Last Day

Today was our last day of exploring and observing in Nova Scotia. For our last trip we went to the Seaside Adjunct of Kejimukujik National Park. The trail was about 4 miles and it was mostly along the ocean. The views were beautiful and we got to see a white tailed deer and seals! Enjoy the pictures, I'll see you all on Monday!
Love,
Miss Beeman

First Grade Friends in Nova Scotia

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my first grade friends Kawsar and Aisha exploring and trapping at Cook's Lake!








The door is shut- I wonder if we caught anything?














WE DID! It is a red backed vole.









Look at this neat skull we found in the woods!









Thanks for traveling with me and helping out girls!
Love,
Miss Beeman

Friday's Inquiry (our last one for this trip)

Boys and Girls,
My time in Nova Scotia is almost done, while I am sad to be leaving my new friends, I am excited to be back at AQ on Monday! For our last inquiry I'd like to have you look at differences between some skulls we found at Cook's Lake.

? Which mammals have horns? (tree map)
? Which mammals have antlers? (tree map)
? What is the difference between antlers and horns? (double bubble)
? Which mammal do each of these skulls belong to?

Wolf, Eastern Coyote, Coyote Information

Aquila Inquirers,
Thank you very much for all of your hard work and research about the wolf, coyote, and eastern coyote! You all found very interesting information. I am including much of what you told me, along with a few other things I have learned in a chart below so you can see all of it.

For those of you who did not figure it out, the eastern coyote is half wolf and half coyote, so it has characteristics of both animals.

Wolf

• has a highly organized social structure centering on a dominant male and a dominant female
• has been exterminated in many parts of North America
• works hard for its food—a pack kills only about one large mammal for every 10 chased
• howls as a form of communication among packs
• lives and hunts in a pack
• used to be the most widely spread mammal
  

Eastern Coyote

• lived on the western prairies, they were plains animals
• adapted to a forest environment, including the pursuit of larger deer sized animals
• larger than the western coyote
• run in larger, more organized packs
• hunts in packs in the winter and lone in the summer
  

Coyote

• has such well-developed senses of hearing and smell that a sudden odor or noise can make it change its course in mid-step
• has very strong-smelling urine, which it uses to mark its territory
• is a remarkably hard runner
• adjusts its hunting methods to the prey size and food sources available
• hunts alone
  

Thank you again for taking the time to research these mammals!
Love,
Miss Beeman

Hello Boys and Girls,
Unfortunately, today was another rainy day in Nova Scotia. Due to the rain we didn't catch very much, in fact, we only had two voles and a chipmunk all day!

Tomorrow morning will be our last day of trapping, we will check our traps and then collect them. Close to lunch I will Skype with most of you and we can talk about the eastern coyote.

On Friday I will Skype with many of you in the morning and you will have a chance to talk to one or both of our scientists. If you have inquiries for them, please write them down and your teacher will pick a few students to ask them questions.

I added a few maps (on the previous entry) for you to look at so you can see where we have been working and visiting! I miss you all lots and I am excited to see you next week!

Love,
Miss Beeman

Maps

Places we've been:
Halifax
Lunenburg
Bridgewater
Liverpool
Cherry Hill (between Bridgewater and Liverpool)
Kejimkujik National Park (see below)

Dear Aquila Friends,
I am going to take a break from blogging inquiries and answers tonight, as I spent a bit of time making a video for you to see on Thursday at the assembly and I am exhausted!

Today was a long, rainy day and it was very cold. I hope tomorrow doesn't rain as much. We only caught two voles, hopefully tomorrow will be better for catching!

Please try to get your answers together for the wolf/coyote/eastern coyote inquiries and post them on the blog tomorrow (Wednesday), I will then post the information I have received from our research and the scientists.

Love,
Miss Beeman

Correction

Boys and Girls,
After further research and discussion with Dr. Newman, I have to make a correction or clarification about the wolf/coyote blog... There are actually no wolves or coyotes specifically in Nova Scotia (there are some in Canada) the only one found in Nova Scotia is the eastern coyote.

I would still let you to look at the wolf, coyote, and eastern coyote and discuss their adaptations, similarities and differences. After you have determined the general adaptations, the important questions are:

*Coyotes traditionally lived in flat areas before coming to Nova Scotia (Canada), but now live in the woods of Nova Scotia, how would they have to adapt in order to survive in their new habitat? (Your thoughts as well as research are welcome here.)

*What is the Eastern Coyote and how/why was the species "created"?

Animal Counts

Chipmunks: 2
Red-Backed Voles: 7
Deer Mice: 3
Garter Snakes: 4
Mystery Snake: 1
Porcupine: 2
Muskrat: 1
Beaver: 2
Deer: 7
Toad: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Grouse: 1
Red Squirrel: 2
Partridge: 1
Osprey: 2
Turkey: 1
Guinea Fowl: 4
Mallard Duck: 1

Tuesday's Inquiry

Wolf, Eastern Coyote, Coyote...
1) Using a tree map and start to find out information about each of the animals. There will be more similarties than differences, but there are a few things different (namely how they hunt and what they eat).

2) Coyotes traditionally lived in flat areas before coming to Nova Scotia, but now live in the woods of Nova Scotia, how would they have to adapt in order to survive in their new habitat? (Your thoughts as well as research are welcome here.)

BONUS) What is the Eastern Coyote and how/why was the species "created"?



Eastern Coyote









Coyote











Wolf






(I did not personally take these pictures, we have only seen droppings, no actual animals mentioned in this entry! I wanted you to be able to see what each looks like!)

Monday's Inquiry

We covered a lot of information last week! I am going to list a few things for you to inquire about, if you have already done one (or more) of them, go on to the next item!

1) Discuss differences and similarities between beavers and muskrats, answer the questions from the beaver/muskrat post, and see if you can figure out which one is a beaver and which is a muskrat (and why). (To be discussed during short Skype sessions on Monday.)

2) Look at my postings from "Catching Up" and "Halifax/Kejimkujik" come up with any inquiries you have about my pictures.

3) Start thinking about wolves and coyotes... use a thinking map to describe each of them and see what you know. We will discuss these animals in Tuesday's blog.

4) Write down any other general inquiries.

Love,
Miss Beeman

Halifax and Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia

On our day off from research we went into town for the day... it was a little different because we have been in a fairly remote area of Nova Scotia called Cherry Hill, along the South Shores. There were so many neat things to see and do, some of which were closed because the tourist season starts in May.

On Sunday we went to Kejimkujik National Park for a 7 mile hike and to do a little research.

Below are a few pictures!

Enjoy,
Miss Beeman

Halifax



Our team on the board walk in Halifax, on a cool but sunny day













The turkey we saw driving to Halifax







The town of Halifax







The wharfs of Halifax










Tommy the Tugboat








Kejimkujik National Park



The waterfalls at Keji








Miss Beeman at Keji









300 year old hemlock trees in Kejimkujik National Park












The deer we saw at Keji

Catching Up...

There has been a lot of really neat things I have seen and experienced, but have not had time or space to post them in my blogs- so this entry will be a random collection of pictures and information. If you have any inquiries, please feel free to post them!
Love,
Miss Beeman


The shore line at Broad Cove
(Monday)






The shore line at Broad Cove
(Monday)







My wellingtons/rubber boots/puddle jumpers that saved me on our shore walk!







Traps on the shore line





Our timidity tray that we (mostly Mr. Wolfe) built to test our small mammals in










One of our 19 traps out in the woods












Dr. Newman setting a camera trap (to hopefully see pics of some larger mammals)










One of the chipmunks we caught in our traps






The snake Mr. Wingall was holding- we think it might be a Martime Garter Snake, but we're still researching






Our pile of hare scat, we collected 4,811 pieces total at East Port Medway (our first research site)










The "green house"/girl's house where we eat all of our meals and have our meetings (picture taken by Mrs. Metz)








The "yellow house"/boy's house (picture taken by Mrs. Metz)

Friday's Inquiry

Tonight we spent some time at a pond looking at beavers and muskrats. Please inquire about the following items:
* habitat (extra points if you know the names of their homes)
* food
* adaptations
* how to tell the difference between a beaver and a muskrat

If we have time we'll talk about it a little when we Skype, if not, we'll touch on it next week!

-Miss Beeman

Recap of Thursday

Recap:
What a busy day! We went into the fields to check our traps in the morning, did deer dropping plots (where we scan an area 10x10 for deer scat), then came back to our house so all the teachers could Skype with the students at their school and had lunch. Later in the afternoon we went back out to check our traps so none of the animals were stuck in them for too long and guess what? Team E had two more catches! Both were voles this time. Shortly after that we got set up to look for beavers and muskrats. Let me tell you, it was a long and extremely cold 75 minutes, but very exciting when we saw our furry friends!

Animals studied (st), spotted (sp) or held (h):
3 Voles (h)
2 Snakes (sp/st)
2 Beavers (sp/st)
1 Muskrat (sp/st)
3 Deer (sp)
1 Porcupine
How many animals did we see altogether?

2nd Graders- For our Skyping today (Friday):
Discuss and decide on adaptations that have evolved in mice and voles over time in order for them to adapt and continue to survive, write them on the board or post it notes for our Skype session. (Hint: there are physical and behavioral adaptations.)

-Miss Beeman

Snowshoe Hare

Thank you for the responses, you are great inquirers! You are right, the big feet are another adaptation. The hare uses it's feet to help it escape from predators. The big hairy feet help it to run quickly over the top of snow drifts and to whack its enemy with the hind feet.

The reason I asked about the coloring of the snowshoe hare is because we learned from Dr. Newman (one of our scientists) that most of the time the color change helps the hares to hide from predators, however, because of the change in climate (weather/temperature) the hares are getting confused. Recently the weather has not matched what would typically be expected, meaning it snows for the first time at the end of December and can snow still in April (just like in MN).

How a hare knows to change color
A snowshoe hare changes color based on the length of day, it actually has nothing to do with the temperature! As the days get shorter and it starts getting dark earlier the hare changes from brown to white. When the days begin to get longer the hare changes back to brown. Because of the climate changes the hares are changing, but often their fur color is not matching the environment (area it lives in) and it becomes a moving target for predators. The other thing happening is some of the hares are a brownish white color and that coloring still makes it much easier to be seen.

Discussion
Talk about why the snow is not falling as the days get shorter and melting as they get longer... what is causing this change in climate?

I'd love to hear your thoughts when we Skype tomorrow!
-Miss Beeman-

Trapping

Our days here are so busy and packed full of new learning I am having a hard time deciding what to share on the blog, what I can do on Skype and what will just have to wait until I am home!

Yesterday we laid out 10 rows of 10 traps, who knows how many traps that is? The traps are called Longworth Traps and we will use them to collect data (information) that will tell us the population density (how many in a small area) of the small mammals in that location. The scientists then take that information and compare it to other years to see if the number of small mammals is lower, the same, or higher. They will then know if something is changing in the climate (with the weather) and if the animals are adapting or not.

Today our main project was to check our traps to see if they caught anything last night. We set out this morning and out of 100 traps, there were six with shut doors, but after further inspection two were "false catches" meaning there was nothing in there or a shrew went in and triggered the door to shut, but they were able to escape because they are so small. Of the four animals two were deer mice and two were red back voles. Unfortunately, Team E (Mr. Wolfe and myself ) did not have any catches this morning.

We checked the traps again this afternoon, on the off chance we caught something they weren't in the trap all day and all night. It is not as common to catch animals during the day, so we weren' t expecting anything... However, we caught FOUR MORE animals! Team E had two traps with catches! Two of the traps had red-back voles, another trap had a deer mouse, and the fourth, a chipmunk! Mr. Wolfe and I were very excited to catch something! You can watch a short video clip of Miss Beeman being a risk taker and open minded and getting the animal out of our trap.




In the end, it was a lot of fun and I am really glad I showed commitment! I wonder how many more animals we'll have in our traps tomorrow? What is your prediction?

After you have read this blog entry, go down to the next one and look at the inquiry for today!
-Miss Beeman

Thursday's Inquiry

After watching the video in the last posting, do you think I caught a mouse or a vole?

Mice and voles are similar in many ways, but do have differences too... can you inquire about what is the same and what is different? It might work best to make a double bubble map so you can compare and contrast them!

After you have compared and contrasted the mouse and the vole I want you to inquire as to how these two mammals have evolved (adapted) to survive over time. There are physical and behavioral adaptations they have both made...

I look forward to seeing what you can come up with! (Use resources if you need to.) Be thinking about your response, I will be Skyping with many of you Friday and we will talk about the mouse and the vole.


-Miss Beeman

Odds and Ends

Here are some pictures of our outing today. These traps are to catch small mammals, which mammals do you think we could catch in these traps?












I am getting materials ready for the trap... why do you think it is important for us to put hay in each trap?






I am stuffing it way in the back so the two pieces can fit together like a banana.






Now I am assembling the door and the holding piece of the trap.







One done, 19 to go!





Team E - Miss Beeman & Mr. Wolfe, with our 20 traps that we assembled and are about to go set out. Why might we need to set 20 traps in a row next to 4 other teams doing the same thing? (Hint: draw a picture if you can.)





Here is our first trap we laid. Why do you think it is shaped like a banana and slanting down?

Wednesday's Inquiry

Look at the series of pictures below. Talk about the obvious adaptation, then inquire how this could be an "adaptation gone wrong", one that actually can be harming snowshoe hares. (Can anyone tell me how snowshoe hares know when to adapt?)

An extra bonus point to anyone that can tell me other adaptations a snowshoe hare has!

Racoons

ADAPTATIONS
In addition to all the great ideas you had/found (see the responses under "comments" on the Tuesday's Inquiry entry), I have elaborated a little more on a few adaptations.

The raccoon uses its paws almost as well as you use your hands. It walks slowly but can climb a tree quickly. It is also a very good swimmer.

The raccoon prepares for winter by growing a thick coat. In the winter the raccoon often sleeps but does not hibernate. It wakes up and will go out to eat on warmer days.

WHY THEY OBSERVE RACCOONS
Our scientists said that raccoons are very smart mammals. They watch them because they are very likely to react to new situations and adapt quickly. Because they react to new situations so quickly they can identify changes happening in the climate and around Nova Scotia, they then watch other animals to see if they too react.

MORE INFORMATION
http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirtrep/animal/raccoons.htm

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Procyonidae.html

http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/raccoons.html

Tuesday's Inquiry

Another mammal that we have in common with Nova Scotia is the raccoon.

Raccoons have many adaptations, as a class of inquirers, list things you think are adaptations for raccoons, and why they are important.

Secondly, why do you think scientists study raccoons in regards to new situations and adaptations?

Post your thoughts as a class and I'll tell you the answers when I have heard from most of you!
-Miss Beeman

Moose in Nova Scotia

Yesterday I asked you to inquire about the moose population in Nova Scotia and why there are so many less moose here than the deer. Some of the thoughts included:
* not enough camouflage to stay hidden
* too big of antlers
* sharing food with the deer (and the deer hogging it all)
* people hunting them
* their prey diminishing too
* people destroying their forest space (their home)
* forest fire
* climate change

These are all fantastic thoughts! Often they would be the cause of declining population of animals. However, that is not the case with the moose in Nova Scotia...

What has happened
The white tail deer have wiped out the moose population here in Nova Scotia (unintentionally) with a parasite known as "brainworm". This worm is transferred through the snails and slugs on the ground and when the moose eat the grass they are also eating the brainworm. This parasite has evolved over years within deer and snails, and does not cause harm to them. However, moose have had little exposure to the brain worm. Moose have not had time to adapt and defend itself against the brain worm.

Questions for your class (you can post answers if you want)
* What are some ways the moose could possibly adapt to "beat" the brainworm?
* What happens if the moose is able to adapt and "beat" the brainworm?
* What happens if the moose cannot adapt to "beat" the brainworm?

If you want to read more about the brainworm and to see how it has impacted moose in Minnesota visit the DNR website below!

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/sepoct97/brainworm.html

Monday's Inquiry

Please discuss the following information (including the bold words) and inquire why it is...

Scenario
There are only 600-800 moose left on mainland Nova Scotia. This is a large decline in their population. But there are more than 1000x as many white-tail deer.

Questions for discussion
What are some reasons there are not as many moose as deer left here? Do you think the same could be happening in Minnesota?

Please respond (as a class) to this inquiry and I will post more about what is happening and adaptations for you to read first thing tomorrow morning!

-Miss Beeman

This is the "indoor classroom" at the Green House where we had our first meeting and a chance to get to know each other. This is also the house that the girls are staying in.

Our first night was spent talking about the animals we might encounter, and what we'll be doing over the next two weeks...



Some of our projects the first week include:
* Monday- Walking along Broad Cove to look for seals and sea otters (see picture to right)
* Wednesday- Counting hare and deer droppings
* Thursday- Beaver watching
* Sunday- Visiting Kejimkujik National Park

I am wondering what you are wondering about? Do you have any inquires about my upcoming projects? If you do, post a comment and ask! Remember to sign your name, or your classroom/teacher on each comment/inquiry you post!

I look forward to hearing from you!
-Miss Beeman-

Picture Test

Here is some of our team waiting patiently at the airport... Many have been stuck in airports for the last 24 hours. We are excited to get to our cottage and get settled.

In Canada!

For those of you reading this from home, I have arrived safely in Halifax, Canada! We (two members of our group from Minnesota, Mrs. Quam from Iowa, and myself) arrived at the airport very early this morning and three flights later are resting at our hotel until the rest of our team gets here.

We were very excited to go into Halifax and explore, but the airport is about 30 minutes away from town and it is raining, so we might just spend the night getting to know each other and hanging out here.

I am looking forward to going to the cottage tomorrow and learning more about our upcoming work!
~Miss Beeman~

Compare and Contrast

Dear Aquila Friends,
I am wondering if you can help me? I leave for Nova Scotia in 3 days, but I am not sure what to pack! Can you use a map or globe, the websites listed below and one of the thinking maps to help me compare and contrast Minnesota and Nova Scotia? I was wondering what are the most important things Minnesota and Nova Scotia have in common? Why are these important? What do you think I will encounter in NS that I could just as easily encounter in MN?

Gratefully yours,
Miss Beeman

Resources
http://www.gov.ns.ca/playground/default.asp

http://www.canadainfolink.ca/ns.htm

http://homeschooling.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=homeschooling&cdn=education&tm=23&f=00&su=p897.4.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/forecast/canada/index_e.html%3Fid%3DNS

http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjgeog/a/pusns.htm

Less than 1 week!

I can hardly believe it is less than one week until I leave! At 6am Saturday morning my plane will be departing... That is VERY early.

My hopes and dreams for this week are for all of the second grade classes (and any others that want to participate) to post a comment on this entry that shows their inquiry (or more than one if you want) about my trip.

I also hope that all of the second grade classes will have Skyped either with me or another class before I leave so I know that they are ready for me when I am gone. If you would like to practice Skyping please let me know!

The last goal I have before the end of this week is to meet Mrs. Quam's class at Horizon Elementary in Johnston, Iowa. They will be learning about mammals from Nova Scotia too!

Happy inquiries,
Miss Beeman