The Lake and Park School
3201 Hunter Boulevard South
Seattle, Washington, 98144
www.lakeandparkschool.org
Volume III Issue 2
December 2015
“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take,
you’re connected to the ocean, no matter where on Earth you
live.” Sylvia A. Earle
The Whale Watching Trip by Roham
The whale watching trip was terrific and I’m going write about it so you can
learn more about our time there.
The boat’s utilities were pretty neat. They had two bathrooms and a
sink in each one. The boat’s seats and walkways were roomy and the seats were
comfy. The boat's shape was intriguing, it was very aerodynamic and it looked
like it would cut through the water. And it did cut through the water like a hot
knife through butter. Sometimes the ride was bumpy when the boat would tilt.
As we left it was calm but then we got far out in the ocean it got a bit rougher.
The whales were astounding, we saw orcas. It was pretty remarkable
when they flipped, or breached, in the air. I went quiet and so did everyone
else so we could hear the whales blow their blow holes. It sounded like a glass
of water at the end of it when you slurp it up with the straw. The orcas were
following us at one point, so then we stopped the boat and then something
phenomenal happened. Granny, the oldest orca whale in the world, came up to
the boat. Granny is 104 years old and still lives to this day.
I’ve never seen a whale before. It was outstanding, the sheer size of the
whale. This trip was extraordinary and I think you should go and take a whale
watching trip.
Lake and Park Quiz Ocean Edition
1.
Big Room Thoughts About Whale Watching
Last week we went whale watching!
We saw 15 or so orcas. We also went on
a really cool boat. We saw J pod & K pod.
We saw an orca named Onyx and another was
named Blackberry. We could go out on the deck!!!
It was the best field trip ever!!!!! –Julian
I went on a whale watching boat and saw LOTS of whales, orcas only. But
they were awesome, you should’ve seen it! I saw 107 spouts and one
breach. We went to a beach as well. I also saw some birds, one a bald
eagle. There were lots of other awesome things too. We went to a
museum and saw plankton through a microscope. Then we drew it!-Lise
On Friday, we went whale watching! We saw 15 orcas. If you really want to
know, we were in the Salish Sea and we started to see orcas, oh, but it got more
interesting soon, very soon we saw them jumping out of the water and land
with big splashes, and we were rocked back and forth again and again. Then we
docked and got off and went to a nearby beach. Then we want to the Port
Townsend Marine Science Center and looked inside touch tanks. Then we want
back to the boat, and got picked up. -Olivia
KILLER WHALE
Orcas are on the endangered list. Orcas are usually found in the Puget Sound.
Orcas are one of the more playful whales. Orcas have teeth that can be up to 26
inches long. Orcas can weigh up to 12000 pounds but the calf can weigh up to
1000. An orca’s dorsal fin can be up to 5 feet long. -August.
You can identify an orca pod by the saddle patch on their back. They are expert
hunters with appetites big enough to eat sharks. They are in the Dolphin family.
They are peaceful to human creatures although they are the top predator in the
ocean. They are fast and strong but smart. - Max G.
When we went on the whale watching trip we saw orcas and seals and
zooplankton and flat fish and sea anemone and crab and starfish and
tubeworms. –Griffin
Bowhead Whale
A bowhead whale swims as an ocean giant
swimming down to get a giant squid he catches.
The squid squirts out ink. The whale swallows
the squid.
What is the other name of this animal: Orca is a ______ ______.
A. Bottlenose Dolphin
B. Killer Whale
C. Humpback Whale
2. Is an orca a dolphin or a whale?
3. Where did whales come from? Land mammals or Sea mammals? Circle
what you think.
4. Where does the dark zone start? (Hint: this is the layer of the ocean
where there is no sunlight)
A. 200 meters
B. 100 meters
C. 90 meters
5. How many layers of the ocean are there?
A. 5
B. 4
C. 3
6. Is there such thing as a seven (7) gilled shark?
Yes or No
7. What is it called when a whale (or orca) jumps in the air?
A. Breaching
B. Jumping out of the water
C. A pencil on land
8. True or False Do some of the animals of the deep have an adaptation to
dislocate their jaw to help them eat prey bigger than them?
A. True
B. False
9. How much of the ocean have we really explored?
A.
75%
B.
100%
C.
0%
D. 5%
10. Is ocean acidification happening right here in Puget Sound? (Hint: Read
Ruby’s article on Ocean Acidification)
A. Yes
B. No
11. What does Animalia mean? (Hint: Remember classifying a sea creature?)
A. Animals
B. Plant
C. Fungi
12. True or False Whales have fingers
A. True
B. False
(You can check your answers using the key on page 4)
Rhea
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HOW I MADE MY GIANT SQUID by
Delphine
I was really surprised when Quynh
told us that we were going to do
research on a deep sea animal, and
then we would present to the entire
school and the parents. At first I was
really freaked out because I thought I
wasn't going to be able to do it, but I
did manage to do it. We started by
researching in the mornings and
writing all our information down.
Then in the afternoon we would work
on our paper version of our animal.
My animal was the giant squid and I
am going to tell you how I made my
paper giant squid.
The first step was to make the mantle. The mantle is the long part on a
squid's body that looks like a head. I made the mantle by cutting two pieces of
paper and stapling them together on one half. Then I took some old Lake and
Park newspapers and then I stuffed it. Once I stuffed it I stapled the mantle
closed and then I set it on a table to wait while I made the paint. Afterwards, I
made the paint I painted one half of the mantle and I started to make the
stabilization fins while the mantle dried. For the stabilization fins I folded a piece
of paper in half and then I traced the shape I wanted it to be. Then I cut out the
lines and stapled the entire thing closed except for the top. After that I lightly
stuffed it with little pieces of ripped up newspaper and stapled it closed. Then I
repeated that process for the other fin. After both fins were done I painted the
top halves of both fins and flipped over the mantle and painted the other half.
While the paint dried I started making tentacles. The tentacles are made by
opening twelve or thirteen newspapers and crumpling them up in a long line
and held it together using tape. Then you open another newspaper and
wrapped it around one end of the tentacle and hold it together with a few pipe
cleaners, next you do the same thing to the other end of the tentacle. I made
seven more tentacles just like that one then I painted them all. Painting the
tentacles was a little bit hard because they were so rough so I had to slow down
and get the paint in all the crevices. Once all the tentacles were done and dry I
had Quynh tape the tentacles into place in the room, were I would put the top
half of my squid as soon as I stapled on the fins and made the eyes. I made the
eyes by taking balls of paper and putting trash bags over them then I hot glued
them to the squid. Then I stapled the fins on and had Quynh put the mantle up
with the legs the last thing was the feeding tentacles. I made them by putting a
bunch of newspapers and rolling them up into a tube and taping them. Later I
painted them and waited for them to dry.
Once they were up I was proud to see what I had worked on so long to be
finished. I really liked looking at people's expressions when they saw my squid
on the wall and it made me feel good about my work.
Humpback Whales by George
One of the more energetic of the
large whales, Humpback whales
are typically not afraid of boats but
rather are interested in boats.
Humpback whales do beautiful
songs, then the songs continue for
hours (just males can do the songs)
until a female hears them so than
can get a partner or to
communicate with other whales.
Humpback whales are very good
swimmers.
The sea is a beautiful place but our sea
creatures are dying because of oil,
garbage, and junk that is killing sea
creatures, and our water. And if water
is dying then we die and so will the sea
creatures. Do you want that to happen?
All of the creatures in the sea, you want
them to be alive. We have to study
them and sometimes eat the sea creatures. We hope we can save the
animals. –Elan
New Learning
By Rees
These are some of the things I
learned about the deep and the ocean.
The dark zone starts at 200 meters which
is also where light can’t penetrate the
water any more. During my research on
the six gilled bluntnose shark, I learned
that, in a way, they are related to the
seven gilled shark.
During the whale watching trip, we
saw lots of orcas. Before that, during the
time on the day when we got to go to
different classrooms to do different things
after we talked about what to bring for the whale watching trip, Finnian
said that orcas were a type of dolphin and so we looked it up in a book
and we found out, that indeed, orcas are a type of dolphin.
When I say, “Where did whales come from?” the two options are
land mammals and sea mammals. All whales in fact come from land
mammals. Grey whales used to walk on feet! Imagine that! They were
sort of dog like creatures and if you look at the skeleton of a whale or
orca, you will see that in the fins, they have FOUR/FIVE fingers, which
explains the knuckles on the humpback whale.
Beginning Room
Meets SCUBA Divers by the
Beginning Room
We saw SCUBA divers. They were
an underwater rescue team. They
work for the Seattle Fire
Department Station #14. They help
people when they are sinking in the
water. They help get cars out of
the water. They have big hooks to
catch onto the car. They
sometimes have to cut off the
whole roof. They go underwater if
a dock is on fire. They rescue
people if they are hanging off a
bridge. They sometimes rescue
people with a tall ladder.
We met two SCUBA divers. One’s name was Colin and the one’s name was
Chuck. We learned about how they dress to go into cold water. They can stay
warm. First they put on “pajamas”. Then socks. The dry suit had a magic zipper
to keep all of the water out. They put on an underwater mask, gloves, and a
heavy belt so they sink in the water, a harness so they can keep track of each
other. They wear flippers so they can swim fast. They had air tanks, a knife, a
flash light, and a life jacket with a whistle.
We got to see them go diving in the lake and we played a game with the SCUBA
divers. They tried to find the clay discs with some of our names on them. They
can talk while they are underwater with a wireless microphone in their mask.
Some of us got to talk to him.
We also got to go inside the rescue vehicle and a fire truck and the ambulance.
A Little Baby Beluga -Rose
Under the silky blue blanket
lies a baby beluga.
How I would like to come and play with you
under the ocean blue with you.
Killer Whales by Ted Way
A newborn calf stays away from other killer whales except its mother.
Killer whales mainly eats seals and salmon, but will eat an octopus. Many
sea creatures were unknown for years until Jacques Cousteau discovered
them. Killer whales can weigh up to 12,000 pounds (5,443 kg)!
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The Sunlight
In the sun, the dolphins play,
the seals dance, and the orcas breach all day,
the trees, at the water's edge, are a beautiful sight,
the shark's dorsal fin, above the surface, is fearful yet very very cool,
the sunlight penetrates the water,
the coral is very cool yet colorful,
where the dolphins play and the horses nay,
the waterfront, beautiful a sight,
In the sun, the dolphins play…
My Dumbo Octopus Study
By: Harriet
This is a summary of my Dumbo Octopus Study.
I researched and then made my animal model and then I presented to anyone
who walked by and wanted to see my animal and a lot of people did.
In the beginning when the assignment was we had to do a deep sea
animal, I was not happy because I had wanted to do a Narwhal. I wanted to do
something cute, and I thought that there were no cute animals that live down
there, because I barely knew anything about the deep. When Quynh suggested I
should look at this sheet she had of deep sea animals, I saw the Dumbo Octopus
and I said I'd do that because it was the cutest.
Research... that dreaded word, sometimes I thought that it would never
be over. I probably looked at 5-10 different websites for all the information I
had collected. It was very hard, because there is just not that much information
about deep sea animals, and it took about 1 ½ weeks to get all that information.
It was kind of stressful and fun at the same time because the deadline was the
19th to get all information and start and finish my presentation and that was
also the fun part because we all had to rush.
Making my animal model. First I cut out 2 pieces of paper the same size and oval
shape, then I water colored them both reddish pink, stapled them together and
stuffed them with newspaper. Then cut out 8 paper tentacles and water colored
them, then I decided that I didn't like them and I threw them away. Then I tried
to make them out of newspaper and that didn't work and finally I used water
colored paper with wire taped on the back to make them look like real
tentacles.
Making my presentation. We all used google slides to make our presentations
about various deep sea animals. This was my first time doing a PowerPoint
presentation and I would like to do more of them because they are interesting
and enjoyable to do. Typing all of the information was frustrating at times,
because there is just so much of it. I liked putting in pictures from google images
too.
Now I’m glad that I did it, because I think that it was a great learning experience.
About the fact that I can’t have exactly what I want all the time, because I had
really wanted to do the Narwhal, but Narwhals don’t live in the deep. My animal
is not the biggest or the toughest, but it is the deepest living at 13,000-23,000
feet. I had so much fun doing this study.
The Dark by Rees
In the dark, the big things live,
The squid are big and small,
sharks, are no longer great predators,
The water is cold and the seeing is musky,
The fish are squishy but some are hard,
The mako shark is fast,
But some sharks are slow
All the animals of the deep are great predators,
The abyssal plains are plain and flat,
under water lakes and streams and waterfalls,
In the dark, the big things live…
The Captain's Journal
In the captain’s journal, he writes our adventures,
of the dolphins we’ve seen,
of the whales we’ve caught,
of the blubber we’ve blubbed,
of the dishes we’ve eaten,
of the places we’ve been,
of the nights we celebrate,
he goes “Yo ho ho and a captain’s ship!”,
he goes “ARGH!” and “YARGH!”,
his ship, the finest one around,
like the captain’s black beard without all the violence,
his name, is sacred,
ruler of the seven seas…
Sperm whales like to dive in the giant ocean.
Put squids to their DEATHS!
ENORMOUS, but even other creatures eat them.
ROARING through the deep.
MANY DIE when snatching
When hunting, may SACRIFICE.
Hateful squid roam freely in the deep.
A master of hiding.
Look like a block.
Edible, yet hard.
Slicing through the deep, they are free.
-Gus
Vampire Squid
by Max B.
Scientists believe that
vampire squid have survived
without evolving for over 3
million years. They didn’t
evolve because they are
perfectly suited for their
environment. Vampire squid
are only 11 inches long.
They also have the largest eye to body ratio of any known creature on
earth so they can see there predators in the depths where they live.
The vampire squid classification is:
Scientific name:Vampyroteuthis Infernalis
Common Name: Vampire Squid
Kingdom: Animalia-It’s an animal
Phylum: Mollusca-It’s an invertebrate meaning it does not have a
spine
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Vampyromorphida-It is a vampire squid
Family: Vampyroteuthidae-It is a vampire squid
Genus: Vampyroteuthis-It is a vampire squid
Species: Infernalis-It is a vampire squid
The vampire squid has its own order, family and genus. There is
only one species of Vampire Squid.
Vampire squid live at depths between 1,800 and 3,500 feet below
sea level in tropical and temperate oceans. They usually live between the
latitudes of 40 degrees north and 40 degrees south of the equator.
Not much is known about the life cycle of the vampire squid, but
research suggests that vampire squid may live more than eight years, much
longer than most cephalopods.
Vampire squid eat marine snow using two retractile filaments that
can be up to six times its body length. Vampire squid use very little
oxygen so they can survive in oxygen minimum zones where very few
other animals can survive.
The inside of the webbing is black and has harmless spines made
out of flesh. Unlike most cephalopods vampire squid don’t have ink
instead they eject a glowing mucus from the tips of their arms.
I had lots of fun making my presentation and my model of a
vampire squid. The hardest part was doing the research. I felt proud
teaching people about the vampire squid.
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Octopus Facts
by Eli.G
An octopus has 240
suction cups on each
tentacle. It has 8
tentacles.
Can you do the math? 240
x 8= 1,920
An octopus can
camouflage by using
certain skin cells.
Did you know a dolphin
eats octopus?
There are 300 species of octopus!
The largest octopus is believed to be the Giant Pacific Octopus which lives here
in Washington.
The Giant Pacific Octopus can weigh up to 33 1b (15 kg).
What is Ocean Acidification? -By Ruby
You would think that a small
animal doesn’t matter. Wrong,
they are the most important of
the ocean. They give all animals
life.
If ocean acidification
continues shellfish animals may
be in danger. These animals are
getting disintegrated into tiny
bits and it's pretty much because
of us. We are also cutting down
trees which are releasing pockets
This is a picture of the same shell getting weaker and
of
carbon. This carbon dissolves
weaker over time due to ocean acidification.
into the ocean and animals with
exoskeletons become weaker because the water is more acidic.
Ocean acidification happens when the pH is imbalanced due to too
much carbon dioxide being released into the environment. We have a
symbiotic relationship with trees because we breathe in oxygen that the trees
produce. We breathe out carbon dioxide which the trees take in. The
problem is that there is too much carbon dioxide. We are using machines and
cars that release carbon dioxide into the air.
For example, mussels are near the bottom of the food chain. Starfish,
fish, crabs, and snails are all eating mussels. If there aren’t any mussels left
then fish, crabs, and other animals will all die. And if they don’t have any
food, then those animals will die. And this goes on until it gets up to orcas,
whales, dolphins, sharks and bigger predators.
A lot of people think that global warming is the cause of ocean
acidification, that's a misconception. They’re more like sisters and carbon
dioxide is the mother. When we talked to scientists from Earth Echo, they
said that ocean acidification was happening in Puget Sound and it was going
on a faster rate.
How can we stop ocean acidification? One way is by not taking your
car or motorcycle everywhere and walk or bike instead. Another way is to not
idle your car when it's not moving. Save electricity by keeping your lights off
when you're not in the room. Instead of using the heater all of the time just
wear a blanket or an extra layer of clothing. But the most important is to
recycle and reuse items, don’t throw away things into the landfill, it's bad for
the earth. After learning about ocean acidification when I look at Puget
Sound I feel a little sad. I mean there are amazing animals down their like
Giant Squids and blue whales, sea horses, and so many more. However,
there’s also ocean acidification, and if we do these small things and we all
pitch in we can end this and save our seas.
ANSWERS to the Ocean Quiz by Rees
1. Killer Whale
2. Dolphin
3. Land Mammals
4. 200 Meters
5. 4 Layers
6. Yes
7. Breaching
8. True
9. 5%
10. Yes
11. Animal
12. True
The Lake & Park School Opens Ocean Museum
There is a lot
involved in a new
endeavor. After
weeks of
investigation and
exploration,
reading and
researching,
creating artwork,
painting and
writing,
collaboration,
design and planning, sharing and revision, the Lake and Park School
Ocean Museum was ready to open. A big thank you to everyone in the
community who assisted in the study including: The Seattle Aquarium,
The Cedar River Watershed Learning Center, The Port Townsend Marine
Science Center and Whale Museum, The University of Washington Fish
Collection and Fisheries Labs, NOAA, EarthEcho International, National
Center for Science Education Scientists in the School Collaboration
Project, Puget Sound Express, the Burke Museum, the Seattle Public
Library, the Seattle Fire Department Station #14, and families and friends
of Lake & Park who shared resources, books and enthusiasm for the ocean
study.
“For most of history, mankind has
had to fight nature to survive; in this
century he is beginning to realize
that, in order to survive, he must
protect it.” Jacques Cousteau
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