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Our focus for the week was to discover how scientists classify living organisms. Our first activity of the week was to organize some "random things found in my room." Students had to practice the principles of classification by putting these objects into groups based on the similarities between them. We also learned about the eight levels of classification (remember "Dear King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda?") and discussed how scientific names are formed. In our "Shape Island" activity, students had to assign organisms a scientific name based on their physical characteristics. Students had to use Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, and prefixes in order to design the scientific names of each.

On Friday, we worked together to identify and describe how living things are classified. We identified the the three domains (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya), the six kingdoms (archaebacteria, eubacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals), and the characteristics of each one. Next week, students will be challenged to use their knowledge of classification to create a classification scheme for some "creepy critters."

A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to the girls' basketball team on their first place conference tournament title! For those of you that were able to attend the game on Friday, you would probably agree with me that it was AWESOME! Those girls fought hard and truly deserved their victory!