Ocean currents

Today we listened to whale songs and watched a couple short videos on YouTube about scientists trying to figure out what the sounds mean. We also learned that some whales are endangered because people are killing them. Then we used a tape measure to try and measure the length of a whale. However, our longest tape measure is only 25 feet long and humpback whales are 50 feet long and blue whales are 80 feet long, but we tried to imagine how big that would be.

This week we have also been talking about oceans. Gavin knows that there are four oceans and he can find them our on world map. We have been looking at our map when we read about where different whales live. We have also been reading about things like why are oceans salty, and what does the bottom of the ocean look like. We have also read about ocean currents, so today we did an experiment with ocean currents. We learned that cold water stays under the warm water until the warm water heats it and then it rises. So, we tried it. We filled an aquarium with hot water. Then Gavin mixed cold water with salt and blue food coloring (so we could see it) and I poured it into the hot water.

Finally, I poured it into the hot water to see what would happen. It worked! Actually, the first time it did not work, so we reread our directions and noticed it said ice water (from the Arctic Ocean) not cold water so we tried it again with ice water and then it worked! The blue water sunk down to the bottom and then we watched as it started drifting up and mixing with the warm water.

Well then, of course, Gavin had to play with his bath toys in the water. First a boat was looking for whales.

And then the whale and the fish were chasing each other.

To end the day Gavin did a little painting. He used blue and green paint and mixed them together to experiment with the different colors they made and to make an ocean. Then I drew a humpback whale, an orca (killer) whale a dolphin (yes, we know it's not a whale) and a few fish and a stingray because Gavin wanted one. (I must add that I think I did a great job drawing ocean animals because I am fairly certain I have never drawn one before!) Then he added his ocean animals to the wet paint so they would stick to the painting as the paint dried. Then we hung it in a window so the sun could shine through the paint. It looks great!

And...Austin is crawling. I took some video but it isn't uploading...maybe Steven can get the videos up tonight.