If I Were a Marine Mammal.....

Kohola - Day Twenty-Five

We are near Juneau, Alaska - humpback whale 
winter feeding grounds!  

View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map

Look at the picture for the purple camera located near Alaska.  This is a picture of an area near Juneau. Watch the videos Marine Migration and Humpback Whales Reach Polar Seas. These videos show humpback whales traveling between Hawaii and Alaska.

Challenge #6
1. How far is Juneau, Alaska from Maalaea, Hawaii?
2. Why do humpback whales travel north to Alaska?
3. Would you want to travel thousands of miles to find food?

Follow Up - Challenge #5

The scientists and I have a couple of questions for you.



Watch the videos Whales: Diet and Whales: Communication.  These two videos have more information about what whales eat and how they communicate.  Have fun!

Kohola - Day Twenty-One

Along with all the wonderful things we are learning about whales, the scientists and I want to share with you some threats to whales or bad things that can happen to them.  The most common threats are illegal whaling, pollutants, and ship strikes.

 Photo: old whaling boat

Watch the following videos about some of these threats.  Even though some of the images in the videos are sad, there are things we can do to help whales.  The scientists and I will send you information next time on how we can help these whales.

History of Whaling

Conflict with Fisherman

Marine Pollutants

No challenge with this post.

Follow Up - Challenge #4

Great job scientists! Watch the video Whales: Characteristics and Whales: Navigation.  These two videos have more information about the characteristics of whales and how "our whales" might navigate to Alaska.

Have fun!  You are very smart scientists.  We are lucky to have you with us on this project.

Tracking a Whale's Every Move....

Meet a few of the Scientist Apprentices! 
We've watched the videos & have done some research to answer the questions. 
Let us know how we've done & comment on our VoiceThread below. 

Coral Reefs Glog

Alex (Head Scientist) created this glog using glogster with your comments about coral reefs. This is the link (http://st9ewuq.edu.glogster.com/coral-reef/)to see the entire glog.

Kohola - Day Eleven

Today, we saw the other three whales - Lightning, Sunshine, and Rainbow.  We were very excited to find the rest of the whales.  Today, we put satellite tags on all five whales, so we can follow them to Alaska.

Watch the video Transmitter Attached to a Blue Whale to see how it's done.  Even though the video shows scientists attaching a radio transmitter tag to a blue whale, the process is similar for attaching a satellite tag to a humpback whale. 

Watch the video Radio Transmitters Help Study Blue Whales.  Jeff Corwin goes over how this equipment helps scientists study whales.


View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map

Challenge #4
1. What is the latitude and longitude of our location?
2. What are two things scientists can learn from attaching radio transmitters to whales?
3. What do you think a whale might think or feel when a satellite tag is attached to them?  What would you think or feel if a satellite tag was attached to you?
4. What is a satellite?

We are also learning about communities.  The students added to above slide & quote that was inspired by their coral reef learning to that project!

Here are some facts we learned about the coral reefs from the videos:

* Coral reefs are old.

* The biggest coral reef is in Australia.

* They are like communities.

* They are like a rainforest underwater because there are many creatures.

* They grow about 1 inch every year. 

* Coral reefs have many fish living in them.

* Coral reefs are an underwater city.

* They have to be in warm, shallow water.

* If the coral reefs die, they can grow again.

* They are coral reefs in many places.

* Some corals can be soft.

* Some fish use the coral reef to protect them from predators. 

* It can get up to 75 degrees or more in a coral reef.

* The United States has a coral reef near Florida and Hawaii. 

Follow-up Challenge #2

Great job students!  Watch the video Breathing.  The video will go over how marine mammals breathe underwater. 

Terrestrial Mammals Video Facts

Kohola - Day Eight

Humpback whales up ahead!! See our new location.  Look at the photo at the purple camera.  This is a photo taken of a sunset on the Pacific Ocean.


View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map

Today, we saw two humpback whales.  The scientists think it was Rain and Thunder.  Can you tell us if we were right?

Watch the video Research Team Finds a Humpback Whale.  The video shows Jeff Corwin out on a small research boat.  We are doing something very similar to Corwin when we look for whales.

Challenge #3
1. How deep is the water at this location?
2. What do you think causes the marks on humpback whale flukes?
3. How far away do people have to be from humpback whales?

Kohola - Day Three

Aloha!  It is Day Three of our cruise.  Today, we saw a sperm whale - it looks like the whale from Pinocchio.  Look at our location on the map to see a picture.


View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map

The scientists have not seen any humpback whales today.  We will wake up tomorrow and look again.  

Watch the video Terrestrial Mammals to learn more about why a humpback whale is considered a mammal.  You might even see some video of sperm whales, too! 

Challenge #2
1. How far did the research boat travel?
2. How big is a sperm whale?
3. What are two things you learned from the Terrestrial Mammals video?

Follow Up - Challenge #1

Great job!

1. Watch the video Life on Coral Reefs and Coral Reef Diversity.  This will show you a coral reef ecosystem similar to what you might see in Hawaii.  You might see a unicorn fish in the video!

2.Check out the map to see two purple cameras near our starting location.  If you click on the cameras, you should see pictures of some of the creatures you saw.

Kohola - Day One

Aloha from Maui! Today, we are off on our research cruise. My name is Ms. Riddle and I am the Research Director for the trip. My Chief Scientist is Alexandra. There are a couple more scientists and observers on the ship, too. Below is a voicethread with pictures of the crew.



We are going to follow five whales using satellite tags as they travel north to Alaska. As scientists, we will provide you with a report that has information about our location, weather, whales spotted, and ocean data.



We need your help (Mrs. Griffith's students) to tell us (the scientists) what you see, what you hear and how you feel from the whales' points of view.

The ship is leaving from Maalaea Bay in Maui. See the map below.


View A Whale's Tail: Across the Miles in a larger map

Challenge #1
1. What is the latitude/longitude at our beginning location?
2. How deep is the water at our beginning location?
3. What is the sea temperature at our beginning location?
4. What types of fish or other whales do you see at our beginning location?
5. What do you hear underwater? Other whales? Fish? Ships?
6. Do you like Hawaii?

Look on our wiki under Research Cruise for resources to answer the questions.

Starting the Journey

I'm thinking that it's time to start my migratory journey north.  This will be my first adventure with the other humpback whales. 

How do I know when it's time to begin? 

Blog Background

Ms. Riddle and Mrs. Griffith have been utlizing a Google Doc to organize and collaboratively plan a cross-curricular technology-infused multi-age unit on Humpback Whales.  The authors of this blog will be Ms. Davilla and her 8th grade students from Hawaii and Mrs. Griffith and her 2nd grade students from Randolph, NY.  Here we will collaboratively create a blog from the Humpback Whale's perspective - A Whale's Tale - as they journey - Across the Miles!