Classrooms | Boats

Canaan Elementary School. Canaan, VT. Jeannine Brady. 3rd grade
Capt. Mattie Thomson. F/V Striker. Monhegan Island, ME

June 2003 -- update
Here is a downloadable PowerPoint presentation describing Canaan Elementary's Adopt-A-Boat trip to Monhegan island, May 13-14, 2003.
April 24, 2003 -- update
On April 1, the "Ocean Guy," Phil Averill, of Ocean Adventure visited the Canaan third graders. He brought with him a tank of live ocean animals for the children to hold and feel. For many it was the first time they had seen, let alone hold, starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. With big eyes the children gently passed the animals around so that everyone would have a chance to hold them.

The main thrust of the Ocean Guy's presentation was to teach them about the many different types of commercial fishing in the Gulf of Maine. He had the children crawling through a trawl net in the hallway and he demonstrated to them how fishermen set up gill nets, purse seines and drags. He also told them about clamming for a living and went over the parts of a lobster trap.

The Ocean Guy showed the children a poster of all the fish and sealife caught in Maine. The children were able to generate the names of many of these animals without looking at the poster. The children were surprised to learn that sardines are really herring. Cans of sardines were opened and many children tried them and found that they are quite good. 

The third graders learned a great deal from Mr. Averill's visit and are now more anxious than ever about their upcoming trip. 


eating sardines and crackers!

showing starfish

Dr. Phil with fish chart
students crawl through the trawl
  
April 1, 2003-- update
Our Ocean Fair 2003 was extremely successful and Captain Mattie and Jes arrived just in time to join in on the fun...

The third graders wanted to make Mattie feel right at home, so they made him a special T-shirt. The front of the T-shirt was covered with illustrations and names of all of the ocean animals studied by the children. The back has a picture of Mattie's F/V Striker and reads, "Our Adopt-A-Boat partnership—Canaan Elementary School and Captain Mattie".

 

The ocean fair has something for everyone. In this picture, the first graders listen for the sound of the sea in the shells on display at the fair. The third graders also organize these shells and learn about the animals that once inhabited them. A huge sign greets visitors to the third grade Ocean Fair. The third graders decorated it with a large illustration of their particular ocean life being studied.

 


Each of the third graders were required to do an experiment/ demonstration. The students followed the scientific process and wrote a question, hypothesis, procedure, materials, results and a conclusion. 

Eric Hoult studied jellyfish, and for his experiment he wanted to demonstrate how a jellyfish moves through the water. He's attached a balloon to a wire and when he blows up and releases his balloon, it moves across the wire.


To celebrate our partnership with Captain Mattie, this year's students decided to make a gigantic lobster. You can see from the picture that the lobster turned out great.It took many months to papier mache and paint it, but the end result was worth our effort, nearly 18 feet long.

The third graders held a "Name Our Lobster Contest" to help pay for the material needed to construct this big guy. Nearly 150-200 names were submitted. but in the end, the third graders chose 'Sandy Claws'. Close runner-ups were Claudette, Claude and Herman!

P.S. Many who visited the Ocean Fair wanted to know if they could be invited to the lobster bake!

 


After the Ocean Fair wound down, Mattie spend nearly an our answering the many questions the children had about lobstering and, more specifically, about his experiences as a Maine lobsterman. Jes also told the students about driving and her research on lobsters she had done. It was during this period when children really began to understand what being a commercial fisherman is like. All the children are eager to get to Monhegan Island now.

11th grade sarahs: Sarah Masters, Sarah Brauch and Sarah Fontaine were the winners of "Name Our Lobster Contest." These girls won a gift certificate to our local restaurant.


The Ocean Fair is visited by every student in the school. The high school students play an important role in the success of this unit. The third graders feel very important and the high school students know only too well how much work goes into this unit because most of them have studied an ocean animal with Mrs. Brady when they were in second grade.

Here Katie Daley, an 11th grader, listens intently to Holly as she explains how the clownfish lives in harmony with a sea anenome. Holly told Katie that the clown fish protects itself from the sting of the sea enenome by covering itself with slime.

 


Pictured is third grader, Brigham Reese and fourth graders, Courtney Madore. Brigham is showing Courtney his home project on the puffer fish. If you look carefully, he can see a pumping device in Brigham's hand. His puffer fish blows up each time the shark comes near. He explained to Courtney that this is one way the puffer fish protects itself from its enemies.


The ocean unit is truly a learning experience for the child's whole family. The Ocean Fair was visited by parents, grandparents and other relatives, as well as school employees and students. Each child is required to to complete a home project that compliments their research project. This project is designed to be a "family project" and all members of the child's family are encouraged to participate. This year there were several home projects featuring collaborations by three generations of family members.


Mattie took time to visit each third grader at his or her ocean station. During these visits, Mattie established a connection between himself and the chidlren. The students begin to see commercial fishing as something "real" people do. Jes also took the time to visit each student.

Here Mattie (check out the back of his T-shirt) chats with Lisa Charest, who studied the green sea turtle and was eager to tell Captain Mattie about what she'd learned. Mattie told Lisa that he's seen a leatherback turtle in the Gulf of Maine one time.

 


Mattie talks with Kyle Skidgel. Not only does Mattie tell the students things that he knows, he also listens very carefully to each child. It's a wonderful experience to watch


Ryan and Sierra at sea urchin exhibit: These two first graders are so interested in Alex Olson's home project on sea urchins, they just can't to keep their hands off. Hands- on science, which encourages touching and experimentation, is an underlining theme with our ocean unit. 


A life-size version of Captain Mattie waved everyone into the cafeteria. Mattie claimed that it looked nothing like him but Jes thought differently. For the remainder of the year, "Captain Mattie" will attend third grade at a special desk right next to the window. Mrs. Brady and Miss Tricoulis will have to keep an eye on him so he doesn't look out the windows when he should be paying attention to his lessons.

 
The third graders worked with Ms. Keafer, our art teacher, to make these beautiful fishprints. The students didn't use actual fish...rubber ones did the job! Each year the kids work cooperatively with the art teacher to make something which enhances the Ocean Fair. 

March 2003-- update
One of our school's paraprofessionals, Ellen Sipe, came up with a song for our Ocean Adventure, which my students are going to sing at our Ocean Fair. It goes to the tune "Oh, Susannah."

Ocean Adventure Song
Written by Ellen Sipe...Tune-"Oh, Susannah"
The third grade kids from Canaan School
Have studied the ocean blue
They decided to have an Ocean Fair
For parents, me and you.

An Ocean Fair we did prepare
With projects done by all
Displays, experiments, posters too
We know you’ll be enthralled

Chorus:
Come to our exhibit
And see what we have done
Took lots of work and patience too
But most of all-‘twas fun!

You’ll see lobsters, clams and scallops
Whales and sharks and starfish too
They’ll be displayed most clev-er-ly
To prove what we can do.

We talked to the people at "Adopt-A-Boat"
To see what they could do
To help us plan an ocean trip
Before the year was through

Chorus:
Mon-hegan Island
That’s the place to go!
So we made some plans and set a date
And a sailin’ we will go.

The "Ocean Guy" Phil Averill
Will meet us at the coast
We’ll visit a fish market
He’ll show us a tidal pool.

We’ll get a chance to handle
Many creatures from the pool
We’ll marvel at their beauty
And learn more than we did in school

Chorus:
Ocean Adventure
Exciting as can be
We’re off to learn about the life
That lives beneath the sea.

We’ll set off from New Harbor
With Captain Al and his "Hardy Boat"
We hope we’ll see a whale or seal
To make our trip ideal.

Then Mattie Thomson’s "Striker"
Will take us for a lobster catch
With his loyal mate Ms. Jessica
He’s really met his match.

Commercial fishing we’ll explore
And find it’s quite an art
There’s excitement and there’s danger too
For fishermen and crew.

Chorus:
Ocean Adventure
We’ll really have some fun
We’ll have ourselves a whale-of-a-time
And be glad that we have come.

We’ll spend the night at the Trailing Yew
When we get back on the shore
To get ready for the day ahead
When the island we’ll explore.

We’ll see an ocean robot
As it looks at the ocean floor
See the lighthouse, school and Cathedral Woods
Who could ask for anything more?

Chorus:
Ocean Adventure
Our trip is nearly here
We’ve learned so much and all of us
Have loved it, every-one.

Our thanks to Phil and Mattie
Teachers, parents-and chaperones
and all our friends from "Adopt-A-Boat
It’s much more than we’d could hope!

We’ve seen the ocean come alive
Now-let’s all do our part
To respect and treasure this great gift
And make sure it will survive.

March 2003
Today the third graders dissected lobsters with Mr. Masson's 10th grade applied science class. Prior to this dissection class, Mr. Masson's students learned about arthropods by examining crayfish. His students learned about the parts and functions and then taught the third graders. Each group of students, made up of one high school student and 2-3 third graders, identified and labeled the following parts: antennae, mandible, maxillipeds, flipper, telson, carapace, thorax cephalothom, head, crusher claw, pincher-ripper claw, walking legs, abdomen and eye. In addition to identifying these parts the children also identified the sex of their lobsters by examining the swimmerettes. Once the students examined and learned about the external parts of the lobster they then took a look inside. The students looked at the gills, brain, mandible and other body parts. The students looked at the lobster's eye under a micropscope so that th! ey could see its compound eye. The children were able to view the eye's many lenses, which was so cool. When the groups of students had finished examining their lobsters, the groups then removed the meat. Each student tried eating some lobster-many had never had lobster before and enjoyed their first experience. The leftover lobster is being frozen so that we can make seafood chowder for our Beach Party, which will follow our Ocean Fair at the end of March. 

Charlie and Brigham cracking shells


Doug and Kyle
identifying the sex of a lobster

Robert's group eats lobster
Lindsey, Albany, Corey and Holly
Lisa and Greg dissecting

microscope
the dissecting group
lobsters before The Pot

many students examine a lobster
lobster in pot

Robert breaking apart a lobster
opening a lobster
Robert, Chris, Mike, and Alex O.
late February 2003—update
Our lobster is coming right along on schedule. We are nearly done with the messiest part of our design...papier mache-ing. Next week we'll be on vacation and when we return to school in March, we'll start PAINTING ...(which I guess will be equally messy).

February 2003—update
The third graders have started the long and messy process of covering their lobster creation with papier mache. Our lobster is currently in three pieces...the claws and the carapace. We have completed the first claw and will start to work on the second this week. To help raise a little money for our trip and to cover the cost of making our lobster, which is expected to be about 18 feet long and at least six feet wide, we are having a little contest called, "Name Our Lobster." The third graders are looking for the perfect lobster name and for .25 students, teachers and parents are coming up with wonderful names.

Some of the better names so far are: "Claw"-dette, Sandy Claws, "Tail"-or, and Mrs. Brady's personal favorite...Old Lady Brady. Having the contest is making the actual process of making the lobster a lot of fun. So if anyone at Adopt-A-Boat wants to make a suggestion, we'd be happy to consider it. The third graders do reserve the right to select their favorite name and right now many of them are leaning toward...Herman!

The students will be finished up with their final drafts next week and then its on to all the fun stuff...T-Shirts, backdrops and experiments.

clockwise:

Name our lobster; putting the finishing touches on our lobster.
 
   
January 2003 -- update
Our ocean unit is now in full swing. The third graders each have chosen their ocean animals and have started their researching. This year, the children have chosen a wide variety of animals, from the albatross to barnacles. Our giant lobster is also taking shape. We are starting with a cardboard cutout and are adding newspaper layers to give it its shape. The next step will be to begin adding papier mache. Mattie sent us some awesome pictures of a huge lobster he brought in on his boat, and the kids couldn't believe that a lobster could get to be that big. We're using these pictures to form our lobster. When finished. we hope to label its parts and display it at our Ocean Fair.

the lobster takes shape

Captain Mattie and his oversized lobster
January 2003
The Canaan Third graders are now ready to start their ocean unit. We conducted the survey yesterday and have sent the result along to you. The kids are choosing their ocean animals to study today. They will also take a look at the Adopt-A-Boat web site to get a better feel for the whole program. I've emailed Mattie and requested some close up photographs of lobsters for our "big lobster" we are planning to make for our Ocean Fair. Phil Averill is scheduled to come to Canaan on April 1st. Our Ocean Fair is scheduled for March 27 and 28. Mattie is planning to make the trip north again to meet this year's crop of third graders. Our trip to Monhegan Island is scheduled for May 13 and 14.

November 2002
My ocean unit starts in January, although my students are eager to get started now. I'll be giving the pre-survey at the beginning of the unit. This year, for our ocean fair, we'll be making a gigantic lobster, which we will label. I also hope to dissect lobsters with our high school science teacher, so the children learn as much about this sealife as possible. Our trip to Monhegan will be on May 13-14, 2003.

So, until January...