Self Grading

Life Science
I think I deserve at least a A- on my organism's aquarium (I think I did about 90% of the work). I think, even though I did not have the filter, I should still get a good grade. The only reason I DID NOT know about the filter, was because of every website I went to, it did not say ANYTHING about having a filter. I'll list all of my reasons for this grade....

1. I had researched all aspects of taking care of this animal (along with Neil), and even though I did not have all of the things I needed (at first) I eventually came up with it in the end.

2. I worked very hard on this aquarium, and did my best to both establish elements from the Mayan civilization AND make sure my animal could live happily and healthfully.

3. When I thought of something that could've harmed my frog, I made sure there was something to prevent that from happening.

Humanities
I think I deserve an A for the humanities aspect of my aquarium ( I did about 90% of the humanities work) . Here are some reasons, why I believe I should get the grade...

1. The Mayan pyramid I made, is completely on scale, while many other Mayan pyramids in the reptile group are off scale.

2. I did my best to make it look realistic and work underwater.

3. I worked VERY HARD on the pyramid, in order to make it work well under water (wood would definitely not work well underwater)

Today I walked into the classroom, and saw that the aquarium was very murky. I realized this was because I did not have a water filter. so luckily Caitlin let me use hers. The reason I did not have a filter to start with, was because all of the websites a had visited, never stated that it was important to have a filter. But in the end of the day, it all worked out. Thank you Caitlin and Maira!

Up and Running

Today, in the classroom, I completed the aquarium setup. So far, it looks and works great. I am a little disappointed about the white trail, I made in front of the pyramid. Its a little sloppy, because all of the rocks got mixed. I will be posting the pictures pretty soon. Hopefully our little froggy (Osiris) will like his new home.

"CGP"

Today I worked on my "Computer Generated Poster". I've just been looking up the answers for the questions before I even start on my photoshop work for it. It's kinda boring looking it all up, but I think it should be a fairly good job for me to do. I still haven't fixed up the pyramid (or cleaned my backpack for that matter...) so I think I'll work on the terrarium today, hopefully finish it so I can have more free time over the weekend. Geesh, I'm booked this weekend...

Wam....Wam....EUREKA CEMENT!

Today I cracked the plaster, and pried the cement pyramid out of it. It came out, alright. Not quite as complete as I wanted it to be, but I'll try to fix it with some hot glue and paint. Here are some pictures of what I have been working on...

Here are the pictures of ripping out the foam from the plaster...







Here are the pictures of the negative cast, filled with cement...




And Last but definitely not least, here are the pictures of breaking off the plaster from the cement. Luckily I was able to split in half, rather than just






WHAT A MESS!

Casting....CHECK!

Yesterday I finally finished casting (plastering) the pyramid! Today I'll be taking the box apart, and hopefully pouring cement in the negative of the pyramid. Hopefully everything comes out alright and then I'll just let the cement dry. So with that progress, I should be able to complete the terrarium by the end of this week. Also today, I worked on my interprative panel. I had a lot of fun working on it, since I worked on photoshop :] I'll continue working on it later tonight so I should be done by the end of the day tomorrow.

Casting the pyramid

Good news - the lesson plan went pretty well! I'm proud of how we did, considering how stressed I was about it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the plaster for the pyramid yet, but I'm planning on doing it today. I'll just stop by Home Depot, and get some plaster, concrete and little foam peanuts so the finished concrete pyramid won't weigh too much. I've already taken home the tank and have made sure that the pyramid fits. When I'm done making it, I will be sure to put up pictures.