Warning: This blog post has a lot of pictures and important information about our WHALE WATCHING field trip THIS FRIDAY (see bottom)!! I have been astounded by the effort and excitement our kids have put into learning and teaching others about whales. They are absorbing so much that our invited presenters have been blown away by our mini experts! I hope you'll join us at the PBL showcase this Thursday night from 6:00-7:30. It'll be an open house and every classroom will have artifacts for you to see!

It was pretty awesome when Whitney from Whale Scout shared with us the whale report she wrote when she was in second grade. She said her curiosity and love for whales started at a young age and it was after pursuing other career options, when her passion came back to whales. I have no doubt in my mind that our concerned and compassionate kids will take their learning to higher levels. 

Whoa, whales are huge! Each kid got to measure out the length of the whale he/she is studying. We got to see their size in comparison to other whales. It's pretty mind blowing seeing how much space these cetaceans would take up on our playground. Next time we'll have to think about weight and height! Thank you to Ms. Donna for taking this on! 

Ms. Lisa, from NOAA fisheries, shared a wealth of artifacts and knowledge with our 2nd graders. I think she was pretty impressed with how much we knew. I was also impressed with the questions they asked her, demonstrating critical thinkers wanting to know more! 

Thanks to the help of parent volunteers, we have had storm troopers on the loose! We have learned that the water (and everything that gets carried with it) that goes into storm drains go directly into the Puget Sound. We also learned that dog poop is a main pollutant that harms marine life. In the summer and when we get our first big storms in the fall there is something called "the big flush." There is a surge of drain water that hits the sound and it coincides when many baby seals and porpoises are born and when their at their weakest state. So far we have been surprised by the amount of garbage-and dog poop- has been collected in the nearby area. 

Frequently Asked Questions regarding our whale watching trip:

What time do I need to bring my child to school and when will they return?

Due to the nature of the trip, the tour company would like to leave from Anacortes as close to 9:00am as possible.  Keeping in mind that traffic could be an issue, we would like to have all second graders and chaperones at QAE by 7:00am.  We will be leaving QAE no later than 7:15am, no exceptions.

As far as the return, we are hoping to be back at QAE between 5:00pm and 5:30pm.  Teachers will be setting up a phone tree with room parents to let parent know more specifically what time we are expected to return to QAE.  We appreciate your flexibility as we negotiate driving distance, possible traffic, hungry kids and bathroom breaks.  We will do our best to keep you up to date as to the arrival time.
What is the name of the company providing the tour?

Island Adventures Inc. based out of Anacortes is providing the tour for our second grade students.  Their tour boat seats 110 guests.  QAE students, teachers and parents will be the only guests on this boat.  For more information on this company, please visit their website:

www.island-adventures.com/

 How long is the tour?

Our tour is scheduled to last between 5 and 6 hours.  This is the length of time needed to travel out to areas in the San Juan Islands where whales can be seen.  There will be times when the boat is driving out to locations known for whales, as well as times when the boat is anchored to observe whales and other marine life
 
What can students do while on the boat?

While on the boat, students will have a chance to interact with the naturalists on board and hear some facts and history about whales and the surrounding area.  Students may also want to take notes on their observations, or draw pictures of what they see.

What can my child bring?

Because the tour will last for quite a while, students can bring any of the following:

·         A book to read

·         A notebook or journal to make observations

·         Card games or Mad Lib style games (paper versions)

·         Binoculars (please no highly valuable ones)

Students should NOT bring:

·         Electronic devices (Kindles, Nooks, iPads, iPods, electronic games)

·         Cameras (parents and teachers will take photos of the trip)

·         Toys

What about food?

This will be a long day for most kids.  Please pack a lunch for your child as there will NOT be food available for purchase on the boat.  Students should bring a water bottle labeled with their name.  We would also suggest packing two snacks for your child to have available during the day. 

What should my child wear?

Please dress your child in layers.  Even sunny days on the open water near the San Juan Islands can be very cool.  Sweatshirts, t-shirts, comfortable shoes and pants are all great clothing choices.  Although there are bathrooms on board the ship, students will not be permitted to change clothes while on the tour.


Has the tour company ever done a trip like this before?

Yes! Island Adventures, Inc. works closely with the Anacortes School District.  Each year, second graders from Anacortes go on a similar trip with Island Adventures, Inc. to identify marine life in the area.  This is also the company that last year’s 2nd graders used for their amazing whale watching adventure.  The company is comfortable working with children.

What are the guidelines the tour boat will follow with regard to space around the whales?

Island Adventures, Inc. follows the global standard of keeping vessels a safe distance (100 feet) away from whales. Once a boat is “parked” to allow for observations, whales may choose to swim closer to the boat, but the boat may not initiate closer contact.

Are there life jackets on board of the boat?

Yes.  Island Adventures, Inc. has assured us that although the boat holds 110 passengers they have over 135 life jackets on board.  We specifically asked about child sized life jackets and they have again assured us that they have enough to accommodate our group.

My child gets motion sickness while in the car or on a boat, what should we do?

Check with your doctor for some over the counter motion sickness medications if you are very concerned.  You will need to either give your child the medicine before departure or you’ll need to have a doctor’s note allowing another adult (i.e. your child’s teacher) to give the medicine. As with all field trips, if your child has any other medications at school (epi-pen or inhaler) your teacher will bring those.

 My child uses a booster seat in a car, what do I do?

Send in your child’s booster with him/her on the day of the trip.  You may want to label your booster seat so we can insure that you have the correct seat returned to you.

The Carry 5 walk for water event was a great turn-out and a lot of fun (let's be honest, it was hard work)! What a way to walk in solidarity knowing that 1 billion people have to walk for water everyday! Our QAE team raised $5,380-providing about 72 people with clean water and a toilet FOR LIFE! Thank you for coming together to help others have healthier livesI  

My time at Queen Anne Elementary has been without comparison and making the decision to leave was and is extremely difficult.

Life is busy and eventful with my two young daughters and the opening of our 2nd restaurant this year, so I have decided to teach closer to my home in Edmonds.  It'll be nice to say goodbye to 8+ hours of commuting a week, but sad to say goodbye the beautiful children, families and the outstanding colleagues I have at QAE. I have learned so much from my students and the community and I will miss this place terribly. It's comforting to know that our worlds will still be connected despite geographic separation.

This Sunday, May 31st is the Water 1st Carry5 Walk for Water at the Seattle Center. Last year QAE was the largest and almost the top fundraising team. We are hoping to match that this year.   
Big thanks to Asa and Zane Desai for telling our school about the event at our last Monday Morning Meeting.



We have had some incredibly compassionate and concerned 2nd graders help raise money for the cause.

This past weekend Oliver made a sign and educated patrons that came to his family's garage sale. In the end he collected $153 (enough money to provide two people with a lifetime of safe water). Mollie and friends created their own jog-a-thon-like event and earned $$ for every lap they ran around the block. She is our top fundraiser, raising over $500. As a team we have raised $1,105 so far. 


If you'd like to join us you can register online or in person on Sunday. When registering please select the QAE team. Registration is $10 online and $20 in person and includes a t-shirt. Please bring an empty jug that you will fill with water at the center fountain. I'll be there. I hope you'll join me. 

Did you child come home from school amped up about what he/she has learned about whales? Did that include a little poop talk? Jeff Hogan, the executive director of Killer Whale Tales , shared his passion and expertise with our 2nd graders today. We learned an awful lot while getting in some good laughs, he was quite the entertaining teacher! Did you know that poop can tell us what an animal has been eating, where it's been, how healthy it is, whether or not it's stressed out, pregnant, or is about to be pregnant? We learned about the Southern Resident Killer Whales in the Puget Sound and how to identify them; distinguished between gender, age, and pods; compared how our bone structures are very similar; learned how to identify their sounds and other forms of communicating; what they need for survival; what threatens them; and how we can we can help them. 

We played a quiz show game and students won orca trading cards- what a hit! Mr. Hogan would like each child to fill out a sheet that went home today and needs to come back to school by Friday. This presentation can be free of charge to us if we send him these questionnaires. If 100% of our students complete the forms then he will send us more whale trading cards- enough to give each child an additional 10 cards!  

Our PBL is going strong. I must say, our kids are really sinking their teeth and baleen into everything whales! We began our exploration with a blubber and baleen simulation. We also did a "fun fact" scavenger hunt by predicting the whale that fits the fact and then using QR codes that brought us to the answer. Each child has chosen a whale that they will become an expert on. In the weeks ahead we will be researching and writing a report on this whale. All-the-while keeping our driving question at heart, 
              HOW CAN WE AS CONCERNED AND COMPASSIONATE GLOBAL CITIZENS, HELP WHALES? 


CONVERSATION STARTERS

• What are the two types of whales?
• What whale sleeps standing up?
• What whales makes the longest migration?
• What bone is bigger in humans than orcas? 
• How old is the granny in the J-pod? (she was born in 1911-she is 103, the oldest whale known in the world!)
• How are orca pods determined? (orca whales live with their moms)
• What do orcas love to eat? (king and chinook salmon)
• Teach me some orca calls (we learned that each pod has their own calls. (J-Pod) S1: cowboy, S2: dental drill, S4: duck with gas, (K-Pod) S16: kitty cat, S17: two kitty cats, (L-Pod) S19: hiccup, S37: teacher call
• What are we doing right now that helps orca whales? What else can we do? 

IN OTHER NEWS

• Poetry Slam this Friday from 3:00-3:40 in our classroom. 
• IMAX permission slips due! (field trip is May 21st) 
• Spelling test on Friday
• Killer Whale Tales questionnaire due Friday
• Dwankhozi week at QAE next week! We welcome Moses Masala (all the way from Zambia) to QAE! 

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR PARENT VOLUNTEERS!
Our regular volunteers include Ms. Tanea, Ms. Robin, Ms. Anna, Ms. Connor, Ms. Chris, Ms. Holley, Ms. Sara, Ms. Karen, Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Alison, Ms. Annlee, Ms. Donna & Ms. Beth. I am thankful for you! 

Reading children's writing is my favorite thing to read and children's poetry probably tops the list. I believe kids are the most creative people. Students walk through the door asking when it's time to write poetry and there are groans when writing time is over. Kids are writing during recess and pinning their poems on our "Poet Tree." Through the "Doors of Poetry" we have learned how to see through Poet's eyes. We open the Heart Door, Observation Door, Memory Door, Question Door and the Concerns About the World Door to guide the vantage point of our poems. I hope your child is inspired to write poems over the break. We will continue our poetry unit when we return to school and plan to celebrate our published pieces with you. 

*We will continue to study fractions after break and then geometry
* We launched our PBL unit on WHALES. Ask your child about paper mache whales, blubber and what they've learned so far. I have our "Wonders" posted on the PBL tab of my website
* Winter Progress reports went home on Friday. Please keep everything inside the envelope. Sign the envelope and return it to school. 


Enjoy the break and I'll see you on the 20th! 

Hello all,
Ms. Heike here. I just wanted to take a second and say thank you for all the kind words and the warm farewell this week. I have so enjoyed working with this class and getting to know you all over the past year. I will miss spending every day at QAE!
Wishing you all a fabulous break and rest of the year,
Ms. Heike 

Every morning this week our classroom has transformed into a talk show studio. I have really enjoyed how our kids have embraced this exercise by getting into their fairy tale character. The talk show forum is a way to recount stories from diverse cultures and determine their central message, lesson, or moral, demonstrate understanding of key details in a text, acknowledge different points of views of characters and how characters respond to events (Common Core Standards, ELA). A big thank you to our families for rehearsing at home, helping your child with their wardrobe, and for attending the shows. We hope to see you Friday morning for our Fairy Tale publishing party. It'll be an open-house from 9:15-9:45. 
The talk show "re-runs" will air on our Weebly sites soon. See your local listings for details! 

I'd like to send out a pouring THANK-YOU to Jennifer Connolly for spear-heading this project and to Chris Lynch for helping out along the way. The kids also took video and pictures during the weeks it took to paint the rain barrel and you can see the process here: