19 August 2007 ACTIVITY- Shrunken Spotted Seal Measurement Fun

OK-

So when school started, my team's math teacher came into my room and bumped into the gigantic shrunken seal that had been soaking for 6 weeks. 'WOW!' he says. 'I want to be a part of this, let's plan on doing something with our advisories to help them brush up their skills of measuring and make it meaningful.'

He agreed to make the prediction sheet and I was to write the story to get the kids engaged.

I seal sat a young spotted seal as her mumma was being tagged. 

So I did. His seal was Sami, mine was Su-Sea. We read our students the saga of how we came in possesion of the creatures and what would happen once they were rehydrated.

My first seal sitting customer. 

There was a lot of science and math to do inbetween.

This is the reason why I seal sat. Mumma and baby happily together once more. 

We measured them (weight and length) and put them in their new home.

This is Su-Sea before the plunge. Notice how nicely she fits into my hand.

By the end of the week they had outgrown it, and were in buckets and 15 gallon aquariums. But the other advisory teachers wanted in on the fun. We outfitted them with balances, and metric tapes, and soon they were naming the seal and weighing it everyday too. The kids come into the rooms and look around for the creatures and try to outguess each other as to how much it weighs.

I'm doing another inquiry lab with them with dehydrated insects where they are going to decide the control, variables, write a hypothesis, measure them. Ya, you got the idea. So I am attaching the modified story and the prediction sheet. I will also attach one of my science inquiry guide templates for those of you who dare to set the students free and experiment.

Goodness, who would have thought so much learning could take place with one little 88 cent toy?