Google Classroom 2016-2017

Welcome back!  Once again this year I will be using Google Classrooms for all of my classes as a primary way of communicating assignments and information with students.  You can still find my weekly lesson plans on this website by clicking on the "Lesson Plans" button to the left.

Electronics Recycling Event Success!

Last Saturday the ELGHS chapter of the National Honor Society hosted an electronics recycling drive in connection with Cybergreen, a recycling company based in Green Bay.  This event was open to everyone to get rid of old or unused electronic equipment in an environmentally safe way FREE of charge (except TVs and monitors).  All items collected are stripped of their valuable components for recycling by Cybergreen.  These items are not being shipped overseas and contributing to the growing electronic waste problem occurring in many developing countries, rather they are being domestically processed and kept out of landfills.  The NHS earns a percentage of the overall collection, so the more we collect, the better it is for everyone.  We will be hosting this event again next spring, so start saving your junk!  This year we nearly filled an entire semi, and we're optimistic that we can collect even more next year.  Thank you to everyone who came to support NHS and help the environment.

CAPP Biology Students at Lakeland

On Thursday the AP/CAPP Biology class spent the afternoon with Professor Greg Smith at Lakeland College performing a plasmid extraction and purification that we cut with restriction enzymes and ran in a gel.  Students then took the data from that gel to create a map of the plasmid sequence.  It was hours worth of micropipetting, microfuging, and electrophoresis...in other words, a pretty awesome day.

ELGHS / Lakeland College Field Trip

Yesterday my AP Environmental Science Class teamed up with Dr. Paul Pickhardt and his Environmental Science Class from Lakeland College to perform some water tests and sample zooplankton at Jetzers Lake.  We then migrated to the Lakeland science lab to identify our specimens and experience the college lab setting.

Dean conducting a Dissolved Oxygen test.

Erica and Andrew measuring water clarity with a Secchi Disk.

Dr. Pickhardt explaining different zooplankton sampling methods.

Specimen identification back at the lab.

Google Classroom

I will be using Google Classroom for the majority of the day-to-day stuff in all of my classes.  You will be shown how to enroll in your particular "class" and will be expected to log-in on a daily basis to complete assignments and read announcements.  Weekly lesson plans for all classes will still be posted here on the lesson plans page.

NHS

To all current and potential NHS members: beginning with the 2015-16 school year I will be taking on the role of advisor for our chapter of the National Honor Society.  Changes to the application process and requirements for continued membership are in the works and questions should be addressed to me next fall.

Darwin Day Roadshow - Coming to Elkhart Lake

Next Wednesday, February 4, we will be visited by three scientists from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) in Durham, NC.  They will be talking with all of my science classes on that day.  For the past four years they've spent a couple weeks each year near Darwin's birthday to travel the country and share their research and experience with high school students.  This year they'll be visiting Wisconsin for the first time where they will spend one day with us and another day in Milwaukee.  This is a unique opportunity for our students to be exposed to PhD scientists who do real research on a daily basis and to probe further into this fascinating topic that forms the cornerstone of Biology.  Check out their website and contact me with any questions.