Yesterday I was able to go with some earth science students from Mountain Ridge Junior High to the mouth of American Fork Canyon.  The students were testing water quality and will be comparing their data to what is considered "healthy" for rivers.  Some of the tests they did: turbidity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate level, pH, and stream flow.  The weather was great and the students especially enjoyed getting in the river with waders on.

For more information about water quality and what you can do in your classroom check out these links:
Water Quality via USGS
Water Quality using Macroinvertebrates via NPS

It is always a great day when you get to explore caves with 5th graders from Greenwood Elementary. We hiked up to Timpanogos Cave and learned about the 6 ingredients needed to make a cave: 

Limestone

Water

Calcite

A Fault Line

Minerals (for color in the cave)

Time

I was so impressed with the students' ability to look at the evidence the ranger pointed out and from that they were able to come up with what scientists think is happening in the cave.

Last night was a great event at the PDC.  We had our Robotics Showcase for our 15 elementary schools that participated in our collaborative effort with Learning Through Robotics and UVU's School of Education.  It was a great night to really show some great things that are happening in Alpine School District.  Check out this article from The Daily Herald about the event.

Friday we were able to spend time at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah with our 8th grade science teachers. 

A great resource for any science teacher who teachers Earth Science is the IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) site.  There are some fantastic interactives that deal with Earth's structure, hot spots, plate boundaries, etc. 

We also have 8 teaching toolboxes from the Natural History Museum available to our district:

• Diggin' Dinosaurs
• Bones
• Insects
• Soils
• Plants
• Rocks and Minerals
• Field Tools- Water
• Field Tools- Land

If you would like to check out any of these boxes (for free) please contact
Lisa Diquattro 801.717.4752
lisad4@alpinedistrict.org

Yesterday I was able to tour the new Loveland Living Planet Aquarium.  It is AWESOME!  Check out some of the pics I was able to take:  Teacher Note: An aquarium is a GREAT place to see some amazing adaptations and skills for survival... My personal favorites are the penguins, tree frogs and the cuddle fish- what cool adaptations they have to be able to survive in their environments.

Science and literacy are always connections I am looking for.  This last week I was able to attend The Literacy Promise Conference at the Salt Palace and I was able to walk away with some great literacy connections to bring into any classroom:
Marcia Tate: Science Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites (Marcia's session was FANTASTIC! If you are looking for ways to get your students up and moving and learning then this is a book you will want to refer to)
Need a quick and productive way to start or end class?  Try these:
Biggest Riddle Book In The World- Joseph Rosenbloom
Quick To Solve Brainteasers- JJ Mendoza
The Kid Who Invented The Popsicle- Don Wulffson
Even More Children's Miscellany- Guy MacDonald
And lastly Lifetimes by David Rice- this is a fascinating book all about Nature- so many amazing science connections to how organisms live a lifetime.

Last night was I able to spend the evening with Rocky Mountain Elementary and Lindon Elementary's STEAM night.  Way to go!  It was great to see such great community involvement with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.