Discussed habitat in the wild forests of Nosy Be, NW Madagascar (where I volunteer), including looking at ~30 large professional photos from my National Geographic expeditions. Explained how we are replicating those conditions (vegetation, temperature, humidity) in a terrarium at the School. Added spagnum moss to keep humidity above 70% in the terrarium. Introduced the Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), proper handling techniques, and why he changes colors (mood, temperature more so than to look like surroundings). Discussed possibility of a Madagascar leaf tailed gecko as possible future pet for Ben.
Next week will overview camouflage in the animal kingdom. Chameleons hide by movements like leaves, not just colors.

Discussed habitat in the wild forests of Nosy Be, NW Madagascar (where I volunteer), including looking at ~30 large professional photos from my National Geographic expeditions. Explained how we are replicating those conditions (vegetation, temperature, humidity) in a terrarium at the School. Added spagnum moss to keep humidity above 70% in the terrarium. Introduced the Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), proper handling techniques, and why he changes colors (mood, temperature more so than to look like surroundings). Next week will overview camouflage in the animal kingdom. Chameleons hide by movements like leaves, not just colors. Discussed recent fishing success and am amazed at how many different fish Dutch can catch in one day!

Discussed habitat in the wild forests of Nosy Be, NW Madagascar and how we are replicating those conditions (vegetation, temperature, humidity) in a terrarium at the School. Added spagnum moss to keep humidity above 70% in the terrarium.
Introduced the Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), proper handling techniques, and why he changes colors (mood, temperature more so than to look like surroundings). Next week will feed the chameleon together and overview camouflage in the animal kingdom.

Suggested assignment with parents to look at Nosy Be since Sofia mentioned her parents would like to take her to Africa-- come to Madagascar! I will be there in July and August.

Started in Science room to see how the plant terrarium set up is coming along, explaining how it has been set up to replicate the natural habitat of a Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) from NW Madagascar, where I work with conservation of plants and animals in the field with Malagasy people.

Spent some time coloring book pages of other animals from Madagascar, discussing their ecology such as habitat (temperature, humidity, plants, light, soil) and dietary needs.

We started by testing heater and light for terrarium that is being set up with plants, as a habitat for a Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) to visit weekly. The heat strip under the tank was positioned by Kellan, and he asked why, it is to make temperature inside terrarium at 75-85 degrees F... he asked WHY? because the place the chameleon lives in Nature is that temperature. We have a thermometer for temp and a hygrometer to measure humidity.
After that we went outside and washed the rainbow river rocks in a bucket of water to prepare them for the tank. While on topic of rocks again, Kellan invented an imagination game that the floor turned to lava, and we did some core exercises to not touch ground. After that, we placed the clean rocks carefully into the glass terrarium. We had a few minutes to check out Batman series and some new drawings Kellan created that were really awesome. His storytelling skills are marvelous!!!

Started by coloring a panther chameleon from Madagascar coloring book... Then practiced tracing the page with the light table to improve drawing skills (important for documenting observations in science)... Went to science room to check out setup in progress that will have live plants and temperatures similar to Nosy Be, NW Madagascar where the panther chameleons come from...

Discuss current science coursework and there is none. Please note that I (Valerie Clark) am Episcopalian and am enthused that Jonathan's curriculum comes from a Catholic school.
We discussed Jonathan's interests in reptiles. In Jacksonville there is a Alligator/crocodile farm featuring >15 species of crocodilians, and I'd be happy to assist in a field trip (my PhD background is in herpetology, fieldwork and chemistry) there or to the local zoo.
Colored a page of a panther chameleon, a species of lizard from Madagascar. Jonathan was amazingly adept at using Google Earth on his own initiative to look up the place where I live part-time in Madagascar-- he even zoomed in (via blue dot) to see an area of one of my study transects where I marked a tree with blue paint. Amazed that at age 7 to be so adept at geographical exploration! I am a National Geographic Explorer and I believe he would be competitive for the kids' explorers programs at the NGS, although I did not mention all that to him.
Visited the science lab to check out materials for setting up a terrarium with tropical plants suitable for small rainforest animals to live in.

Planned to review his current science assignments, help as needed, and relate them to the comic series. Left a note, hope you are healthy and doing great!

In today's class Sebastian and I played some interactive games online where we were tying to balance the animals populations that lived in the ecosystem.

In today's class I showed Sebastian my two snakes and educated him on their differences. I first showed him Cinnabun my ball python and told him how a lot of her structures and features would be similar to a venomous snake here in the US. However due to the fact ball pythons are from Africa she is non-venomous. I then showed him my tricolor hognose snake. I discussed some of her unique features like her shovel like nose.