Massive Catch-Up Post: Science, Theater, Field Trips, Fun

Kev and I got android phones recently, and of course, I had to find some educational apps. Our favorite is a night sky object finder called "Space Junk" which allows you to point the phone at something overhead and have it identified for you. Kevin immediately looked for games. Mikro is a fan of the moon lander game:



We've had 2 more weeks of science classes at SMLI. Both involved species surveying at the beach. The kids looked for live horseshoe crabs and Asian Shore Crabs (an invasive species) and recorded data about their numbers, size, sex and whether or not they had barnacles on them. Mikro has sharp vision, and the second he spotted a horseshoe crab swimming, he was out in the Long Island Sound up to his knees, grabbing it up. He has no fear, and never got pinched. "Mooooooom, I'm a biologist!" Maybe by the time he goes to grad school he'll learn to roll up his pants before wading in...

























And after science class, there is always playing in the woods...



We've had some amazing field trips! On Mother's Day, we went to the American Museum of Natural History and saw Luna's Sea, a show featuring dance and sea creature puppets. Mikro and I both loved it!













After the performance, the kids were invited to make their own jellyfish puppet:



Mikro continues to draw dragons at every opportunity:



And he glazed his pottery pieces and was thrilled to see them after they were fired. Here is his cobra:



I'd show you what I made, but it'll have to be another time, as I forgot to take pictures of any of it...

We've also been on two trips to plays with our homeschool group in the last 2 weeks. We saw South of the Border: Latin American Folktales and Up and Away: The Life of Dr. Mae Jemison, both by Urban Stages. Both were wonderful, but Dr. Jemison's story ranks as one of the top 5 children's theater experiences we have had. It was moving and inspiring. The young actress who stars in this one-woman show is phenomenal. Dr. Jemison is the first African American woman to go into space. She's a scientist and medical doctor, as well as an astronaut, and she never gave up her dreams, no matter how many times she was told they were impossible. What an awesome role model! I'm reading her autobiographical book, Find Where the Wind Goes.

We also raised a painted lady caterpillar and watched (her?) turn into a beautiful butterfly. Mikro named her Aurora, and released her in our garden. She had a nice meal of rose nectar, then flew away free.







And we watched the parade of ships into NY Harbor for Fleet Week. But that needs to be another post... waaaay to many photos...

Bioluminescence Binge

Last week, before our planned field trip to the American Museum of Natural History to see the new Creatures of Light exhibit about bioluminescent organisms, Mikro and I did some reading and research on the topic. He was very excited to make a book of drawings of his favorite bioluminescent critters. He's still working on labeling them and composing a little blurb about each, but here are some of his drawings:












Here are some of the resources we used or are using for the topic:

Books:

Glow-in-the-dark Animals by Kris Hirschmann.
Fireflies by Sally M. Walker.
Fireflies in Nature and the Laboratory by Lynn Poole.
The Winking, Blinking Sea : All About Bioluminescence by Mary Batten.
Aglow in the Dark : the Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence by Vincent Pieribone.
Living Lanterns; Luminescence in Animals; by Hilda Simon.
Ocean (American Museum of Natural History) by Robert Dinwiddie, Philip Eales, Sue Scott and Michael Scott.

Internet:

TED Talk: Dr. Edith Widder: The Weird and Wonderful World of Bioluminescence

Dr. Widder on using bioluminescence to fight pollution

Glowing tadpoles as pollution detectors

TED TALK: Dr. Edith Widder: Glowing Life in an Underwater World

Living Light

Bioluminescence from Sea and Sky

More than Meets the Eye

How stuff works bioluminescence

TEDTalk: David Gallo: Underwater Astonishments

TED Talk: David Gallo: Life in the Deep Oceans

How the Jelly Got Its Glow

A Bioluminescence song from AMNH

Giant squid curriculum and teacher background material.

Basic bioluminescence

Science photo library

Growing dinoflagellates at home

Glowing mushrooms

Marine Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence: Nature's Bright Idea

The Bioluminescence Webpage

Jelly Watch

Bioluminescence Lesson Plan from Nat Geo

Bioluminescence videos

The Jellies Zone

Deep Sea Ecosystem from AMNH

AMNH Bio Bulletin


Dive Into Worlds Within the Sea interactive

Journey to the Bottom of the Sea interactive

It Takes All Kinds to Make a World (Ocean biodiversity interactive)

AMNH Oceans Booklist


Investigate the Giant Squid

Explore deep oceans curriculum

Jellies Down Deep

We got to see the AMNH exhibit this Sunday, and really enjoyed it.

Terracotta Warriors Exhibit

We were incredibly lucky to be able to attend the educator's preview of the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at Discovery Time Square Exposition Center a couple of weeks ago. Mikro and I studied ancient China last year, and he was quite eager to see figures from the terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi that he had read about in books. As a ceramic sculptor, I was fascinated to see them up close, and learn about how they were made.

Photography is not permitted, but I did put my sketchbook to good use. I finally remembered to take some pictures of it and stitched them together:



Click here to see a bigger version.

Friday Science at SMLI

Science class last week was making quadrant and transect surveys. The kids learned to collect data concerning what/how many organisms are to be found within the confines of a quadrant, or what/how many fall along the plane of a line between two points.





While they were at it, I walked around and took pictures... This is the museum:



There are house sparrows nesting in the porch woodwork:



A robin's nest got blown out of a tree:



And there were flowers to photograph and birds to watch...

Only in New York...

When we travel into NYC, I expect to see this:



or this:



But this is unusual, even for New York:





That's Blue Man Group on the Times Square Shuttle.

Science Fridays at SMLI

Last week, science class was about seed preservation, and ways to preserve plants. The kids wandered around collecting and identifying specimens, then chose seeds to save, and preserved a plant cutting in a solution which will rubberize it and make it last for months.





Afterwards, there was much running and giggling and playing in the woods.





While Mikro and his buddies enjoyed themselves, I took a walk around the grounds of the museum, birdwatched, and took a ridiculous number of photos of the beautiful spring flowers, and some of the multitude of butterflies that passed by.