Another Award...Thank you!

Thank to you Michaele @  http://kidney-garden.blogspot.com/
                                           
who awarded me The Versatile Blogger Award! I am honored!




Rules of the award...

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Include a link to his or her site.
3. Include the award image in your post and/or blog.
4. Share seven facts about yourself.
5. Nominate other bloggers for the award, linking
to their sites.
6. Let those bloggers know they have been nominated.



My seven facts:

1. My degree in is business...this is my second career. My first career was being a Publix Manager!

2. My husband is a Publix manager.

3. I stayed at home for five years in between Publix and teaching when we had our daughter,

Madison who is now eleven, in middle school, going into 7th grade. Wow, time flies!

4. I love most all critters, and in junior and high school, I was really into FFA and I raised pigs!

5. I have the most handsome pekingnese in the whole world... "Lilo."

6. I would still teach even if I won the lottery...it is my passion!

7. I am an only child and my daughter is an only child.

 Blogs I am nominating:

Carla @ http://theshiningstaar.blogspot.com/

Mika @ http://howdoesyourgartengrow.blogspot.com/

Michele @  http://krazyinkinder.blogspot.com/

NicoLanier @  http://lanierlions.blogspot.com/

Erin @ http://elementaryadventure.blogspot.com/

Check these blogs out, they are fabulous! :)

Fireflies: Where did they go?

    

     I grew up in central Florida and as a child, we had plenty of fireflies.  We would collect them in jars and make our own lanterns. My husband grew up in a suburb of Chicago, but spent a lot of summer with family in Michigan. They also had a lot of fireflies.  Homemade glow sticks were a summer tradition. Yes, they would mush and smear the tail of fireflies all over sticks. 

     We are on our annual family vacation to the mountains and there are fireflies everywhere. This is the only place my eleven year old has ever seen them. We do not have any in central Florida or anywhere we have traveled other than the Smoky Mountains. So, of course, my curious child said…”Mom, where did they all go?”

     This is what I found… development and light pollution (yes, we have too many lights!). Humans are believed to disrupt firefly habitat also.  The more our population grows in areas, the less fireflies are seen.  Our open fields and forests are being paved over, and our waterways are seeing more development. Logging, pollution and increased use of pesticides may also contribute to destroying firefly habitat and natural prey.

I am working an a firefly unit and will post it soon!

Smoky Mountains

     On vacation, and of course, I am buying stuff for my science lab! We were in Savannah for the weekend and went to the Savannah Bee Company...It is the neatest place! I got the neatest book on how honey bees make honey and other interesting bee facts, "The Life and Times of the Honeybee."

Now, on to the Smoky Mountains to enjoy the outdoors!





A much needed vacation to the mountains...

 

Repticon and "Forrest Gump"

Oops, I did it again... I added another family member and lab pet. My family went to Repticon in Tampa this weekend and there were critters everywhere! Dart frogs, geckos, snakes, iguanas, chameleons, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, hedgehogs, tortoises, bearded dragons, and more...  The vendors are very knowledgeable and they also had exhibitions and demonstrations throughout the day. I highly recommend Repticon if you have never been.

 






And finally, our new chameleon, Forrest Gump...

   

            

 

Blog Award!

Wow, I have been awarded the...

  

from Aimee @ Pencils, Books, and Dirty Looks! and Amy from Where Seconds Count!

Thanks Aimee and Amy, I am honored and I love your blogs. :)

So now, I get to pass it on to others. Once you receive the award, you must follow 3 rules:

                           





























  

http://www.moretime2teach.blogspot.com/

1. Follow the person that gave you the award
2. Link back to the person that gave you the award
3. Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers

I'm passing the award on to the following blogs...                           
                                         

http://www.hugsfortheteacher.blogspot.com/

http://www.sweetkinders.blogspot.com//

http://www.iheartelementary.blogspot.com/

http://www.thegroovyteacher.blogspot.com/

                                          

http://thrillsinthirdgrade.blogspot.com/

http://dennettsteachingtools.blogspot.com/

                                                                   

                                             
       
                                                                             

http://samplesuperstars.blogspot.com/

http://aroundthekampfire.blogspot.com/2012/05/little-sprout-of-blog.html

http://kinderkarla.blogspot.com/

http://katherinelang.blogspot.com/

http://primarypossibilities.blogspot.com/

        

                                                

                                        
                                        

                                 

http://buckeyebookworm.blogspot.com/

http://dragonsdencurriculum.blogspot.com/


http://littlemissbartee.blogspot.com//

Teaching First Giveaway!

Congratulations to Rebecca! Check out her awesome giveaway!

Teaching First: Fantastic 500 Follower GIVEAWAY!: I know! It's ca-raaazy!!! If you've been following my blog from the start, waaaaaay back to September of last year, you'll know that ...

Bubba the bearded dragon...

     Our newest family member is a baby bearded dragon named "Bubba". We were able to purchase Bubba through a "pets in the classroom" grant and Petsmart. http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/ They give you several pets to choose from including fish, reptiles, and small animals. I chose a beardie because we already have Big Daddy (our 2 year old beardie that someone donated to my lab last year). Bubba is so tiny compared to Big Daddy! Although his appetite is quite large! We are going through crickets like crazy! He loves to hang on your finger or to climb all over you. :) We are going to Repticon in Tampa this weekend to learn more about bearded dragons...who would have thought that I would be a lover of reptiles (still NO SNAKES though!)?

Mystery Madness

At the beginning of the year, our first unit/nine weeks, we have a school wide mystery madness theme. All curriculum is integrated with our theme including specials and labs. I do a forensic science unit with my second graders that I love! I use the GEMS Mytery Festival unit (there are two mysteries with this book/kit, one for 2-3 and one for 4-5. Everything I needed came in the kit, but for some GEMS units I use, I just bought the book because I already had most of the supplies. The books run about $15, but you can pick up used copies very easily. GEMS is a great place to start if you are bored with your current science or math program. They work with my standards and the kids love the activities and investigations.

http://lhsgems.org/

Check out my Mystery Madness packet...http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mystery-Madness-Detectives-literacy-and-science-activities

TPT Store...

I have finally added some things to my store and will be adding more this weekend!

New Look!

Thank you to Alicia @Dreamlike Magic Designs! I love my new blog design. :)

Is it summer, yet?!

Is it summer, yet?!

Fossil Dig

STEM Family night was so much fun! We had a fossil dig in the lab courtesy of the Florida Institute of Phospahte Research. The megaladon teeth were huge! The kids enjoyed a challenge of helping "Mr. Digsalot" excavate a site.

Hovercraft

We used the engineering design process to make a hovercraft. We started out with paperplates, film canister (or vial), modeling clay, and a balloon. However, even after cutting it smaller, the paperplate was too heavy. We redesigned it using a cd and added the straw (cut in half) as a modification for steering. What a fun activity! The clay all over my lab tables, not so fun. :)

Wildlife Biologists

During our final unit, "Circles of Life," our kindergarten students are wildlife biologists. We have explored every animal and insect on our campus! We discovered and are doing a study on our school's family of hawks. We have Harry Hawk, Henrietta Hawk, and Baby Hawks. The nest is quite large and located in a tree outside of the kindergarten building.

Pond in the Butterfly Garden

In our pond, in the butterfly garden, our tadpoles have turned into frogs! Hundreds of baby frogs! The local newspaper photographer was there today for our butterfly release...pics soon to follow.

Praying Mantis tragedy

We were looking forward to our newest lab addition, but after 8 weeks, nothing. The egg cases feel spongy, the humidity and temperature have been what was recommended, and nada! I think I am more disappointed then the students! So, of course we had to do an eggtopsy and find out what went wrong. We found eggs inside of the egg case, but when we checked them under a microscope, no movement. Is it too soon? I am keeping an egg case just in case we did not wait long enough. I guess our newest project is on hold until next year...

silkworms

   Did you know that silkworm larvae have an anal horn? Well, neither did my second graders, but we checked it out under the microscopes today (pics soon to follow). They eat only mulberry leaves (luckily our school nurse, Miss Debbie has mulberry growing at her house) and a lot of them. A  silkworm multiplies it weight 10,000 times from time it is hatched until about 4 weeks later when it has enough energy stored to start spinning its cocoon. 
    The coveted secret of silkworm cultivation began 5000 years ago in China. Sericulture (the production of raw silk by raising silkworms) spread to Korea and later to Japan and southern Asia. During the eleventh century European traders stole several eggs and seeds of the mulberry tree and began rearing silkworms in Europe. Sericulture was introduced into the Southern United States in colonial times, but the climate was not compatible with cultivation.
   Today, researchers use the silkworm to study pheromones and hormones due to their small size and ease of culture. This makes for an interesting class conversation! Today, while checking them out under the microscope, I hear, "Mrs. Lundquist, they are mating!" to which I reply, "No, they are just crawling over each other to get to the mulberry leaf that you took away from them!" So next I hear one say to his neighbor, "No, they only mate as adults, they are just wrestling." This still takes second place to my earlier earthworm hermaphrodite conversation I had with a kindergarten class. I love the little ones!

STEM Family Night

Our STEM family night is this Thursday from 6-8. Pizza, and icecream made with nitrogen!

We have a lot of exciting design challenges planned. MOSI and other community members in one of the STEM fields will be there also.

Summer is near...

I hope that all of us...students and staff can make it the next two weeks without feeling like this! I can't believe the end is near...boy, this year flew by.

How exciting... My first post! Welcome to my science lab blog!