{ The Other Side } An El Otro Lado Web Exclusive: MARE and Other

El Otro Lado
{ The Other Side }
Travis Heights Elementary School
Austin, Texas
May 23, 2007
An El Otro Lado Web Exclusive: MARE and Other Projects
This special web edition of El Otro Lado
presents more marine-themed projects from
Travis Heights students (see El Otro Lado,
May 2007, for more student work). Some
of the work is from the Marine Activity,
Resource and Education (MARE) unit
that the entire school worked on in May.
The rest is from a group of third graders
who worked on a year-long oceans project
led by parent Kim Wilson .
Third Grade Poetry
Third graders examined the wetland
habitat for their MARE project. They
wrote wetland poems, including haiku
and shape poems.
Haiku Poem
by Zoe Utley
In a wetland lives
A hungry alligator.
It’s very hungry.
It looks for something to eat.
It finds a big trout.
The trout says “Please don’t eat me.”
It still eats the trout.
The alligator says “Yum.
The trout was tasty.”
Soon alligator’s friend came.
The friend ate some trout.
He liked the trout a lot too.
Earth Day
by Chloe Barrera
Earth day is a very great day
to go outside and plan to pick up trash.
Put it in a stash, throw it away and
Make it a nice and sunny clean day.
A wetland shape poem by Amelia Meinbresse
Cranes
Wetland
by Beatrice Wilson
by Emma Brandon
Chirping cranes cry quietly,
Cry for the pollution crisis.
Wetland
Wet grass
Brown yucky water
Not made for playing
Other animals live there too.
Sea Otter
by Maisie Sajbel
Sweet
Elation
Admirable
Oh so cute
Terrific
Tricky
Endangered species
Rolling
Graceful
by Beatrice Wilson
Crane
Endangered crane
White, red, black
Stands for peace, wisdom
Graceful red-crowned Japanese crane.
May , 
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A wetland shape poem by Marisol Sobek
A wetland shape poem by Guadalupe Rodriguez
Third Grade Report
Some third graders wrote reports about
endangered species that live in an ocean
habitat. This is one example.
The Giant Octopus
by Beatrice Wilson
A wetland shape poem by Mike Mendoza
Third Grade Shape Poems
Third graders drew outlines of inhabitants of marine environments and then wrote
poems about the creatures around the borders of their drawings.
Endangered means scarce or threatened. The giant octopus is one such
species.
Our giant octopus starts as one of
100,000 eggs. Its mother takes care of
the eggs, blowing water through them.
Then as the eggs hatch, the mother dies.
The giant octupus eats shrimp,
small fish, and small sharks. Its main
predators are harp seals and fisherman.
The creature is remarkably intelligent. Once, in a certain aquarium, fish
started disappearing. So a keeper stayed
to watch. He saw the giant octopus
unlock its tank, crawl across the floor,
eat its fill and go back to its tank! A giant octopus can also open a jar to get to
food inside.
It deserves to be saved.
May , 
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Third Grade: Wetland
Riddles and Poems
Third graders wrote wetland poems and
made up riddles about creatures that inhabit the wetland habitat. Riddle answers
are at bottom of the page.
Wetland Riddle 1
by Roy Harris
I eat sea urchins. I have no legs. I have
over 1,000,000 hairs per square inch
over my body. Who am I?
Facts:
1. I can weigh up to 45-82 pounds.
2. I am four feet long
3. I live on California coasts.
4. I am a relative of river otters.
Who am I?
Wetland Riddle 2
by Joanna Henny
I can have over 1,000 eggs. I live in shallow areas. I eat plankton. What am I?
Facts:
1. I can swim.
2. I have scales.
3. I have fins.
Who am I?
Wetland Riddle 3
by Miles Kersten
I don’t walk very much. In fact, I don’t
walk, I crawl. I am like an octopus but
I don’t always have eight legs. I come in
different colors.
Facts:
1. I eat clams.
2. I can weight up to 3 pounds.
3. I have suction cups on my feet.
Who am I?
Third graders created a wetland habitat in their hallway. They made lilypads that flipped open
and included information about a species found in a wetland habitat on the inside and hung the
lilypads in the hall as part of their habitat.
The lilypad shown above was created by Samuel Carillo; top picture is the cover and bottom
picture is the information shown inside when the cover is flipped up.
1. Sea otter; 2. Trout; 3. Sea star
Wetland Riddle Answers
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More Pictures of MARE Hallway Habitat Displays
All grade levels turned their hallways into various marine habitats.
Top left: The third grade created a wetland habitat. Top right: a
detail from the wetland habitat.
Bottom three pictures: Details from the fifth grade’s open ocean
habitat, including clockwise from top left, a swordfish, a blue
whale, and a sailfish. Fifth graders covered the overhead lights
with blue paper to create an underwater effect.
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Kindergarten Animal Facts and Stories
Kindergarten students undertook an oceans unit as their part of the MARE project. They created ocean animal fact sheets and wrote
stories about ocean creatures. These are a few examples.
by Victor Ford / Ms. Mouse’s Class
May , 
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by Fantasy Rodriguez / Ms. Mouse’s Class
May , 
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by Sawyer Berry / Ms. Denson’s Class
May , 
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by Naomi Haros / Ms. Denson’s Class
May , 
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by Sofia Martinez / Ms. Denson’s Class
May , 
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by Danielle Serna / Mr. Brandon’s Class
May , 
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by Giovanni Fracasso / Mr. Brandon’s Class
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by Briana Quiroz / Mr. Brandon’s Class