F/V Northstar,
Vincent Balzano and
Houlton Elementary (Lee Ann N. Kinens, 3rd grade)
Project update January-March 2002
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| Students making ocean boxes |
JANUARY
Echinoderms
*Students learned about habitiats, animal descriptions, growth, and predators
of sand dollars, sea urchins, and sea stars.
* Hands on activities
•sand dollars-plaster of paris models
•sea urchins-styrofoam and toothpicks
sea stars-poster board and rice
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OCEAN WALL. I painted the ocean, troller, sand, and algae. The kids made the fish, crustaceans, sand dollars, sea urchins, and star fish. I have done all the no-nos there is to do. We are not suppose to paint our walls, staple upon them, or drive tacks into them. My kids are a little worried that I will get into trouble! Check out the pictures! |
FEBRUARY-MARCH
Tidepools
*Tidepool mini books (color, cut, and staple info. books)
*Drawings of tidepools
*Bat Stars from paper plates
*Hermie the Hermit Crab stories and poems. Read
some stories!
*Hermit crab pull-tab projects
*Shell poems. Read some poems!
Kelp
Forests
*Animals of the kelp forest shell books ( kids color, cut, staple info.
books)
*Sea otter patterns
*A different kind of forest mini books (color, cut, staple kelp forest
plants)
*Fresh kelp and sea lettuce- class handles, measures, smells, and tastes
the real thing
*Dried dulse- class handle, measures, smells,and tastes. Compare and contrast
fresh and dried.
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| Girls using yarn to show length of shark for presentation. |
Sharks
*Phil Averill from Ocean Adventure visited March 13 and 14. He did programs
on 'Sharks', 'How Fishermen
Catch Fish' and 'Live Touch Tank Animals'. Since children love sharks,
my students decided that they would
like to learn more.
*SHARK PROJECTS- Partners choose a shark and come up with a product that
shows
What is a shark?
Where do sharks live?
What do they eat?
Size? (find a medium to show actual length, compare weight to something
familiar)
Products will be colorful, neatly done, and presented to a kindergarten
class.
Project was graded with a rubric.
Research options- 1. Classroom books and posters
2. Shark Web Quest (An interactive webquest on sharks)
3. Encarta CD
4. Undersea Adventure CD
5. National Geographic
November Activities
1. Introduced Vincent Balzano's life and occupation to the class. In turn,
each student wrote a letter to
Vincent telling him about his/herself. Sent a class picture to him.
2. Project: Created the Gulf Stream in a pie plate.
3. Project: Created a 'wave bottle'.
4. Project: Each student chose a type of fish the Vincent catches. Researched
the size, weight, and color
of that fish. Drew the fish to actual size, cut out model, stuffed with
newspaper, glued together, and painted it.
5. Exchanged weekly emails about fishing with Vincent.
Project Summary
A
picture is worth a thousand words, so why not take lots of pictures of
the North Star (his boat),
fishing gear, nets, equipment, what he wears, kinds of fish, where he
fishes, etc. I plan to start off
by introducing to my class 'A DAY IN THE LIFE OF VINCENT BALZANO', using
pictures of
Vincent, his family, his home, the pier he ties up to. That alone
will stir up lots of discussions and
questions. We will then expand to equipment, fish, and whatever the kids
seem interested in.
Vincent has agreed to answer one question each week from my class through
email. I'm sure that
along with the pictures, there will be lots of questions.
My kids will keep a yearly journal of the
questions and answers. With a digital camera on board, Vincent will
be able to send pictures of
anything he sees that would interest my class.