WhaleNet/During Reading Activities Ch 6 - 10
During Reading Activities
Chapter 6 - 10
Vocabulary
Stellwagen Bank
Boat Art Activity
Minke, Finbacks, and Humpback Whales
Marking and Identification
Feeding
Maternal Habits
Vocabulary
For each of the words create series of templates that has a space for the word, a clue to associate with the vocabulary word, and then space to fill in a formal definition.
An example template:
WORD:__________________________
CLUE:___________________________
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DEFINITION:_____________________
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Vocabulary Words:
Nautical - relating to sea men, ocean and ships.
Upwelling - a movement of the water bringing nutrients from the bottom of the ocean.
Nutrient - a nourishing substance.
Breeding - the action of bearing another generation.
Baleen - whalebone, horny substance that grows from the top of a whale's mouth for food getting.
Stellwagen Bank
The following information may be used to give the students more information about the summer feeding grounds of whales and other aquatic life.
Stellwagen Bank Oceanic life
Northern right whale
Humpback whale
White-sided dolphin
Storm Petrel
Northern Gannet
Bluefin tuna
Atlantic cod
Winter flounder
Sea scallop
Northern lobster
Location
25 miles east of Boston, 3 miles southeast of Cape Ann, and 3 miles north of Provincetown.
Protected Area
842-square miles
Education Activities
*Curriculum design, professional development workshops, and annual week long MimiFest for grades 4-8
*Interpretive kiosks, traveling exhibit, sanctuary video, and CD-ROM
*Whale migration resource center for Journey North internet-based education program
*Active home page
on world wide web--http://vineyard.er.usgs.gov
Research Activities
*Side-scan sonar survey and geological characterization with U.S. Geological Survey
*Fishery habitat research program
*Sanctuary user survey
*Aquanaut Program: Student research on benthic communities and acoustics with National Undersee
*Research Center at University of Connecticut
Contact
14 Union Street
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 747-1691
(508) 747-1949 (fax)
Email: sbnms@ocean.nos.noaa.gov
The class may find it interesting to recreate a modeled version of the Stellwagen Feeding Grounds.
Boat Art Activity
Give the students a variety of materials and ask them to construct a whale watch boat. These creations may be sculpted or drawn. The teacher may choose the medium. They have read about the boat in general, the captains station, and all of the instruments. Ask them to use what they know about boats, and what they have read about to replicate what they think a whale watch boat looks like.
Minke, Finbacks, and Humpback Whales
There is a variety of information contained on WhaleNet about these and other whales. Make sure to explore the site for more information.
The minke can be 30 feet and 10 tons heavy, a relatively small whale. The minke is most likely to get caught in the ropes of a fishing boats. This whales is drawn to all of the collected fish. The minke whale likes to swim in icy waters.
One blow from a finbacks' large flukes would crush a human being. A fin weighs about 50 tons. The fin whale eats about 5,000 pounds of krill a day. An average dive lasts 15 minutes for this mammal.
Humpback translates in Latin as A Big Winged New Englander. Humpbacks are bubble feeders. This whale is most noted for singing songs. A humpback can carry 1,000 pounds of whale lice at a time.
Marking and Identification
Again, make sure to check out WhaleNet, and the information contained in the other sections of this site. There is a variety of materials that can be purchased and used to teach students how to identify whales.
Whales are identified by marks and colorings on their bodies, mostly their flukes. Their names are given to them based on their ancestry and markings. A whales ancestry can be traced just as humans can trace their family history.
Feeding
Whales eat in three different ways.
1. Bubble Feeders - Humpback, blue, finback, minke, and sei whales
2. Skimmers - Bowhead, and wright whales
3. Lungers - Gray Whales
Skimmers Actions:
Tail moves
Lungs expand
Mouth opens
Food goes in
Baleen drops
Water forced out
Maternal Habits
Whales diet all winter long in the southern waters off the Dominican Republic. Roughly 2,000 humpback whales mate in this area. The water is around 80 degrees. It is while they are in the warm water that they give birth to their young. Until the mother and child start to travel and get further north does you young whale see it's mother eat. A whale eats 3,000 fish a day, about 1,000,000 calories. The baby whale drinks milk many times a day, and gains weight rapidly. The waters are much cooler in the north, somewhere around 50 degrees. A baby blue whale is the biggest baby in the world being born at about 25 feet long and 4,000 pounds.
During Reading Table of Contents
Activities for Chapter 1 - 5
Activities for Chapter 11 - 15
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Pagina Principal
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