California DEN

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Join Discovery Educator Network members their families on Saturday April 25th for the 2009 Grunion Run!

This event will include a bonfire, private Grunion movie presentation at the Cabrillo Aquarium followed by time to explore the aquarium’s exhibits before heading back to the beach to watch the Grunions make their annual run to the beach!

See flyer for all the details Grunion Run Event flyer

To attend you MUST RSVP here

Thanks to DEN member Tom Lau… I had the opportunity to attend yet another field trip to a place I have wanted to go for years…. A GRUNION RUN!  It only happens here in CA… we are soo lucky?  Have you ever been on one?

Tom and his highschool students piled in the bus at 8:30 on a Saturday night and headed down to Cabrillo Beach.  The Grunion actually don’t come out til about 10 pm… but these students didn’t seem to mind hanging out with their teacher on a Saturday night!

Cabrillo has an incredible aquarium next door with some terrific exhibits and they even allow you to hatch your own fish eggs! (I’ll pass on the caviar) After the aquarium to head down to the beach where you sit VERY patiently and wait and wait and wait.  Then to our delight a few fish came to shore.

Tom explained that the females bury their bodies, with only their heads sticking out and lay their eggs.  The males do their "special" thing by just laying next to the hole that they dug.  The next wave that comes she jumps out and flops back to the water.  Quite amazing!  If you are lucky enough you can actually see the eggs left behind. (let me emphasize once more that I’ll pass on the caviar)  Within minutes, to our pure AMAZEMENT the beach filled with hundreds of silvery grunion.  Poor guys… all of our flashlights aimed at them. 

So if you haven’t done so yet… you absolutely MUST do a Grunion Run.  I’d love to make a  DEN Family event out of it. Tom mentioned that he would like to set up a trip to the tide pools also… Imagine going to the tide pool with experts to explain what everything actually is! If you are interested post a comment and let me know.  We’ll plan a day!

My hubby and I had so much fun we took our nieces the next night.. Check out these pictures…

I have wanted to go the Museum of Tolerance for well over a year… but you know how it goes… one thing then another.  But when DEN member Char Gould emailed and asked if I wanted to tag-a-long, I didn’t let this opportunity pass.  So off I went with a bunch of high school students.  I have to add that she works in a highly ELL population zone.  When I saw them pile off the bus, I thought to myself this should be interesting.  We of course took that "special" group… actually those rambunctious ones are the ones I love the most… but I wondered how they would handle a place such as the Museum of Tolerance.

Worry no longer… in walks Eddie… a little old man with white hair and a sense of humor to boot. Yikes I thought… hope they behave.  When we arrived in the 1st room Eddie showed us a wall full of photos of children all under the age of about 10.  He let the kids know that all were dead… but one… and asked the kids to point out which one they believed it was.  AMAZING the first guy he called on got it correct!  Eddie let us know that the photo was of him!  With that said and already a somber moment we proceeded through the rest of the museum.  Eddie guided them through with whispers… all the kids were TERRIFIC!

It was such a touching day… I won’t fill in all the details cuz I would love to take some of you on a field trip to tour the facility with Eddie.  So who would like to go? Post a comment and let me know.