B-Wet Program August 1 – 6, 2010

Prior to our arrival We were sent a notebook to journal what we already knew about the marine and upland habitat.

August 1, 2010 We introduced ourselves to one another, and we got the schedule of events

Objectives Increasing awareness of abundance and diversity of life in local marine bay systems Educating students of human impacts on these ecosystem Getting the students excited and eager to learn about science Relating, as much as possible, the ecosystem and programs activities to the TEKS Demonstrating to the teachers and students effective modeling of inquiry science and science methods Developing an understanding of the marine food web

In Real Words Bring different subjects together and different grades and talk about building curriculum that spans the grades and the subjects. Inter-connect the disciplines through a love of science. Build relationships between the groups of teachers to become a working network Partner those teachers with college professional GET THE KIDS IN THE FIELD TO BEGIN FIELD RESEARCH so that they can take ownership

August 2, 2010 Welcome to Fennessey Ranch 1) a place to study the uplands, freshwater wet lands, rivers and riparian woodland 2) Get out a take samples of plants, get pictures of animals 3) look at chemical changes in water as it goes from an Artesian Well, to wetlands to the river

Sally Crowfoot was our tour guide on our Hayride around the Ranch

The Kids will see this at the uplands:

We did water testing at an Artesian Well pH = 6.5 Nitrates = 0 Turbidity = 0 cm Temperature = 22 C Not bad water temp. Outside water temp 41 C

Wet Lands You can identify wet lands by looking for these items: Dragonflies Burs head

Wetlands

Chemical Testing pH = 6.8 Nitrates = 0 Turbidity = 12 cm Temp = 31 Outside it is still 41 and feels like it is rising ? Why is the temperature of the water getting warmer? ? Why was that water so cold? Look at the questions the children can ask?? This leads directly to our new science teks – inductive reasoning

From the well to the wetlands we go to River

We looked for things to identify the Mission River Animals: Gars – a type of fish swimming in the river, Trout, and turtles Types of plants: flowering morning glory, moss, Cedar Elm Insect identification included: dragonflies, mosquitoes and beetles

Chemical Testing at the River pH 7.1 Nitrates = 0 Turbidity = 17 cm Temp. = 33 C ? But when we look at the river it is brown – what do you mean that it is just 5 more cm more water in that turbidity column? The river really is that clear?

Fennessey Ranch Tour It is in Refugio, which is about 25 miles away from Aransas Pass. It takes roughly 40 minutes driving time to the front gate The tour takes about 4 hours If we needed to pay for a group of 25 students it would be 600 dollars for the load. - With B- Wet funding it is free.

August 3, 2010 Kayaking the Mission River Fennessey Ranch owns 16 of the 27 miles of the shortest river in Texas It was a chance for the Science people to connect with the Artist, as the Art teachers explained to us about all the colors out there in the river

Artist Boat We played the part of students as we kayaked out onto the Lake and “beached” ourselves in a position to paint our view of the lake –

Others of us Talked about how the water made ripples and the types of fish we saw and imagined that our work looked like this!!!!!!!!!

After painting what we saw.. A discussion was raised about the types of animals, plants and water we were in. Discussion lead by the artist boat people about water quality and what lives in the water We were asked to think about what this area would look like in the future, and discuss what it was in the past.

What is the Artist Boat It is an after school program for grades K-6 that explore their environment by doing several week long projects One of which is that they take out a kayak and paddle out to a wet-lands with 20 students and paint what they see Cost of this program varies and you need to contact Nicole Ekstrom for a fee.

Artist Boat Trip Kayaking around Lighthouse Trails and another chance to show off our artistic talents We took water sampling here, as this was the first salt water experience we encountered. We studied the land forms, plants and animals found in this area Again this was a 4 hour trip on the Artist Boat

While out views like this were possible

Again here water samples were taken pH = 7.2 Temp= 32 Nitrate = less than 1 Turbidity = 23 cm ? Here was the first place we noticed a salinity increase, what caused it? We saw how close we were to the open gulf water. What changes do we see here?

Bay Education Center Rockport Texas

Science on a Sphere Over 70 programs can be viewed here

Hands on Working Centers Oyster Lab – inside study this – go out side and do this

Bay Education Center It is free to public for hours 1 – 4 pm School tours are free Call Carolyn Rose at the Bay Education Center to make arrangements Cost will be the bus ride here, it is approximately 20 miles to Rockport, Texas

August 4, 2010 A boat trip on the US Katy The B-Wet program is paying for our choice of 1 – 4 hour trip for 25 students on board the Katy or 2 – 2 hour trips for 25 students on each trip on board the Katy Research Vessel Trip would cost 400 dollars for the 4 hour trip Cost for the trip for the students – bus ride to Port Aransas about 10 miles

US Katy – UT Research Vessel

Things to see: Squids Sharks Diatoms Plankton Croakers Dolphins Brittle Stars Crabs Jellyfish

Water Sampling Again pH = 7.4 Nitrate = 2.2 Turbidity = 23 cm Temp = 28 C Salinity less than the bay ? Why is the Light House Bay Salinity greater than here? What changes do we see in the organism?

Back to Pier Learning Lab We journaled everything we did in our note books

Jetty and Beach Surveys Again, we did a water study We looked at the life at each place Took pictures Wrote down what we saw in our journals Spent lots of time doing hands on investigations

August 6 Tour of the Port A’s UT Marine Science Center Wetland Visitor Center Pier Lab Cost to visitors center – free Included are educational movies to view Bus ride to Port Aransas, UT Marine Center 10 miles

Marine Science Institute Visitor Center

I would recommend this program For every grade level and in every subject It is great for making contacts at the University It is great for making contacts from other teachers in the area It is training in the local life forms It is training in using websites that are new from when we went to school Great for gathering up to date and the latest research being done today in our area