April 23, 2014 Earth Day Poetry

 

 

 

April 22, 2014 Earth Day on Commencement Bay

In Tacoma, 

on the Thea Foss Waterway, 

at the Thea Foss Waterway Seaport, 

and aboard the "My Girl" 

the Navigators did a field study on: 

• The port of Tacoma history
• Ecosystems and food chains
• Puget Sound invertebrates
• Plankton

Perfect for Earth Day and for our year long study of

• animals
• ecosystems and environmentalism
• history

It looks like there will be a lot to see! 

Life vests and Coast Guard regulations for everyone

All carefully aboard!

Ready for our classes!

Learning about a watershed

Be careful what you put into the watershed.

The water "sheds" down Mount Rainier into the rivers

 and into Commencement Bay.

 

This history re-enactment fit in perfectly with the book we are reading, 

A Horse's Tale: A Study of the First Hundred Years of Washington State History.  

 

Studying early maps. Washington wasn't on this early map. 

We learned about Captain George Vancouver,

the Native Americans,

and other early movers and shakers

in the Pacific Northwest. 

We also learned about Puget Sound Critters.

Sea stars are not sea fish. 

Why? Because they are invertebrates.

Sea stars move by using a water vascular system. 

Water enters the starfish through a large pore 

 and is pushed into its tube feet.

It is very difficult for fish to eat 

when they have been caught in a gillnet.

Gathering plankton at different sea levels

The zooplankton are located at deeper levels than the phytoplankton.

Plankton doesn't smell the best. 

Putting plankton on a petri dish using a pipette

Setting up the microscope

Wow! Ooh! Ahh! 

The plankton as seen through a microscope

So fun to see both photoplankton and zooplankton

Another beautiful day in Tacoma. 

Shhhh, don't tell anyone it was supposed to rain all day!

March 2014 The Colonial Times Newspaper

The Colonial Times News about the American Thirteen Original Colonies Written by the Seabury Navigators, March 2014 This is a sampling of our recently published newspaper,  "The Colonial Times."  The Navigators enjoyed writing non-fiction reports  using a who, what, why, when, where format   and fiction accounts of what it would be like  to emigrate to the New World.  Some of the stories are only an excerpt! K.Going to Georgia A Journal Entry by K.   Hello my name is K. I am 21 years old. I live in Europe. I want to live in Georgia. I want to move to Georgia because I will grow tobacco and I will get rich. I think it will be better in the Georgia colony because I will enjoy the sun. What scares me the most about going to the colony is there are skeletons that eat you but I think that it is fake. I am afraid that people will try to talk me out of going by telling me that there are monsters in the sea. My best response to that is ‘’I am not afraid of “anything.”     Massachusetts by: C.

Massachusetts   was   a   New   England   Colony. It was located   on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Wampanoag’s    lived   there before the Puritans. Giovanni Verrazano explored it. The Pilgrims founded it. The Puritans lived there. It   was founded it in 1620. They wanted freedom of   religion.  It   was named after a Massachusetts lndian word meaning ‘’on the long tidal river.’’ The people lived by fishing, shipbuilding and lumbering.

S. in Virginia An autobiography of S.   My name is S. I’m 21 years old. I live in England. I want to live in Virginia. The king is getting mean and unpleasant. I want a new life and adventure. I like to explore new places and rock climb and farm and fish and hunt. I am hoping to do these things in Virginia. Nothing scares me about travelling. I am very brave. People are going to try to talk me out of it. My response would be to flex my muscles and say, “I don’t care.” New York by: Z.   My colony is New York. It is located east of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a middle colony south of Pennsylvania, north of Georgia. The Iroquois tribe was in New York way before Europeans settled. They relied on hunting and farming. The Europeans explored New York in 1500s. The Europeans and Iroquois made a fur trading company for trading fur and some food. Henry Hudson's ship was called the HALF MOON. S. Goes to Rhode Island From the Journals of S.  My name is S. I am 22 years old. I now live in England. I want to go to Rhode Island. I get bossed around by the King and I want freedom. I want to be a silversmith and own my own shop so people will come and buy everything silver.  My friends want me to stay but I say no. Teresa’s Diary [an excerpt of a much longer account] An historical fiction  account   by S. G. Dear Diary, we are leaving to go to some place called North Carolina. I don’t know exactly why, but Ma and Pa talk about it behind my back. I think we’re leaving for religious freedom. I can’t quite make it out. I don’t want to leave everything behind, but Marie doesn’t care as long as she has April, her plush fox. (It’s just the thing with 6-year-olds. It can’t be helped.)         May 12th, 1681. Dear Diary, Ma does not want to leave our snug little cottage behind. I feel better to know someone is on my side, sort of. Marie is getting mad. She says I’m fibbing when I tell her we’re moving. Pa tells me not to tell anyone who works for the king. It’s supposed to be a secret that we’re leaving. But, being a child, I absolutely have to tell somebody. So I tell Rebecca.    May 17th, 1681. Dear Diary, a couple days later, Rebecca tells me she does not want me to leave. She tells me the moment you step on the sand, you’ll turn to dust. Now I’m scared. Who knows? A Harpy could swoop out of the sky and steel the mast! Really, truly, I think my parents are insane! (Of course, I would never tell anybody in the world that. I’m so glad this book has a lock on it.)        May 19th, 1681. Journey [an excerpt of a much longer account] by A. Book 1 Dear diary, my name is Arissa [name made up]. I’m nineteen years old. I know you might think that it’s weird for a nineteen year old to be writing in a diary. My parents made me swear that when they died I would start a diary… So here I am now writing in a diary. Right now I live in Britain. I want to go to Pennsylvania because I don’t like how I have to practice the Christian religion. I think it will be better in Pennsylvania because I don’t have to go to one specific church. What scares me about going to Pennsylvania is I might encounter a sea serpent. I also fear the Indians will kill me. I also fear (this is the last thing) that people will try to talk me out of it by saying everyone there is savage. They might even say the Indians are the most savage. They might also say; if you go, you’ll die, you belong here, and I’ll play with you always. My response to all of those things would be NO! I’m going anyway and you can’t talk me out of it. Now leave me alone. Dear diary, I’m just talking to a shipbuilder and seeing if he’ll give me a ship. On my first act he said “I’ll give you my best ship.” Whenever I ask something or give a command I get it. Here’s the thing to it—my mom was the queen. So that makes me the princess. Dear diary, I thought you might want to know what I look like so I gave you a picture of me. The day after tomorrow I’m leaving for my journey. I’m going to see if someone will come with me. South Carolina by: A.  The South Carolina colony was a southern colony. It was located between North Carolina and Georgia. The Cherokee lived there but many died from small pox.  Francisco Gordillo explored it. King Charles I founded the colony.  It was founded in 1618. It was named after King Charles I. The farmers grew indigo, rice and tobacco. The Trip to Virginia An historical fiction story by S. TS   Hello my name is Sarah [name made up]. I want to go to Virginia. I want to move to Virginia because I want to visit my friends A., A., C., K., S. S. and S.   I also want to move to Virginia because it is warm and it is cold up here in England. I am scared to go because… people… say…are… sea monsters! I think something that will not scare me is … I WILL HAVE A HAPPY LIFE! I forgot to mention that I’m 11 years old. Sarah you can’t go. Yes I can I’m old enough to tack care of myself. It’s way over 10 thousand miles away from home. I know. Well I did not know. He thinks I’m 5 but I’m not because I’m 11. Mom dad I’m sort of scared but I feel like should go because I need to get a better life. So my mother said I could go in 2 weeks. I was so happy. The reason she said that is because she will have a child in exactly 1 week. And she’s going too and so are my little brother and my baby sister and maybe my dad. I need to go to bed now good night. 2 weeks have passed. My sister, brother and my mom are coming to Virginia. I have a friend who is going to take me to Virginia. Let’s pack up! We arrived at Virginia! Yay! I’m so happy! To be continued. J

April 10, 2014 Washington State History Museum

Our study of Washington State begins at the kid-friendly 

Washington State History Museum!

Clipboards in hand, we're going on a scavenger hunt.

But first we take a trip across the awe inspiring Bridge of Glass by Dale Chihuly.

 

My group's mission? To explore the natural settings exhibit and discover:
-the geographic projection map
-the slice of Washington map
-the geologic pullout drawers
-the large basalt wall
-the Clovis people

 

Mission accomplished.
We can't wait to go back to school and hear
what other groups discovered!