Stop the Invasion!

          On November 3rd Mrs.Hannah Nadel came to our classroom to give a presentation on her job. She is an entomologist. An entomologist is someone who studies insects. She is the supervisor of insect production at Otis Laboratory.  Mrs.Nadel works really hard on making the environment a better place. She does this by using an engineer's technology that will help eliminate  invasive insects. Most people don't know much about her job, but it is very important because without it, some invasive insects could munch down our native plants and animals. The invaders will go out of control because they have no natural predators. We hope people can help stop the invaders! 

                             Mrs. Hannah Nadel has tried many traps. One is called Tangle Foot, that is a strategy where you tie tape around an Oak Tree's trunk. Then, you put a sticky substance which won't easily dry up on the tape. Finally, when the Gypsy Moth caterpillar trys to climb up the tree trunk it will get caught in the glue. Another trap she has tried are little decoy females that spray pheromone, that will trick the males so they can't identify the true female. She also has successfully used a virus that will only sicken or kill the Gypsy Moth. Mrs. Hannah Nadel and other employees spread the virus by having a crew  flying in a helicopter to drop the virus on the forest to kill the Gypsy invaders. When they let out the virus it looks like a helicopter dropping water on a forest fire. Both educated classes behaved well during the presentation. Mrs. Hannah Nadel is very intelligent when it comes to invasive insects! 
                After Mrs. Nadel spoke,  a few of our classmates gave a presentation of their own design. The first student was Caden Harding. His design was a weighted certain trap. His trap works by having a painted black box with the females pheromone in it. There would be a weighted curtain so the Gypsy Moth can get in but, can't escape. After Caden, Sadie Biehl presented her design, which was a Resin Gun. She plans to insert resin onto the caterpillars cocoon and hopefully the caterpillar will get trapped and die. The next student was Collin Frost. His design is a glass jar with Oak leaves in it to fool the Gypsy Moth caterpillars into getting trapped. The last presentation was Alex Coggeshall's design. It functions by inserting a female decoy into a plastic jar with bark around it. The female decoy will be sprayed with pheromone. He hopes that the male will get trapped in the container and stop the life cycle of the Gypsy Moth. 
          Mrs. Hannah Nadel was our invader today, but she was not one that we had to eliminate! We certainly learned a lot, Thank you Mrs. Hannah Nadel and Ms. Martin!

Written AND typed by: Sadie, Sarah, and Jillian

Extending an Ending!!!

Our class has been working on writing satisfying endings of narrative story writing.
This is an example of a BORING ending!
 "So that is the end of the story about how I survived that avalanche."

This is an example of a satisfying ending! 
"I was at the top of the Green Mountains. The ground seemed to be moving! I thought it was all my imagination.  Tiny rocks started to pour down like a disastrous rainstorm.Now I knew that shaking ground was not my imagination. I ran down the steep rocky hills. Until humungous rocks fell down. I felt like they were chasing me like police dogs. I heard out in the distance avalanche!!! There were helicopters flying across the mountains making sure no one was on the mountains.They saw me....I got out of the disaster.I survived the avalanche! 


written by : Rachel
typed by: Rachel and Sarah

Tracking Tales

Colin and Caden use multiple tracking guides to research facts for their predator/prey stories.

Jillian, Ariana, Emerson, and Victoria use stamps to lay the tracks of their predator/prey stories.

In STEAM, we learned how animals leave behind many clues of their presence in the forest including:
*feathers, bones, fur, or antlers
* molted skin
*chewed branches, nuts, and cones
*tracks
*nests, egg shells, cocoons

We also learned about the different predator/prey relationships of species native to Cape Cod and New England. To conclude, we designed our own "Track Tale" including researched facts and details.

Animal Evidence

  

 

The Green Briar Nature Center came to visit us and brought along amazing examples of evidence animals can leave behind in nature. We loved getting to handle all these special specimens. At the end of the lesson, we were able to observe a REAL LIVE turtle. She is very special because she is three-legged to do the fact that she was hit by a car. We also observed a rabbit, who has never lived in the wild. He had a very soft coat, large ears for hearing, and powerful hind legs. We really appreciate the chance Mrs. Beers gave us to touch these fascinating creatures. Did you know that a turtle can feel you when you touch its shell? Also, did you know that the New England cottontail rabbit is a candidate for the endangered species list due to habitat loss? What can you do to protect the wild habitats of Cape Cod?

Excellent Engineers!

Mashpee 4th Graders Propose Gypsy Moth Controls

LANNAN M. O’BRIEN | Posted: Thursday, November 6, 2014 8:57 am

Quashnet School Ms. Martin's Class

Supervisory entomologist Hannah Nadel gave a presentation on gypsy moths to Quashnet School teacher Katie Martin's 4th grade class on November 3.

There was no fidgeting, chatting, or misbehavior in Quashnet teacher Katie Martin’s 4th grade class on Monday, November 3. Instead, students sat quietly in their seats, attention focused on guest presenter Hannah Nadel, a supervisory entomologist at the US Department of Agriculture laboratory on Otis Air National Guard Base.
The event was the culmination of a unit on the gypsy moth caterpillar in Ms. Martin’s two STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) classes, for which students completed a life cycle lab with the Thornton Burgess Society and designed controls for the invasive species. The goal of the project, Ms. Martin wrote in an e-mail, was to engage students in real-life problem solving that requires higher-level thinking rather than memorization.

Dr. Nadel, who studies insect reproduction for her work, was invited to share her knowledge of the gypsy moth caterpillar and to critique students’ control designs.

Ms. Martin explained that at the base, there are security measures to keep the insects inside.

“We call it a containment facility,” Dr. Nadel said to the students during the first of two workshops that day. She described the damage that the invasive species can cause to local trees and other plants. People often think of trees as “big and strong,” she said, “but if caterpillars eat most of a tree’s leaves year after year, that tree will die.”

Following Dr. Nadel’s presentation, four students were invited to share their gypsy moth caterpillar control designs, each of which included a report describing their design accompanied by a drawing. Rhiannon J. Raymond proposed a trap that attracts male gypsy moths using a chemical-free scent that mimics that of the female gypsy moth. When the male lands on the structure, comprising “a circle with a dome on it,” she said, the dome opens and the moth is sucked inside.

“No more egg masses, no more caterpillars, no more pupas,” Rhiannon said matter-of-factly. “Problem solved.”

Dr. Nadel complimented Rhiannon’s strategy of using the species’ natural behavior against them, and said that similar traps exist currently and more are being developed. However, there was one problem.

“How do we get the traps out there?” she said, and Rhiannon said that people would have to set the traps. In that case, Dr. Nadel said, the plan could be expensive: workers might have to be paid $12 or $13 per hour to place the traps in remote areas with concentrated populations of gypsy moths.

Kimberly J. Lemelin, too, said she planned to use the female gypsy moth scent to trap males. Instead of a dome trap, she would create a scented soap and place it in a bucket of water. Attracted to the female scent, male gypsy moths will fly into the bucket and drown.

When the buckets are full, she said that they will be dumped in the trash

“If they are left out there something bad could happen because an animal could drink some of [the soapy water] and get sick or hurt,” Kimberly said. “another reason is because I didn’t want it to go into a water resource.”

Dr. Nadel liked the idea of using a soap that would create a film on the water’s surface, making it difficult for male gypsy moths to escape, and lauded Kimberly’s concern for human safety as well as the environment.

Erin M. Smith and Harrison J. Dwinger each proposed vacuum-like structures. Erin’s technology would be designed to destroy gypsy moth caterpillar egg masses, while Harry’s would “suck up” caterpillars in the larval stage. When asked how the trap would differentiate the caterpillars from non-invasive species, Harry said that his design would include a small video camera to identify the insects it traps and sort them into separate containers.

“I like the fact that it’s environmentally safe,” Dr. Nadel said of Erin’s “egg mass fighter,” but added that it would take a long time to eliminate the invasive species in North America using that technology.

She said that Harrison’s proposal resembles traps that scientists are using today. Like his, the traps recognize particular insects in order to target the invasive species.

“I’m very impressed that you thought of that,” Dr. Nadel said.