November 25-26

Short Week
Thanksgiving break starts early this year. There will be no school in session on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. I shared on the MIS Thanksgiving tree that I'm thankful for this year's fifth graders who come every morning anxious and eager to learn. It's been a fantastic year here at Maxwell!

Anoles
The anoles have found permanent homes. Only one remains in the lab as of today waiting for a Monday pickup. I've had the most luck purchasing small (pinhead) crickets at the Pet Smart in Cherry Tree Plaza at E. Washington and Mitthoeffer Street on the far eastside of Indianapolis. They have a large supply and they're only 11 cents each. The anoles do need to have live food (crickets) as they are sight hunters and need to see their prey moving. With the pinheads, the lizards are perfectly able to eat daily. Just don't put more than one or two in the habitat at a time as they'll actually gang up on the anole if there are too many of them. The anoles get their water by licking drops of water from branches and leaves in the wild as drinking from standing water makes them too accessible to predators (mostly birds). About a ten second spritz of spring water daily should be sufficient. In the lab we were able to maintain their temperature requirements (70's-80's) with an incandescent light bulb. A small thermometer can come in handy to monitor temperature.

Activities and Assignments for the Week
Monday, Nov 25   (Gold Day)
1. Bell Work
2. Checkup of notes and science journal entries on food chains/webs
3. USA Weekly #10  (Focusing on Ben Franklin)
4. No homework

Tuesday, Nov 26   (Blue Day)
D.A.R.E. with Officer McCarley

Wednesday - Friday
Assignment - Have a great Thanksgiving break.
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Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0YbuDqCIOU

The Thanksgiving we celebrate now has only been around about 400 yrs. Native tribes have observed the event for 1000's of years. This is how the Europeans learned of the annual Thanksgiving tradition. http://www.500nations.tv/