoyed meeting my new students.
There have been a lot of great responses from the students this first week! Thanks to all who took the time to get on the Blog.
Here are some answers to some of the questions I have received:
- When is NorthBay?
We will be going to NorthBay on October 20th and returning on October 24th. For more information about the NorthBay experience you should check out this link on the NorthBay site. (Parents will like this one!)

- Can My parent be a chaperone?
I will be sending out information about chaperones in the next week or so. YES! we will need help from an equal number of female and male chaperones. I seem to have the hardest time getting Dads, so keep that in mind. We will be scheduling an after school information meeting so look for that. I will try to remember to post information about that here on the blog.

- When did I become a teacher?
I started teaching 10 years ago. This has been my only school.

Take care for now. I'll see you in the lab!

First Week of School

Greetings New 6th Graders!
Welcome to your first week at Colonel Richardson Middle School!
This year in science we will be going on the coolest field trip on the Planet (NorthBay) as well as learning about Geology, Physics, The Environment, and Ecology. My question for you is "What are you most excited about this year?" Please respond to this post during this first week.

MAHETC

I'm currently participating in the Mid Atlantic Handheld and Emerging Technology Conference (MAHETC) in Salisbury, MD. The focus of the conference was originally just about Handhelds such as Palm Pilots and other PDAs but just recently they have moved to emerging technology as well. I attended seminars on blogging, video conferencing and Palm software. I hope to bring a lot of new things into my classroom this coming school year.