Fred the Fish

OVERVIEW: Through a simulation activity, students will apply cause and effect relationships to water pollution in a stream. The original Fred the Fish activity, from which this was adapted, was published in Water, Stones, & Fossil Bones and was written by Karen Lind, National Science Teachers Association, 1991, ISBN 087355101X.

Students will accompany Fred the Fish as he travels downstream and be participants in the simulation of a stream becoming polluted. As the simulation plays out, different items are added to Fred's water habitat to represent various pollutants. The pollutants come from numerous real-life sources ("cause"), resulting in an increasingly polluted environment for Fred ("effect").

OBJECTIVE: Students will identify cause and effect relationships pertaining to water pollution.

MATERIALS: (and procedures for setting up the simulation)

Script: Download the script and cut into strips for students to read

Fred Activity Sheet: Download the Fred Activity Sheet for students to fill in throughout the activity

Fred and his water habitat:

	Light colored sponge
	Thin, permanent marker to draw a face on Fred
	Thin fishing line
	Needle with a large eye
	Weight, either a washer or small lead sinker work well
	Pencil (with flat sides) or a tongue depressor, longer than the mouth of the container
	Tape
	Clear gallon jar or container
	Water
	Paper towels

Preparation Before Activity:

	Cut a small fish shape from the sponge. Draw a face for Fred
	Cut a piece of fishing line approximately 60 cm long. (This will depend on the size of your container.)
	Thread the line onto the needle and draw the line through the fish shape. The line should stick out below the belly of the fish, as well as above the fish.
	Fill the container with water, allowing some space at the top. Tie the weight to the line below the fish.
	Tie the line above the fish to the middle pencil or tongue depressor. You will need to adjust the line so Fred is suspended in the middle of the container.

"Pollutants":

	Long-handled spoon or stick to stir the contents
	3 plastic spoons
	Two sets of Index cards, numbered 2-9, One set folded so they will stand in front of the pollutants, the other set for 8 children who will add that pollutant to the container
	Garden soil - "eroded soil" (Script card 2)
	Powdered milk - "fertilizer" (Script card 3)
	Cooking oil - "car oil" (Script card 4)
	Rock salt - "road salt" (Script card 5)
	Small pieces of foil, plastic wrap, paper, etc. - "trash" (Script card 6)
	Liquid laundry detergent - "factory stuff" (Script card 7)
	Red food coloring - "sewage" (Script card 8)
	Green food coloring - "hazardous waste" (Script card 9)

Set-up:

	Arrange the "pollutants" beside Fred's habitat.
	Put the corresponding numbered index cards in front of the containers.
	Put plastic spoons in the soil (#2), fertilizer (#3), and road salt (#4).
	Have paper towels nearby for possible messes!

PROCEDURE:
The teacher will introduce the activity by introducing Fred. This can be done in various ways. A possible introduction might read: "Students, I would like you to meet a little friend of mine named Fred. Fred is a fish who spent most of his life in a clean, mountain lake, until one day he decided to venture from his lake, downstream. He's lucky, and so are you, because he lived to share his adventure with you. Are you ready to hear about his adventure?"

1. Pass out the script cards to ten students, and the index cards to 8 students who will be dumping in the pollutants. Explain that the number corresponds to the script.

2. Begin reading the script cards and adding the pollutants to Fred's habitat. After the script is read, the student with the corresponding number will dump in the pollutants.  The question, "HOW IS FRED?" should be used to initiate class discussion after each pollutant is introduced to Fred's habitat.

3. Students will draw/color Fred and write a description of how he is doing each time a pollutant is dumped in.

4. Continue reading the script and dumping the pollutants in until you reach the end.

5. Some post activity discussion/assessment could include:

• Exploring means of preventing the problems before they occur
• Solutions to the problems that water pollutants pose to the river
• Organisms that depend upon the river for survival.

CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN WHEN DISCARDING THE WATER USED IN THIS ACTIVITY. THE CONTENTS SHOULD BE POURED THROUGH A STRAINER SO THE SOLID MATERIALS AND OIL DO NOT CLOG THE DRAIN.

Blog Reviews

I reviewed 5 blogs that were of interest to me because of what I teach or am interested in.

Earth Science with Mrs Wilson

What I really like about the blog is how well Mrs. Wilson keeps her blog up to date. From viewing her entries, she posts her homework/class activities each day. If there is a video or some other media that goes with that lesson, it is embedded in her blog. I also liked that even though she used a picture as a background image, the text is still very easy to read. Another thing I appreciated was that she had blogging guidelines posted for her students. She makes it very explicit how and what students can post. Mrs. Wilson has a wealth of classroom information available on her blog and makes it very easy to access, whether a student or a parent. I really don’t think that there anything missing/lacking from this blog. The only thing I think I may want to see on her blog would be easier/quicker ways to access older information with either recent posts or tags.

Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

This blog has a very clean design which makes everything very easy to read and find information. I like that she has links to her Archives, Recent Posts, and Tags. All of these features make it very easy to find information quickly without having to scroll through pages of information to find what you are looking for. I like that she has her students use the blog to answer questions. When students have to write for an audience, you get an authentic and thoughtful response. Students are very aware of when their work is public and put forth their best effort because they know they are on display. I felt that posts of updated information were lacking. There are only 10 posts in just under 2 years. I think that posts need to happen more often to keep your audience coming back.

Tango Mango

This blog has a wealth of student created content on it. The teacher has really committed to posting regularly with what students are doing in his classes. His design is simple, but I think it works. With the amount of content that he posts of student work and pictures, I think that it would be too busy if there was any other content on the pages. He provides many links to different websites that students can use to create projects. I would like to see him categorize his posts to make them easier to search.

LMS Tech

This blog has a very simple design that allows you to focus on the content. There is a lot of information posted to this blog, so simple makes it more manageable to view. For the most past all of this information is organized pretty well and easy to search and access. I think that some of the information on the blog could be reorganized to give it a cleaner look. If it were my blog, I would combine some of the links onto one page. I realize the blogger is trying to make it easy for students to access their pages, but I think I would just make one link for Blogs and one for Commercials and then put each period on those pages.

Miss Lindgren's Geek Speak

This blog has a clean design and is very well organized. Even though there are a lot of links to student blogs, it is well organized and does not detract from the design or flow of the blog. Her posts are up-to-date and posted regularly. She posts her assignments on her blog for students to follow. By constantly directing your audience to her blog, it helps to keep her visitors coming back. I think that this blog is well thought out and put together. 

Some of my Interests

One of my interests, and what I enjoy spending my free time and summer vacations doing, is woodworking. My father is an accomplished woodworker and I have been learning from him. He tried to get me interested when I was young, but I wasn’t that interested. It wasn’t until my senior year in college that I really had an interest in woodworking. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than building something by hand that you can use in your everyday life. From choosing the wood to use to deciding the type of joinery, woodworking it such a satisfying and challenging hobby. I build a lot of things for my classroom. Many teachers see these items and make requests for their classrooms as well. It can make for a busy summer. There is a vast amount of resources available on the Internet in regards to woodworking. A few of my favorites are Lumberjocks which has woodworking plans, blogs and forums. Just about any question I’ve ever had about woodworking can be found or asked on this site. Another website I like to use for tools and parts is Rockler. They have so many different tools, jigs, and parts for projects, I rarely have to look anywhere else.

Another interest of mine is gadgets, and I mean all gadgets. I have always been fascinated with things that can make life easier, simpler, or in most cases fun. I have always been fascinated with the technology that goes into making these gadgets. What amazes me is that sometimes it is very complex technology and other times it so simple that is used to create the gadget. Technology changes so frequently that it seems like new gadgets come out all the time. It makes it tough to keep up on all of the different things that are out there. A website I use to try to keep up with all of the information is Gizmodo. This website is dedicated to all things gadgets and has all of the latest news, information, and rumors of new products.

Finally, I have a huge interest in educational technology. Our students are growing up in a very different world than I did. They have access to information and resources that weren’t available 5-10 years ago. I believe that I need to harness this power and challenge my students to use this to their advantage. Students use technology in their everyday lives, but they don’t always understand how to apply to their education. We, as educators, have to provide the experiences and guidance so that they can use these technologies effectively. It also important for us to show them how to decide on what technology, or not, to use in different situations. We have to challenge our students to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize and create. If our students can do these things, we have shaped students who are going to college and career ready. One site I like to use to stay on top of emerging technologies is Free Tech 4 Teachers. This site has a wealth of knowledge on different technologies that are available and usually provides ideas of how they can be implemented in the classroom. Another site I like to use is The Journal. This site is a professional publication that is free to subscribe to. It has so many resources and covers many topics in educational technology from new technologies to budgets to classroom practices. It is easy to spend hours on this site and not even know it.

COSI on Wheels

COSI on Wheels recently came to Creekview Intermediate School to support what students have been studying about energy. It began with students meeting Dr. Kilowatt, who helped students learn about creating energy with both renewable and non-renewable resources. Students volunteered to help demonstrate various forms of renewable resources, like wind and solar power. Other students showed various forms of non-renewable resources, like coal and oil.

After meeting Dr. Kilowatt and listening to her presentation, students broke up into groups of 8 to explore the different energy stations around the gymnasium. Thank you to our wonderful parents who helped run these stations. Without your help, we would not have been able to make this happen.

In the various stations, students looked at several different forms of energy. Students experimented with wind and water power and how they can be alternative sources of energy. They had to try different materials to build their water turbines and test them to see which materials worked the best. Students had to look at wind patterns to decide where to best set up their wind turbine. They also looked at electrical energy by building circuits and using a variety of components for their power supplies. Another station had students looking at what materials (solids and liquids) conducted electrical current the best. Students looked at potential and kinetic energy by building a domino-like structure and seeing how energy changed from potential to kinetic. 

It was an amazing, fun filled day for students and staff.

Blogging Experience

So far, I have enjoyed the creation of my blog. I have wanted to start a blog for a couple of years now, but wasn't sure that I could keep it updated enough to make it interesting enough for my audience to continue following. That truly was my biggest fear- to start a blog and get a following and then not be able to keep it updated and people not come back to the blog because they weren't finding the information they wanted. I have set aside a chunk of time to dedicate to updating my blog. I had to dedicate time to blog or it would not get done. Between my teaching, coaching, and family responsibilities, there is little time for anything else. I figure if I can dedicate a slot of time to blog each week, it will become easier to blog more regularly as this becomes habit.

My blog provides a simple way for the parents of my students to keep informed of what we are doing. My goal is to make this the main information page for students and parents to come to when they need to find information about my classes. Currently, I send out a weekly email to my parents. Once I have my blog rolling with current information on a weekly basis, I hope to eliminate the weekly email. One of the widgets I added allows parents to subscribe to my blog and receive email notification of when there is a new post. I want to constantly reference the blog so that it becomes second nature to students and parents to go to the blog when they need to find something out.

I really like the capabilities that the widgets bring to the table. As my students finish projects, I will be able to post them so that they have an audience other than their classmates. I see myself using the YouTube gadget to showcase my students' video projects from the Geometry Project that they have been working so diligently on. I also hope to have the Picasa feed up and running soon. I left my camera at school, as I had planned to have that up and running to show off some of the things we are doing in class. These are great opportunities for parents to see what we are doing as students do not always share what is going on at school.

Geometry All Around Us Project

My students started the Geometry Around Us Project this week. Students will go out looking for geometric shapes in the world around them. Students will capture pictures or video of the objects they find using a digital camera or camcorder (or the camera built into their personal devices) and put them all together into a multimedia presentation. Students must include the definition along with the shape in each sequence of the project.

Students were randomly assigned to their groups and given the project packet. Students then began working in their groups to define the 14 geometric shapes in the packet. After defining the terms, students decided on what type of multimedia presentation they were going to create. Defining the terms will help them to discover the different geometric shapes. Students will then be able to explore the school in search of these geometric shapes. Explicit directions will be given to the students so that they understand the boundaries of where they may go and appropriate behavior while exploring for their geometric shapes.

Students will use a variety of different tools to create their presentation, including Loopster, ScreenChomp, PIXnTell, or iMovie. Each group will pick what app they are using and meet with me during their Flex period to learn how to use the app. Students will develop engaging presentations with these apps. Students will evaluate themselves with a rubric and after I have graded them on the same rubric, I will meet with each group to compare the ratings. Once students are finished with their projects, I will post them on this blog. Check back after Spring Break!

How I Want to Use My Blog

Welcome to my blog! My name is Chris Terzis and I am a Math and Science Teacher on the 6th Grade Blue Team. I intend to use my blog for:

1. Communication with Students: In today's classrooms, I see more and more students bring their own devices to school. These students are used to being connected to Internet at all times. I want to take advantage of this and establish another way to communicate with my students. I believe, as an educator, the more connections we can make with our students, we establish a trust between each other. This is essential to push students to their potential. I will be posting homework assignments, project descriptions, rubrics, notes, and videos to help support what they are doing in the classroom. Are you not fully understanding what we discussed in class? Were you absent? Did you forget something at school that you need to complete an assignment? Stop by my blog and you should be able to find all of this information here.

2. Establish Another Connection With Parents: I am constantly searching for ways to connect with my students' parents/guardians. Most of my students have working parents and they are not always available on a school schedule. By keeping my blog up-to-date, it can provide parents with a way to stay on top of what is going in their child's education. They can access everything that we are working on and know the due dates of assignments. This also allows a parent to keep informed with a student that is reluctant to share  or that does not bring home any type of communication (not that this would be any of my students). Parents can subscribe to my RSS feed so that they can be alerted when the blog is updated and stay current with what we are doing.

3. A Place to Showcase Student Work: With the flexibility of a blog, it can easily become a portfolio of student work. With it's ability to display a variety of digital formats, just about any project I do with students can be displayed on a blog. I believe that when students know that they have an audience, they produce their best work. If students know that their work is going to be displayed on the blog (even if not directly identified), they put extra effort into what they are creating because they want to show what they are capable of. It would also provide for peer feedback as students could post responses to what other students have created. Students learn so many different communication skills by practicing giving feedback to others and they learn to think critically.