Inherited Behaviors: Instincts

Have you seen these Canada goslings around lately?  They're so cute, until they grow up and hold up neighborhood traffic, or worse, decide to fly into the side of your vehicle, taking off your mirror while you are driving.  Ever wonder why they stay in Jacksonville all year long?  Aren't they supposed to migrate back to Canada at some point?  Why do you think this is? 

UPDATE 5/16: Here's why.  A great example of how the (outer) environment can affect an organism's inherited characteristics.

 

Play Day!

Today is one of my favorite days of the school year, Play Day!  We rotated among five stations- parachute, jump ropes, hula hooping/basketball, catching and throwing, and soccer.

At the end of the day, we celebrated good sportsmanship with a relay race.

Congratulations to BOTH of our homerooms!  Team Remley and Team Kirkham swept the girls' heats, and Team Remley's boys won their heat!  We couldn't have done it without our classmates and parents cheering us on.

Heredity & Reproduction

In science, we are presently investigating inherited characteristics in plants and animals.

Which of these traits do you have?  You can thank your parents.  :-)

Hairline:

Hair:

straight or curly?

Hand Clasping:

Second Toe:

shorter than big toe

or

longer than big toe?

Thumb:

Dimples?

Can you roll your tongue?

Do you have a cleft chin?

Do you have freckles?

Can you make the vulcan sign?

Colorblindness and some allergies can be inherited from your parents too.

This topic is especially exciting to me as I am eagerly anticipating becoming an aunt at the end of summer!  

My brother and his wife

Will Addison Faith have her dad's (my brother's) brown eyes, or her mom's blue eyes?  Will she have her dad's fine hair texture, or her mom's thick hair?  Will she be average height like her dad or tall like her mom?

My parents, 1976

My brother and me, 2012

What about you?  Do you have more of your dad's or mom's physical characteristics?  Or are you a balanced mix of both parents?  Did you inherit any characteristics that neither of your parents have (but possibly your grandparents or even great-grandparents have/had)?

What about your pets?

I never met our dog's parents, but she has a Chow curled tail and spotted tongue (her mom is Chow-German Shepherd).  Mr. Remley said her brothers were colored like her dad, a Rottweiler.

Stay tuned!  We'll also learn that some characteristics are affected by environment.

Boosterthon Camp High Five

Yesterday we had a pep rally to kick off our school's second Boosterthon.  We are hoping to finish raising enough money to replace/upgrade our playground equipment.  Your student received information about Boosterthon yesterday, including who and how to ask for flat donations or pledges.  If you haven't already, make sure your student logs on to www.funrun.com to view special daily features such as music videos and keep track of online donations and pledges.

Both classes are in the process of picking team names and deciding whole class incentives to receive when we reach our pledge goals.

Today's challenge is the class who gets the most pledges tonight will have the opportunity to challenge the Boosterthon team to a game of kickball.  Doesn't that sound like fun?!  Let's be that class, Team Kirkham or Team Remley!