Dear Parents and Students,

            It is time to begin our culminating Science Event of the year.  Student groups of three will work together to complete a series of scientific tasks.  The focus of all this scientific inquiry is the mighty Crayfish!   Our esteemed guests will be arriving in our classroom on May 6^th.  I am writing to give you all the news that inquiring minds would want to know about this exciting event.

Tentative Schedule:

                April 27^th – May 5^th           Learn as much as possible about our guest before they arrive.
                May 6^th – May 8^th             Hands-on, up-close examination of our guests (And they of us)

                                                                Group Tasks: 

                                                                Take a group picture (PowerPoint)
                                                                Design a theme (background, font, format) for group PowerPoint

                May 11^th – 15^th                   Group Tasks: 
                                                                  Design or choose an experiment.
                                                                  Set-up experimental area

                                                 Take a digital picture of set-up (PowerPoint)

                                                  Design a data gathering sheet

                                                 Agree on rules for gathering data

                                                 Formulate Hypothesis

                                                 Conduct experiment

                                                 Gather data
                                                                Take digital picture of crayfish in experiment (PowerPoint)

                May 18^th – May 22^nd        Group Tasks:

                                                          Enter data into Excel spreadsheet

                                                          Produce graph of data plus labels (PowerPoint)

                                                         Write conclusions (PowerPoint)

                                                                          Work on PowerPoint pages (presenting page, experimental design, hypothesis, experiment, data/graph, conclusions, and 

                                                                            process page.

May 26^th – May 29^th         Group Tasks:

                                                                                Complete PowerPoint presentation. 

                                                                                Perform   PowerPoint presentation for another class

                                                                               Perform   PowerPoint presentation for parents during evening performance.

Challenges & Help Needed:

            I will need parent help to make this activity a successful one for each and every group.  I need parents to sign-up to come in at specific times and help mentor groups through their process.  Some groups may need more mentoring than others. I would like you to consider volunteering for this important activity. Work sessions will most often occur between 10:15 and 11:30. 

It would be most helpful to me if you could:

 1. Let me know if you are able to volunteer.

             2. Which day(s) you would be available to help mentor a group.

             3. The number at which you can be reached.

         Thanks,

                Mr. Harris