new Blog

We were having problems getting the pictures to show up in school so we have moved to a new blog host. You can subscribe to our new blog at:
http://mrsballing.weebly.com/ballin-biology-blog.html
see you there!

A new clue about our class pet...

a LOT of you have been asking "what kind of food does our class pet like to eat?"

Some guidelines (and a hint) if you want to bring in food:

YES (Delicious to our pet)

Vegetable & fruit waste (citrus fruit should be added in moderation when using smaller bins)

• Shredded newspaper, used paper towels (common sense applies here), cardboard (great idea to add these carbon rich materials at the same time you add any wet food waste)
• Egg shells (best if ground up and in moderation)
• Coffee grounds
• Tea bags

NO way! (disgusting)

• Human/pet waste
• Non biodegradable materials
• Dairy/meat
• Oils/grease
• Harsh chemicals

Class Pet

Our class pet will be arriving soon.....what will it be? Here is a clue...













Comment below and guess what it will be...

Paper Chromatography Lab

We used chromatography paper to separate the pigments in 4 different markers. Each marker's pigment separated with the use of water. The smallest pigment molecules were

carried by the water all the way to the top of the paper, the largest pigments barely moved up the paper at all.

Tree Identification Lab

We identified trees in the memorial grove at the high school. We used the Master Tree Finder's dichotomous key and identified the genus and species of the various deciduous and coniferous trees on the school grounds. We also learned where the trees grow naturally in the United States.

Wild Plants Lab

This week we went outside into the area where the homecoming bonfire is usually held. This is an area of annual renewal. The plants present there today will be buried by a large pile of wooden pallets and will be burnt to the ground. The area will then begin to reestablish themselves and their population. So we spent one class period identifying the plants present and counting the number of individuals in that population. We studied many areas the size of a hula hoop. We did find some new species that we have not seen before and a very large spider which we are trying to identify. It was really nice to get out of the classroom and spend time studying our surrounding that we frequently overlook and ignore.
In this picture is a spider that was found in the bonfire pit area.