Ollie's Shark Tale!

On Sunday I found an adult Sand Shark in the rock pools. It had fairly rough skin. I got to hold the shark. It had about 5 teeth and it had lips like a catfish. My Dad found that it had been hurt a lot.

By Ollie

Whale Crier- South Africa

Jason's grandmother lives in Walker Bay, Hermanus on South Africa. This place is considered to be the 'Whale Capital of South Africa'

(View video clip from start to 1.20 min)


She sent us some neat info pamphlets and postcards about this place and the whale crier who alerts people about the whales in the area.

Thanks so much Dorothy- Fantastic hearing from you!

Water Pressure

When Mrs Brieseman was on her science fellowship last year, she got to go to sea for a week on Niwa's scientific research vessel, the Tangaroa. She put some polystyrene cups over board attached a multi-corer. (The multi-corer was going down 3000m to the bottom of the ocean to collect samples of sediment)
 Look at what happened to the cups!

The water pressure made them compress (shrink) to this size. (She had written on them beforehand)
Rebekah and Teora found out that fish can survive deep in the ocean because they are quite small and their bodies are mostly made of liquid that cant be squished easily. Some have bubbles of gas in them.

Year 3 Trip to Titahi Bay

We were fortunate that the weather held off today for the Year 3 trip to Titahi Bay. What a terric time had by all. A huge thank you to the parents who helped out. Fantastic!

How salty is the ocean?

Aydn and Ollie have been investigating how salty is the ocean. They found this experiment and used it for comparing.

•  Fill three glasses with water from the tap. 
•  Drink from one - Tasted fine even though some dissolved salts are naturally in it
• Add a pinch of table salt to the second. - This was ok but they wouldnt have liked too much 
• Add a teaspoon of salt to the third - ARGHHHHH!Way too salty! 

The boys found out that the 3rd glass of water has about the same salt as a glass of sea water. (Some parts of the ocean are saltier than others)

Snorkelling at a Marine Reserve

What an amazing time we had today at Taputeranga Marine Reserve (Island Bay) The Year 3s got to go snorkelling and exploring rock pools on the south coast of Wellington. We saw Kina, Paua, Anemone, starfish, seahorses, spotties and other fish.
We also got to touch animals like sea cucumber and starfish in the 'bait shed'
A huge thankyou to the parents who came along with us- you guys rock!

If you would like to add a comment (yes please) write it at the bottom of this post rather than on the Photo Peach site- thanks!

David Gallo on life in the deep oceans

Check out this amazing video we watched in class today. Fascinating photography. There is so much about our ocean to learn!

Blubber Glove

Today we had a look at how blubber acts as an amazing insulator for whales and other ocean mammals with this "Blubber Gloves" activity. We then used this SOLO rubric to help us with our writing. Have a look at some 'Extended Abstract' examples here.
(Click on the SOLO chart on the right to enlarge)

First we put a plastic bag around a hand. We put one hand in freezing cold water. Next we put the hand in the plastic bag into another bag with chefade. Then we put this hand in the freezing water and it felt normal. It’s like a whale because whales have blubber inside them. The blubber insulates the whale in cold sea water. 

By Josh

On Thursday Mrs Brieseman brought blubber to school and she put the blubber in a bag. We put on a plastic bag on our hand and put our hand in the bag of blubber and put our hand in the freezing cold water so we can see if it is cold in the sea. The hand without the bag was freezing cold and the blubber hand was warm. Whales have blubber so they can be warm.  

By Shaymaa

The blubber hand was warm and the hand that was not in the blubber was freezing cold. Whales have blubber to keep them warm.

By Rosie

When I put my hand in the container with ice and water it felt freezing on my hand. And when I put a plastic bag with chefade blubber in it I felt absolutely nothing. I just felt warm. That’s how the whales survive the freezing sea water – lots of blubber.   

By David

An enormous whale!

We have been reading up all about whales. There are 2 types of whale- the Toothed Whale and the Baleen Whale.
The Blue Whale is the largest animal in the ocean and is a baleen whale. It can grow up to 30 metres long. We took the tape measure out to see how big that would be- huge!!

More info on this amazing mammal soon!

EMR- Titahi Bay Visit

After a wet Tuesday postponing our Year 3 trip, the Year 4's had a glorious Thursday out at Titahi Bay snorkelling around. Great time seeing what was there and can't wait to compare what we saw with the Marine Reserve at Island Bay soon- 9/10 April. The Year 3 trip to Titahi Bay will now be on 16 April.

Diving Deep!

Have a look at this awesome website! We took a dive to 11km below sea level. Keep an eye on the  pressure in the box- top right. Squished fingernails indeed!

Adopting an Argo Float

Location of Argo Float in relation to New Zealand

We have 'adopted' an Argo Float and will keep a watch on where it travels. It was deployed off the Kaharoa which is a NIWA Vessel. The Kaharoa deployed the float on it's journey across to Chile.
This Float has been in the water for 2562 days so far and has travelled 486 km.
Like all Argo Floats, it travels at a depth of 1000m for 9 days with the Ocean Current. Then on the 10th day it drops to 2000m (just like our Cartesian Divers do) and for the next 10 hours takes readings of temperature and salinity up the water column before sending that data off to a satellite.
We can access that info through Google Earth. Have a look at all the Floats around the world for yourself by downloading the Argo Float Google Earth Application here

An enlarged view of the journey (trajectory)

Argo Floats

We have been finding out all about Argo Floats. There are over 3600 of them in our oceans, measuring temperature and salinity (the saltiness).



Argo Floats are a cool piece of technology. Each float sinks to 1000m for 9 days and on the 10th day sinks further to 2000m and for the next 10 hours, takes its measurements up the water column. It then sends the info off at the surface to a satellite  (and anyone can access this data).

Google Earth has an awesome app that lets you see where the Argo Floats are in real time. Click here to download the app from the Argo website.
Your Google Earth will start to look like this... lots of little green dots appearing- showing you the location of the Argo Floats. You can also zoom in and get information about any of these floats, along with seeing where they have travelled- their trajectory.

Argo Float Cross section- used by permission

Argo Floats sink and float because they have an internal oil bladder and a battery that pumps the oil from one part to the other- very similar way to how a Cartesian diver works. We had a go at making Cartesian divers to see this for ourselves.

Incredible Creatures

Here is a powerpoint show we presented in Assembly today. We have been practising writing good descriptions.

Incredible animals from HHSMrsB

Whacky Fish!

We've heard this week that scientists know more about the Moon and Mars than about our oceans. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they found fish in the deep that look a bit like this...

Learning How To Snorkel

As part of our Ocean Inquiry, we are learning about Marine Reserves. We are linking up with EMR (Experiencing Marine Reserves). Today Liz from EMR met us at Tawa Pool, along with some of her helpers and we had a go becoming familiar with flippers and a snorkel. On the 19 March we are hopefully going to Titahi Bay to look at the sea life out there and then on the 10 April we are going out to Wellington's Marine Reserve at Island Bay- Taputeranga Marine Reserve and comparing the two different places.
Exciting times!
Here are some pics from today's training.
(If you have a comment- put it on this post, rather than the photopeach slideshow - thanks)

A special thanks to the parents who joined us today. You were awesome!

Density of fresh and salty water

Today we found out a bit about the density of different types of water. Below is the experiment that we observed
 What you need:

• 1 Large jar filled with water- let it sit for a couple of hours 
• 1 Large jar of salted water- let it also sit for a couple of hours 
• Food colouring 
• Ice cubes 

What to do: With the jar of unsalted water- float an ice cube on the water. The cooled water by the ice will sink. Put a drop of food colouring on the ice cube to reveal the cooled water sinking to the bottom.

 Try the same thing with the jar of salted water - float an ice cube on the water. The salt would have dissolved and increased the density of the water. Put a drop of food colouring on the ice cube to reveal the cooled water spreading out and sitting on the top. The dyed water will stop sinking at the top of the “bottom water”.

.
 You can do this at home and see the effect for yourself.

Deep ocean mysteries and wonders

We have started our term's Inquiry about the ocean. Here are a couple of  fascinating video clips we looked at today as a bit of an intro.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/deep_ocean_mysteries_and_wonders.html