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M-Day Parade

By Montana Mraz

I was on the decorations committee for the M-Day parade.  We decided that this year,our float theme was going to be “BrontoFear and the Mad Scientists,”in contrast to the M-Day parade theme “Superheros.”

We got together around one o’clock to decorate the float.  There was Evan Doughty,  Zach Heher,  Lainie Fike,  Darrin Pagnac,  Sally Shelton,  Sam Cohen,  Michelle Pinsdorf (who came up with the parade idea),  Stevie Holmes,  Tim Vancrey,  Shawn Peters,  and I.  Utilizing a combination of old tablecloths,lots of tape,and many pins we made the mask,leg bands and the epic cape.  Pat Monaco showed up and offered someone to wear her outfit,which was a Sparklesaurus outfit.  Zach offered to wear the outfit.  We all dressed up as mad scientists.  I dressed as a “mad,broke Soviet Russian scientist.”  We had Mr. Cohen drive us to the parade.

We got lost on the way there,but we finally made it to the starting point of the parade and some time to spare.  Then we found out that we won “Most Humorous Award”,which is pretty awesome.  We rode on the float throwing candy,waving at people,and Darrin scaring all of the little kids.  We had a lot of fun and as a member of Paleo Club I would recommend to be active and attend all of the events that Paleo Club has to offer.

Paleo Society Grant

Written by Stevie Holmes

The Paleo Club was awarded one of only four grants given by the Paleontological Society this year to support Science,Technology,Engineering,and Math (STEM) education. The club will use the funds for the development of new teaching kits,an exciting opportunity for both students and community members. In the past,Paleo Club members have taken the kits into classrooms to present to elementary and middle school students. With the new materials,teachers will be able to check the kits out from the museum to present to their students,allowing them to tailor the lesson plans to suit their needs and to meet state standards.

Club members will be creating the kits over the course of the fall semester. The main goal of the kits is to allow students of all ages to experience earth science in a way they would not typically be able in the classroom. Having all of the information and materials centralized in one place also ensures that any club member will be able to go on a classroom visit and engage kids in hands-on learning.

A small team began the grant-writing process for several different funding opportunities at the beginning of this year,developing detailed budgets and lesson plans. It has been a long road,but meeting kids and seeing them excited about learning is inspiring. We’re proud of everyone who contributed to the project this far,and we’re looking forward to being able to get the new material out into the classrooms.

Look for more updates on the teaching kits soon!

 

Next Meeting

Hello all,

We’ll be having a meeting Monday November 8th at 5pm in the PRL Resource Center. We’ll have a special presentation from Dr. Aaron Wood on “Postcranial Functional Morphology of Hyracotherium and Locomotion in the Earliest Horses.”We will also hold a special meeting to discuss the constitution after the presentation is done. We will have snacks,beverages,and good times had by all. I also ordered our books that everyone voted on. The winner were:1st place is Long/ The Rise of the Fishes 2nd ed. 2nd is Ungar/ Mammal teeth:origin,evolution and Diversity,3rd to finish up is Feldhamer/ Mammalogy:Adaptation,Diversity,Ecology,3rd ed. The grand total was $201.10 after tax.

Thank you to all who voted and contributed thoughts,and have a great week!

Paleo Club Meeting

Paleo Club meeting on Friday Sept. 3,2010 at 4 P.M. in Paleontology Research Center (PRL) 153. At 3 pm before the meeting is a thank-you and welcome back party in the same location.

Hope to see you soon!

Epic Move

Yesterday in what can only be called a Herculean effort we,the summer crew at the Museum of Geology cleared the floor of the old gym of fossils we had been staging there. in 8 short hours we toted 52 pallets of fossil and mineral specimens along with 14 cases to be used in the new building. Many thanks to Lowell from facilities who’s proficiency with a forklift made the job possible.

waiting for the last load

the last load of cases and minerals about to be taken off the gym floor

Cleared Gym Floor

The gym looks so empty now.

Out of the old,into the new. The collections move into our brand-new state of the art facility just up the hill.

High tech new storage facility

Our new electric forklift can turn on a dime and place specimens safely atop the shelves.

The official ribbon cutting is scheduled for Sept. 1 at 10:00 AM. With a special party for paleo club members and Museum staff on the 3rd. Hope to see you there!