Challenge #8 Some Halloween Voodoo

7th Grade: In honor of my time spent in New Orleans, let's learn about some haunted history.

Let me introduce to you....Marie Laveau. Your challenge:

1. Find out who Marie Laveau is?

2. Find out something about her that interests you

3. What is the legend surrounding Marie Laveau in New Orleans

Happy Haunting

P.S. Stay tuned for my post about my time in the haunted hotel.....:)

Off to New Orleans Tomorrow

Today we spent most of the morning in the lab working on the specimens we collected. In the morning we do something called "zoo". This is where we care for the caterpillars that we have collected. It seems like they would be so easy to care for. They are the size of a pin head, what could they possibly need. Well they need a clean place to live and food to eat like most things in life. So we have to clean out the frass or the caterpillar poo out of the bags and then make sure they have enough leaves in the bag of the plant they were eating in the swamp. In addition to the zoo then we also have to identify specimens and we are collecting everyday so it is a process. I found a new one today and tomorrow I hope we get a good picture. It was one of those jellybean ones.

Also this morning I worked on a database for photos. I am trying to organize about 7000 caterpillar photos. Then off to the field this morning and I went off with two other teammates and we did a plot in the thick of all of these briar bushes. The most dangerous thing today I saw was the briar bushes... they hurt so bad and we hacked away a lot of it with a machete.

Tonight the team surprised me with a birthday cake. I was feeling a little homesick today because I miss my students and my family. I got to talk to 7D today and they surprised me with their birthday singing. It was sweet.

We are off to New Orleans tomorrow and leaving the swamp for the weekend. We are spending a little time at Tulane University and tomorrow night is Halloween and according to the researchers that I am with, it rivals Mardi Gras as the most celebrated holiday here.

Happy Halloween!

Challenge #7 Cyrpress Knees

7th grade: Look at this picture. The knobs sticking out are called "cypruss knees" because they are part of bald cypress trees. Scientists started studying the cypress trees and think they may have a function. Do some research and try to find out what the function of these might be in the ecosystem or the environment.

So your challenge is

1. Find out why cypress knees could possibly benefit the swamp environment.

Journal Entry #7 : Important Events Happen While I am Gone.

The Phillies win the world series and we will elect a new president while I am gone. Too very exciting events for most people.

What has been amazing around here is the people lining up early to vote. On our way out to the field we passed a church that was holding early voting and the line was over a mile long. This went on all day as we were returning from the field the line was still there.

Interesting that this election is so fired up. It is really on the minds of my teammates and as I learned growing up politics is a subject you should stay away talking about.

Journal Entry # 8

Today I got to conference with three of my classes. In between conferencing with my students I did lab work. Lab work consisted of taking care of the caterpillars we collected and also processing the new ones we collected. The processing means identifying what the caterpillars are and taking pictures of them. The biggest surprise and the biggest disappointment is how small the caterpillars are. I expected them to be bigger and they are about the size of a small pinhead. Seeing how tiny these animals are and how weird looking they are reminds me of how diverse life is really and intricate and special. Sometimes I think if people stopped to think about this the world would really be a better place to live.

Then in the afternoon we went out to the field and were gone pretty much all day and just got back and I hope that it is an early night to bed. Getting to bed at midnight or even later is starting to wear on me.

I miss my students but I want to encourage them to do their very best while I am gone. Sometimes we have a change or a disruption we have a hard time adjusting. Trust me I know about this. In these situations we absolutely have to do our best! I am expecting you to do your best and I am counting on you.

Some Caterpillar Shots

Take a look at these beauties. We found these yesterday. We are out to the field this afternoon..to find some more...

Journal Entry #6

This is a caterpillar from the geometridade family.

I wanted to share with you some pictures.....

I didn't take these out in the field but at the bunkhouse when we were finding out which caterpillars we collected.

Challenge #6

7th Grade:

For your challenge I need a couple of things:

1. Think about some questions that you want to ask me about my experience. Come up with at least three questions to ask me.
2. Find out about caterpillar anatomy. You should try to send me a picture and also explain the parts to me. What is the function of each part.
3. What is frass?

Some of these answers you may find when I talk to you via skype the next few days...if you are listening and paying attention.

I will talk to some of you tomorrow!

Journal Entry # 5

Today was a tiring but rather fun day out in the field. We spilt our team into two and divided the duties. In the morning I was on the field team. It was so much fun because wait until I show you the pictures of the area where we had to get to.

It was very cold this morning so I wore two pairs of pants, and we had to cross a huge swamp with water that at times was very deep. To get to the other side of the swamp we crossed on slippery rocks. Our research assistant was hitting logs with a machete to let the snakes know that we were there. When your standing on a very thin log with snakes possibly below you, it can be quite a nervous situation. But remember what I said, go on those adventures because when it was all said and done it was so much fun.

We spent the morning and some of the afternoon collecting caterpillars. We sampled a portion. Here is how it is done:

1. We have a 10 meter radius

2. We first try to collect as many caterpillars we can

3. We have to label and identify what each caterpillar is and what it eats. ( We take the caterpillars back to the bunkhouse to study them later)

4. Then while we are labeling the caterpillars, we also have to label what the trees are and how many leaves are in each tree, and how many of the leaves are eaten.

Needless to say this takes hours and you are exhausted when you come back.

We got back and then checked all the caterpillars in and decided what species each caterpillar was. ( This also took hours)

But check out some of the pictures of what I saw today... I am going to have the one with the spider framed! Look mom I'm no longer afraid of spiders!

My schedule For Today

I am out in the field this morning. I'll be back later

Check out this picture.

One of the teachers on the trip, Ms. Fenyman took this beautiful picture of the orb spider. I wanted to show this to you so you can definitely see the male is so much smaller than the female.

This is a strategy for most animals and when I get back and Terrapin starts you will notice this pattern or trend with them too.

You should see two spiders here. The larger one is the female and the smaller one is the male.

Team Pic

Here is our research team. All of the teachers are from the eastern side of the United States!

Challenge #5

7th grade: Hold on to your hats! Here's your next challenge:

1. What is the definition of a parasite?
2. I found out today that a very popular christmas time plant is a parasite ( think about holding it up and giving someone a kiss)
3. Find out at least one more example of a parasite, maybe one that exists on humans?

Bonus Point Question: I am asking you to estimate how many pieces of grass are on the soccer field. I don't want you to go out and count them unless Mr. Beckett feels like going with you.

1. Describe to me a way you would go about doing this.
2. Here is a hint..... let's say you put down a rectangle and in that rectangle about 1050 pieces of grass fit inside the rectangle. You now run around the soccer field and find out that you can fit 400 rectangles inside the soccer field. How many pieces of grass do you estimate to be on the soccer field?

Alas..if you have just solved this problem you may now be a bona fide scientist as you have done what I have done with the scientists today... estimating.

Have a good day and be good for Mr. Beckett...

Journal Entry #4 First Day in the Swamp

Look close and you might see an alligator

This is the snowsuit caterpillar.

Today was our first day in Slidell , LA. As some of my students have already found out it is about 40 miles outside of New Orleans. It took us an hour to get here last night. We all got to bed really late only to have to wake up at 6 am. We are staying inside a ranger station/bunkhouse. Imagine living together in one big room with one bathroom with ten people or so.

This is the giant orb spider!

Today we spent the morning getting ready for the caterpillars we would be collecting. I got the chance to test out my connection and suprised 7B by calling them to say hi. I missed them already and wanted a little bit of Girard with me today. I was hoping to get to pop in a on a few of my other classes today but we were just too busy. We spent about five hours outside in the forest/swamp looking for caterpillars.

Why are we collecting caterpillars? We are part of a research team that is collecting caterpillars and studying the parasites on the caterpillars. ( Watch out seventh grade, this will be something to think about for the next few challenges). It is believed that with the climate change that the numbers of parasites are decreasing which keep the caterpillar population in check, and then the butterfly population in check.

Some of the interesting things I saw today:

1. We found this caterpillar first, it is from the arctiicadae family. I like to think that this little guy is wearing a snowsuit.

2. The most beautiful thing that I saw was a gigantic orb spider. Look at this picture.

3. We saw an alligator today but I really wish I would have been closer. It is camouflaged so well that you would really have to be careful and watch where you step. Good thing this one was far away.

I spent a lot of time this afternoon in the woods and it was cold. I was counting the trees... literally. I was estimating the numbers of leaves on trees and how much the leaves had been eaten by the caterpillars.

I will talk to you more tomorrow!

P.S. The pictures seem to be having a hard time uploading we are low on bandwidth tonight so you may have to wait a little later for the pictures.

Challenge # 4

7th Grade: Hope your keeping up! Work ahead if you finish challenges! Some of the work I have been getting back from you guys hasn't been correct or complete. Remember I am grading this!

Here's your challenge:

1. Double Click on the sign in the picture and read what it says.

2. Find out what mercury is.

3. Find out why eating something that has mercury in it would be bad especially for children. Tell me why and what some of the health effects are.

First Pic in the Swamp

Here is my first pic in the swamp. We are going to look for caterpillars this afternoon.

My schedule for today

I am posting my schedule so if you don't hear from me for awhile, you know where I went. I hope to bring a ton of pictures back to you from the field. We also may try to take the laptop out on our hike this afternoon and I may have the chance to call into a class so make sure Mr. Beckett has skype up just in case.

Journal Entry #3 Up Way too early but excited to get Started

7th Grade: You have at least three challenges to do at this point. Don't forget to complete them. Don't get too far behind because I will be trying to write a challenge at least once a day. I have more questions for you.

Six a.m wake up call which is nothing unusual but when you have had about four hours of sleep it is a little crazy, but all of the teachers are up and blogging away to their students and practiving skype.

Here are some pictures...

Journal Entry #2 : Lost Luggage, New Faces and Spooky Ghosts!

Well I made it to New Orleans. My luggage did not arrive. I had packed on extra days worth of clothes in a backpack but what I was really going to miss was the snake boots. I heard there were water moccassins that I now need to watch out for.

What was even more disappointing is that the airline had no idea where my luggage was. I had all the electronic equipment with me which was a good thing. I wasn't chancing that. So I met up with Ms. Gier and we headed off to New Orleans without my luggage.

We spent a few hours travelling around New Orleans and I am finally writing to you at 1 a.m. your time so I won't be uploading any pictures tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.

We got the chance to talk to some individuals who live in New Orleans and I already have so much to tell you.

First when Hurricane Katrina hit the area sort of became like the wild west. According to the people that live here the city was so ill prepared and it really was a mess. When we walked around today you would never know because it seemed quiet and peaceful. I will send you some pictures of the trees tomorrow and some of the parks are really quite beautiful. I guess some areas are still recovering from the effects of Katrina.

Also we heard a lot of ghost stories and on Friday night ( which is Halloween) we will be staying in a place where ghost activity has been recorded on dvd. This should be interesting. Maybe I will be bringing home something else besides caterpillar knowledge and pictures.

By the time that we go to dinner the airline called and they finally found my luggage. It was on a different flight but I now at least have my boots.

I need to go to sleep. I have a 6 am wake up call and training tomorrow on what we will be doing out in the swamp. Talk with you soon.

CHALLENGE #3

7th graders: You now have three challenges! Find out how fast my plane traveled to get here:

Speed = distance traveled/time

Find out my distance and I arrived to New Orleans in 3 hours ( 180 minutes)


Now I only wish my luggage had arrived that fast!

Journal Entry #1 Packed and Ready

7th grade: Journal Entries are fun to read! Spend some time reading about my adventures. You are only required to post a comment on the challenges but you may also post one here too if you would like.

I think I got the suitcase packed and ready. Thanks to Ms. Galliard for lending me a bigger suitcase. I needed the bigger suitcase for the boots that I purchased to keep me completely covered. I also need to thank Mr. Glover and Mr. S. Without their help none of this would be possible. If anything I may have too many electronic devices on this trip.

I think that I am excited and nervous. Its kind of weird to feel both all at once. I'm not really scared to be in a new place. This is what makes adventures fun and if I could tell my students one thing it would be to go on as many adventures as you possibly can. Remember that your adventures don't have to span a continent or a state, it could simply be trying something new or saying hello to someone you usually don't talk to much.

I hope tomorrow night we get the chance to blog. I am spending Sunday in New Orleans with Ms. Gier ( this is someone I have never met but we've been talking on the phone and comparing notes about what to bring and what our students are like). Our goal is to meet up sometime in the airport and then walk around New Orleans waiting for our other team members to arrive. As soon as I get there I want to take pictures of what I see so that you can feel like you are there.

I don't think it has hit my son Max that I will be going yet. He keeps asking if I will be back for Halloween and the answer is no. We went to a costume party last night to make up for me not being there and so I could see him in his costume.

Speaking of Halloween...I may have changed my costume and it is way better than being a frog which was my original thought. You will just have to wait and see what it is going to be.

Challenge #2

7th Grade: You now have TWO challenges so don't forget about the first one. You can post one comment, but please make sure to have all of your questions answered. Label your questions Challenge#1 and Challenge #2. I wanted to introduce the members/teachers of the team that are joining me on the hunt for caterpillars. You may see some of them while we teleconference. I also want you to answer the following questions.

1. Find out the distance each of us has traveled or will travel to New Orleans ( www.mapquest.com) is a good place to find this information.
2. Find out the average distance that we all have traveled to get to New Orleans
3. Who has traveled the farthest?

Ms Lewis: Philadelphia, PA
Ms. Fenyman: Sudbury, MA
Ms. Page: Wallingford, CT
Ms. Espro: St. Petersburg, FL
Mr. Novelli: Randolph, NJ
Ms. Gier: Westbury, NY

See you soon!

Almost Ready to Go: Challenge #1

I checked my expedition guide and it says I need to bring some of the following items:

BIG BOOTS ( I wonder what I need these for)
Rain Gear
Insect Repellant Spray
Headlamp
First Aid Kit

Here is your challenge:

1. I am working out of the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area which is near Slidell, Louisiana. Find out the longitude and latitude of Slidell.
2. How many acres are in the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area?
3. How far away is Slidell from New Orleans? ( Maybe you should check out a website like www.mapquest.com)
4. About the big boots.... do I need to watch out for snakes? Find out if there are any poisionous snakes that call Louisiana home.
5. I have been warned about chiggers? You need to find out some information about chiggers for and tell me what I need to watch out for.

P.S. I expect that you may be sharing a laptop with a partner, so reply to this post but make sure both of your names are somewhere on the comment so I know who to give credit to.

See you soon!

MY COSTUME

According to my expedition guide I am supposed to bring a costume since Halloween is a huge holiday in New Orleans.

I never dress up for Halloween. I need ideas.

Post a comment to me and tell me your idea. Remember it has to fit in a suitcase and pretty easy to put together.

The Caterpillars Look Like This???

It is three weeks before I head out to the field and still working out some technical bugs on my end with skype, but thought I would share with you one of the pictures from a teacher who was just out in the field.

I can't believe there are caterpillars that look like this. They are so awesome looking. They look sort of like gummy worms!