Stretching and Shrinking Vocag Crossword

scale factor songs

Tuesday
Sevi Mia Sarah and absent R
Ellie Sydney viv cc
Quinn Grace and friends
peyton carrie anna and friends
Wednesday
Lucy and Olivia
Hunter Henry and Reid
Ireland Charlotte Maggie and Ariel
Sorry for the delay

The video with the most views gets a prize.  Watch early and often. 

Homework due for 10.23

STUDY FOR THE TEST!

Unit Project Update

As of now I have exactly ZERO groups signed up to record songs this week during lunch.  This means to me that everyone is doing the drawing project which is totlly fine.  If my assumption is incorrect and you did the singing project, then you must comment to this post to secure a time during lunch.  I will not be available on Monday lunch to record, so you will have both Tuesday and Wednesday to record during lunch, but your lyrics are due tomorrow.

See you tomorrow

Sea Camp Day 4

Sea Camp day 4

After yesterday’s bright sunshine and warm temperatures, the morning greeted us with a scene more out of a Wes Craven movie then the Endless Summer.  The city and Fiesta Island were completely overrun a thick blanket of clouds and strong winds that promised to churn the sea turn even the heartiest of stomachs. 

Breakfast was the usual delicious affair with trays full of Danish, sausage, eggs, and waffles.  Once the bags were packed, team B shoehorned themselves into the familiar white and silver Sea Camp vans for the ten minute drive to the marina.

When I walk in the spot (yeah), this is what I see (ok)
Everybody stops and they staring at me
I got passion in my face and I ain't afraid to show it, show it, show it, show it

I'm At Sea Camp and I know it

Once all seat backs and tray tables were in there up right and lock positions and all carry-on luggage was securely stowed in the overhead bins or under the seat in front of us, the Sea Camp crew explained where all of the emergency exits were located (over the side of the boat once donning a life vest), that any unplanned feeding of fish (throwing-up) was to be done OVER the side of the boat, not the ships head, and that should the oxygen masks be deployed that you should place the mask your own face before assisting a small child, or someone acting like a small child.  Hum, I guess that would mean I would be the last one on the boat to get an oxygen mask.  The safety instructions were so interesting that a huge male sea lion came and popped his head out of the water to listen, pose for photos, wish us well, and remind us to write our parents frequently.  So far the high winds didn’t change the marina’s water typically glass surfaces.  Perhaps things out past the breakers things would be as bad as we thought. 

The first thirty minutes of motoring was uneventful unfortunately yet the staffs predictions of a mad dash to the gunnels didn’t happen either.  The seas were angry my friends, but we were headed with the swell which helped keep breakfast where it belonged.  This season’s boat trips have yielded precious few animal sightings and at first we feared that the dolphins had performed so much for yesterday’s group that they would have nothing left to show us.  As luck would have it, one of the largest pods of common dolphins seen this year was spotted by the Sea Camp owner, Phil, from his office window at Scripps Oceanic Research Facility and radioed to the ship’s captain so the chase was on.  The Sea Watch streaked through the water thanks to the strong tail wind and friendly currents that pushed us towards the commons and in no time we had caught the pod who very kindly jumped and squeaked for pictures.  When the captain rendezvous with a pod he will slow to their preferred bow surfing pace and chart a course that matches that of the dolphins.  The dolphins were headed in the opposite direction which headed us into the swells so everyone on the bow watching the show had to endure the bow spray that soaked even the counselors who normally are able to avoid getting even a drop on their clothes.  The change in direction was the first real challenged for campers and I’m happy to say they passed with flying colors.  It also made taking pictures impractical and staying warm impossible. After circling in a spot that has seen whales in the week to no avail, the ship turned into the wind and headed for home.

Under normal sea conditions, the boat would anchor outside of La Jolla Cove and snorkel in the world famous La Jolla inlets and caves, but the wind and surf made anchoring in open water unsafe, so we motored back to Mission Point where we dropped anchor and snorkeled in Mission bay.  The water was as opaque as yesterday so we weren’t able to see or pull up much marine life for the students to see, touch, and taste.   To finish our water time, the students had a battle of the sexes in a game of king of the raft which was won decisively by the girls (it always is).

As soon as everyone got back on the boat and changed, we were treated trolling in the mission channel.  This is something that I have never done and I am pleased to report that it was really exciting. The bottom scrapping net caught at least a dozen sting rays, ten California Spiny Lobsters, Calico Bass, Giant Kelp Fish, Pipe Fish, and a two spotted octopus.  After a brief description of the specific adaptations that have evolved to allow survival, the students were able to pet and hold everything that was liberated from the bottom of the sea.  Don’t worry, the sting rays didn’t sting and the lobsters behaved themselves.  

Even though the boat trip wasn’t what we hoped due to the adverse conditions, the yield by the end of the day far exceeded our optimistic expectations.  Thankfully we only had a few who got sick in conditions that the Sea Camp staff had openly warned me my produce an epidemic of sea sickness.  The kids did great, learned a ton, and had the time of their lives.  As I write this report, the kids are engaged in the Sea Camp end of trip rite, the camp fire.  I hope they left some s’more for me.

See you at the airport,

Kirk

Sea Camp Day 3 - Kayaking, Sea World

Sea Camp 2012 Day 3 Group B

Kayaking, Plankton Lab, and Sea World

The fog that blanketed the coast on our Monday arrive was a faint memory as the glowing sliver of new moon faded into the orange red sunrise over the distant eastern hills and mountains of Southern California. It may read October 17^th on the calendar, but heat haze lifting off of the asphalt made it feel more like August 17^th.    For group B most of the Marquee Sea Camp activities were either ahead of behind us so the mood among the students was one of relaxed anticipation.  Who needs snorkeling, boogie boarding, or dissection labs when you have kayaking, plankton lab, and Sea World on the docket? 

In years past, Kayaking mostly filled the space in between the plankton lab and the departure for Sea World.  This year the activity took center stage in the morning schedule.  Everyone made it on to their red hard plastic double kayaks without flipping which is a real feat and glided into the middle of the bay outside the Camps front doors.  After forming a ‘kayak raft’ we discussed the adaptations and hardships that animals must overcome to survive in the man-made bay just north of downtown San Diego.  Due to the shallowness, large surface area to volume ratio, and storm run-off, the temperature and salinity of the bay will vary widely.  The species that use Mission Bay as a home and nursery must be hardy enough to withstand all of these constant changes to thrive.  Once understanding how humankind’s actions affect the habitat for these animals, we played a simulation game called evisceration.  One of the adaptations that the fascinating sea cucumber has when threatened is to eviscerate(expels) it’s intestines so that the predator becomes distracted by the lure of a free meal so the sea cucumber can escape.  In our adapted kayak game, students were to get a blue ball from the water and into one of the two counselors yellow kayaks for a point.  There were two teams and kayakers could pass the ball from one team member to another.  The defending team without the ball tried to block passes and they could force boat carrying the ball to eviscerate the ball if they rammed the ball carriers boat with their own.  Once the ball was in the open water, boats scrabbled to take possession and start the process again.  The surprise star of the game was Ally who was our group’s top scorer.  The game within the game was to see which boat could capsize the most.  I believe the top team found the harsh Mission Bay water eight times. 

The Plankton lab was riveting, but we will move on to the MEGA fauna that we witnessed in the afternoon.

 I am afraid that my words can’t do the wonders of Sea World justice.  To see an Orca up close is truly awe inspiring.  Their size, strength, and intelligence is unfathomable and watching the shows and the animals during their break times only scratches the surface of these top predators.  In addition to orca tanks, there is also Shark Encounter, Turtle Rescue, Penguin Encounter, Wild Artic (beluga whales, polar bears, and walruses), bat rays, sea lions, otters, bottle nose dolphins, and a top notch aquarium.  The shows are the real attraction.  You have the Shamu’s One World, Blue Horizon (dolphins and divers), Sea Lion show (the most entertaining), and the pet show.  Finely, if the animals don’t float your boat, then you always can cool off on the water coaster Atlantis, air out on the roller coaster Manta, or just get soaked on the Ship Wreck Rapids.  I can’t possible write about all the things to see and do, so just look at the pictures and enjoy. 

The most unique experience hands down goes to Trevor Buetner who got to participate in the Dolphin Interaction program.  Again a picture (or 194) is worth a thousand words, so please vicariously enjoy his time with the Sea World Dolphins.  In addition to working with an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, Trevor and I got to go back stage to feed the pilot whales.  Dolphins and pilot whale interactions in a 90 minute span, truly a once in a lifetime experience.

From sunny and hot San Diego, good night and good luck.

Sea Camp 2012 Day 2 - Fish lab and Snorkeling

Sea Camp Day 2 GroupA

As the sun dawned on what was to be another sun soaked day in Mission Bay, anxious students, to excited to sleep but too tired to move, opened there eyes and hoped that the counselors would allow them to fain sleep for just a couple more minutes before greeting the second day of camp.  No such luck.  The openly depressed staff (35-24) moped into the complex and aroused all to the smells of frying bacon and eggs with a side of French toast.  Ah the life of a Sea Camper!

Today the A and B groups had flipped schedules.  In the morning A completed the lecture style fish lab while B group had their introduction to snorkeling at Mission Point along with INSANE seining.  We met at The Point for a group lunch of…sandwiches and sprout ball then B inseined and snorkeled while group A had squid dissection (group A did this lab last night and you should have seen Michael V’s squid ink mustache). 

Students in the fish lab learned about three classy classes of fish, breaded, blackened, and tacoed. OK, they were really Agnatha (jawless), Chandricthyes (Sharks), Osteichthyes (boney fish).  With all the discussion of fish and their various adaptations, the students grow quite hungry, so after grumbling tummies louder than the airplanes taking off over head, the staff allowed students to snack on the available fare…Hag fish mucus.  Not surprisingly Conner was the first to volunteer, however Marina beat him to the ooze and had the honor of being the first of many Sea Camp dinners at the Hag fish Café.  

 Supposedly it tastes like salt water, but I wouldn’t know, the stuff is disgusting!  Everyone’s favorite fish turned out to be the shark (ok, that’s not too shocking) and the shark portion of the lab didn’t disappoint.  Did you know that every year sharks kill 5 to 8 humans and humans kill 250,000,000 sharks?  Instead of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, perhaps we should provide sharks with a human week. 
I can just envision little tiger shark pups in the seven seas hiding under the comforter when Nana gets handed a menu.   

As Sean quipped “I am a big bad human!  Fear Me!” 

Much of this over harvesting of sharks is due to the popularity of shark’s fin soup.  Sharks fins will fetch as much as $250 a pound in the markets of Chinatown in San Francisco so fisherman will catch the shark, cut all the fins off and then return the helpless fish to its unenviable fate in the open ocean without the ability to swim.  This fact hits home for me since one of my favorite dishes as a kid was sharks fin soup at the local Chinese restaurant.  The fin didn’t taste too good, it is fairly tasteless cartilage after all, but my father and I thought it was cool to be eating shark.  I have tried without success to apologies to each and every shark that I have met since, but they seem to just want to swim away in disgust.  The coolest part of the shark lab is the shark tank.  The circular tank is the home of four Horned sharks, two leopard sharks, two spotted guitar fish, and the only horse shoe crab known to man that actually prefers to lay about on its back on the sand taking in the SoCal rays.  Ah the life of a Sea Camper!  Porsche, one of the counselors, caught one of the Horn sharks and presented it to every student to touch so that the students could feel the epidermal dentils (sharks skin). 

After shark wrangling, on came the Pacific Mackerel dissection.  Students dissected the hearts of their mackerels along with an inspection of the stomach (they found scales from their prey fish, and gills, yummy! I think this is why stray cats come to live near camp.  

Once everyone completely lost their appetites, it was on to lunch at Mission point.     

We pause for a brief radio break in the Sea Camp vans.  Click here for music.

OMG that song will never ever ever get out of my head!

Sprout ball, a modified dodge ball game that never ends, supplied its usual thrills.  Conner, Trevor, and Mikael dominated the Sea Camp staff. 

After getting hot and sweaty the best way to cool down is to immediately get into a cold water wetsuit, so we all scrambled to the neatly piled stacks of neoprene.  Yesterday we were challenged with simply getting them on to go boogie board, today we upped the ante and had to not only get the suit on correctly (no boys, the zipper goes in the back) AND put on a hooded vest with a mask and snorkel.  Once this was accomplished we divided into two groups, while one group snorkeled, the other seined in the shallows and eel grass.  Seining is an ancient method of catching fish.  Two people hold wooden stakes that are attached to a net.  The net has one side that is held at the top of the water by floats while the other end weighted side of the net scraps the sea floor.  While the net is held taught, the rest of the group links arms and methodically marches through the water towards the net.  Frightened fish try to escape the chorus line by swimming … right into the net. We had quite a hull.  We netted a dozen giant kelp fish, bass and pike fish. 

Other than the largest kelp fish I have never ever ever seen caught in the net, the coolest part was one of the male pike fish (like sea horses, the males carry the young) gave birth to a score of babies.  They were tiny, but fascinating.  So fascinating that belly flops were in order.

The snorkeling group had the opportunity to see, touch, and even taste the local sea life that calls the rocky Mission Point home.  Some of the highlights were an octopus, brittle stars, sea stars, sea hares (although they move more like a tortoise), and flitting Garibaldi’s.  But before we could discover the wonders of the rock reef, we first had to navigate through long thick patches of eel grass that seemed to entangle some of the girls quicker and tighter then devil's snare.  Luckily eel grass's kryptonite is a good loud scream, so we were serenaded throughout the snorkel.  How did the song go

You go talk to your friends talk
To my friends talk to me
But we are never ever ever ever getting back together

Like ever...

Ahhhh, that's much better.  Interestingly enough, the octopus had taken up residence in an old heineken bottle that he decorated with a colorful assortment of barnacles and sea weeds.  Eric Carle would have been proud.  Another hit was the giant limpet.  The sea camp guides swear that the giant Limpet or whale’s eye does in fact taste like sweet potato, but Mike was just happy to get the seven years of good luck that comes when you lick the mollusk.  Yummy and good for you too!  Too bad the same can’t be said of Brussels sprouts.  All the snorkeling was just a tease for what is to come on the boat trips which start tomorrow. 

We ended the day with a quick football practice on the dirt field, the sea camp store, and a down home chicken fried dinner with all the fixings.