Creating Intertidal Zone Creatures

The youngers and middles have been busy working on their imaginary intertidal zone creatures.  They look terrific!  We can't wait to see them hanging in the room.  Stay tuned!

The Intertidal Zone

The younger and middle students have been very busy learning about the intertidal zone.  First we took a "field trip" to Coast Guard Beach to observe the different environments of the intertidal zone.  We collected specimens from the different parts of the beach and took lots of pictures.

After exploring the intertidal zone, the students created a beautiful model of the five different "layers" of the intertidal zone.  They also practiced their observation skills, using magnifying glasses to make detailed observations of objects.  They recorded their observations by drawing very detailed pictures. 

Now they are all creating creatures that could live in the intertidal zone.  While designing their creatures, the students had to consider the environment where the animal would live, what it would eat, where it would find shelter and protection and what kinds of body parts it would need for it to survive.

Sea Creatures in Progress.....

The History of Life on Earth....In Our Classroom!

The older students have been studying the history of life on Earth.  To help them understand such a huge span of time, they created a proportional timeline.  They measured the perimeter of the room and figured out a ratio of inches to years that they could use to plot different eras of history around the room.  Additionally, they each studied different eras in the history of life, drew pictures to represent the era and wrote summaries describing the climate and the typical life during the era.  For added fun (and rigor) they compared their research to the research the kids did on Monhegan Island.  The kids from both islands met a few times over Skype to compare notes, make plans for improvement and share their work.  The finished product is fabulous and very informative.  Now they are using the timeline to help them understand extinction and how fossils help scientists to understand the past.

Bits and Pieces of the Timeline

 This section of the timeline represents 505-409 million years ago!

This section of the timeline represents 248-145 million years ago!

 This section of the timeline represents the present-141 million years ago! Modern humans are represented by a fraction of the tiny sliver of yellow on the far left of the timeline!  

Chorus!

Students in grades 3-8 have been invited to participate in the Mount Desert Elementary School Chorus!  We began joining the MDES chorus for rehearsal on Tuesday, November 16 and we will continue to rehearse with them every Tuesday afternoon until the concert on December 14.  We hope to have a special boat returning to the island after the 6pm concert on the 14th (weather permitting).  Families and community members are very welcome to join us for the concert!

Monhegan Invasion!

The students and teacher from the Monhegan School plus our fabulous island fellow visited our school for the whole week, from November 15-19!  Their visit was part of our Teaching and Learning Collaboration project.  One of the project's goals is to increase the number of times outer island kids get to socialize and work together academically face-to-face.   The visit was a huge success, and will be the first of many!  We had a wonderful time (and we learned a little, too).  We were so sorry to see them go home.  We hope they will visit again soon!

 Welcoming the Monhegan crew at our school pot luck supper.

Two Thumbs Up for a great week! 

Couldn't they be sisters? 

Everyone was happy to make new friends. 

We're so sad to say goodbye..... 

 Finn really didn't want to go home.....

 Thank goodness Courtney was there to carry him onto the boat!

Bye, Monhegan!  We hope to see you really soon!