After some work on seabird identification coloring projects, it was time to learn more about seabird survival. The group flew down to the field next to the playground and began taking trips through a life-size game of survival. Students rolled dice to get started on their path. Hopefully following the directions on the cards resulted in survival, but many students learned how many barriers to chick survival there can be.
Back at the classroom we heard readings of our two plays. The first is a rhyming tale called “The Puffin Life” that shows life in a puffin family and all the work it takes to raise a chick. The second was “Murre-der on the Rocks” a silly story of the many challenges faced by murres trying to nest. After learning about their plays we held auditions and filled the playbill for each theatrical production.
There was a lot of work to do painting our props, masks and costumes. We kept it pretty neat and controlled until painting the giant green murre egg. That is when things got a little messy. Painting 3D props and masks is a lot of work, so we will need to do more work on these tomorrow.
The field trip today taught us all about the work that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other scientists do to study seabirds. We used stuffies instead of real birds, but learned how to capture birds with a noose pole, band them and take their measurements. Students used the same specialized measuring tools that real biologists use. It is a good thing we learned all about bird bodies yesterday so we knew exactly where the tarsus, culmen, and wind cord were when we were measuring. All this scientific work took place at the cliffs near Trident seafood plant. The manager there donated cookies to give our young scientists enough energy to get through their studies.
One of the rotations on this field trip included an opportunity to make drawings to send to our friends on the Commander Islands. The students chose seabirds, ships and harbor scenes as subjects for their drawings.
The day ended with a rousing tag type game of Murres and Minnows. Fun was had by all.
