Lab Safety

During this year's Life Science class, I will be teaching students how to conduct scientific research. But, for us to do labs, students need to know and practice basic lab safety procedures. So, in class today, I taught students about lab safety. We went over the Polk County Science Safety Rules and I gave students the Polk County Science Safety Contract.

No student can participate in a science lab until the Safety Contract has been completed and signed by a parent or guardian. The Contract was assigned as homework and is due tomorrow, Friday, August 23.

If you would like to review the lab safety information, you can read over the Safety Rules and you can watch the two videos I showed in class.

FSU Lab Safety video

Ultimate Lab Safety video

Welcome to Life Science

Here we are at the start of a brand new school year. In this class, we'll be studying Life Science (also known as Biology).

In order to help us communicate, I will be using this blog and a few other important resources, Remind101 and ClassDojo.

Remind101

Remind101 allows me to send short text messages (or emails, if you prefer) about assignment due dates, upcoming tests, or other announcements. Registering is free* and easy. All you need to do is send a code (based on your class) to 239-829-4601. For example, if you are a student (or parent of a student) in 1st period, simply text @drms1 to 239-829-4601. Here are the codes for each class period:
1st pd = @drms1
3rd pd = @drms3
4th pd = @drms4
5th pd = @drms5
6th pd = @drms6
7th pd = @drms7
8th pd = @drms8

You should receive a text message back letting you know you're signed up for the class texts. *Standard text messaging rates may apply.

Class Dojo

I have also created an account with ClassDojo.com. Each student will receive a unique code to use when registering with ClassDojo. Parents can send me an email and I can add their email addresses so they will also receive information from ClassDojo. Remember, the standard format for teacher emails is first.last@polk-fl.net. So, my email address is bruce.sabin@....

A little about me

If we're going to be spending the next school year together, it might be nice to get to know each other. So, here's a little about me.

I grew up in Deltona, FL (a couple hours north of here on I-4). After high school, I joined the Navy and worked as an avionic technician on H-60 helicopters. Then, I came back to Florida for a couple years before moving to New Orleans to finish college. While in Louisiana, I started my teaching career, teaching inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola).

I moved back to Florida to go into graduate school and earned my master's and doctor's degrees at the University of Central Florida. I did research on cognitive development, which is a fancy way of saying I studied how people learn to think.

Before becoming a teacher, I was a college professor, researcher and administrator. I started K-12 teaching at Ft Meade Middle School, and then taught at Haines City IB for a couple years. Finally, I came to Dundee Ridge, and this is my fifth year here. I still love doing research, and even spent three of my summers doing environmental research for the State of Florida. So, I look forward to teaching students how to do scientific research.

I have been married for 15 years and I have three kids, ages 6, 3 and 10 months.

I'm a deacon at Kathleen Baptist Church in Lakeland. This summer I went to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip. In the past, I've been to Nicaragua three times and I've been to Romania.

I love motorcycles and I ride my Harley to work every day.

I'm also a fan of the Lakeland Flying Tigers minor league baseball team, and I'm sad the season is ending. My family and I went to a lot of games over the summer.

I'm sure we'll get to know each other much more during the 2013-2014 school year.

This is my family at the beach over the summer.