March 17 - March 22, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:

Throughout Tuesday through Friday the majority of my work time was filled with trying to finish up the project and making any last finishing touches on our science presentation. On Tuesday I was unfortunately sick and had to leave school early, so I was not able to accomplish much except for practicing for our science presentation that Thursday. Wednesday of that week was a half day, so we didn't have any official work time for our projects, however our entire group stayed after school to practice our presentation.

Thursday and Friday I mainly worked on transferring our website from my own computer to the school computer so that it may be uploaded onto our DPs. Doing this consisted of making sure all the articles were in place, if all the links worked, inserting images into pages, as well writing the content for various webpages. By the end of the day Friday I was able to accomplish the bulk of what needed to be done, however I will be spending the remaining project work time on tweaking our website and uploading videos/flash components.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:

Throughout this entire week Emily devoted her time to implementing music into all of her videos due to feedback from Spencer as well as the daunting task of uploading them onto YouTube. Emily utilized music courtesy of Dani Elfman in the videos, which I believe improves their overall quality. Emily also practiced for the presentation all throughout Tuesday as well as at home.

Chelsea's main focus of the week was finishing up her flash animation about microbes and preparing for the presentation. Like Emily, Chelsea practiced her part of the presentation on Tuesday at school and at home. By the end of the day Friday, Chelsea was almost finished with the flash, however needed to implement finishing touches.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other:

As a group we assisted each other throughout our presentation practices. We even stayed after school on Wednesday to practice it so that we would be successful on Thursday. Through the combined effort of our group our science presentation did prove to be a success and everyone performed well. In addition, while I was sick my group members helped me get informed about everything that I missed and what they were doing with their individual parts of the project.

Emily: Week of 3/15

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:

This week I showed one of my videos to my teacher, and got the feedback, “add some music.” So, I went home and sifted through the iTunes store until I finally decided upon an instrumental song by Danny Elfman called Give ‘Em Hope. After applying this music to all of the movies (and changing their credits to include the song) they are ready to be uploaded to our website. This week we also presented out chemistry presentation to the class where we taught our peers about wetlands, their benefits, as well as a little bit of soil chemistry.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:

This week Kathleen transferred our website over from her own computer to the school’s server and linked it to her DP! She spent the rest of her time updating sections we still needed to fill in (mission statement, etc.), tweaking pages, and checking to make sure all of our links worked. Chelsea continued to work on the flash piece for our website, and it’s looking great!

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other:

This week my group had to work together to put on a good presentation for our class. We stayed after school to practice, and were able to rock the presentation!

Chelsea-Work Log 18

Your Name: Chelsea
Partner’s Name(s): Kathleen & Emily
Week: March 16-20, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:
This week I worked on finishing the Flash and I had my science presentation. So far the flash is coming along pretty well. Flash isn't a program that I know very well but with the help of Saul and knowledge from past projects I'm doing pretty good. I am almost completely finished with it but I still need to finish up a few things on Monday. This week we also had our science presentation which was pretty good. We knew our information and we were able to explain about wetlands.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:
This week Emily worked on finalizing the videos and assisted with tweaking the website. She added music to the videos and then uploaded them to Youtube. She also prepared for the science presentation that we had on Thursday.

This week Kathleen put the finishing touches on website and published it to the web! She linked the website to her dp so that we could see it on the internet. She also prepared for our science presentation that we had on Thursday.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other this week?
My partners and I have assisted each other in many ways. Over the past week we worked both individually and together to accomplish the most amount of work. We worked together to practice for our science presentation that we had on Thursday. This has been a great strategy for us because we have been either ahead or right on our projected schedule. At the end of the week we realized that we were pretty much done with our project so we were able to tweak our website and make little changes.

March 9 - 13, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:

This week my group and I only got a total of about three days to work on our project because Thursday and Friday were devoted to camping in Julian. However from Monday to Wednesday I was able to accomplish all that I needed this week. I was able to finish our group's power point and other material for our science presentation. In addition, I took a break from our presentation and continued to upload articles as well as begin writing more articles for our website. I was able to upload all the articles for the conservation and chemistry page. I continued to do this throughout the weekend as well as tweak previous webpages.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:

Monday to Wednesday, Emily was dedicated to finishing all the videos for our website, which she was able to accomplish by Wednesday. She is also planning to upload the videos onto YouTube soon so that they can be embedded onto our website. From Thursday to Friday, Emily was able to serenade us with her wonderful voice and guitar skills.

This week Chelsea continued to work on the flash components for our website which is no doubt a daunting task, as Flash is not exactly our group's best friend. However, she is making way and is about a third of the ways done with it, which I'm quite excited to see.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other:

This week we all worked on editing our power point as a group. I was able to create a "rough draft" of the presentation then as a group we looked it over and made corrections were necessary. In addition we worked together to see who would say which slides, making sure to evenly distribute talking time.

However, aiding each other was not just limited to the classroom. At William Heise Park in Julian, we were all able to help each other in some way or another; whether it be through comfort, body heat, or even a borrowed jacket.

Emily: Week of 3/9

Your Name: Emily
Partner’s Name(s): Kathleen & Chelsea
Week of: March 9-13, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:
This week I finished all of the videos for our website. I made one on the overall topic of wetlands, one on swamps, one on marshes, and one on bogs and fens. This weekend I plan to upload them to YouTube so we can use the embedded codes for our website. I also helped divvy up the slides for our upcoming chemistry presentation. At the end of the week we all took a camping trip to Julian's William Heise Park.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:
This week Kathleen made the PowerPoint for our presentation that we will be doing this week. She also worked on uploading more articles to our website. This week Chelsea began work on the flash component that will be going up on our website. As she staed in her own blog posting, she is now about 1/3 of the way done.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other this week?
This week we all worked together to revise our PowerPoint (that Kathleen had already made nearly flawlessly). We also continue to sit near each other in class in order to give assistance if needed.

Chelsea-Work Log 17

Your Name: Chelsea
Partner’s Name(s): Kathleen & Emily
Week: March 9-13, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:
This week I finished the articles for the website and I started working on the flash. So far, the flash is about 1/3 of the way done and I should be able to finish it by the end of next week. On Thursday and Friday we went camping at the William Heise County Park in Julian.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:
This week Emily worked on finishing the videos for the website. Now the total amount is four of five videos. Emily also went on the camping trip in Julian on Thursday and Friday.

This week Kathleen finished up the PowerPoint for our science presentation. She also continued to upload articles to the website. At the end of the week she went on the camping trip in Julian.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other this week?
We continued to work individually to accomplish the most amount of work.
This technique has been working for us because we are able to finish a lot of work while being right on schedule. We sit near each other so we can be close if we need to ask questions or we just want to check in with each other. By sitting close we can help each other out as needed and complete our work.

Chelsea-Work Log 16

Your Name: Chelsea
Partner’s Name(s): Kathleen & Emily
Week: March 2-6, 2009

1. Briefly describe what you PERSONALLY accomplished this week:
This week I finished the articles for the website. I wrote an article about pollution and the article about conservation of wetlands. I also wrote about development can be stopped because of the land the builder wants to build on. There have been a lot of sites in San Diego County where projects have been cancelled or postponed because it may be a critical habitat. I also participated in an experiment that Andrew helped us with. We did two different experiments that were similar but used different methods. For both experiments we used a paper filter and activated charcoal to demonstrate how soil filters out pollutants. For the first experiment alternated layers of charcoal and filters then mixed the food coloring, which represented pollutants, in a beaker with water. As the water filtered through it became cleaner. With the other method for this experiment we put one filter on the beaker and then mixed the charcoal and food coloring in with the water. Then we poured the water through the filter and it removed a significant amount of the charcoal and food coloring.

2. Briefly describe what your TEAMMATE(S) accomplished this week:
This week Emily worked on finishing the videos for our website. She added in the videos and pictures that we got from the San Elijo Ecological Conservancy. She has completed three out of the four videos for our website. Emily also participated in the experiments and filmed the process so that we could document and even use for our website.
This week Kathleen continued to research soil chemistry and she also started to write the chemical articles. She created outlines for the articles she plans to write and she also worked on our science presentation. She began working on the PowerPoint this week and participated in the soil experiment.

3. Briefly describe how you and your partner(s) ASSISTED each other this week?
This week we worked independently to accomplish the most amount of work. This technique has been working for us because we are able to complete a lot of work and be slightly ahead of our schedule. We sit at the same table so that we can be close to each other and if we need to ask questions or we just want to check in it is easy. By sitting close we can help each other out as needed and complete our work.