Thursday, September 29, 2011
sea Camp Day 4
2011 Sea Camp Day 4
The bright hot sun light that tore through the marine layer yesterday at Sea World struggled today when the marine layer blanket arrived this morning with reinforcements. The moisture hung over our heads like the human body project and with much effort we took leave of our beds and lethargically shuffled to the outdoor common area that doubled as the mess hall. The pace of the first three days just north of the border was visible on each half closed eye and threatened to force each sea camper back to the comfort of their bucks. If not for the savory aroma emanating from the kitchens, there would be no hope of waking in time for the much anticipated boat trip.
Dobby, Kreature, and the rest of the Sea Camp house elves out did themselves again when baskets of Danish, fried egg and cheese English muffins, and potatoes appeared from no where as if summoned. Ravenous, we ate more than our fill and hoped that our gluttony wouldn’t cause us to charge the gunnels of the Sea Watch at the first swell the way our classmates did yesterday. (I am relieved to report that as of the time that I am writing this we haven’t had even the slightest shade of green color the faces of group A.) Once the gear bags were packed, team A shoehorned themselves into the familiar white and silver Sea Camp vans for the ten minute drive to the marina. Unlike previous years we weren’t limited to the typically monotonous offerings on San Diego radio thanks to the Sea Camp staff who generously (perhaps a bit selfishly) had burned CDs for each of the vans, so we where treated to the 1980s classic cold war song 99 Red Balloons and the boys favorite classic rock anthem We Are the Champions (I’m hoping that this will be applicable to the cross country teams in ten days) so we disembarked the crab and shark vans feeling like we could wrestle a shark with our bare hands.
As we emptied onto the dock, gear bag in hand, the gloom caused everyone to utilize the often neglected hood of our standard 8th grade issued navy blue Sea Camp hoodies and we hoped that it wouldn’t obscure the sea life that was promised us. At least there was no prospect of rain since a rainy two and a half hour boat trip one way to Mexico’s off shore islands would test even the most enthusiastic Sea Camper. For the second year in a row we where greeted by, Phil the senior adult male California Sea Lion, who has been adapted into the Sea Camp staff. Phil has meet Sea Camps voyagers on the boat the Sea Watch so frequently that he has been now allowed to present the safety first demonstration from the harbour waters, and with help from the lovely Brandon, who modeled what everyone will be wearing in New York this season (an neon bright life vest) showed how to exit the boat in case of emergency. Once all the prerequisites were completed, we were off to explore the big blue.
At first the only nautical excitement was a US naval submarine. In reality sightings of exotic naval vessels can be a bad omen since they tend to scare sea life away. We all did have a laugh through when one student inquired if this is how the United States now patrols the maritime border between the US and Mexico. Fortunate for us, common dolphins show uncommon disregard for submersibles and came to join us for part of our motor through the border waters. Other sea life to view was few and far between until we saw a mola mola who then called to his friends the blue whales. We were lucky enough to chase a dozen blues for half of an hour just of the Coronado coast. The largest animals to ever live on planet Earth were feeding, swimming, and just plain frolicking for us until we realized that we must put them to the stern if anyone was to snorkel.
Once we arrived at the four islands that compose the Coronado Islands we were treated to an unexpected sea life. We had a chance to see so many things that in my short five years of coming to Sea Camp, today was my favorite day of snorkeling. Are you ready for this? Everyone got to see Orange ochre sea stars, orange, purple ochre sea stars. Bat sea stars, knobby sea stars, sea hares, Purple sea urchins, red sea urchins, octopus, brittle stars, lighting welks, sea snails, chitons, sea lions, harbor seal, (take a breath) garibaldi, opal eye, senerita, kelp bass, sheep heads, blacksmith (blue), navanax, and Hermit crabs. What a snorkel! But wait, that wasn’t the best part! The most memorable event of the dive was when I, Mr. Framke, caught a horn shark by the tail and dragged it kicking and screaming to the surface for everyone to pet. True story honest. I have never seen out outside of an aquarium let alone touch or catch one. What a thrill.
To finish our stay at the islands, the students challenged each other to a contest of king/queen of the raft. The teams were simple, boys against girls and you would think that Kyle (both), Ian, Brandon, Jared, Fabian, and Dylan would have no problem in holding their ground against Emma, Maura, Hailey, Melissa, Jemma, and Audrey, but you’d be wrong. In another Sea Camp first, I haven’t seen such a convincing defeat in king of the raft as I witnessed today! Again you’ll have to watch the video to believe it. The undisputed Queen was defiantly Audrey who was Beast! She will, she will, rock you!
As soon as everyone got back on the boat and changed, they were treated to chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate. Once the anchor was aboard we set off for home and there were naps all round. Another exciting fast paced and exhausting day at Sea Camp is in the books.
Until tomorrow…
Or so I thought.
Upon returning to camp, we learned that we were going to be the first group in Sea Camp history to go to the beach at night to watch the bio-luminescent red tide that has infected the shores around San Diego. At its height, the algae bloom when caught in breaking waves, will light up the ocean as if it were a pool with lights and you can see fish swimming in the back light. Unfortunate, there was too much ambient light coming from the city that was reflecting off of the clouds to see the fading red tide. We did get to see the bio-luminescent algae in the wet sand when you disturbed the sand by scuffing your feet. It looked like you were on the planet Pandora from the movie Avatar and the ground that you walked on would sparkle. Although we missed the this unique condition at its best, I am so grateful to Sea Camp for allowing us to experience an event that none of us have seen before.
Kirk and Kathy
Red Tide rolling into La Jolla
The bright hot sun light that tore through the marine layer yesterday at Sea World struggled today when the marine layer blanket arrived this morning with reinforcements. The moisture hung over our heads like the human body project and with much effort we took leave of our beds and lethargically shuffled to the outdoor common area that doubled as the mess hall. The pace of the first three days just north of the border was visible on each half closed eye and threatened to force each sea camper back to the comfort of their bucks. If not for the savory aroma emanating from the kitchens, there would be no hope of waking in time for the much anticipated boat trip.
Dobby, Kreature, and the rest of the Sea Camp house elves out did themselves again when baskets of Danish, fried egg and cheese English muffins, and potatoes appeared from no where as if summoned. Ravenous, we ate more than our fill and hoped that our gluttony wouldn’t cause us to charge the gunnels of the Sea Watch at the first swell the way our classmates did yesterday. (I am relieved to report that as of the time that I am writing this we haven’t had even the slightest shade of green color the faces of group A.) Once the gear bags were packed, team A shoehorned themselves into the familiar white and silver Sea Camp vans for the ten minute drive to the marina. Unlike previous years we weren’t limited to the typically monotonous offerings on San Diego radio thanks to the Sea Camp staff who generously (perhaps a bit selfishly) had burned CDs for each of the vans, so we where treated to the 1980s classic cold war song 99 Red Balloons and the boys favorite classic rock anthem We Are the Champions (I’m hoping that this will be applicable to the cross country teams in ten days) so we disembarked the crab and shark vans feeling like we could wrestle a shark with our bare hands.
As we emptied onto the dock, gear bag in hand, the gloom caused everyone to utilize the often neglected hood of our standard 8th grade issued navy blue Sea Camp hoodies and we hoped that it wouldn’t obscure the sea life that was promised us. At least there was no prospect of rain since a rainy two and a half hour boat trip one way to Mexico’s off shore islands would test even the most enthusiastic Sea Camper. For the second year in a row we where greeted by, Phil the senior adult male California Sea Lion, who has been adapted into the Sea Camp staff. Phil has meet Sea Camps voyagers on the boat the Sea Watch so frequently that he has been now allowed to present the safety first demonstration from the harbour waters, and with help from the lovely Brandon, who modeled what everyone will be wearing in New York this season (an neon bright life vest) showed how to exit the boat in case of emergency. Once all the prerequisites were completed, we were off to explore the big blue.
At first the only nautical excitement was a US naval submarine. In reality sightings of exotic naval vessels can be a bad omen since they tend to scare sea life away. We all did have a laugh through when one student inquired if this is how the United States now patrols the maritime border between the US and Mexico. Fortunate for us, common dolphins show uncommon disregard for submersibles and came to join us for part of our motor through the border waters. Other sea life to view was few and far between until we saw a mola mola who then called to his friends the blue whales. We were lucky enough to chase a dozen blues for half of an hour just of the Coronado coast. The largest animals to ever live on planet Earth were feeding, swimming, and just plain frolicking for us until we realized that we must put them to the stern if anyone was to snorkel.
Once we arrived at the four islands that compose the Coronado Islands we were treated to an unexpected sea life. We had a chance to see so many things that in my short five years of coming to Sea Camp, today was my favorite day of snorkeling. Are you ready for this? Everyone got to see Orange ochre sea stars, orange, purple ochre sea stars. Bat sea stars, knobby sea stars, sea hares, Purple sea urchins, red sea urchins, octopus, brittle stars, lighting welks, sea snails, chitons, sea lions, harbor seal, (take a breath) garibaldi, opal eye, senerita, kelp bass, sheep heads, blacksmith (blue), navanax, and Hermit crabs. What a snorkel! But wait, that wasn’t the best part! The most memorable event of the dive was when I, Mr. Framke, caught a horn shark by the tail and dragged it kicking and screaming to the surface for everyone to pet. True story honest. I have never seen out outside of an aquarium let alone touch or catch one. What a thrill.
To finish our stay at the islands, the students challenged each other to a contest of king/queen of the raft. The teams were simple, boys against girls and you would think that Kyle (both), Ian, Brandon, Jared, Fabian, and Dylan would have no problem in holding their ground against Emma, Maura, Hailey, Melissa, Jemma, and Audrey, but you’d be wrong. In another Sea Camp first, I haven’t seen such a convincing defeat in king of the raft as I witnessed today! Again you’ll have to watch the video to believe it. The undisputed Queen was defiantly Audrey who was Beast! She will, she will, rock you!
As soon as everyone got back on the boat and changed, they were treated to chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate. Once the anchor was aboard we set off for home and there were naps all round. Another exciting fast paced and exhausting day at Sea Camp is in the books.
Until tomorrow…
Or so I thought.
Upon returning to camp, we learned that we were going to be the first group in Sea Camp history to go to the beach at night to watch the bio-luminescent red tide that has infected the shores around San Diego. At its height, the algae bloom when caught in breaking waves, will light up the ocean as if it were a pool with lights and you can see fish swimming in the back light. Unfortunate, there was too much ambient light coming from the city that was reflecting off of the clouds to see the fading red tide. We did get to see the bio-luminescent algae in the wet sand when you disturbed the sand by scuffing your feet. It looked like you were on the planet Pandora from the movie Avatar and the ground that you walked on would sparkle. Although we missed the this unique condition at its best, I am so grateful to Sea Camp for allowing us to experience an event that none of us have seen before.
Kirk and Kathy
Red Tide rolling into La Jolla
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Sea Camp Day 3
This is our trip to Sea World. In the morning, students had a lab and went sea kayaking. Since all the the boats capsized, cameras weren't a good idea. Oh well. Enjoy the sea mammals and other critters. Please pay particular attention to Kyle's dolphin encounter which he won as part of last years Slavens auction. 7th graders, make sure you tell your parents how much you would like to walk in Kyle's footsteps next year. Also can you believe some of our students got to meet royalty!
Until tomorrow's boat trip,
Kirk and Kathy
Until tomorrow's boat trip,
Kirk and Kathy
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sea Camp Day 2
Greetings from Sunny San Diego! Well, sunny from the hours of 10 to noon between the moment the marine layer burned off until the instant returned. Don’t worry, despite the lack of rays we had a not so typical So Cal day. It all started in the fish lap (sorry, no pictures due to my camera eating batteries faster than a Slavens 8th grader wolfs down hash browns and eggs in the morning). First a trivia question, what smells better the combination of a baked bean dinner mixed with axe and Old Spice body sprays featured in the boy’s dorm or five day old Pacific Mackerel? The answer is…the boy’s dorm. Despite the pungent fishy odor emanating from the dissection victims the first presented to group A received a big wet hello kiss from Brandon. To come clean, I also kissed the fish and it wasn’t that bad as long as you exhaled the entire time. Once the welcome pleasantries were exchanged, students literally dove into the innards their subjects. We discovered that the inside of the Mackerels three gills was a pinky red color similar to the color of a sweet red watermelon, the heads partially detaches, and the guts when extricated are long and skinny not to mention an appetizing green color.
Did I hear someone mention appetizing? Nothing can be as appealing as a raw squid esophagus which Caden ate in its entirety. Yum! And that had to happen when my camera was dead. I have half a mind to ask him to do it again so I can get some video. Not to be out done, Jared sampled the Pacific delicacy of spiny lobster. Oops, I misread my notes, he ate Hagfish slime (mucus) which tastes like lobster. The Girl’s didn’t want to be out shined by the boys, so Jemma and Maura liked the keyhole lipid for good luck. To be honest, licking a lipid isn’t that gross. You’ll just have to trust me on this one.
After a quick hand wash and for a chosen few a mouth full of Scope, it was off to Mission Point for a picnic lunch, games, seining, and snorkeling part 1. The after lunch game was an extension of the fish lab called camouflage. In the game one person (first an instructor and then Duncan) would close their eyes and count to a number say 20 while everyone else hides, just like hid and go seek. After counting, the predator looks around and calls out to all the prey that they can see. If they the prey are visible, then they are caught. After the predators visual 360 degree visual sweep around the Mission Point Green. They then close their eyes and count to a smaller number then they counted to before. While counting, all the prey must run, tag the predator, and re-hides. As the amount of time given to hide decreases, more people get caught until there are one or two prey people left. Once Duncan preyed upon all of his classmates, it was on to suiting up for the water.
Watching students get into their wetsuits has been worth the trip to San Diego every year. Each time then don the 7mm of constricting neoprene, students can dress them self quickly, although there are always a couple of people who revel in the difficulty of the task. This year’s winner of the most entertaining wardrobe change goes to Bridget who meandered through group A asking for anyone to give her an “atomic wedgie”. Hannah was all to glad to oblige.
Once in the water, students saw many different kinds of sea life including a ‘huge’ octopus that inked on Brandon’s face. I would say that it was bad luck, first the fish kiss and then octopus ink, but he seemed to reveal in the experience. Other critters included sand dollars, fish, fish, and more fish, lipids, brittle starts, ocre sea stars, snails, and sea slugs.
After we extracted more ocean, I mean bay fun then seems humanly possible we headed back to camp for cell phones, basketball, and every ones favorite Sea Camp experience, cross country practice. Normally I wouldn’t mention the practice, but I had so much fun with the runners that came with me today. Kyle, Colin, Henry, Drew, Sasha, Hailey, Audrey, and Duncan ran about 3 miles around half of Fiesta island. We were running around and one of my favorite XC moments happened. I was running about ten feet behind the boys when spontaneously then just started to all sing. When does that ever happen which 8th grade boys? To make things more fun we were chasing sea gulls from the beach, but when we saw a Blue Heron, I know it required a different approach. I had the team line up on a tall sand bank about 30 feet from the waters edge and told them that there was a reward for the first person to tag the Heron. To my surprise they all sprinted down to get the Heron. Unfortunately no one realized that in between us and the bird was a fowl (pun intended) muck pit which claimed Colin’s shoe a foot down (he found it), caused Henry to slide on his rear end for 5 feet, and somehow turned Hailey’s face a shade of green brown I have never seen before. In spite of this, or perhaps because of this detour, we all had one of the most fun and memorable Sea Camp experience I can remember.
Enjoy tomorrow in land locked Denver. Tomorrow you are sure to receive the Sea Camp news that makes you long to be with us. Don’t forget to enjoy today’s slideshow on slavens8thgrademath.blogspot.com or slavens7thgrademath.blogspot.com.
Monday, September 26, 2011
2011 Sea Camp day 1
Te first day at Sea Camp has been great. We arrived in San Diego, unpacked, went boogie boarding, and found sea creatures in the tidal pools of La Jolla. I could tell you more about it, but since a picture is worth a thousand words I will just let you see the action for yourself.
Once you've started the slide show, click on the four arrowed icon in the bottom right corner for a full screen view of the pictures. Enjoy the slide show from the first day.
Once you've started the slide show, click on the four arrowed icon in the bottom right corner for a full screen view of the pictures. Enjoy the slide show from the first day.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Algebra sheet 4-2 help
algebra sheet 4 2 prob 3
algebra sheet 4 2 examples (one computation error at the end should be minus four)
Don't forget to do 21-30!
#9 is also #21 just subtract instead
No ACE tonight
algebra sheet 4 2 examples (one computation error at the end should be minus four)
Don't forget to do 21-30!
#9 is also #21 just subtract instead
No ACE tonight
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
John Lynch Coach of the month award
There is a new award presented through the John Lynch Foundation for coach of the year. Just in case you would like to nominate anyone, here is the web address for nominations: http://www.johnlynchfoundation.org/nominate-a-coach.aspx
Just wanted to throw this out there.
Kirk Framke
3000 S. Clayton St.
Denver, CO 80210
kirk_framke@dpsk12.org
In five years the cross country team has grown from less than 10 runners to 50 runners in a middle school with approximately 150 middle school students. Slavens girls have
Links to the Denver Post pics:
Other Slavens XC Invite media:
Other Framke media from this year:
Thursday, September 15, 2011
XC Invitational info
Please arrive at Harvard Gulch by 2:30. Volunteers (and runners) should find Ms. DuHoux who will be at a table near the driveway into the rec center. Please park along Logan NOT Ilaff.
Schedule:
2:30 arrive at Harvard Gulch
3:10 Mandatory coaches meeting (by finish line)
3:30 6th grade boys start (everyone must be at the finish line for pictures and superintendents welcome remarks)
3:33 6th grade girls start
3:45 7th/8th grade boys start (A race)
3:48 7th/8th grade girls start (A race)
4:00 7th/8th grade boys start (B race)
4:03 7th/8th grade girls start (B race)
4:45 Awards
5:00-5:15 Depart
I will be letting the runners know which start time they have once we are at the park as a team.
Schedule:
2:30 arrive at Harvard Gulch
3:10 Mandatory coaches meeting (by finish line)
3:30 6th grade boys start (everyone must be at the finish line for pictures and superintendents welcome remarks)
3:33 6th grade girls start
3:45 7th/8th grade boys start (A race)
3:48 7th/8th grade girls start (A race)
4:00 7th/8th grade boys start (B race)
4:03 7th/8th grade girls start (B race)
4:45 Awards
5:00-5:15 Depart
I will be letting the runners know which start time they have once we are at the park as a team.
Class youtube video from CU-Boulder
The most important video you'll ever see part 1
The most important video you'll ever see part 2
The most important video you'll ever see part 3
This is an 8 part series that I encourage you to watch at your leisure
The most important video you'll ever see part 2
The most important video you'll ever see part 3
This is an 8 part series that I encourage you to watch at your leisure
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Math Homework for the next two days
I have been swamped by the cross country invitational and haven't gotten to make the assignment sheet. So, your homework for tonight is to work on the review sheet. The test is on Wednesday! and your folder is also due Wednesday.
On a side note, There is no extra help this week. The next extra help is on Tuesday 9/20
On a side note, There is no extra help this week. The next extra help is on Tuesday 9/20
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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