Never seen before gull deterant

Genius!  The gulls don't fly through the trees thus allowing the kids to eat without. Fear of gull pilfery. 

Sea Camp day two

2013 Sea Camp Tuesday

With All-hallows eve a week away, fog blanketed Fiesta Island with an embrace that repelled the sun’s rays and cast the Sea Camp compound in perpetual gloom.  After the high energy and sunshine of our first day at La Jolla Shores, the atmosphere mimicked the sleepiness that seeped from the campers and spread through the soul of Mission Bay.  Even the wafting sent of hash browns and eggs in the air couldn’t pry the clinging sleep from the eyes of the most enthusiastic Sea Camper.   Eventually, grumbling tummies and full bladders alerted everyone that the second day of Sea Camp had arrived. 

Despite the depressing setting, bellies full of the best breakfast foods soon spurred our hearts to pound our brains into action.  On the docket today is hag fish slime, shark skin, and fish dissection at fish lab in the morning and the promise of snorkeling /seining at Mission point in the afternoon.  Among the various fish studied in the fish lab is the adorable hag fish.  This endearingly cute creature lives in the deepest depths of the ocean and has a unique way of preserving and protecting their favorite foods in Davey Jones’s locker, it slimes it with mucus.  Yum!  No joke, these things will coat the carcass of a dead whale on the ocean floor with mucus slime so thick that no sent can escape.  Now this slime has many other fascinating uses, for instance Nikko showed us how effective it is as a hair gel.  Nothing says yes I will go to prom with you like a head full of hag fish slime.  On a side not and even more shocking, we had a Slavens Sea Camp first at last night’s invertebrates lab.  Isabella actually ate one of the dissection squid.  I am willing to eat almost anything, but there is no way that I am getting one of those things down.  Props to Isabella! OK, back to today’s work.  The other cool learning experience is the mackerel dissection.  Future scientists had fun ripping the heart out “like an Aztec sacrifice” and opening the stomach to see what the warden gave the fish for their last meal. 

Speaking of food, it’s off to mission point for lunch so we donned our newly purchased navy blue Sea Camp hoodies and  our swim trunks and piled into the vans for the fifteen van drive, I mean rave, to the spot where the ocean meets Misson Bay, Mission Point.  By the way, did you know that all San Diego radio stations are “all about that base, ‘bout that base, ‘bout that base, no treble”?  Every 4 minutes or so.

After a quick lunch of sandwiches, cookies, and sprout ball it was time for snorkeling.

Mission point is the ideal location for introducing snorkeling because it provides relatively calm area that still has the biodiversity of the local Pacific waters.  Many species of fish and invertebrates use these protected waters as a nursery for their young so there is plentiful marine life that can be seen by simply floating along the surface of the water.  We again squeezed into our 8mm thick neoprene skin with the addition of hooded vests to guard against the inevitable chill of the 73 degree salt water that would soon engulf us and fins, masks, and snorkels.  That’s right, you read it right, 73 degrees!  I have never been here with such warm water.  I love the ‘new’ pacific, but it comes at a cost.  The downright hot water has caused the normally plentiful marine life to find cooler water.  In addition to the warm water, there is a high swell advisory so the visibility is next to zero which is less than satisfying for snorkeling.  Since you couldn’t see more than inch or two I was left to day dream about snorkeling in years past, cue the harp music and wavy picture…

This year we discovered the largest black sea hares I have ever seen.  The sea hare is the largest species of slug in the world growing to the size of a basketball and weighing up to 35 pounds.  The sea hare has been given its name from its two rhinophores that slightly resemble the ears of a rabbit; to be honest one would need to blind to mistake them for a rabbit.  They are so ugly that they are cute.  Cute enough for Riley M. (ok, this is a memory, but let’s place the class of 2015 in the vision) to attempt to smuggle one out of the water in her wetsuit for a new family pet.   As you can imagine, a 35 pound ball of slug slime has no natural predators.  We discovered not one but two of these titans of the slug world canoodling under a rocky ledge.  We could practically hear Barry White playing in the background.  We also were treated to Rebecca’s new head ware, a knobby blue sea star as well and a keyhole limpet.  The key whole limpet is always a favorite of snorkeling treasure hunters because licking its underside gives the licker seven years of good luck.  I licked my first limpet seven years ago and I have gotten to go to Sea Camp ever since.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.   In addition to bestowing years of good fortune, this invertebrate has the ability to change its taste according to season according to the Sea Camp staff.  Being so close to Thanksgiving, Cameron (he really did get the 7 yars of good luck) and I clearly tasted pumpkin pie with a hint of sweet potato.  Yum!  We also saw snails, sea urchin, and fish galore including one territorial garibaldi that chased Codi all the way back to shore for seining.

Seining is an ancient way of catching fish where two people stretch a net between them while a line of people slowly march towards the net.  Startled fish flee the oncoming hoard of stomping feet and swim straight into the net.  Due to high tide, we were less successful than in years past in netting fish, but we still discovered the longest male pipe fish I have ever seen.  You may ask, Mr. Framke, how do you know it was Male?  Well, pipe fish are relatives of the sea horse and like sea horses, the male carries the young.  Don’t tell my wife, she’ll think I’m just a big wimp.  Our group also caught a kelp crab, some kelp crawlers, and a top smelt.

The only thing left to do is the mammal lab tonight and packing for the boat trip tomorrow.  Good night from San Diego,

7 year good luck

Sand angels

Seining. Yum

Day One Recap

(To be edited later.  I'm tired)

Sea Camp 2014 Day 1

We all arrived at DIA around 6:30 am, although some were delayed a bit by the construction traffic.  We got checked in at the Southwest check in, then lined up for what was the first of many head counts and headed for the security.  Fortunately a sympathetic TSA attendant allowed us to go through the expedited screening which allowed us all to get through security without having to negotiate the typical slalom course that precedes the x-ray machines and body scanners.   Thirty minutes later 53 Slavens students emerged from the screening only a bottle or two lighter then when we had entered.  The excitement came when a Riley McWhite recognized Julius Thomas’s parents in the queue for the train and Jackson Smith had the courage to go up to them and shake their hands.  It turns out that Julius’s father is a principal and seemed genuinely interested in our school trip to San Diego.  Once we arrived at gate C37, everyone received their first Sea Camp rite of passage, the airport algebra sheet. With only 20 minutes before our boarding group most students elected to diligently start working, I love teaching at Slavens, while we waited our turn to board.  The flight was uneventful despite the pilot actually bouncing the plane on landing and soon we had disembarked and retrieved out luggage.

At the baggage claim we met our Sea Camp group leader Ryan and piled into the Econo vans that whisked us away to the Sea Camp estates locate on Fiesta Island in San Diego’s Mission Bay.  After a quick orientation we were off to La Jolla Cove where we had our first of many fine picnic meals.  This year the lunch fair has significantly improved.  I had this wonderful Mahi Mahi Japanese wrap that had just the right amount of wasabi that had me wanting more.  Don’t all 8^th graders love wasabi?  Immediately after cleaning our area, OK we let the sea gulls do the lion’s share of the work (mine, mine, mine), we allowed our food to digest with a relaxing game of sprout ball (Sprout ball is a modified version of doge ball that Nikko, Ben, Tyler, and Ree were freakishly good at). 

Once the last ball fell to Earth the group split into two, half went boogie board and the other half went for a guided beach walk that focused on all the important roles kept play in the oceans ecosystem. 

    One of the highlights of the trip is always student’s first attempt at putting on a wetsuit.  Only one camper tried to put on the suit inside out (a new record low) and one tried to put it on by slipping the whole thing over their head!  It didn’t work.  Another hidden Sea Camp jem of an activity is the wetsuit chest bump.  Nothing gives you a good rebound off of another person than a 9mm layer of neoprene.  After discussing the safety precautions, your know always go in the water with a buddy, shuffle your feet to avoid the sting rays, and remembering that in the event of a water landing our seat cushion can be used as a floatation device, we grabbed a boogie board and jumped into the surf.  To be honest, the waves at the cove when I have been on the trip are few and far between.  Fortunately we are at the tail end of a swell so we actually had some solid waves to surf.  Will and Katie seemed like naturals in this new salty aquatic environment.  On the other side of the coin Marta and Lauren were out doing themselves for the best wipeout while several boogie boarders had to briefly leave the water with bloody noses from allowing a wave to push their boards into their faces.  I think one of them was trying to hold back the tide.

After several hours boarding and exploring we again loaded into the vans for a quick stop at Seal Beach.  Seal Beach is a beach originally built for children’s swimming lessons, however the beach proved to be such a good place for seal pup raising, but the pinnipeds ended up taking over the beach.  

You may think that this would constitute a full day of activity, but not so.  Once campers had their fill of watching the graceful seals swim, and then not so gracefully get out of the water, we again loaded the vans and returned to base camp of free time, dinner and night labs.   Even as I write this there is a Slavens student, scalpel in hand, slicing open the ink sack of a squid or emptying the stomach of a mackerel.

Good night from Sea Camp

Dinner time

Spaghetti, salad, and cookies

Seal beach

Epic surfing!

Whale rider

Group 2

Boogie boarding at the shore

Sea camp dorm and schedule

Getting ready for boogie boarding

Loading up the vans

Through the airport!

Edmodo code

Your online section is available on edmodo.  You must first sign up for the class.  The code is below.

pruima

Flag football

Practice this week:

Monday morning

Tuesday afternoon

Wednesday morning

Thursday afternoon

Friday game

Parent teacher conference assignment

Here is the link for parent teacher conferences for my homeroom only

parent teacher conference assignment

Homework assignment sheet

ACE 1, 2, 8 in the fourth section is due Thursday 10/9

Cross Country Help

We need some volunteers to run the district championships October 7th.
Please sign up to help through this link
District Volunteer Sign Up

Xc meet start time

Our meet starts at 4:45 at the same place as last week

Important Broncos article

Homework assignment sheet

The whole assignment sheet will be up shortly
ace 22, 23, 34, 47-49 in the first ace section

Broncos squares - seahawks

XC results

Here is the link for the results:  http://www.hallucinationsports.com/event/show/63291880.

Inv 3.3 summary

Summary
twmm inv 3 3 summery
We had some stage freight so bare with them

Sub plan videos

Looking back looking ahead warm up and launch
twmm looking back ahead and warm up

The flipcharts for both grades are up. You'll have to switch between them as the classes change.
8th grade has a war, up then work time on the looking back looking ahead.  anything other than the reflections must be finished by Monday morning. 

Homework tonight

ace 1, 2, 12, 13-26 In the third section

Broncos squares - colts

XC volunteer sign up

 XC Volunteer sign up

Wash park meet pics

Edmonton Update

The world aquathlon (swim - run) championships were today in Edmonton and I was fortunate enought to win the bronze medal. I hope all is well back at slavens and I will see you on September 2nd. 

Please remember that our first cross country practice is on Tuesday morning at 7:00 am (meet in my room) and our first meet is at Washington Park a week from today (Wednesday). Make sure you are running 3 to 4timea this week so the 2-mile course. An be as enjoyable as possible. These runs are about keeping a sustainable pace for 30 min, not speed.  

Homework assignment sheet

Parent letter

Dear Parents,

Please read through this letter with your student tonight (8/25), verify that your student has a homework assignment sheet, and sign the back page. Your child should return this signed letter to me tomorrow in class.

Introduction

This will be my ninth year teaching 7^th and 8 the grade mathematics at Slavens and my thirteenth year in DPS.  I received my Bachelors of Architecture and my teaching credential from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and my Masters of Education from Lesley University. I then worked as an architect in San Francisco and Santa Barbara for three years while my wife worked towards her law degree at the University of California at Berkeley.  Besides my interests in teaching, I also have a passion for sports. In college I played football, rugby, and ran cross country.  This year I have the exciting opportunity to race as part of the US national triathlon team in Edmonton, Canada and as a result I will be out the rest of this week.

Post from my phone!

Look at me I can post from my phone!

Our new science teacher!

Tuesday - Friday 8th grade connected math

Thinking with Math Models
Inv 1.2
Warm-up
s and s inv 2.1 warm up (yes, this is the right one)
Launch
twmm_investigation_1.2_part_1
Summery
twmm_investigation_1.2_part_2_summery
Inv 1.3
Warm-up
 s and s inv 2.2 warm-up
Launch
  twmm inv 13 launch
Summery
twmm inv 1 3 summary

Inv 2.1
Warm-up
twmm inv 2 1 warm up
Launch
twmm inv 2.1 launch
summery
twmm inv 21 part a equation
twmm inv 2.1 full summery 


Inv 2.2
Warm-up
twmm inv 2 2 warm up
Launch
twmm inv 2.2 launch