Bidding farewell to NOLA Navy Week Ships

Today we watched 4 ships leave the Port of New Orleans.   I didn’t get photos of all of them.  It was amazing to see how they turn and how quickly they can move.

       

Zoo School: Amphibians

Today we visited the Audubon Aquarium for their homeschool class.  C learned about amphibians, which is my favorite subject!  The students learned the characteristics of amphibians, the adaptations of amphibians and threats to their survival.  They played a salamander board game which demonstrated habitat destruction, predation and other obstacles.  They even met a few amphibians.

The Cane Toad (“Sandy”) held by Fernando is an example of an invasive species introduced in Australia to control the cane beetle population.  They have overpopulated the country as they have no natural predators there.  They have poison glands, which are very helpful in deterring potential predators.  There is no evidence that they have helped control the beetle population.    An Axolotl aka “River Monster” retain their gills as adults and never undergo metamorphosis.  They spend their lives in water.  They are native of Mexican lakes but breed well in captivity.

The amphibian below is a tiger salamander.  They got the name not due to their tiger-like strikes but for their voracious appetites.  Their range does not extend to our area, unfortunately.  After class, we roamed the aquarium looking at tadpoles and several other frog species.  We also saw leafy sea dragons, sea horses and a dwarf cuttlefish.

#knowwonderhomeschool #homeschool #audubonaquarium

Field trip Friday: NOLA Navy Week

Today we visited the USS WASP & the HMS Lancaster.  The WASP is an aircraft carrier.  We saw many type of armored vehicles that are carried aboard the ship.  C loved climbing into the tanks!  He especially loved sitting in the helicopter. 

   

             

We also toured the HMS Lancaster, a frigate operated by the Royal Navy.  They have a Wildcat helicopter aboard.    I think C enjoyed hearing about pursuing pirates and tracking what they referred to as “bad ships.”  It sounds like they have helped the Coast Guard in dealing with drug traffickers in the Carribean.  http://m.navaltoday.com/#newsitem-79128

The highlight of the trip for C was sitting in the Captain’s chair on the HMS Lancaster.  Thank you to the Royal Navy officers for making his day!

   

 

Questions???

Just a few of the questions posed by C this week:

Why is it called Alabama?

Why does the sand sink (in the water)?

Why does the water turn like that (when going down the drain)?

Swamp school

This was C’s first class at the Audubon Zoo homeschool.  Today’s theme was wetlands.  The kids learned to identify poison ivy, what types of insects rely on wetland plants for food and shelter and why wetlands are important to the environment.  They also got the opportunity to pet an alligator (a very small one) but C decided not to take that opportunity.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in the zoo, digging up “dinosaur” bones, wading in the water at Monkey Hill and scouring the gift shop for something for Daddy.   

     

Painting with LEGOs

Lately, C only wants to paint if he can paint his LEGO “guys” (aka mini figures). Whatever.  It’s washable, right?  So, I put paper out and whatever ends up on the paper is his artwork.  Of course, he is only concerned with the “guys” but it’s his process.  

  

Art in progress

  

The final product

The Music Box in City Park

we loved this musical sculpture installation.  Open weekends 12-6 until May 10th!