Other great sites

If you haven't done so already . . .

I suggest that you go on the other teachers' blogs. They have so much wonderful information and a different perspective.

Click on http://www.blogger.com/profile/15176982653457793321

This link includes not only our trip, but the other trips with teachers that have been going live from the field in other locations.

CHALLENGE:

Let me know-
What you have learned.
What you would still like to know more about.
Do you think you would like to go on a trip like this? Why or why not?

Miss Santoro

The team finally dug down to the permafrost layer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo by Mr. Wojo

It was about 65 centimeters down in the tundra area. It was deeper in the forest area.

Challenge: Why do you think the permafrost layer would be found deeper down in the forest area?

The team had to dig through a few layers of soil. In the tundra, the team found organic matter all the way down to the permafrost layer. In the forest, the team went through a layer of organic matter, sandy soil, and then sandy soil with gravel. Then they hit the permafrost layer!

Here is a photo of the different kinds of soil mixtures from the forest:

Photo by Mr. Wojo

Some of the team also got to stay inside and do data entry. It was lots of fun. We entered over 2,500 pieces of data. We found out how important it is to keep everything consistent and FAIR.

No polar bears came out today.

Miss Santoro

Today I spent the ENTIRE day counting tree whorls inside the CNSC. We counted the whorls on about 250 trees! We found an especially interesting tree. It is a larch, pictured here. If you look closely at the center of the trunk you will notice that there are both roots and branches growing in the same area. This is because when the tree was born the moss around it was very low to the ground. The tree grew branches, just like trees normally do. Then the moss died off and created a layer of soil around the base of the tree. More moss grew on top of that soil. That new moss died and created another layer of soil. More moss grew on top of that. Eventually there were a few inches of moss and soil covering the first branches that had grown on the tree. The tree took advantage of the new soil around it and grew roots in those areas.

CHALLENGE: We counted the whorls on about 250 trees. Each tree had between 0 and 40 whorls. If every tree had 40 whorls, how many would we have counted? If every tree had 2 whorls, how many would we have counted?

Using the information from above - tell me ABOUT how many you think we might have actually counted.

Grade 5 questions:

In the picture of the sled dogs, was that snow falling? YES! We had only one snow fall during our stay here this past week. There was no accumulation but it was beautiful as it was falling. The sun was still out and the clouds were quite dramatic. That was when I got my photo of the rainbow.

How do they get the bears in the trap? They bait them with seals.

How did your friends get out of the Hudson Bay? LABMAN saved them!

This is a photo of him diving in.

Was the polar bear big or small? BIG. It weighed about 1,000 pounds.

Thank you for your questions! I hope you keep writing.

Miss Santoro

More answers to your questions:

Did they have any "badly behaved" bears in captivity while you were there?

I had to go into town today and I was told that a polar bear was just tagged and brought to the "jail" for bad behavior, but she didn't know what that behavior was. He or she was probably just too close to people.



How often do they have to capture and release such bears?

They can capture one hundred or more each year during the times when they are on land.



Also, how long did Dr. Foo Foo and his friend George swim in the Hudson Bay?

After five minutes they wanted to get out.



We were wondeirng if it is colder in the tundra region than the forest region. You looked colder in the picture.

You are right! It was much colder in the tundra region. It is much more open to the wind. In the forest the trees help to shield us from the wind.



Did you have to practice tree coring before you did it on a real tree?

Yes, we did have the opportunity to core some trees near the Churchill Northern Studies Center before we went to our science site.



You mentioned seeing an arcitc hare and that polar bears live near Churchill. What adaptations to they have that help them survive in the cold artic temperatures?

A thick layer of fat under skin, called blubber, acts to insulate the polar bear and reduce heat loss. The polar bear also has a second, opaque eye lid which reduces glare, acting in the same way that sunglasses work for us.
They also have small, bumps on the surface of their feet which increase friction and stop them slipping while walking on ice. Aswell as this this their feet are very large in order to increase surface area to stop them sinking in the snow, much like a camels, and help their swimming capabilities.



Taken from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_adaptations_does_the_polar_bear_have_that_help_it_survive_in_its_environment



Does Churchill have the same kind of trees that we have here?
Churchill actually has only four different kinds of trees. White spruce, black spruce, larch and balsam poplar. Connecticut has some of the same trees and many more. Also, some of the trees that grow in CT appear here as shrubs.

A better response from a CT tree hobbiest:
In response to the question if CT has the same kind of trees: Larch and black spruce are native to CT (although hard to find in the wild), the white spruce is planted in CT quite a bit (as an ornamental), and balsam poplar, although not native, can be found in CT.
Thank you Mr. K!


Do they need special adaptations to survive?
Here are just some adaptations trees need in order to survive this cold, windy, dry climate:

shallow, wide roots - because the tree's roots can't penetrate the permafrost

needles - which can be better for retaining water and help keep the tree more aerodynamic in high winds

flexibility - some trees, especially the larch, can bend in the wind and can bend rather far without breaking

Can you research other ways that trees might adapt to this climate?





Do you see evidence of animals living in the area when you are out in the forest or on the tundra?
We have seen lots of birds, especially gray jays. We have also seen plenty of goose scat and an owl pellet. I have also seen holes in trees that might have been made by insects or birds that are trying to find insects.





Miss J. found some goose scat. You can tell what an animal eats by looking at it closely. Many scientists do that to learn more about animals.








What is your favorite thing to do at the research station?

My favorite thing to do at the CNSC is to go up into the dome and watch the Northern Lights at night. Last night I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night. I looked out the window and the lights were SO BRIGHT! I snuck up into the dome to watch them. I can't take a video though, because I would need more light for my video camera.





Do lynx live in the churchill area?

Yes, but we haven't seen one yet.





How old is the oldest tree you have seen?

I have seen forests with trees that are hundreds of years old. The trees are not very tall or wide though. The rings are always very small. Why do you think that is?





How many people are with you on your adventure?

There are eleven of us that came from the United States. There are plenty of scientists up here also. Three scientists are working with us. Mr. Kershaw just arrived today. Mr. Mamet has been teaching us how to do our science work and Miss Basler is keeping us safe by watching out for polar bears as we work. There are other scientists at the CNSC that are studying polar bears, caribou, and the decomposition (rotting) of plants.



Where does Dr. Foo Foo (Poley) sleep?

In the top bunk bed. He is having so much fun!



How did you decide on the name, Dr. Foo Foo?
I asked my students to come up with names and then vote on them. I have a feeling that the name came from a book.



Can the northern lights be more than one color?

Yes, they can be many colors. There are different gases at different heights in the air that create the different colors.





Have you seen permafrost and if so, what does it look like?

We haven't seen any yet but we see lots of land forms above the permafrost, and we know it is under there. We have seen photos of it that Mr. Mamet has shown us. It can look like ice or it can just look like soil (but it would be very cold soil).





Is that insect a caterpillar and pupa?

Yes, and I am hoping that someone can look up the species. I wish I knew what it was eating at the time, but I didn't notice. That can be a clue to finding out what kind of caterpillar it is. I found the pupa in a white spruce tree though. The pupa might not even be from the same kind of caterpillar. There are teachers in Louisiana on a science expedition like mine. They are studying caterpillars and said they might try to help me identify it.

Going on a bear hunt

Hi Hopewell and other schools!

I know everyone has been waiting to hear about our big day off in Churchill. Here are some of the amazing things we saw:

A big polar bear. : )

Snow geese Click on this line to see the image. Click on "open"
%7E%24ow%20geese.doc

Arctic Hare

Snow and sleg dogs

The bear "jail." When bears exhibit "bad behavior" they are taken here and eventually let go far away from the town of Churchill. Bad behavior usually involves getting too close to humans and possibly even destroying property.

Bears are caught in these traps.

We saw two polar bears today. They were both very far away. Click on the link below to see my photo. Look for the little white spot. We also saw a red fox but he was too far away to photograph. I just looked at some of these animals through binoculars. It was still so exciting!
polar%20bear.doc

Dr. Foo Foo decided to pose with his friends Verdi and Curious George. I didn't know so many teachers were bringing friends! Dr. Foo Foo was excited that he had other animals to hang out with.

This is an inukshuk structure. To read more about them you can go to http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=M29

The animals decided to go for a swim in the Hudson Bay. I said it was okay as long as they wore their wetsuit. They used a ziploc bag to stay dry.

REMEMBER: These are stuffed animals that are not really alive. They do not need air in order live. We need air and it is never safe to put a plastic bag on your face.

Signs like this are found all over Churchill.

A beautiful rainbow.

CHALLENGE: Answer the following questions. Click on the blue work "comments" below to post your answers. Don't forget to include your first name only (no last names or I can't post them), your age/grade and your town.

Which photo is your favorite and why?

What is an inukshuk? Write the answer in your own words.

Miss Santoro

I was SO excited to talk to everyone at Hopewell School, Nayaug School, Colchester Elementary and UCONN via our live web conference today. I wish I could have answered all of your questions. Your science thinking was GREAT! I loved talking to you about the fair testing we have been doing. We have taken hundreds of measurements to make sure that our data is accurate and represents the environment the way it is right now. Our time was so short though. Please feel free to write to me with the questions you had that have not been answered.

Today we did more sampling. That means that we took "samples" of trees and recorded data about each tree. Mr. Mamet wanted to know how tall each tree was, how many branches it had, and many more details. Here is a photo of Mr. LABMAN in the "cold lab" with Miss J and Dr. Foo Foo. The cold lab is a room with no heat. It can be very, very cold when we have to work there for long periods of time.

The teachers and scientists are counting the number of whorls on the little tree. That means that they are counting the number of branches coming off of the main trunk. This helps us to know the age of a tree. It can be challenging to count though. Thank goodness we had LABMAN there to help us.

The work went much faster.

Tomorrow we are going to take a day off from working. We are going to try to drive to a place where there might be polar bears. We'll make sure we approach that place safely though.

Miss Santoro

I finally got another video up! It has been a little tricky to do this. It gets harder to put video and photos up when there are so many of us on the internet at once. Now you can finally see what tree coring looks like. You have seen pictures of the tree cores once they come out. Here is how I get them out. I took this video yesterday. Who else do you see in the movie?

Dr. Foo Foo was getting a little tired with all of the tree coring we had to do. He decided to relax in a tree.

Then he visited Mr. Mamet. Mr. Mamet was in the forest. He was getting ready to measure out the next area that we would need to core trees in. We were moving from the forest area to the forest/tundra area. It had fewer trees and they were all smaller.

Then Dr. Foo Foo started to get his energy back. He started climbing a tree. I had warned him not to go too high. Look at what happened next. Click on the word "Danger.doc" below. Then hit "open"

Danger.doc

I was so glad that LABMAN was there to save him! I think Dr. Foo Foo learned his lesson.

After we finished our tree coring we had to get information about smaller, younger trees. We had to get on our bellies and look for seedlings. Those are baby trees that have no branches coming off of them. They can be VERY hard to find. We were also looking for saplings. Those are trees that are still young but have branches coming out of their trunks. We did that in the forest/tundra area. This is a photo of Dr. Foo Foo and me in the forest/tundra area. Can you see the difference between that area and the forest area in some of the other photos?

The only sad part of the day was when we realized that we had to pull all of our seedlings and saplings out of the ground to take them to the lab. This is called destructive sampling. These trees will probably die, but it is important that scientists do this to learn more about the trees and how they grow.

I also got to make a satellite phone call today! I spoke with Mrs. F's and Mrs. D's classes at my school. I want to thank the teachers and students! The students had some great questions and the teachers did a wonderful job helping to get this all set up. It was a tricky call. We kept losing our connection. As you can see from the photo, it was extremely windy today, so it was also a bit hard to hear each other. Here is the answer to their last question: We haven't seen any permafrost yet. I am hoping that we get to dig down deep enough to see some one of these days. There are ice formations called ice wedges that we might be able to see. These form when a crack in the earth allows water to seep in and freeze. Later another crack forms in the frozen water and more water seeps in and freezes. The frozen water gets wider and wider and forms a wedge of ice. The wedge of ice pushes up on the land around it causing bumps called polygonal plateaus.

Tomorrow we will look for more seedlings and saplings. It is supposed to be a bit colder but I still don't think we'll see snow.

Tomorrow we will also go LIVE! I am so excited to talk to the students at my school and other schools in Connecticut! We will be able to see each other and chat for a while in the afternoon. I miss the students at Hopewell School so much, and it will be so great to see them again!

See you all then!

Miss Santoro

More questions

More of your questions answered:

Which bunk are you sleeping in? I chose the bottom bunk.

What color are your sheets? I brought my own so that I could donate them to the research center. They are yellow. The teacher I am sharing a room with has penguins and igloos on her sheets.

What job do you like best? What kinds of experiments are you doing? We are making lots of careful observations about the plants and soil in this area. We are measuring these things to so that scientists can measure them again in years to come. Then they can compare their data to our data. Since we are some of the first people to be writing this data down it is called baseline data. My favorite jobs so far are digging in the soil and tree coring. I love the smell of the tree cores as they come out!

Will you use a lot of math? Yes! We are measuring or counting almost everything. We count how many cones the trees have. We measure how tall they are and their diameter. We will be counting how many rings they have. The scientists will be using our measurements to make tables, charts and graphs later.

Are you learning anything new? Yes! Every day we have a "class" to go to at night. I have learned so much about how permafrost changes the land by pushing it around. We also learned how to use new science and math tools like a clinometer, tree corer and frost probe. One of the biggest challenges that we (the teachers) are facing is that everything is measured using the metric system. It is not hard for us to measure length, but it is a bit harder to figure out how warm it will be outside when they measure temperature in degrees Celsius.

How high up are the Northern Lights? They are usually about 90-130 kilometers above sea level. CHALLENGE: How high up is that if you use the US Customary System?

How old can trees get? The trees we are coring in Churchill are between 100-150 years old, but trees can grow to be thousands of years old!

What animals have you seen? Dr. Foo Foo and I have seen some birds (most too far to identify) and lots of small spiders. We have also seen black ants, a caterpillar and an arctic hare. It had really large feet.

What does permafrost look like? It can look like snow or just regular soil. Permafrost is any ground that has been frozen for at least two years. The most important thing is that the ground has stayed at a certain temperature. What is the freezing temperature of water in degree Fahrenheit? In degrees Celsius?

So far we haven't seen any permafrost because we can't dig that far. We keep hitting rocks.

Were the cranberries a good snack? Yes. I liked them a lot.

When does the sun set? It set at 5:51 tonight. The sunrise was at 5:51 this morning. It was beautiful. If I wake up early tomorrow I'll try to take a photo of it or a video from the observation dome.

Today we did LOTS of tree coring. We only cored white spruce trees. That is all that we found in the part of the forest where we were coring. Dr. Foo Foo helped me out. I made a video of us coring a tree but had a little trouble uploading it. I'm hoping to put it up later tonight when the other teachers aren't using their computers.

I was surprised to find out that there are only four trees that grow here. White spruce, black spruce, larch and balsam poplar trees. The larch is a conifer (has needles) and loses those needles in the fall. They are beautiful right now. They have yellow needles and dark trunks. The balsam poplar trees are the only trees that have leaves.


Here is a document that you can open to see a photo I took of just some of the tree cores that we collected. Can you see the rings? You can see that they can be difficult to count. Click on the blue "tree%20core%photo.doc" to see the photo:
tree%20core%20photo.doc

This is a photo of some interesting lichens growing on a white spruce branch. What do they look like to you?









Here is another insect for you to try to identify. Dr. Foo Foo doesn't know what it is. He doesn't know what the other insect is either. That is why we are asking you to help us identify them.




I was also lucky enough to see this pupa skin. I saw it dangling from a white spruce branch. It looks like something hatched from it. I wonder if it came from a caterpillar like the one in the photo above. What do you think?





I know that quite a few of you sent me questions today. I'm going to try to answer as many as I can. I'll be answering some of your questions in the comments section and some on my next blog. If I don't get to your question I might be able to answer it this Friday when we go live! I'll be interviewing Mr. Mamet, the scientist from the University of Alberta. He is the one working with us here. Mr. Kershaw is the lead scientist on this project. He will be coming here this weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting him.

Keep your fingers crossed for more video clips!

Miss Santoro

I wanted to answer more of your questions:

How old is the tree that you cored (bored)? We don't know yet. We haven't counted the rings. Right now we are just collecting data, we aren't analyzing it.

Will melting permafrost cause an earthquake? No. Permafrost melts more slowly and causes more subtle changes in the land. We saw an entire slide show on permafrost melt and we could see how hills caused by permafrost, called palsas, slowly flatten out. That is just one way that melting permafrost changes the land though.


Will more plants grow because of melting permafrost? Or will more plants die from having too much water? Both. It depends on what kind of plants they are and where they are. Example: There are some areas that might get more water as melting permafrost pools into puddles, streams, ponds or lakes. The covered vegetation would die, but new aquatic plants would probably start to grow instead.

What is under the permafrost? It depends on what kind of permafrost it is and where it is. Here in Churchill we have something called continuous permafrost. That means that all of the land underneath us is frozen. You might have to dig fairly deep to hit permafrost and then there might just be rock underneath that layer. In other areas you have something called discontinuous permafrost. That means that some areas have permafrost and others do not. It might be a fairly thin layer, so there may just be thawed soil underneath, or there may be a layer of rock. There are all kinds of ways that permafrost form, so there may even be a layer of water underneath.

Is there anything living in permafrost? No. Insdie the permafrost scientists actually find many dead things that were once living and these things are very well preserved.

What causes the Northern Lights ? Light particles from the sun meet up with gas particles in our atmosphere. The light particles energize the gas particles and it makes them glow. The North Pole is the best place for this to happen. Something similar happens in the South Pole as well though. Those lights just have a different name.

I'll answer more questions later. I hope you all keep writing in!
Miss Santoro

There were lots of votes for my polar bear friend's name. There were many names had only one vote. I didn't include them on my graph because it would have made it too hard to read. The words would have been tiny. Click on this to see the graph: Bear%20Names.doc

The winning name was Foo Foo. I liked Karen's suggestion to make it "Dr. _____." I decided to call him Doctor Foo Foo. Wow. That's his name. Thank you all for writing in your creative ideas and voting!

Today we dug holes and measured the depth of the organic (living material) and mineral (rocks, pebbles, gravel, sand, silt, clay) layers we found. We also measured the thaw depth. That is the depth of the layers that are not frozen. We were hoping to hit a layer of permafrost (frozen ground) but we didn't get that far down because we kept hitting rock. We saw no frozen ground at all today but we know that it is under there! I was also hoping to find some living things in the soil. I wanted to compare them with what I found in Connecticut. I was lucky enough to find some black ants. We had our wet weather gear on today. The weather held out until after lunch. Then it poured on us. Our paper was waterproof. It was a bit cold, but we kept going. At the end of the day we were coring (boring) trees. We won't be counting the ages of the trees yet. We might look at all of our data toward the end of our stay here.

Ms. J is measuring thaw depth in centimeters. She is measuring the thaw depth in the forest. Then we measured the thaw depth in the forest-tundra and finally in the tundra. Challenge: The tundra area averaged about 12 centimeters. How many inches is that?

Here is a picture of a white spruce tree and the very colorful forest floor. The red leaves are bearberry and blueberry shrubs. The white is different kinds of lichen.

Here is a nice cranberry snack that we found while we were working in the forest. We all tried a few.

IMPORTANT: These Churchill scientists have known for years that these berries were safe. There are many berries in Connecticut and throughout the United States and the world that are not safe. Do not eat any berries that you find outside without asking an adult that you trust.
Challenge: I found out today that the Earthwatch volunteers, like me, are the only people that record the data for scientists here. If people didn't volunteer to come here, they wouldn't have any data at all. How do you think this affects the scientific research here?

Remember, these questions can be answered by students or adults. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Miss Santoro

Practing our measurements

Latest challenge: Identify this insect. I don't think anyone will be surprised by this photo. Yes, I am constantly looking out for "arctic" insects and spiders. I found a spider in the CNSC today but it was too fast for my camera! There were also plenty of black flies outside when we were practicing our measurements, but they weren't biting. It is getting cold enough that they just seem a bit confused.





This is a photo of the CNSC, and you can just barely see the dome on top. That is where you can stand to view the Northern Lights safely at night.


We practiced tree coring (they call it tree boring but it is NOT boring!) here. You just drill a hold in a tree and take a piece out so that you can look at the rings. It can tell you how old the tree is and how much it grew each year.
This is a sample taken from a white spruce tree. I am getting pretty good at identifying the trees in our area. I must admit though, there are only three main species. Everything else is a shrub or ground cover, like mosses and lichen. In this next photo you can see some great orange lichen growing on the rocks. Look very closely. Those are living things! What do you know about mosses and lichen?


Next time I write to you I'll let you know the name of my polar bear friend!


If you'd like more information just let me know. But be specific. : )

If you say you'd like to see some data on trees, you need to let me know what kind. I'll let you know what kinds of things we are measuring but won't be able to post the results of all of our measurements. It would be too much information to show.

IMPORTANT: I can't post information with student last names. If you write a comment please include only your first name, grade or age and home town.

One last challenge: Try to find my writing mistakes. There may not be any and there may be several. You'll never know so look carefully!


I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Miss Santoro

Monday questions

Grd 2 HO LIB had some great questions. So did 4 Mrs. C's Class.

Here are some answers:
You had some questions about our weather here.
It was 45 degree fahrenheit when we went outside to practice taking measurements this morning. It might not get cold enough for us to see any snow while we are here, but you never know. We are all hoping to see some snow. The top wind speed (gust) was 5.2 miles per hour this morning. For those of you who have talked about hurricanes and weather, you might be interested in knowing that the barometric pressure is dropping. What does that mean for tomorrow's weather?

Will we see the Northern Lights again?
I sure hope so. I'm going to look every night, unless it is really cloudy.

What will you be doing every day?
We just went over about 50 different things we might record each day. Here are just a few of the things we have already talked about and practiced doing:
tree coring (making a hole in a tree and taking out a small piece)
measuring the diameter of a tree
measuring the height of a tree (we get to use a really cool tool for this, much easier than a measuring tape - it is called a clinometer)
identifying different plants within a certain transect(space)
identifying whether a tree is growing on concave, convex, flat or sloped soil (look up concave and convex if you don't know what they mean)
identifying tree species

We haven't done any digging in the soil yet. I think we might do that this afternoon. I'll write more this evening and post photos then.

Keep voting on here for polar bear names and I'll tally the results today.

Miss Santoro

I'M HERE!!!

After flying all day I finally arrived here in Churchill. We had to take a fairly small plane from Winnipeg to Churchill. This is what it looked like:

As you can see, my polar bear was a bit reluctant to get on.

Once he was all buckled up he was fine and the flight was great. I got to meet the other teachers on the expedition and we all talked about how excited we are. There are eleven teachers here from all over the United States.

Then we finally arrived in Churchill.

We were met by two of the scientists we will be working with. We took a van back to the Churchill Northern Studies Center (CNSC), which is the research center where we will be staying. I am going to be in a room with two bunkbeds and I have a bunkbed all to myself. That means I get to decide whether I want the top or the bottom bunk.

Mr. Steve Mamet is a student scientist from the University of Alberta who is working with Dr. Peter Kershaw, the main scientist in charge of our research. Mr. Mamet spoke to us about what we will be doing each day. We also got a tour of the CNSC building. One of the most interesting things at the CNSC is the dome. It is a clear, round window on the top of the building and it's used for viewing the Northern Lights.

We DID get to see the Northern Lights tonight. My photo is a bit blurry because I don't have something called a tripod:

Mr. Nidzgorski, another teacher, had a tripod. Do you notice a difference?

Tomorrow we will start learning the procedures for our work outside. Be sure to check on here again. I'll be posting more photos, and I'll let you know how our day goes.

Here is an interesting website with more images and information on the Northern Lights:

http://www.lazybearlodge.com/northern_lights.php

Don't forget to vote for your favorite polar bear name. I will take more votes tomorrow and then I'll tell everyone his name on Tuesday.

Miss Santoro

VOTE NOW!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning!  I wanted to leave everyone with the final list of names for my polar bear friend.  You can vote right here by clicking on the blue word, "comments" or vote at my school in Glastonbury by dropping your vote in the folder on my bulletin board.   I'll keep taking votes until Monday night.  Then I'll announce the winning name.  PLEASE REMEMBER:  I might not be able to post every single comment.  I have included every name that has been written in my blog though, whether it was posted or not.  Thank you for all of your great ideas!

Poley                                  Freezer

Snowy                                Snowball

Doctor Freezy Bear               Scientist Freezy Bear

Funny Face                        Nanook Freezy Bear

Icecap                                Crystal

Cubby                                Hunter

Frosty                                Ice Block  or Ice Cube

Snowflake                          Foo Foo

Hairball                               Snuggly

Bashful                               Nanu

Icicle                                  Churchill

Shamoo                            Wally

Glastonbury Gus                 Ursula

Polaris                              Snow White

Snowbury                         Big White

Fuzzy Ball                         Blizzard

Nanook (Inuit name for polar bears)

Constantine John Phipps (first person to describe polar bears as a distinct species)

The polar bear is so excited about all of these names and is looking forward to our decision!

Miss Santoro

Name My Friend - Click on the triangle below the picture to play the video!

I'm not just making a funny face.  This is a video clip.  Click on the triangle and it should play for you.  Then look below for the word "comments" and write your idea for a name.  :  )

Miss Santoro

Soil Search

 Wow!  Look at what I found!  Click on the triangle to view the movie that shows me digging in the soil at my school.  Then write to me to tell me what you find!  I'd love to know if someone can identify the living things I found.  :  )

Miss Santoro

Special thanks to Zofia - my Director of Photography

NEW CHALLENGES

Parents and Teachers:

All grade levels are approximations only.  Please help your child or students select the most appropriate challenges.  Students can answer as many challenges as they would like.

Grades K - adult  (Come on adults - Join in the fun!)

I am going to Churchill to work with scientists that are digging in the soil.  What do you think we'll find?  Maybe you can dig in your own yard and tell me what you find.  Then I'll compare it to what we find.  You can use a magnifying glass to really look at the soil up close!  Older students, don't forget to use plenty of adjectives (describing words).  

Grades 2+  

I am going shopping this weekend for a pair of boots.  I saw a pair in a catalog that cost $55.00. If I pay with $87.00, how much money will I get back?

Grades 3+  (HINT:  Draw a picture to help your thinking)

Part 1      I am bringing batteries for my camera.  Each package of batteries has 7 batteries inside.  I am going to bring 8 packages.  How many batteries will I have?

Part 2  (use your answer from the last question)  If my camera takes two batteries at a time, how many times can I replace the batteries in my camera?

Grades 5+

I will be traveling to Churchill with 10 other teachers.  If  7 of us are women, what is the fraction of teachers who are women?   

What is the fraction of teachers who are men?  

How many fractions can you list that are equivalent to the fraction of male teachers going?

FOR EVERYONE:

Don't look in the comments section until you have figured out your answers, because I might have posted some correct responses already.  Don't forget to put your first name (no last names), age or grade and town.

And you can write down your questions in the comments section too!

Miss Santoro

  

ADULTS CAN LEAVE QUESTIONS TOO

Adults, please feel free to leave comments and questions for me, the scientists and volunteers. This site is not only for children.

If you have questions about Churchill or the research you can ask me now, and I'll do my best to answer your questions when I'm there.  You do not need to leave your age, but I'd still love to know what town you are writing from.  

Thank you for your interest!  I look forward to hearing from you.

Linda Santoro