Seymour Simon's Blog, page 20
February 25, 2013
Mysterious Visitor in my Aquarium
I’ve kept freshwater aquariums for many years and I’ve always enjoyed setting them up and keeping them going. But it’s been a long time since I’ve set up a saltwater (marine) aquarium. Nearly forty years ago I even wrote a book titled TROPICAL SALTWATER AQUARIUMS but technology and our understanding of keeping aquariums have changed. So when I decided to set up a new saltwater aquarium, I pretty much had to start from the beginning.I had just finished writing my new book aboutCORAL REEFSand I wanted to see if I could keep some kinds of coral in an aquarium, so I decided that I would set up a reef aquarium. A reef aquarium contains both fishes and some kinds of coral and other invertebrates as well. My aquarium has been going for about two months now and everything seems to be going fine. I have two saltwater fish (a clown fish and a yellow tailed blue damsel), an anemone (called a bubble-tipped anemone), hermit crabs and several kinds of coral. Imagine my surprise the other day when I saw a new kind of living thing in the tank; something I had never put into the tank. I pulled out my LED flashlight to take a better look and saw that the mysterious visitor had a central trunk and then a top with many waving tentacles. I imagine that it come in as a hitchhiker on some rocks or plants that I had put into the tank. So I decided to try to find out what it was and whether it was a welcome or unwelcome intruder. I used theSeeMore Explorers Observation Logand wrote down what I saw. Well, the mysterious visitor turned out to be a kind of anemone and a very unwelcome one at that. You can read how I found out on the observation log (below). As to what I did then, you’ll have to read that on my next installment on the blog!
February 20, 2013
Writing Wednesday: Dog�or Monkey?
This is Banana Joe. He is the top dog in America this week - the first affenpinscher to ever win ‘Best in Show’ at the historic Westminster Dog Show. Some people think that the affenpinscher’s face looks more like a monkey than a dog. What do you think?For today’s Writing Wednesday, we want you to write about whether you think Banana Joe’s face looks like a dog or like a monkey. Give reasons that support your opinion, and if you can, use linking words like because, since, or for example to help explain your opinion. Have fun! Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Writing Standard #1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
February 18, 2013
Dolphin “Superpod” Seen of California Coast
Tourists on a whale watching boat off the coast of California saw a rare sight this week. Their boat followed thousands of dolphins in a superpod that the captain estimated was seven miles (11 kilometers) long and five miles (8 kilometers) wide. The ship’s captain estimated there were 100,000 dolphins. Of course, we know that dolphins are highly social animals, living in pods of as many as a dozen dolphins. Sometimes, especially when there is a lot of food in the area, pods come together into superpods. That appears to be what happened here. Can you imagine all the talking with that many dolphins together? I would love to have seen (and heard) that sight!
February 13, 2013
Writing Wednesday: Describe these Babies!
Good morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday. Look at these cute baby owls! Today, we would like you to take a few minutes and write six words that describe the animals in this photograph. That’s all there is to it. You don’t need to write whole sentences. Just give us six adjectives (adjectives are words that describe a thing) that come to mind when you look at this photograph. When you are done, click on the yellow "Comments" button at the bottom of this blog to post your writing. Have fun with it!
February 12, 2013
Cool Photo for Valentine’s Day
In honor of Valentine’s Day, our Cool Photo of the Week is this shot of a Pygmy Seahorse. These tiny creatures are found in the waters off Southeast Asia. They live on soft corals or grasses which they use as camouflage. These are some of the smallest seahorse species in the world - most are less than 2 centimetres (0.79inches) tall. This second photo, published by Ali Watters on TravelBlog, shows just how tiny the pygmy seahorse is - about the size of the fingernail on his pinky finger!Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers!
February 6, 2013
Writing Wednesday: Compare and Contrast
Good morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday! Today, we’re going to compare and contrast two pieces of writing by Seymour Simon. In each of these excerpts he is writing about Earth’s atmosphere, but the way he writes each of them is quite different. Your Assignment: Read both of the pieces of Seymour Simon writing below, and then write a paragraph or two about how these pieces of writing are alike and how they are different. Some questions you might ask yourself as you read:Who is the audience for each piece of writing?What facts does he include in each piece to describe the atmosphere?What kind of descriptive words does he use in each piece? How are they the same, or different?Is the tone of voice the same or different in each of them? (Try reading each of them aloud to think about this)What photographs did he choose to illustrate each piece of writing? Is one more effective than the other?How about the design of the pages? Do they look similar? Different? In what ways? If you would like to post your writing for others to see, you can click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of the article.Happy writing! From EARTH: OUR PLANET IN SPACE. Simon & Schuster, 1984/2003. From EARTH: A SHIPMATES GUIDE TO OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. Seymour Science, 2012.
February 5, 2013
Cool Photo: Porcupinefish
Today’s Cool Photo of the Week is a Porcupinefish. They are found in warm tropical waters all over the world. People often refer to them as "blowfish" because of their ability to make their body bigger and rounder by swallowing air or water. This reduces the number of predators to fish or animals with very large mouths. They even have a backup defense mechanism - those sharp spines, which stick out when the fish is inflated. Some of them have poison in their internal organs, another reason to avoid them. As you can imagine, this fish has very few predators. Porcupinefish are just one of the fascinating creatures found in coral reefs, which is the subject of my new book, coming out at the end of April. These reefs are like huge cities under the sea, teeming with inhabitants from fish to plants to a wide variety of invertebrates like coral. I loved studying about them as I was writing the book, and I think you will be amazed by some of the photographs!
January 30, 2013
Writing Wednesday: Namibia Tornado
Good morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday! Today we would like you to look at this photograph and take five minutes to have fun with creative writing.Background: This is a photograph of a tornado sweeping across the Namib Desert in Namibia, a country in southwestern Africa. Isn’t it a gorgeous sight? Your Assignment: Imagine you are in Africa, seeing this tornado, and describe this sight. Use lots of strong adjectives to help the scene come to life for your reader. What does it look like? Sound like? How would you feel if you were there in the desert? When you are finished writing, you can click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog post if you would like to share your writing for others to read.Happy writing!Photo: Francesco Middei
January 29, 2013
Cool Photo: Icy Lighthouse
The past week’s arctic blast has left this lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan encased in ice. It is actually not unusual for the lighthouses at this point where the St. Joseph River flows into Lake Michigan to ice over during winter storms, but this is a particularly magnificent photograph because of the pink, sunset light. Photo: Lisa Davidson Rundell
January 25, 2013
Exclamation Point in the Sky
Most of North America is shivering in freezing, Arctic temperatures. It is also very windy where we live, near the Berkshire Mountains. I pulled off the road when I was driving the other day to take this shot. The high altitude cirrus clouds were being "shredded" by the wind…and they were pulled into a shape that made it look like an exclamation point.Or maybe it is a comment on the freezing temperature up there?
