How to say “I love you” with friends from the sea
February 13, 2017 by 1 Comment
Top to bottom: Octopus; Whale; Cuttlefish; Otters
Superlatives of the sea
October 4, 2016 by 3 Comments
This past Friday I had a particularly curious and enthusiastic fifth block Oceanography class. All of their questions were marine science related so I broke out some notecards and asked them to write all of their burning inquiries down. I wanted to tackle them thoughtfully … here I am! My students are amazing inspiration and I’m quite grateful to them for some fun reason to get back to writing here.
My most entertaining question was “What’s the most extravagant animal in the ocean?” I mean, there are just so many ways to think on it. I asked on Twitter and got lots of good ideas … Since I spend my days in a high school, I went with some superlative options. These are a few I came up with but I am looking to see what you all might think: Octopus (Most likely to win a Noble Prize in Physics), Frogfish (Most confident), Erect-crested penguin (Coolest hair), Leafy sea dragon (Best dressed), or the Whale shark (Biggest life of the party).
What is the most extravagant animal in the sea?
Please send some other suggestions!
Facts about ‘Finding Dory’ friends
June 26, 2016 by 3 Comments
Maybe it’s because I’m a full-time teacher now, but my favorite character in Finding Dory is the Sting Ray. I mean, if it wasn’t for the class trip to learn about migration Dory – the blue tang with short-term memory loss – may never had thought about “going home” and the trek to look for her parents may never have happened. She is supported on the journey with Marlin and Nemo – a class act father and son clown anemonefish duo. However, they meet some other amazing new creatures and reconnect with some old friends. Here are some of my favorite facts to share about Hank the Octopus, Destiny the Whale Shark, Bailey the Beluga, Crush the Green Sea Turtle, and – of course, the Sting Ray Teacher!
What are your thoughts on the Finding Dory film? Did anyone catch that Dory should now have been able to speak “whale” because of her friendship with Destiny – given Destiny is actually a fish and not a whale?
Octopi this …
November 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
In honor of the Beatles (on today the 10th anniversary of George Harrison‘s death) I thought I would feature the incredibly intelligent animal from one of my favorite songs, Octopus’s Garden. The song (released in the US on September 1, 1969) was the second song written by Ringo Starr for The Beatles (but, as my husband pointed out George Harrison did help him write the song).
It’s said Ringo Starr wrote the song while on vacation with his family in Sardinia after learning octopi like to hide under rocks. Pretty cool, right? Here are five more fun facts about these amazing cephalopods that I think Ringo Starr would think are equally as fascinating:
- There is an endangered species of octopi that spends part of its life in the rainforest.
- The largest octopus is the giant Pacific octopus (up to 30 feet) and the tiniest octopus is the Wolfi octopus (one and a half centimeters).
- A female octopus is known as a hen.
- Octopi have three hearts.
- Octopi can change color and mimic other animals.
Enjoy!
One last thing, if you have not had a chance to purchase your Octopi Wall Street t-shirt I suggest you do soon since they make great holiday gifts!
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