She's always been interested in whales. Her favorite has alwasy been the Sperm Whale, ever since she read Moby Dick when she was 5 or 6 years old. But with the Endless Ocean Blue World Wii game she has been collecting a list of cetaceans that she is looking up and reading more about. We borrowed some library books on whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and her newest Ranger Rick magazine had an Amazon River Dolphin on the cover!
Yesterday we discovered the American Cetacean Society website. She's been reading up about species there, as well as learning about the conservation efforts. They have a poster we are going to be ordering!
So neat to hear her talk about the ways different ones hunt or collect food, how they evolved differently from being seperated, why the narwol has a long tooth, their social activity, migrations, communication...and to know that she actually gets what she is talking about...not just remembering facts. She goes into discussions about why something is or how it came to be.
We learned about the US Marine Mammal Protection Act.
We watched the TED talk on the Intriguing Sound of Marine Mammals, given by Peter Tyack.
Georgia and Olivia did some sketching yesterday...Georgia looked up specific species of whales so she could draw them accurately...showing their scars and all. She told me how she drew the further side of the tail smaller so it would look further away. She also has been mixing colors to come up with the best one, and using different tools to come up with the look she wants.
SKETCHES HERE
Something else both girls really enjoy is the Safari Ltd Toob play sets. We have the Jamestown and Powhaten sets from when we visited Jamestown on its 400th anniversary. We have coral reef, ocean, horses, North American animals, and whales and dolphins. These sets are great for the girls to use their imagination and play out things they are learning about. I love it! Hearing Olivia ask Georgia, what did this one eat...they play it all true to life. And Olivia told me the other day that some whales have teeth, and some have baleen.
