Alpha

Larry Alert!!! Larry Alert!!! All week, Larry has bothered our classroom with his shenanigans. First, we were missing our table team supplies, then our lamps, then our peace corner pillows, and finally, OUR CHAIRS were switched with Betas’!!! We will DEFINITELY need to create some traps and need your help. Please drop off any recyclables you have to the Alpha classroom on Monday morning. For many years now, this Leprechaun has pestered our class during our 3rd quarter when we study Geometry – which is handy for us (the one, single convenient thing about this Leprechaun…), so we can justify building […]

Larry Alert!!! Larry Alert!!! We gave Larry back his boot — along with a lot of really kind notes of love and appreciation, and what does he do?  He hid all the composition books from Ms. Kim’s group and put all the math manipulatives into the Language Arts’ shelves, and all the handwriting and fine motor activities into the Math shelves … What are we going to do?! Water, water, everywhere… This week, we learned about whales! Thanks to Malin’s lovely Blue Whale, Alphas knew that they were not only the largest whale in the sea, but the largest animal

This Week in Alpha (Photo credit: Kristin Vrana, Ezra’s Mama!) Water, water, everywhere… Alphas continued their journey into the deep by admiring an incredible quality that many Twilight Zone creatures have: bioluminescence! We oohed and ahhed at their pulsating and flashing lights that they use to defend, mate, camouflage, and capture prey. Then, we used neon paints to create our own jelly fish, salps, vampire squid, ghost fish, and siphonophores, to name a few. Then we took an even deeper dive into the Aphotic Zone! We did a demonstration with salt water and flashlights to see for ourselves how light

Water, water, everywhere… Dove deeper into the ocean (600 feet deep) into the twilight zone! Alphas learned that very little light reaches the dysphotic zone, which makes photosynthesis inoperable and plants obsolete. We explored many critters that live here, but focused on two enemies. The sperm whale vs the giant squid! While oceanographers have not captured video of the battle, tentacle marks left on sperm whales offer some evidence as to what might occur in the dark. One video animated a model of how sperm whales use echolocation to find their favorite food. Alphas collaged the great battle and depicted many epic

Water, water, everywhere… This week, we left the shore for open water to explore the euphotic zone!  This is the layer of the ocean that gets the most sunlight. We learned that this layer is closest to land, which means it is closest to humans, and the Alphas know that where there are humans, there is trash! The euphotic zone is where over half of our oxygen comes from; it also contains 90% of all marine life — which makes its proximity to humans a little scary. The continents are ringed in the light blue of the euphotic zone… Alphas,