Where Has The Time Gone?

A.L waiting for our tadpoles to transform

Our Sea Creature Study

Whale Measurement:
Last week Ms. Hamre and the girls worked together to use non-standard forms of measurement to determine how big a mother and baby Humpback whale are. The girls began by coming up with a list of uniform sized objects in the classroom that they could use to measure.

 Ms. Hamre then brought the girls into the hallway to measure how long each whale was. Below are some of the photos of this experience that were taken BY THE GIRLS! So cool!

A.Y measuring with thin markers

Ms. Hamre interview E.H. from Lisa Dutton on Vimeo.

G.A. behind the camera from Lisa Dutton on Vimeo.

G.A. behind the camera Part 1 from Lisa Dutton on Vimeo.

Sea Creature Story Problems:

Two weeks ago the girls began solving Sea Creature story problems in math. Some story problems were simple addition, There were 4 seal pups on the rock and 4 seal mothers searching for food in the water. How many seals were there all together?, simple subtraction,  There were 4 seal pups and 4 seal mothers on the rock. The 4 mother seals left to go eat. How may seals were left on the rock? and repeated addition (multiplication!!) There were 8 seals on the rock. How many flippers are there?

 After solving a few problems on their dry erase boards, the girls chose their own sea creature characters and took turns acting out and solving sea creature story problems Ms. Hamre and I created for them.

Sea Creature Story Problems from Lisa Dutton on Vimeo.
Last week the girls worked to create their own sea creature story problems. They should be done by Monday, so stay tuned for a mid-week update. Here are a few photos of the process.

Pinniped?! Who Knew?
To prepare for our field trip to the aquarium I decided to do a little research on how to distinguish between what a Seal was and a Sea Lion (I had no idea!). A huge thank you to Sea World San Diego for teaching me that both Seals and Sea Lions are Pinnipeds! Pinnipeds are animals that have 4 flippers, blubber, whiskers and fur. Who knew?! The girls learned this, as well has how to tell the difference between Sea Lions (outer ears, and back flipper that can be perpendicular to one another) and Seals (no outer ear, and claws on their front flippers). Walruses are also pinnipeds, but they are ease to identify.

"This is a Seal Pup, because it has spots."

"This is a Seal because it has holes in (as) ears."

"This is a seal because it has claws."

"This is a seal because it is balancing a ball on it's head."

"This is a seal because it has claws."

"This is a sea lion because it has ears."

"This is a seal because it has whiskers and claws."

Field Trip and Experiments!
On Friday we had and AMAZING trip to the Aquarium of the Bay. A special thank you to Donna, Heather and Thayer for being amazing and flexible volunteers. Photos from the trip will be posted later this week.
The girls also learned how whales with Baleen eat vs. whales with teeth. Ask them about how a comb is like baleen. We don't have any photos of the experiment, but hopefully your girls will share about the experience with you. Next week we will learn how blubber works!
Here is a photo we took at the aquarium. Worth every penny :)

I am going to leave you all with a cute little video I took of the girls during Reader's Workshop.

Song Books During Reader's Workshop from Lisa Dutton on Vimeo.