Alpha

This week in Alpha… Alphas enjoying the movie Ezi made to cheer up our friend Anna when she was in hospital! Best medicine ever. This week in the Ocean… This week we learned how important the motion in the ocean is to the health of our planet and how global warming is putting that circulation in danger. If we put water in a tray, the water is very still – is the water at the shore still? Here’s how waves land on land – it doesn’t stay there, it moves back out, UNDER the swells! No Alphas were hurt in […]

HE’S BACK!!!!!!!! As you all are aware, we switched classrooms with the Gamma class this summer. What you MAY NOT know is that for YEARS, starting in February we have been pestered and tricked by a little Leprechuan who calls himself Larry. Last Monday, Larry made his first appearance in the new GAMMA room! Our our former Alphas knew that shamrock and wisely called a class meeting to kindly, but firmly redirect the mischief-maker to his proper domain. (…uh…thanks a LOT Gammas…) This week in the Ocean… We explored the deepest layer of the ocean: The Aphotic Zone! Ms. Kim

Oceans This week we dove deeper into the ocean – 600 feet down to the beginning of the Disphotic or Twilight zone. Very little light reaches this deep. Disphotic gets its name from being a region where photosynthesis cannot occur and plants can’t grow. To understand the differences between the two zones for the living organisms that live there we looked at sperm whales and giant squid. Alphas learned that Sperm whales are incredibly unique mammals. In some form of evolution they have been on earth 20 million years or more, can dive the deepest of any mammal (2,000-10,000 feet),

This week we learned that the ocean has layers that are divided by how much light is in it. The first layer we explored is called the Euphotic Zone. We learned that most of the creatures in the ocean live in this layer, and just like all living things on land, these creatures require sunlight, air, water, and food to live. Alphas knew that many of the tidal zone creatures had adaptations that helped them capture microscopic food particles from the water, and we learned that those particles were actually living plants and animals called Phytoplankton and Zooplankton. We learned

Water, Water Everywhere! This week, we investigated what many rocky seashores offer…shelter and food for some of the world’s most adaptable creatures in the intertidal zones. (oh! how we wish we had tidal pools to explore in our neighborhood!) The ecosystem hangs on for dear life as the tides ebb and flow….and what creates tides? We learned that the ocean is always moving by the force of winds and currents and especially the pull of the moon’s gravitation creating 2 high tides and two low tides on earth each day. We looked at the Dr. Suess type animals that can