Quail Project: Updates 3 Alive and 2 Dead

Way back in the fall we started up a quail project where my 4th and 5th grade ELP students incubated and hatched quail eggs. This project has continued and we now have four mating pairs. From these pairs we have plenty of eggs and one of our 7th grade homerooms has taken on the challenge of hatching the eggs of our original quail.

This entire quail project has been quite interesting to follow. We are all in this together learning and figuring things out. We have quail all over in various cages at student homes, teacher homes, and school.

Recently we attempted to release some quail in a courtyard at one of our schools. It was an experiment because we were not sure if they would fly away or remain. We are happy to report that after a few weeks the quail have found the courtyard to be a place called home. We have lost only one baby quail so far, but still have a mating pair laying eggs daily and two younger quail.

This whole piece is interesting. The courtyard was created to remember a student who died. Nicole was a student at Hoover Elementary School. Nicole Wooldridge, 9, died in May 2001 after battling neuroblastoma cancer for most of her life.

A cool thing emerged from the courtyard and that was a pair of ducks who mated and raised ducklings in the courtyard each year. This year was the first time that the ducks did not return. We find it only ironic that we had a successful year of hatching quail and found it fitting to continue the tradition of nature and the life cycle.

While we are working through this whole experiment I had a 7th grade homeroom class take on the challenge of hatching quail. They would come in the morning, lunch, and after school to check the temperature and rotate the eggs. This past Wednesday, May 15th, was the 23rd day of incubation. We were not sure if any eggs would hatch because often times the first eggs quail lay are not the strongest and it takes time to develop good quality eggs.

We were thrilled to have three quail hatch. We then added a fourth on that Thursday and Friday we had to help one guy hatch giving us a total of five.

Three are doing quite well. One of the original quail that hatched died Friday. He had a serious neck problem. Saturday morning my son and I found the quail that needed help hatching had died also. This is part of nature and somethings that we can talk about and learn from as a class.

So, with one week left of school what are we going to do with the quail? My son wants to help raise them so with only three quail we will be building a cage to help take care of them at my house over the summer. This should be one interesting story to unfold.

During the week we do livestream the quail via Google Hangout and YouTube so be sure to tune in. We run it live starting around 8 - 8:30 am Central time.

The quail are now 5 days old and it is amazing how much stronger and bigger they have become in such a short amount of time.

Here are several videos and images from our quail adventures in the past few weeks. I will be adding to this set every couple of days.




And last a short video documenting the hatching of our quail named Oreo

auditory point of view websites for students

A few useful sites to give students a different perspective from an auditory point of view:

Aural History (cool excerpts, recorded interviews / speeches, audio segments from movies, etc.)

http://www.talkinghistory.org/

Science Radio (radio stations from around the world)

http://tunein.com/radio/Science-c520464/

Free Old Time Radio Shows (the serials are fun to listen to. Great sound effects and acting.)

http://radiolovers.com/pages/allshows.html

Live Radio Stations of the World (fabulous site!! even has police scanners!)

http://www.surfmusic.de/

Bald Eagle Student Showcase: Video of Presentations and Link to Visuals

Here is a video link to some of the student projects from our ALCOA Eagle Eye to the World Showcase. 30 students from the Bettendorf ELP program in grades 4 and 5 presented an independent study project on one aspect of bald eagles.

Here is a link to the video - http://youtu.be/3PxDIW19g0I

This is the link to our bald eagle global project page as well as all things we have done with the eagles - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/Final+Showcase

Feel free to check out all the things on the site above.

ALCOA Eagle Eye To The World: Bettendorf Student Showcase Night Part 1

On Monday, March 18th from 5:00 - 7:00 students who are part of the Bettendorf Schools ELP program conducted a student showcase to show off their work on their independent study projects that they have been working on all 3rd quarter.

We have 85 presentations spanning from grades 4-8. The elementary grades (4 and 5) focused on bald eagles as part of the Eagle Eye to the World project that was created by several teachers and former students.

Students made their way into the middle school around 3:30 after being released from school at 3:20 to setup their stations. We placed 30 elementary students in four classrooms in a manner that gave each student plenty of space to conduct a presentation and to quiet the noise from the hallways. Students had from 3:30 - 4:45 to get ready and prepared. After setting up students could eat pizza with their mentors from 4:15 - 4:45 (we have our elementary students paired up with 8th grade students to offer guidance). Also, during this time they were able to talk with Allen Holloway. Outside of the classrooms we had expert painter Allen Holloway set up painting a bald eagle to show the community all the various career pathways that studying something like the bald eagle. could provide. He was in the middle of painting a current painting of a bald eagle which was just amazing. To watch him work was a sight indeed. I had a chance to speak with him and he was such a remarkable guy. He had lots of visitors passing by and stopping to admire his work. It was a great pleasure to have him for our showcase night. When I was discussing ideas with him I found a couple ideas to be important. First, by sharing his passion for painting students are able to realize that you can make a living out of your passions despite what people tell you. He told me how everyone told him he could not live as a a painter and now he does just that. His story is important for students to hear that they should never give up on their dreams. Second, he talked about how important having something like this is for students. He wished he had something like this project available to him as a student. That was a big compliment to what we are doing and what we are striving to achieve.

Our big goal with the showcase is help our students learn to speak publicly and be able to articulate their thoughts and ideas. If we can begin to develop this in grade 4 and have them speak to hundreds of people on a night like this, then think about how amazing they will be thinking on their feet by the time they graduate. They will be ready for the real world.

Even more important to me about this night is that it provides students a chance to showcase their hard work and talents. I have told the students from day one that if you put in the time and hard work to this project, then you will be busy all night. I don't have to give a grade because the audience response will tell you how you did.

Additionally, this gives the students a chance to show off their work. So often in school kids turn in work to one teacher who looks things over and gives a few comments. This gives them a chance to share their knowledge with hundreds of people That is awesome!

Each student had to focus on one aspect of the bald eagle that they were interested in studying more in depth. They had to create a display and have a station for people to visit. Additionally, to keep things engaging each student was required to have one interactive component. This interactive component forced the audience to engage in the material. When they complete the task, then they are awarded a clue to our scavenger hunt. You can view our scavenger hunt and handout here - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/Final+Showcase

I will be sharing their stations and work shortly. I have been working on some video and images. In the meantime I wanted to share just one of the things we offered during our showcase on Monday. Below is the painting he was working on. And yes, I have all intentions of buying this print when it is finished.

At 4:45 we began to usher the students and anyone who showed up for the sessions into the auditorium for our next special presentation which I will share in Part 2 coming shortly once the video finishes up. Stay tuned.

You can check out all things about this night and our global project here - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/

We are currently tracking and keeping a log on the eagles and eaglets. Feel free to help us out. We are trying to crowdsource the documentation of the eagles.

Bettendorf, Iowa Students Eagle Learning Updates

http://eagleeyecamera.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/bettendorf-iowa-students-eagle-learning-updates/

Bald Eagle Photo Album Updated - Bald Eagle Days

I have updated the photo album pertaining to our Bald Eagle Project taking place now. This weekend I attended Bald Eagle Days and was able to snap some pictures of an eagle about 4 feet from me. Very cool.

4th and 5th Grade ELP Class - New Year and Christmas Cards from Japan

I have updated our picture album from cards and letters from our friends from Japan. Last week students were able to see their cards that were created by their friends from Japan. This week we will finish making our cards and send them on their way. We are always amazed by how artistic each card and letter is when they arrive. So amazing.

The Power Of Flattening Our Classroom

I am currently running a Bald Eagle Project and I wanted to share a blog post written by the teacher who is participating from the Netherlands. It just goes to show how powerful global connections and projects can really be.

http://eagleeyecamera.wordpress.com/

Bald Eagle Project - An Eagle Eye To The World is off and running

A project that a few Bettendorf teachers and former students created over the summer is underway. As of right now I am running and operating the global project. We are now up to 5 schools participating which is pretty good for the first year of doing this project. We will be using the Alcoa Bald Eagle Camera to drive learning and enhancements of 21st century skills.

You can see the project page here - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/home

Right now students and teachers are in the handshake phase getting to know one another through the use of Edmodo. We are having a great time learning how to use this site and to establish some relationships. Already we have been able to see the eagles the last few days. It is very cool. The wiki project page has a lot to offer so be sure to check out all the pages. The school from the Netherlands has created a book in both English and Dutch on the artwork page.

You may not be a participant in one of the classes, but that does not mean you cannot join in the fun. You are always welcome to follow along, create artwork or projects, and join us on this expedition.

It is off to a great start and I look forward to seeing how things develop. Teachers and students are all learning at the same time and shouldn't school be about everyone learning and growing? I think so.

If you have questions, suggestions, or any great ideas please let me know. Until then, check the camera, watch the eagles, and watch our learning grow along the way.

Pringle Chip Challenge: Video explanations and ready for packages to arrive!

If you have been following all of the awesome events and projects taking place in my 4th and 5th grade ELP classes, then you know we have been working on creating a container that will allow Pringle Chip to be mailed to another state unharmed.

You can read about the whole project and requirements here: http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/2012/10/pringle-challenge-is-underway.html

Last week while we were finalizing our containers(we were under the gun with only about 2-3 class periods to get it all done) students were asked to step out into the hallway and record a little bit about what they created and why.

I apologize for the movement of the camera as the students did not have the most steady hand.

When the packages arrive and we Skype with the classes I will be sure to share the results.

Here is 4th grade




Here is 5th grade





Last, here is a slideshow of pictures and video documenting the creation process. There are some awesome ideas in here.

Quail Update: 17 days old and ready to move

This week will be a big week for the quail. We have a pen all ready to go at the school so the quail can finally be at the school for the students to take part in raising the quail.

Before I moved the quail to the school I decided to do one more time lapse video. This one is for 24 hours. After showing the first time lapse video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07N9BR8V8Co&feature=share&list=UUMJ0GJfo7BzVAHINQQ7VEgw
  
students really wanted to know if the quail actually slept, do they like the light, do they fight, etc.

To find some answers I set the camera up one more time. The camera took a picture every 15 seconds for an entire day.

Check it out below. It is pretty crazy to watch them work. See if you can notice any patterns to their system.

Quail Update: 14 Days Old, Day In The Life In The Brooder

I have been documenting our quail every single day. I need to get everything up and running so people can see. That is my goal this weekend is to get all photos and videos up and running.

Yesterday(Halloween) marked the two week survival mark for our quail. Mr. Collett brought 4 quail over to my house last Friday to help my one quail learn to work with others. They have worked well together.

The quail have doubled in size and are learning to fly. Their wings are getting stronger. Therefore, I had to move to a bigger container as you will see in the video.

Yesterday I tested out a new app where I can record timelapse. So I recorded a day of the quail.

The video below is a montage of every picture taken from 6:30 in the morning until 4 pm. I set my iPhone up to take a picture every 15 seconds. You will see how active they are and how they work like a little family.

I hope you enjoy and I will be sharing much more soon.

Don't forget to check out our wiki project page dealing with Bald Eagles and birds native to your areas. Please consider joining the classes already signed up. We are currently working to change the team topics to meet the needs of all schools so don't hesitate and sign up today!

http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/

Our Bus Driver: Canoe Maker and Amazing Person and Teacher

Bill Collett, the man who I call, "The Man, The Myth, and The Legend" was spotlighted in our local new channel. Bill Collett is our bus driver for our ELP program that I teach. Bill is retired from education after serving for many, many years as the outdoor director education teacher for our district. With budget cuts, the program ceased to exist as do many field trips and amazing opportunities that he created and organized.

We are lucky enough to have him as our mode of transportation. He picks up all the students for our 4th and 5th grade ELP classes and brings them to the middle school for class. Many bus drivers would just relax, take a nap, and not enjoy the hour to themselves. With Bill, he comes to class and really serves as another educator in our classroom. His infinite wisdom and way of thinking and processing elevates our learning atmosphere and we are lucky to have him.

With all that being said, he is an outdoor guy. He has traveled, canoed, backpacked, etc. all over the world. He has amazing stories and rarely is there a former student who does not have a fond memory of him from his travels and field trips. Fran Riley of KWQC news contacted Bill about doing a feature on his canoes. Bill builds these from scratch by hand in his garage. They are amazing. They are beautiful. I will have to get some pictures that he has taken so you can really grasp how amazing his craftsmanship really is.

Yesterday, the news segment was on the TV. I wanted to share it with everyone because I think it is important to spotlight all the amazing people that we have in our communities. If you did not know Bill personally, you would never know of his amazing skills. He is not one to brag or even bring up what he is capable of achieving. This is why he is a perfect example for our youth.

Here is the news segment.
http://www.kwqc.com/category/231919/video-landing-page?clipId=7900938&autostart=true

Pringle Challenge Is Underway!

My 4th and 5th grade ELP students are taking part in a Pringle Challenge in which they have to build a container that will keep a Pringle chip intact while being shipped to various classrooms across the US. Students will receive a score based on intactness of their chip, volume, and mass. I could go into further detail, but all documents are presented and shared below.

The materials are quite limited. Students are only able to use notecards, 1 ply cardboard, masking tape, straws, and computer paper. That is all! Talk about making students really plan accordingly.

Here is a basic overview




Here is a Powerpoint going over the unit

Pringles challenge from Aaron Maurer

And here is the Scoring Sheet

Thanks to Elizabeth Jones who has created all these documents.

We wrap up building and finalizing this week. My students only have a few days of class to work as I only meet with each grade level two days a week.

We will mail them off Thursday when I meet with my 5th grade students.

We will then await the packages to arrive. Then we will Skype with the other classes so we can see our packages as well as the other students seeing theirs.

This has been one great thinking challenge and really forcing students to think in whole new aspects.

Here is a slideshow of some of their work in progress. I will update again later this week when we finalize our work.

Quail Update: 4 Days Old

Last Friday we finally had class with our 5th grade ELP students. They were so excited about the quail. We talked about what had developed since we had class the week before and where things were going. We viewed the video about the hatching of the quail and we then began to brainstorm the variables between our three incubators and what could have caused different amount of birds to hatch. It was great to back with the kids and actually talking about the quail with them.



As of Monday morning, the quail all seem to be doing good. We have had some scary situations in keeping the quail alive, but I believe we have worked through them all.

On my end the quail food has not arrived like it was supposed to. So, I have gone a different route with seeds, tomato, and most recently dog food. I hope the food arrives today so I can get the little guy on a good feeding system.

Speaking with Mr. Collett over the weekend it sounds like he had a scare. Mr. Collett had to devise a new brooder container after the first metal brooder the quail kept getting wet from the water dish. At this stage in development the quail cannot get wet as they are not able to regulate their body temperatures.

Mr. Collett had to use the dome incubator and dry towels to keep them warm much like what they do at hospitals and by staying up late into the night and helping them feed with an eye dropper they are still alive

My son has devised a little house for the quail at my house and a little trough. The house will have to be removed soon as the quail continues to move faster and learning how to jump which leads to flying.

I am working out a new camera system for the live feed. It is providing a much better picture, but I am having issues with it staying on. I hope to have this figured out soon.

This week we will try to figure out a way to get all the quail together and the best plan for getting them back to school for students to see in person.

Our next step - building a flight pen. Students will be taking part in building a flight pen for our quail to survive in throughout the winter. If you have any great ideas please send them our way.

Here are a few pictures

Friday, October 19th - One Day Old







Eating some tomato

Saturday, October 20th - Two Days Old





























Sunday, October 21st - Three Days Old






























To view all the rest check out the photos here

QUAIL HATCH!!!!

Late last night when I thought all was lost I was surprised to find one still alive. I thought it was a lost cause to be honest and the reason I pulled the live feed Thursday night. As I was cleaning the incubator I heard a noise and so far one has hatched and held strong to give us hope.

We have several more in another incubator and that one has had huge success as you will see in the video.

Check out the video. I have the live feed up and running. I just got things back up this morning before school. I will create a better live feed this evening when I have time to rig a camera to the brooder so I am not recording video through the plastic tub.

There is sound in case you want to hear the chirping. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aaronmaurer161

Remember, if you have a class that wants to join us for our eagle project, then please sign up and check out the details at http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/



Here is a slideshow of photos up until this point in time.

ALCOA Eagle On The World Project - Netherlands Press!

How cool is this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the very reason I support global classrooms. This is the very reason that I love education and connecting with people from around the world.

I received an email yesterday from Frank van den Oetelaar

Frank was kind enough to write an article about our ALCOA bald eagle project and submit it to the press in the Netherlands!

The NETHERLANDS

How amazing is that? I never would have thought that a bald eagle camera and project would spread like this.

You can read the article here - http://www.21stcenturyskills.nl/2012/10/18/21st-century-skills-ontwikkelen-in-het-eagle-global-project/

If you cannot read this language, then here is the translation

Thank you Frank for your article. I hope some classrooms connect with us on our project.

Here is the project page if you want to learn more and possibly join us! http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/

Quail Egg Hatching Update

Yesterday (Wednesday, October 17th) was the day of hatching. Based on the 23 day incubation cycle that quail eggs follow we were to have some quail out and about yesterday.

Many of you tuned in to the live feed and thank you so much for doing so. I know there was a lot of anticipation, but we did not have any quail successful break on through.

This does not mean that all is lost.

At around 5:30 am yesterday we had signs in three eggs by observing cracks in the shell like below(top egg in the right hand corner).



Throughout the rest of the day we did not see much action. When I arrived at home that night and checked there was not much improvement of the process.

This morning I noticed that the quail were back at it



You can see the egg bottom right has more cracks than yesterday.

Also, I was able to hear the quail chirping and making noise.

At this point I believe that we have a chance for at least one quail to hatch. When I left for school this morning the egg was moving like crazy. I hope this is a sign that the quail is still strong and able to break through the membrane.

If this little guy does not make it, then I am assuming that this batch is a lost cause, but important learning experience. We did however, separate our quail eggs so we were not putting all our eggs in one basket(nice pun!). In the incubator that Mr. Collet kept at his house he informed me that he had two quail hatch yesterday. We have another incubator at the bus barn as well. We have success and I just hope this one on the live feed will make it so we can experience the process.

I will keep everyone updated as much as I can.

Here is the live feed link - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aaronmaurer161

Here is the link to our project on bald eagles. Please consider joining us - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/

Quail Eggs - T-Minus 24 hours

In  less than one day our eggs are set to hatch.

Check out the live camera feed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aaronmaurer161

Check back often and I will try to keep everyone updated.

Students are currently working on names that start with Q for all the ones that make it out of the shell(I hope at least one does!)


Check out the egg development here on our bald eagle global project site - http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/Quail+Project

ITAG Conference Day 1: Brain on OVERLOAD, I create new Keynote!

Today was a great day of learning. It is so important for teachers to get out to these conferences to network. I learn so much from the keynotes and breakout sessions, but I learn even more from people in regular conversation.

If you know me, then you know I lack some social skills until prompted. I had to break out of my shell and comfort zone to engage and when I did I quite impressed with who I talked to and what they do. I have several posts in the making on all these topics. I have more pages of notes than you can imagine. I fought through fatigue to stay driven and capture key ideas.

These conferences make me realize how little I really know and how much more I can learn. I love this! It leaves me hungry for more.

Early today I posted my notes and thoughts from the first keynote. I will post the rest of my notes and ideas soon.

The point of this post is to get back to my earlier post about taking care of small details. I discussed my process of my handout. I still found two errors that are driving me nuts, but they are things that perhaps only I will notice. As I rehearsed yesterday I realized that my original slides did not fill the entire screen when presenting. So, I went back and created a whole new presentation. I kept 98% of it the same, but had to retype, copy and paste the whole thing to the new format. You can the new one here on my wiki for my presentation

Tomorrow I have to present during the last session of the entire conference. I hope to energize my crowd(if I even have one!). I have practiced. I have prepared. I am nervous. Nervous for coming across professional like the presenters here. Not nervous due to lack of preparation.

Off to relax and get a bit of sleep after the long night last night. As I have posted on Twitter and G+, I will post the same here to close. Thanks and stay tuned for all the great things I learned.

All educators, please leave a tweet about the importance of global education to the hashtag #flatclass. I am doing my first presentation tomorrow about global education. Feel free to also join the conversation tomorrow at 2:30 pm central time. I would love to have you to show how powerful the online global education network is. Thanks

OR

Leave a note or two on the wiki and/or presentation handout at http://www.coffeechug2.wikispaces.com