June 4, 2013
Today’s Cool Photo of the Week is of the smallest monkey in the world - the Pygmy Marmoset. This tiny animals lives high in the canopy of South American rainforests. If you saw one, you might mistake it for a squirrel, with its brown fur, long tail, and its habit of dodging between tree branches - scrambling, and then freezing in place.
A pygmy marmoset is less than 6 inches (15 centimeters) long, and weighs about as much as a stick of butter. This tiny monkey is always on the move because it has many predators, including cats, eagles, hawks and snakes. It uses its long tail to keep its balance as it skitters through the treetops. It is most comfortable living there, where there are many hiding places among the leaves and branches.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
June 2, 2013
Though we picked our winners at random, we want to recognize some of the other very strong research and writing by the students at Skano Elementary School as part of Seymour Simon’s CORAL REEFS contest. We do not have enough space to feature all the excellent writing, so this is just a sample. We think that our readers will enjoy reading what you found out.
Elizabeth, 4th Grade, 9 years old, in Mr. Farquharson’s class wrote:
Porcupinefish, also known as blowfish can blow themselves up to protect themselves from predators. Giant Moray Eels are about 6 feet long and they blend in with the coral reef to protect themselves from predators. Finally, Goby fish are less than 10cm (2 inches) long and they hide in coral reefs when they see a predator. The coral reef is home to a lot of sea creatures and serves as a hiding place to many of them.
Photo: Giant Moray Eel
My name is Dylan M. and I am in Kindergarten in Mrs. Benkoski’s class at Skano Elementary. I want to enter this contest because I love learning about what is under the sea and all the fish and beautiful creatures living in the ocean. My three choices are: The Long-Spined Sea Urchin, which can be found in the Bahamas or the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea.
My mom has seen them before in the Mediterranean Sea when she visited Italy. They are black and have long, spiky looking needles sticking out of them and are shaped liked a circle and are pretty cool looking.
They live in shallow water which means you could easily step on them accidentally and my mom says it hurts REALLY bad because she did once. And they eat algae.
Photo: Long-Spined Sea Urchin
My second choice is the Spotted Moray Eel. I would love to be able to see an Eel, they look so creepy with their beady eyes. They have dark brown or purple spots all over their bodies and grow about 3-4 feet in length. They eat Crustaceans and fish and are dangerous so don’t get bitten by their sharp teeth!
My third choice is a crab. The Ghost crab in particular blends with their environment because they match the color of the sand. They can travel fast at 10 miles per hour, which is super fast. They eat crabs, clams, insects, and vegetations. I thought it was cool that they eat other crabs.
I entered this contest because I enjoy learning about other eco systems.
Alyssa, in Mrs.O’Brien’s 2nd grade class, came up with many more than three interesting reef animals:
Coral reefs are full of amazing beauty! Some of the creatures living on the coral reef are banded coral shrimp, giant moray eel, longnose hawkfish, parrot fishes & a variety of clownfish including percula clownfish, tomato clownfish, maroon clownfish & pink skunk clownfish! I am a big fan of the ocean & all its living species!
Photo: Lightning Maroon Clownfish
Bradley also did a lot of research:
Some animals that live in coral reefs are blowfish, angel sharks, bivalves and lemon sharks.
Blowfish are also called Putterfish, Globefish and Fugu. They are poisonous and it can swallow water to double its size.
Bivalves have...
read morePosted by: Liz Nealon
June 1, 2013
Thank you to everyone from Skano Elementary School who entered the CORAL REEFS contest. We asked students to do some research and tell us about three animals that live in coral reefs. I enjoyed seeing the choices you made and reading your writing about these animals. This contest was very unusual because of the large number of kindergarteners, both individuals and classes, who entered. This was very exciting work from the kindergarten kids, and you’ll see some of it here in our winning entries.
As promised, we have selected two winners of this contest, and both will receive an autographed copy of Seymour Simon’s newest book, CORAL REEFS. We chose the winners at random, using a very cool random number generator website called Random.org.
Are you ready? Here are the winners of Seymour Simon’s CORAL REEFS contest!
Individual Winner: Benny, 6 years old, from Mrs. Russo’s kindergarten class. Benny wrote:
1. coral looks like a plant but is an animal
2. sharks have sharp teeth
3. lobster eyes are on stalks
Classroom Winner: Mrs. Benkoski’s Kindergarten Class. They wrote:
Sharks are cool and some live in coral reefs. Sand tiger sharks can be found there, but they sometimes hide in the sand. Squids have 10 arms and also live in coral reefs. Lots of sea urchins live on coral reefs. They have many poisonous spines. They can puff these out at things that swim by. It was really fun learning about coral reefs and we love your new book!
Congratulations to everyone who entered. Be on the lookout for another blog post, because we enjoyed the work you did for this contest so much, we are going to publish some of your writing for everyone to read.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
May 31, 2013
Thanks to all the kids at Skano Elementary, their teachers and their librarian, Mrs. Kirby-LeMon, for a very good day together. It was a little hot (90 degrees Fahrenheit and no air conditioning), but I think we all managed to have a good time together! I wanted to share two lovely notes I received this afternoon. First this one, from a fourth grader named Madelyn, who was entering the CORAL REEFS contest. Madelyn wrote:
There are three amazing animals that live in coral reefs. One of the three animals is the black tip reef shark. These animals have a black tip on their top fin. Coral reefs help them in one way. That one way is that they pounce on their prey to dine on them. Another animal is scorpion fish. These fish also hide in the coral reefs. These fish blend in with coral reefs so they can eat their prey. Sea snakes is the third animal. These animals hide from their predators in coral reefs. Well coral reefs are truly amazing creatures of the ocean. Even though Seymour Simon wrote 300 books this is my favorite.
Thank you so much, Madelyn, for saying this nice thing about my new book. I am so glad that you are inspired by it!
And then, I received this note from one of the teachers:
I’m the fan that spoke to you after your book session at Skano Elementary today. I just wanted to say again how much I love your books and your Meet the Author session. As I told you I have read, taught from, and shared your books with children from grades 1-5. I love the photos, the writing, and the scientific information in your books. My first Seymour Simon book was Whales, and I’ve been a fan ever since! Thank you so much for writing and sharing your wonderful books with teachers, students, and your other readers.
Respectfully,
Pat O’Brien
Clifton Park, NY
You guys made my day! Thanks so much for making my last school visit of the year very special.
Seymour Simon
Posted by: Seymour Simon
May 23, 2013
It is time for a new contest! Seymour Simon is visiting Skano Elementary School in Clifton Park, NY at the end of this month, and this contest is for all the Skano Elementary kids to enter. Two lucky winners are going to receive personally autographed copies of Seymour Simon’s new book, CORAL REEFS.
Here is how you enter. First, read this excerpt from Seymour’s newest book.
Coral reefs look like a bunch of rock formations. But a coral reef is actually a gigantic community of living things. For a long time, corals were a mystery to people. They were called rock-plants or plant-animals.
Now we know that each coral polyp, basically a mouth, is a soft sea animal that is something like a jellyfish. The polyp makes a hard, protective limestone skeleton.
Once you have read this, here is what you do to enter:
1. Do some research and tell us about three animals that live on coral reefs. They might be fish, they might be crustaceans like crab and lobster, or they might be plant-like corals.
2. You can find your information by clicking on the "Coral Reefs" label on this blog, in Seymour’s book CORAL REEFS, or by using other resources, like the library and the Internet.
3. Click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog entry to enter the contest by telling us about the three animals you have studied. Make sure that you put the information you have found into your own words (don’t just copy and paste information you find).
4. When you write your information, be sure to also tell us your name (first name only), your grade, your age and your teacher’s name, so that we can find you if you are chosen as the winner. Allow 24 hours for your comment to show up online, because all comments by people under 13 years old are reviewed by a moderator and approved before they appear on the website. Be patient if you don’t see it right away!
5. Be sure to post your entry by midnight, Friday, May 31. The contest ends then.
6. Two winners will be chosen randomly from all the correct entries. Older students may enter individually, and we will pick one winner. Students in grades K-2 may enter as a class and work with their teacher to enter the contest; there will be one classroom winner.
7. Students who do not attend Skano Elementary may also enter this contest. The rules are the same as above, but for #4, please include your first name, your grade, your teacher’s name, the name of your school, and the city where your school is located. If we have at least 20 entries from other schools, we will randomly choose a third prize winner from the non-Skano Elementary entries.
Winners will receive copies of CORAL REEFS, personally autographed by Seymour Simon.
So, get to work and send us your entries today!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
May 22, 2013
We seem to be having an early "Shark Week" here on the Seymour Science blog! And since it is Writing Wednesday, we thought that we would share this poem, called SHARK TEETH, and ask you to write about what you think is happening in the poem.
About the Teeth of Sharks
By John Ciardi
The thing about a shark is - teeth,
One row above, one row beneath.
Now take a close look. Do you find
It has another row behind?
Still closer - here, I’ll hold your hat:
Has it a third row behind that?
Now look in and…Look out! Oh my,
I’ll never know now! Well, goodbye.
Read this poem several times. After you have read it silently to yourself, try reading it aloud. Then, listen as a friend reads it aloud.
When you have read or heard it several times, think about what happens at the end of this poem. Is it funny? Sad? Surprising? Think about looking into the mouth of a shark. What would you see? How would it feel?
Notice that the poet uses the word "I." Who is talking in the poem? What is he or she doing? Is there one person talking? Or two?
Once you have thought about all these things, click on the yellow "Comments" button at the bottom of this blog post and write your own story of what happened in the scene described by this poem.
Happy (gulp) writing!
John Ciardi, "About the Teeth of Sharks" from You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962). Copyright © 1962 by John Ciardi.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
May 21, 2013
This sea bird is easily recognized by its bright-blue feet. Males display their feet to the females as part of the mating ritual, lifting first one foot, then the other to show off the color. Both males and females show a preference for mates with brighter colored feet. And wouldn’t you? Look at that splendid turquoise!
Photo: Cory Randell
Posted by: Seymour Simon
May 20, 2013
The Cassini spacecraft continues to send back simply extraordinary photographs of Saturn. The latest is an image of an enormous hurricane currently raging at Saturn’s north pole. The eye - just the eye - of this hurricane stretches 1,250 miles (2,000 km) across. That is the length of the entire West Coast of the United States - from the southern tip of California all the way up to the Canadian border.
Scientists don’t know how long this hurricane has been in existence, because when Cassini arrived the north pole was covered in winter darkness (a year on Saturn lasts 29 Earth years). But now that it is light, we can see this huge storm which seems very similar to, though much bigger than what we call a hurricane here on Earth.
This photograph is false-color, by the way. That means that color has been added to the original image to help us see the details.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
May 18, 2013
Though we picked our winners at random, we want to recognize some of the other very strong research and writing by the students of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School (and kids from other states, too) as part of the Three Fascinating Facts about Sharks contest. Some of the information that you all found is simply too good not to share!
Helen, a third grader in Mrs. Salvitti’s class, wrote:
1. Some sharks remain on the move for their whole lives. This forces water over their gills, delivering oxygen to the blood stream. If the shark stops moving then it will suffocate and die.
2. A pup (baby shark) is born ready to take care of itself. The mother shark leaves the pup to fend for itself and the pup usually makes a fast get away before the mother tries to eat it.
3. Not all species of shark give birth to live pups. Some species lay the egg case on the ocean floor and the pup hatches later on its own.
Photo: Gills of a nurse shark
And how about these interesting facts from Shelby:
1. Sometimes they will take a bite out of their prey or just sink their teeth in to get a taste before they start really feeding.
2. A shark attack on a human usually occurs in less than 6 feet 6 inches of calm water, and within a relatively short distance from shore.
3.The Megamouth shark is one of the rarest of the shark species. It was discovered in 1976. Photo: Megamouth Shark
We loved all these great comparisons from Zac:
1. Every shark has tiny sensors at the tip of its snout to help it find food like a metal detector finding treasure.
2. Sharks have teeth all over their body. Their skin has really tiny spikes, like a prickle bush.
3. A shark’s teeth are in rows like a roller coaster ride. If a shark looses one of its teeth, one will grow back right away and move forward to take the place of the old one. Just like when a person gets off a roller coaster, a new person will take their place for the next ride.
Andrew, from 3Go, managed to come up with three unique facts that no one else submitted:
1. Nurse sharks are nocturnal predators.
2. Dogfish are a type of shark.
3. Horn sharks are oviparous.
Photo: Horn Shark
And finally this from fifth grader Cassidy S. This is practically an essay - your information is fascinating, indeed!
1. In New Zealand, there is a shark that barks like a dog. It is called the Swell Shark. It is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found in the subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean.
2. Most sharks give birth to their babies. Only a few sharks lay eggs. Most sharks have six to twelve babies at a time, but a Tiger Shark and Hammerhead can have as many as 40 babies at a time.
3. The Whale Shark is the biggest fish in the world. It has more than 4,000 teeth, but each is less than 1/8 inch long. A shark may go through 1,000 sets of teeth during its lifetime. When a shark loses a tooth, one replaces it. A Whale Shark weighs about 40,000 pounds.
We also had two excellent entries from students who do not attend Lower Gwynedd School.
Danielle age:11 teacher: Mrs. Hargrave...
read morePosted by: Seymour Simon
May 18, 2013
Thank you to everyone from Lower Gwynedd Elementary School who entered the THREE FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT SHARKS contest. We enjoyed seeing the choices you made and reading your writing using those words. 85 people entered this contest - that is a lot of excellent research and writing!
As promised, we have selected two winners of this contest, and both will receive an autographed copy of the new edition of Seymour Simon’s EXTREME OCEANS, from Chronicle Books. We chose the winners at random, using a very cool random number generator website called Random.org.
Are you ready? Here are the winners of Seymour Simon’s SHARKS contest:
Individual Winner: Nathan, from Class 4-O. Nathan’s three fascinating facts were:
1: About 90% of the people who are attacked by sharks survive.
2: If sharks stop moving they start to sink.
3: More people are killed by bee stings than shark attacks.
Classroom Winner: Mrs. Stapp’s Kindergarten Class. They wrote:
Our Favorite Shark Facts:
1.Sharks lived before the dinosaurs
2. Sharks can smell a drop of blood a mile away.
3. Sharks don’t chew their food.
Congratulations to everyone who entered. Be on the lookout for another blog post, because we enjoyed the work you did for this contest so much, we are going to publish some of your writing for everyone to read.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
