NOAA Visits our Park Rangers!

Over the past couple of months I have worked closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the team at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester (where Mr. Ford works) to coordinate a fun program to bring to the second grade during our project-based learning unit on habitats.

This morning, our second grade Park Rangers had the opportunity to explore more about our wetland and ocean habitats and visit five hands-on stations. Students were engaged by the interactive stations that focused on marine mammals, wetlands, and the effects of marine debris. Here are some snapshots from our fun morning with NOAA!

At the marine mammal station, students learned about how mammals breathe air and how whales use their blowhole as their nose. In addition to touching many artifacts, we met 'Rocky', a life-size North Atlantic right whale calf who measures 20 feet long. We also dragged a string across the cafeteria to show the length of Rocky's mom - 55 feet!

 At the turtle station, we got the opportunity to touch the shells of different species of turtles. We learned how turtles use their shells for protection.  We took a closer look at three turtles and how you can tell where they live based on the shape of their feet. Students met 'Galaxy', a life-size leatherback turtle - one that can be found in the National Monument of Buck Island!

We also discussed how some turtles eat jellyfish and how plastic bags can look a lot like a jellyfish when floating out in the ocean!

At the sturgeon natal homing station we pretended that we were a sturgeon! After spending months living in the Atlantic Ocean, we are now trying to find the Merrimac River because it is our natal river. We were born there, and that is where we want to spawn or lay our eggs. We learned that sturgeon find their natal rivers by using their sense of smell. This behavior is called natal homing. Each river smells differently!

We had to find our way to our natal river by tracking one scent and following the scent through a series of stations until we made it to our 'river' and found our scent!

We also had the chance to learn more about our nearby wetlands and saltwater marshes. Wetlands act as sponges to protect our oceans. Salt marshes help protect against flooding, erosion, chemicals, and other environmental factors that can harm our ocean habitat. The marsh grasses help protect our water sources by filtering out waste such as litter and gasoline. Students performed an experiment to see what the water would look like if it was unfiltered. Ask your child what type of pollution got into the fish's water!

Did you know that 80% of marine debris is from land-based activities that enter the ocean through our rivers, estuaries, beaches, and storm drains? At the marine debris station, we did a seabird experiment where we had to use a wooden spoon and act as a seabird trying to separate its food from debris. Ask your child what their seabird's belly looked like!

 Thank you NOAA for such an informative, fun morning!