Author Archive | Susan Haskell

Props for MARE Participants!

By Susan Haskell on November 4, 2010 in Odds and Ends

I was browsing through the October 30 issue of The Lacey-Barnegat Times and was excited to see 2010 MARE Summer Institute participant Gina Verderosa featured in an article! Gina received at $2,500 Go Green grant from the Ocean First Foundation to implement a variety of environmentally themed projects at the Joseph T. Donahue School in Barnegat, NJ. The grant money will be used to fund the school’s annual participation in the National Green Week in February. Each grade level will have an integral part in the program. Fourth and fifth grade students in the MARE Club will be working on landscaping around the school, managing a composting bin with the younger students in grades K-3 and acting as role-model “green-keepers” for the entire school population. Gina is advising the MARE club with fellow staff member Jane Goddard. Gina has plans to involve the whole school in going green with projects for each grade level:

Kindergarten will create and care for an indoor garden using recylced materials and producing plants for Mother’s Day!
First grade will recycle bottle caps and facilitate awareness that they are not recycled by township recycling programs.
Second grade classes will start with the compost bin and maintain it daily to eventually produce soil for the gardens.
Third grade classes will start an outdoor garden to beautify the school landscape.
Fourth grade students will organize a campaign to increase the amount of paper, plastic, cans and bottles that is recycled in the school.
Fifth grade classes will conduct energy audits and monitor recycling efforts at the school. They will analyze data and become the “report card” for the program.

BRAVO Barnegat crew!!! We are so proud of our MARE grads!

Check out your November 2010 issue of The New Jersey Education Association Reporter, in the Classroom Close up NJ section, you will see Rob Causton’s Oxford Central School as one of the programs receiving NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education funding for their Oceans and Estuaries program. Seventh graders at the Oxford Central School traveled to Long Beach Island for a three-day camping and ocean/estuaries study. Host Wendell Steinhauer joined the students at the Coast Guard Station on LBI and at the Viking Village commercial fishing port. Thumbs up Oxford Central! Thank you for spreading our love of ocean science with your students!

How does MARE fit with the NJCCC STANDARDS?

By Susan Haskell on November 4, 2010 in Odds and Ends

The honest answer is easily and everywhere! The MARE activities span multiple disciplines including components of writing, reading, art, cooperative learning, math, history, physical education and of course Science! These same activities often spark extension lessons in music, interpersonal skills, vocabulary and spelling, and theater.

For example, our second grade classes study The Sandy Beach in the MARE curriculum. Since we have a bird’s eye view of Old Barney from our shores, the students were very interested in the lighthouse. We often visit the sandy beach at Island Beach State Park or Long Beach Island, NJ as part of our unit. We also contacted the wonderful people at the NJ Lighthouse Society for a school visitation. Now, how did we meet our CCCStandards?

We started with the principles of Understanding By Design (UBD) and identified the “big ideas” that we wanted our students to understand from the lessons. For example, we wanted our students to understand that lighthouses serve a purpose and that purpose is navigation assistance for marine travel. We also wanted the students to understand that lighthouse design follows a few common traits including shape, color and lense choice. Lastly, we wanted the students to understand that lighthouses have both an impact and play an integral part in the sandy beach habitats where they are located. Now, you may be thinking that we are straying very far from the content standards here….. but just wait…. it all comes together! Keep an open mind and know that you can address your CCCStandards easily with this or ANY MARE activity.

Once our “big ideas” or key concepts were identified, we then chose our activities to accomplish these concepts. We matched each activity with cross-curricular connections and with the Content Standards for our grade level. For this example, grades 1 to 2 are the target audiences, but it is adaptable for various grade levels. Below are three of the eight activities we chose and how they fit into the Content Standards.

Activity	MARE Activity	NJCCCS	Cross-Curricular Connection
Students will measure (ft.) and draw Barnegat Lighthouse on the playground using chalk.		4.1 Number Sense 4.2 Geometry/Measurement 1.1 Creative Art	Math Art
Sand sampling near lighthouse Sand sample examination using microscopes. Discussion Record observations in journal Navajo sand art	Sand on Stage	5.8 Earth materials5.1 Science Practices(observe and record) 5.6 Structure and Prop. Of Matter 3.3 Questioning & Discussion 3.2 Writing 1.2 Art History	Language Arts Art Social Studies
Bio blitz, identification and counting of plant and animal life at Barn. Lighthouse State Park habitat, record using flip video, journals,drawings, etc. MARE Seashore Charades will be used to have the students kinesthetically act out the adaptations of various organisms in the habitat both at high and low tides.	Seashore Charades	1.3 Performing Arts5.1 Science Practices(active investigation) 5.3 Life Science (various principles) 3.2 Writing 3.3 Speaking 8.1 Technology 4.4 Data analysis	Art Technology Language Arts Interpersonal Health Phys. Ed. Math

Many of the MARE lessons are correlated with the NJ Core Curricular Content Standards in the document “The Golden Lessons” available at this site: https://marine.rutgers.edu/main/MARE/Getting-Started-with-MARE.html and also on the Cosee site at: https://coseenow.net/mare/getting-started/

The MARE Master Trainers would also be happy to help you identify how your activity fits into the MARE program and the NJCCCS through the forum on this site. Just send out a query and we will be glad to help you!

We realize that justification is often requested or required by your supervisor. When you bring a new idea to your school, such as the MARE club or MARE curriculum, it often falls upon you to be the “salesperson” for the product. Please remember that your COSEE community is here to help you! I can promise you, it is definitely worth it!

MARE Goes To The Club

By Susan Haskell on August 22, 2010 in Club Resources, Odds and Ends

MARE is branching out from whole school participation, into small designated clubs. These clubs can be school based or community based, such as 4H or Scouting. The advantages of the club format include: freedom….sweet freedom! Freedom from tests, Freedom from curriculum constraints, Freedom of participants, Freedom of meeting times, Freedom of following your student’s own natural curiousity! A second advantage is creator control. You have the control over who attends the club, where and when it meets, and which MARE projects you explore! The big disadvantage is usually No Money, no money, no money. Few club leaders are paid positions. There is typically little money for supplies and field trips. Don’t let that discourage you. The benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. Current MARE Summer Institute participants also have an excellent source for funding their first year within The Geraldine R. Dodge Grant with Rutgers University.

So let’s get started:

Define your target audience
Define your mission: What do you want to accomplish?
Recruit help: Principal or Supervisor, colleagues, parents, look beyond the Science dept., include former/older students, Math teachers, Artists, Physical Education specialists
Create publicity: wiki pages are often free, posters around the school or town, bulletin boards, blogs, newsletters, displays
Designate meeting times and place: try not to compete with other extra-curricular activities, check schedules, consider transportation requirements, consider equipment in the meeting room.
Consult websites such as: https://www.stemclubs.net for help and guidance
Give your club a cool name: students can create this at your first meeting
Require permission slips and release forms: give parents an overview of clearly defined expectations for attendance, behavior, field trips, parent participation, mission statement
Plan your first meeting: keep it simple!, Don’t plan a club like a classroom lesson; it needs to be different, involve the students in some decision making to encourage them to feel ownership of the club (perhaps let them choose from a short list of first activities or solicit ideas from them for future projects that interest them!) Keep the ideas of inquiry learning and curiousity as the fuel, foremost in your mind!
Set the agenda for your next meeting: enlist your students help in collecting needed supplies, ask students to contribute to an online wiki page: use pen names to keep student identity hidden, ask for feedback on meeting #1, ideas for the future, create an online science response journal, allow students to post questions
Establish a routine for club meetings: Gail Cervalo from the MARE Summer Institute suggested:

Enter and sign in
Thought experiment or Journal jotting (i.e., pretend you are an ice molecule on an ice flow in Antarctica, describe your journey)
Idea exchange
Team experiment and data recording
Reflection round
Journals go home for reflection, and sharing at the next meeting

For further explanation, you can contact Gail at: gceravolo@kearnyschools.com She is a wonderful resource!

Activities and Project Ideas:

Once you have your club set up and your mission statement clearly defined, where can you find ideas for projects? 2010 MARE Summer Institute participants should use their proposed project for Ocean Day as their starting point. In addition, there are numerous resources available online to match your student’s interest:

You can search the STEM Clubs website under Activity ideas or Project ideas https://www.stemclubs.net/projects

You can start with a “golden lesson” for any grade level in the MARE program, with CCCStandards, interdisciplinary ideas, materials lists, and simple clear directions at: https://marine.rutgers.edu/main/MARE/Getting-Started-with-MARE.html also on the COSEE site at: https://coseenow.net/mare/getting-started/

Add in some of the interactive, discovery learning lessons from the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium at: https://www.njmsc.org/ registration is free. Marsh munchies is one of my personal favorites!

Go for a swim with UCLA’s Science Standards with Integrated Marine Science (SSWIMS) where lesson plans and data sets are listed alphabetically for easy searching: https://www.msc.ucla.edu/sswims/marinelinks2.htm

Rutgers COOL Room (Coastal Ocean Observatory Lab) can help you use online interactive lessons with real-time data on topics such as weather, sea surface temperature and currents, marine food webs and fish habitats. Middle to high school is the target age range for these activities! COOL off at: https://www.coolclassroom.org/teachers_guide/teachersguide.html

Of course, there are many more wonderful resources both online and in print. These are just a few to get you started! That is the important message: JUST GET STARTED! MARE clubs will have an intrinsic driving force….your students curiousity and motivation to learn. Keep it fun, keep it simple, enjoy the experience along side of your students. There is a little of that curious kid inside all of us…tap into it and let it free for an hour a week in your club!

There is a simple MARE club planning page in the documents section on the COSEE site: https://coseenow.net/groups/mare/documents/

August 2010 National Report on Water Quality

By Susan Haskell on August 14, 2010 in Odds and Ends

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmentalist group, realeased its annual “Testing the Waters” report last week (8/1/2010). The report contains results from over 200 bay and ocean beach water samplings over the past year.

Beachwood Beach West was ranked the state’s dirtiest with 51% of samples exceeding safe bacteria levels
West Beach in Pine Beach had 33% of samples exceeding the state limit
Money Island in Toms River had 26% of samples exceeding the state standard
Ocean beaches fared better than bay beaches with levels of fecal bacteria minimal or non-existent
Jennifer Street in Stafford Twp. and Parkertown Road Beach in Little Egg Harbor had no samples that exceeded state limits.

Experts believe that most of the bacteria content in local waterways is the result of leaky septic sytems and even public sewerage facilities, as well as pet waste that is washed down storm drains and fed through outfall pipes into the bay.

Solutions:

Properly cleaning up pet waste
Maintaining septic systems
stormwater management plans
Maintain and monitor sewerage systems
Proposed laws to require fertilizer manufacturers to sell only low-nitrogen products
Legislation to require and fund stormwater management plans

More information is available at: https://www.nrdc.org/ and https://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/ttw/titinx.asp

One Ocean, one chance at making a difference.

2010 MARE Summer Institute: Let’s Get Physical, Day 4

By Susan Haskell on August 13, 2010 in Summer 2010

Kinesthetic Fun With Rob Causton

The MARE curriculum is an all inclusive smorgasboard! Knowledge from the classroom is included in physical education games and activities, thanks to the imagination and talent of Mr. Rob Causton. Participants worked cooperatively in teams during the Vent Shrimp Kinesthetic Activity, where bean bags represented vent shrimp who must live in clearly defined areas surrounding hydrothermal vents in order to survive. Physical education goals such as tossing, running, and catching were imbedded in the fun and educational activity. For more information and corresponding core curriculum content standards please visit Mr. Causton’s website at: https://www.oxfordcentral.org/causton/. Remember the words of advice from Rob, “Stay flexible, make the MARE curriculum fit your needs. The information/ knowledge is important, not necessarily how we deliver it.” Hints: Special needs modifications=they take the first turns to throw the bean bags, Playing cards are a quick easy way to make (4) teams (4 suits) and order participants by number, Avoid competition (winners/losers) by having teams try to improve their own score with each round.

Measuring Temperature with Dr. Carrie

The Summer Institute crew used non-contact temperature sensors by Pasco (PS-2000) to determine the indoor and outdoor temperature in various areas. These sensors measure temp by determining the amount of heat energy given off by an object. They detect infrared radiation and use this value to estimate temperature. Two kits of these sensors can be borrowed from the Marine and Coastal Science Building in New Brunswick for your classroom use. Scientists use similar sensors on satellites to measure the temperature of the land and ocean from space. Images are produced on computers, with red=hot blue=cold. Students can compare local environmental temperature with data available for daily average, state average, and country’s average. Student friendly data is available online at: https://climate.rutgers.edu/ Collecting data and using it is a key part of the MARE curriculum. Let’s get our students thinking and acting like scientists!

Ocean Home-Swimming Fishes with Laura Dunbar

Laura shared a great activity with a human-sized gameboard designed by Rutgers students Jason Turnure and Jason Werrell. It was used to demonstrate how changes in water temperature affect fish distributions and, ultimately fisheries. With the expected change in ocean temperature due to global climate change, many commercial fish populations will move in response. As a result this will have a “domino” effect on surrounding populations. One Ocean, one habitat, one change, many repurcussions! Further directions and the fish cards are available on this Cosee site: https://coseenow.net/blog/ocean-home-swimming-fishes/.

Using Literature with MARE by Karen Lobby and Crystal DiBetta

Think about your daily life, what percentage of your daily reading is nonfiction? Most participants replied 75%, 90%. Does your classroom reflect your daily practice? Using nonfiction in your language arts lessons reflects the national and state standards, morrors tasks on standardized tests, and provides a way into literacy that narratives cannot. Academic achievement in school relies heavily on informational reading and writing. Above all, nonfiction motivates students with its beautiful, engaging and interesting photographs and information! Be sure to refer to the list of resources Crystal provided. A few highlights to investigate on the list: science journals or notebooks in the 8th grade list (Antarctica, Penguins), timely books on Jacques Cousteau in the 4th grade books (100th anniversary of his birth), and the Tsunami books in the 5th grade list (going out of print). Crystal also recommended that you join: The National Science Teachers Assoc. Sign up to receive their journal; which includes the best of the best trade books, published in March. Join at: https://www.nsta.org/ ($75 fee, $34 if you are a new teacher of less than 5 years experience). Crystal also recommends The National Geographic nonfiction newsletter for tips and techniques on using nonfiction with your students. Sign up is free online at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/teacher_store/product_lines/windows/index.html Karen reminded the participants to utilize newspapers and other periodicals for timely information on marine science. Encourage your students to demonstrate their knowledge in different ways: acrostic poems, build a windsock to show the zones of the sandy beach,use ABC books with any grade level where students demonstrate information in an alphabetical book or list. One of Karen’s hints: Give parents and staff members a small zip lock bag when they head off on vacation to collect sand samples from around the globe for your classroom.

The Blah, Blah,Big, Big, Blog, Blog from Susan and Mike

Remember, the purpose of this blog is to keep our community of Marvelous MARE Enthusiasts COMMUNICATING!!!

Do you have a comment on the Summer Institute? send it to the Blog through Comments!

Do you need an idea or help with your project? send it to the Forum for an ALL Call for ideas!

Are you trying to recall the mountain of information we crammed into the 4 day Institute? Check the daily record in the Blogs!

Do you want to plan an Ocean Day or Ocean Week at your school? Send a question out to the Forum or Check the Blog for our ideas on how we started!

You can search the Cosee site using the search box. Blogs are “tagged” by topic to help you find the one you need. The search box will search these “tags” for you!

Is there a topic in your current curriculum, that you want to incorporate MARE into? Send Mike, Laura, Karen, Crystal, Rob or Sue and email or post it in the Forum and watch the ideas swim into shore!

2010 MARE Summer Institute: Something’s Fishy in A.C. Day 3

By Susan Haskell on August 12, 2010 in Summer 2010

Today, the MARE Summer Institute participants visited the Atlantic City Ocean Life Center Aquarium and toured the dock area. What a great experience! Guy shared his vast knowledge about clams and the clamming industry. All followed by a sampling of the most delicious recipes using local clams. The participants learned about SeaWatch, the largest harvester and processor of clam products in the world. “Sustainable catch” were the words of the day.

The Jelllyfish Song

By Susan Haskell on August 11, 2010 in Resources

This is the script for the wonderful Jellyfish song/dance from artist, scientist, and storyteller Anne Carla Rovetta. Get your students dancing!

(Teacher leads and students repeat each line)

Thumbs up

Jellyfish, jellyfish, jellyfish, fish (clap)

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Booty out

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Booty out

Knees together

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Booty out

Knees together

Toes in

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Booty out

Knees together

Toes in

Head to the side

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

Thumbs up

Wrists together

Chest out

Booty out

Knees together

Toes in

Head to the side

Tongue out

Repeat jellyfish chorus above

2010 MARE Summer Institute: Where Am I? Mapping from Beach to Bay, Day 2

By Susan Haskell on August 10, 2010 in Summer 2010

Good morning Island Beach State Park! The Summer Institute participants began their day with a nature walk from the Interpretive Center at one of the few state parks on an incredibly beautiful barrier island. They were led by park personel and Dan Merchant, an environmental science student at Rutgers University. The group’s task for the morning: use handheld GPS devices and map the structure of the habitat from beach to bay. Participants worked in small groups to record data such as longitude and latitude, vegetation, erosion, animal or insect life, relative temperature and soil descriptions. Native plants such as Seaside Goldenrod, Beach Plum, American Holly and Beach Grass were identified. Invasive species such as Japanese Sedge were also noted. A list of plant species at Island Beach State Park is available on their website at: https://www.islandbeachnj.org/Nature/Plants/plants.html Further photos and descriptions are available (the plant sheets from today’s clipboards) at: https://emilydecampherbarium.rutgers.edu/ Also, Joanne McCluskey shared some excellent photographs of the plant life on her flicker page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mccluskjp/ As the participants walked from beach to bay, various communities became apparent. Each one was built by the effects of wind, sand, plants, and water on the landscape. The participants could easily identify and delineate the Primary Dune, Back Dune, Thicket, Maritime Forest, Edge, Bayshore, Fresh Water Wetland,and Tidal Marsh.

Mobile Mapper GPS handheld unit

The group enjoyed using the Mobile Mapper GPS units. They provided longitude and latitude coordinates and a visual path of the progress from beach to bay.

Upon arrival back at the Interpretive Center, the groups used the data collected to draw large scale maps. They worked together as they would expect their students to: melding various learning styles and individual ideas into one cohesive visual representation of the habitat. The participants noted that the cooperative learning was a positive aspect of the experience. The completed maps and corresponding explanations were then shared with all participants. Taking it back to your classroom:

Remember the value of discovery learning, avoid giving the students too many guidelines
Handheld GPS devices are not essential, the mapping activity can be done with alternative materials in any habitat with various measuring units (graph paper, clay for topography representations, walking off steps/feet, 10′ lengths of string, digital cameras for recording geography or vegetation, etc.)
Cooperative learning is a large factor in this activity, perhaps role-play/demonstrate social skills prior to the activity (compromise, give and take, explaining your point clearly, backing up your claim with reason, division of labor, etc.)
This activity fits into the 4 strands described in “Ready, Set Science” (Chapter 2) Participants are learning to be a scientist!

I Can Draw After All! Lessons with Anne Carla Rovetta

How do you get your students to feel confident enough to draw marine organisms? Well, Anne has the answer. She was able to get the Summer Institute participants to produce beautiful, unique, amazing crab illustrations in chalk. How did she do it? Read on to find out:

Start with colored paper
Use white chalk and break the illustration down into shapes that the students can identify with such as: a watermelon with bites out of it, a banana, a piece of bread, four grapes, an olive on the end of a finger. Add sound effects while you draw.

Show the students how to use colors (any but black) with the chalk on its side to fill in the spaces and blend with their fingertips.

Use a complimentary color (remember the color wheel?) for the eyes, to make them stand out. Add a small amount of this color on the crab for balance.

Make the eyeball, using black and forming the letter “U” Add a small dot of white for the reflection/sparkle in the eye.

Outline the illustration in black and add a few shadows of black by smudging with your fingertip. Sign your masterpiece and spray it with hairspray or nonfat milk to preserve the chalk. When commenting on student’s progress say “I love the reds. What wonderful blues.” rather than complimenting one student’s end product (“I love your crab.”) This helps students to stay in the moment and enjoy the art, rather than focusing on a finished product with a “label or name”

The participants loved this hands-on lesson with Anne. The quality finished products were proof that everyone really can draw! Thank you Anne for our stress free art therapy for the day.

2010 MARE Summer Institute: Getting Your Feet Wet, Day 1

By Susan Haskell on August 10, 2010 in Summer 2010

When it comes to the MARE program, it is best to just jump right in with both feet! Participants in the 2010 Summer Institute spent part of their first day seining in Barnegat Bay off of Seven Bridges Road in Tuckerton, with Dr. Motts Grothues. After a wonderful group effort at pulling in the nets, a plethora of species appeared! Needle fish, Puffer fish, Silversides, Pipe fish, Oyster Toadfish, sponges, crabs, oh my! The group collected a variety of species to bring back to the education center.

The participants examined the fish using the MARE activity “It Takes All Kinds” This is a group discussion while observing and recording information about the species form and function. This lesson is part of the fourth grade, Kelp Forest MARE curriculum. Further explanation can be found in your Summer Institute Binder for review.

Jumping in with both feet is an excellent analogy for how to begin the MARE program in your school or club. Don’t wait, don’t over analyze, just pick an activity that interests you or fits your materials on hand or current curriculum and learn as you try it! When the children ask you a question that you can’t answer, just use that opportunity to investigate it together or assign students to research the answer and share it with the class.

When bringing live species into your classroom, remember to check for allergies. Minimize the negative comments (Ewwww, yucky) by prompting the students to say “Isn’t that interesting” instead. Photographs could be used in place of real specimens. Websites often have digital pictures or descriptions. When shopping at a local bait store or fish market, red snapper, mackerel, bluefish are good choices.

Anne Carla Rovetta entertained the attendees with two animated, interesting folktales infused with science facts during their visit to the Rutgers University Marine Field Station. The group could easily see how Anne’s wonderful voices and storytelling talents could mesmerize a group of students. The participants even got involved with the jellyfish dance! A wonderful reminder to remember to laugh a little in each day! One of the stories Anne referred to is available online. “Raven Sets Things Right” is found at: https://www.ucan-online.org/legend.asp?legend=4693&category=6. A second book she referred to can be found for purchase online: Skunny Wundy (The Iroquois and Their Neighbors) by Arthur C. Parker. There is more to come from the talented Ms. Rovetta tomorrow!

Your TO DO LIST:

Join Cosee Now at https://coseenow.net/

Our Own Touch Tank

By Susan Haskell on May 31, 2010 in Odds and Ends

For years we have paid a local aquarium to bring a touch tank to our school for Ocean Week. This year we decided to dive in and try our own! We purchased a 20 gallon salt water aquarium set up and ordered both the “small marine set” and “large marine set” from Carolina Biological supply. The tank was set up in the classroom of a teacher who agreed to host half hour visits from all classes during Ocean week. The students in the class acted as aquarium “guides” and created posterboard displays for five of the selected species in the tank (sea star, sea urchin, snail, hermit crab and sea cucumber). The students wore “shark visors” and went to pick up each class for their scheduled visit. The classes walked into the decorated “aquarium” through a curtain of seaweed (green table cloth cut in strips and hung by a tension rod). Each guide talked to the classes about their specific species and then allowed the children to move in small groups to touch the critters in small “show ‘n tell” bowls on the student’s desks. The visitors could ask questions and get a close look at each species. The interaction between the guides and the visitors was fantastic. The visits were fast paced and hands-on and kept the student’s attention focused on learning about the organisms. Now that our school owns the tank, we will simply have to replenish the organisms each year. The “small marine set” is as low as $25.00. Take note: we had no experience with a salt water fish tank set-up. Our amazing PTA funded the purchase of the tank. We added furniture sliders to the tank stand to allow it to be moved if necessary. So if you are looking to provide that hands-on, up close and personal visit with marine organisms, why not try your own touch tank? The chemistry of water testing is even great fun for the students to observe or participate in!