Bird of the week 11/28 Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Juncos are flashy little birds that fly about forest floors of the western mountains and Canada, they flood the rest of North America for winter. They're easy to recognize by their crisp (though extremely variable) markings and the bright white tail feathers they habitually flash in flight. You can learn more about this bird by visiting the All About Birds Website: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dark-eyed_Junco/id

Second Grade Tulip Test Gardens

This year our second grade classes will work with classrooms in North America to track changes in seasons and climate.  In early October all second grade classes planted a tulip test garden. 

There goal is to learn about how plants are affected by climate all around North America.  In this collaborative experiment, student scientists across the Northern Hemisphere track the growth of the same plant, the backyard tulip.

Scientist of the Week

This week Lizzy a 6th grade student in Ms. Moran's class announced our scientist of the week on the WVLK TV news. Our scientist was Manuela Veloso.  This artificial intelligence (AI) researcher from Carnegie Mellon University programs small robot dogs to play soccer in international World Cup competitions. But soccer is not Manuela's real game. Her primary goal (pardon the pun!) is increasing the learning abilities of her robots.

Science websites for families and kids

Here are some of my favorite websites for families:
NASA Kids Club. The NASA website for kids, full of great ideas and activities

Lawrence Hall of Science Kids Page

Dragonfly TV

Bird of the Week November 21st

[caption id="attachment_78" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Male House Sparrow "][/caption]

The Bird of the week for 11/21 is the House sparrow.  

You can find House Sparrows most places where there are houses (or other buildings), and few places where there aren't. Along with two other introduced species, the European Starling and the Rock Pigeon, these are some of our most common birds. The Hose Sparrow is the bird we most often see at our feederwatch station at Weaver Lake.  When you observe house sparrows you will notice that the male and female look different.