Creatures We Encounter - Episode IX

Looking toward shore, I saw my husband and youngest son frantically waving us inward. Since a friend had recently shared her shark sighting at a nearby beach, I wasted no time gathering our three older children and heading toward dry land.

Once we reached my husband, I realized there was a different creature of interest.

Though he had a fierce grip, he was sized well enough for wonder and not fear.

{a fond moment of this day}

A Life-Saving Station - A Field Trip

 

While we were at the beach for Thanksgiving,

we spent a morning exploring

this life-saving station.

It was restored to its 1905 appearance.

 

 

To be honest, we knew little nothing about these life-saving stations

which were apparently quite prevalent at one time.

In 1915, the life-saving stations merged with another group

to form the modern day U.S. Coast Guard.

 

 

Outside, we saw a boat in restoration.

In the distance is the sand dune that leads to the beach.

Inside were many items of interest.

 

 

 

{the stairs to the highest look out spot}

 

 {love these braided rugs!}

 

 {and these door knobs, which remind me of the farmhouse

where I spent part of my childhood}

 

{sunlight on the beds - beautiful}

 

 

 

One of the most interesting facts we learned was

 the station always kept the kitchen table set,

ready for the men to return after being at sea on a rescue.

 

{an incredible message of hope and confidence}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exporing Biomes - Salt Water Habitats

Since the class just finished learning about Temperate Forests and Tropical Rain Forests, the Kindergarten through third grade science co-op class began with a worksheet called "Giant Kelp - An Ocean Forest" from Habitats: Science Works for Kids Series, Evan-Moor, p. 56.  I first asked the children if they remembered learning the parts of a tree.  Then, we spoke of the three main parts of kelp: holdfast, stipe, and blade.  Each time I introduced the part, I related it to a similar tree part.  This served as review and comparison.  After all, the holdfast is not exactly like tree roots.  When the children turned their attention to the animals at the bottom of the page, I showed them colored photographs of a few from our Oceans: Animal Classifying Cards package.

Once the worksheet was successfully completed, I began a lecture based off the information in lesson 12 of Properties of Ecosystems.  Topics such as what is in salt water and the ocean zones were covered.  When discussing specifics about each layer, I used Down, Down, Down in the Ocean for illustrations.

Using the Ocean Zones project from Animal Habitats, Grades 2-3, the students were able to better visualize the concept of different layers within the ocean.  I was sure to point out the similarity between ocean zones and forest layers.

When children finished early, they worked on a floor puzzle called Under the Sea, by Melissa & Doug.

To summarize all the information about oceans we covered in class, I finished the time together by reading The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor.


Resources:
Properties of Ecosystems, by Debbie and Richard Lawrence
Down, Down, Down in the Ocean, by Sandra Markle
The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor, by Joanna Cole


Other Resource a.k.a. The Fun Extras My Child Got to Do Because I Am the Teacher:
Planet Earth, Education Edition: Deep Ocean, DVD Discovery Education

Creating an octopus following the directions found in Animal Habitats! on pages 74-75.

Reviewing the Ocean

This past school year, my youngest two children studied the ocean, water, and coral reefs during our science co-op class.  It was a unit that lasted several months.  At the end of the unit, not only had each child made their own coral reef diorama, but we visited a natural history museum for a special presentation on oceanic food webs.  Then, our family was blessed with a trip to the aquarium when we visited family in New England over the holidays.  It was a wonderful time of learning.

However, sometimes I wonder just how much my children retain.  Of course, I do not expect them to remember every little detail, but what do they remember of the unit?

It has been months since we even discussed the ocean unit.  I thought it might come up during a recent trip to the beach, but the children were fascinated with the gulls and a little lizard we found.  It did not bother me.  We were at the beach to relax and have family time.  Any learning and observing was definitely unstructured and unplanned.  However, while visiting the library, I stumbled upon a new book called Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas, by Molly Band & Penny Chisholm.  It seemed like it might be good as a review for the children.

What a find it was!  This book, had it been published and available during our unit, would have been a great resource.  The entire book travels through an oceanic food web starting with the sun rays reaching earth.  The cycle continues all the way through the ocean even down to the twilight zone.  The engaging text draws the reader along the energy paths.  It ends with a message about the importance of the sun in sustaining life in the ocean. 

Overall, the book is fabulous.  It is informative without being dry and dull.  The amount of text on each page makes it an easy book to read, and the illustrations are vibrant and interesting. 

The only minor issue I have with the text is the way the author refers to humans as animals in the beginning of the book.  "Animals - yes, animals like YOU! - eat the plants,..."  This wording I changed to Animals and humans eat the plants.  It is a small distinction, and some might not even find it necessary. 

At the end of the book, a section of notes explains in detail some of the items mentioned in the text.  Our children skipped this section.  It didn't look as fun with all the text (two columns on each page!).  However, for the parent, teacher, or interested child this section offers a lot more information.  It does include a few paragraphs outlining evolutionary thoughts on phytoplankton.  Honestly, this disappointed me.  The book itself is solid in explaining a food web.  Though I wasn't shocked to see it there, it really wasn't necessary to add the evolutionary topics.  Despite my disappointment in this, I would still recommend this title to anyone studying oceanic life or food webs.

Are you designing or planning for your own ocean unit? 

Perhaps a few of these past posts will help:
A Wet Lesson on Water
An Ocean Lesson
Water, Ocean, and Coral Reefs
Coral Reef Dioramas
A Trip to the Aquarium

Nature Observations from the Beach

We hadn't planned a trip to the beach.  It was a whim.  Originally, we were to spend Mother's Day afternoon at an art museum, but that plan got scratched while sitting in the pew Sunday morning.  We were singing a song, and the lyrics were set to a picture of the ocean, which got me thinking about going to the beach.  So, we did.  By early afternoon, we were eating a late lunch on the shore. 

As with every outing in nature, we tend to observe our surroundings, whether it is a full blown nature walk or not.  Yesterday, we watched porpoises in the water, tracking their travels through the ocean waves.  Gulls circled overhead,

and lizards creeped in the sandy soil?! 

We do not believe this little critter is native to our area as he seems more suited for an all year warmer climate.  However, he was an interesting find. 

As the crowds gathered around to check out the lizard, it reminded me of a book my children love, Lucas the Littlest Lizard, by Kathy Helidoniotis.  In this book, Lucas lives at a zoo, and is very upset that the crowds pass him by, in favor of the more entertaining animals.  He decides to learn to perform, and he does, but still no one notices him.  Until, the rain cancels the other animal shows.  Then, someone notices Lucas, and the crowds surge about him as he performs.

Light House Books

When our youngest finished his A to Z preschool year, I decided to review his letters and sounds, numbers and counting until summer break.  With that in mind, I started looking through the library shelves for some interesting books with a summer theme or summer topic.  We had already spent a great deal of time in science co-op learning about the ocean and coral reefs, but we hadn't really touched upon light houses.

Last year, for Mother's Day we had hiked to a nearby light house, and I knew our youngest remembered the experience.  He knew what a light house was for and the importance of it.  Without having to explain this to him, he could simply enjoy two new to us books we found at our local library.

The Bravest Woman in America, by Marissa Moss, describes the true adventures of Ida Lewis in picture book form.  Ida grew up with a father who maintained a light house in the mid 1800's on the coast of Rhode Island.  Ida helped her father and eventually became the light house keeper.  The book we read told about Ida's first time saving lives at sea.  Apparently, Ida went on to save many lives and was even awarded the Congressional Life Saving Medal.  Following the story, an Author's Note offers a brief biographical sketch of Ida's life and work.
 
The Sea Chest, by Toni Buzzeo, offered a poetical version of a light keeper legend.  Set on the coast of Maine, this book tells the tale of one light house keeper's family who finds a chest wrapped in bedding.  Upon opening the chest, the family of three finds a baby with a note attached to her wrist.  The family adopts the child and raises her on the light house island.  Though the story is based on a legend and its truth is unknown, the story offers readers a sweet reminder of grace and love with the beautiful message of a child being a blessing.

In the past, our older children have enjoyed other light house books.
From our personal book shelves -
Manning the Light, by Terry Webb
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, by Peter Roop and Connie Roop


Linked to Read Aloud Thursday at Hope Is the Word

A Trip to the Aquarium

During our recent stay in New Hampshire, we spent one day in Boston, MA.  Our main destination was the New England Aquarium.

For our younger children who have been studying coral reefs in their co-op class this field trip was a great follow-up activity.  However, the entire family benefited from seeing underwater creatures of all sorts.  A few of our family's favorites were the penguins, eels, sea turtle, and the sharks.

There were two touch tanks.  The first was an immense ray and shark tank.  The second touch tank was shallow and included many intertidal zone animals.  At first, our youngest daughter was leery to touch any of the animals, but the attendant encouraged her.  He held the crab still while she and I quickly touched poked the top of the crab's shell.  Then, he helped her hold a star fish, which she eventually held on her own. 

From then on she was holding sea urchins and shelled animals, including a lobster (with the attendant's help), and examining everything else in the tank. In fact, this touch tank became one of her favorite parts of the field trip.

After the Aquarium visit, we walked about Boston, enjoying some sites and touring Faneuil Hall.  After touring the historical building, we stopped to listen to a street musician who drummed on buckets and pans.

And, before we left Boston, we went to Mike's Pastry on Hanover Street for some amazing canolis.  The bakery was jammed packed with people.  It was a neat experience to be part of the crowd surging to the counter for some tasty treats.

*I receive no compensation for the above links...just passing on information about some great places we visited during our recent trip to Boston.

Water, Ocean, and Coral Reefs

Over the past dozen or so weeks, I have taught ocean life in our Wednesday science co-op class.  I was blessed to use another teacher's lesson plans for the majority of classes, and only had to write lesson plans for three classes. {a class on water, another on oceans in general, and one on oceanic food webs}  However, I was not able to find all the reference books and read aloud books she had used. Each week, I trekked to our local library in search of suitable books to read aloud. Thankfully our library had a large selection of books on most of the topics we covered in class.

Some of the children's favorite read alouds were...
This is the Ocean, by Kersten Hamilton
The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor, by Joanna Cole
The Magic School Bus Takes a Dive, by Joanna Cole
What Lives in a Colorful Coral Reef? by Rachel Lynette
About Crustaceans, by Cathryn Sill
Crab, by Lloyd G. Douglas
Hello Fish! Visiting the Coral Reef, by Sylvia A. Earle
Mister Seahorse, by Eric Carle
Whale Shark: The World's Biggest Fish, by Meish Goldish
Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures, by Bonnie Worth


Related:
An Ocean Lesson
A Wet Lesson on Water
Coral Reef Dioramas

Coral Reef Dioramas

After weeks of studying ocean life with a focus on coral reefs, the science co-op class I teach has completed their coral reef dioramas.   Each week, as we learned about a different creature or type of creature, the students made a small scale model or picture of that particular creature.  A mound of completed creatures grew over the weeks.  Finally, last Wednesday, we began assembling the dioramas.  The children were quite excited to put all the pieces together, and their completed dioramas looked great! 

Our two youngest children are in the class.  Their completed projects...

our youngest daughter's diorama

our youngest son's diorama

Each one includes:
shark
fish
octopus
moray eel
sea cucumber
sea star
limpet
jelly fish
scallop shell
clam shell
oyster shell
sea anemone
sea urchin
brain coral
coral

By using mostly supplies we had on hand or supplies we could get for free, we were able to guide the students through creating these dioramas at a very low cost.  In fact, we only needed to purchase five supplies: feathers, pom-poms, tooth picks, styrofoam balls, and blue foam pages.  The entire project cost less than one dollar per student.



Related Posts:
An Ocean Lesson
Reviewing the Ocean
Exploring Biomes - Salt Water Habitats

An Ocean Lesson

For the second science co-op class I wanted to cover oceans in general.  The materials and lesson plans that I had borrowed specifically used coral reefs for studying ocean life.  While I am excited to present these lessons to the students, I still needed one more lesson to fill in our scheduled time.  After investigating water, the next logical step was to discuss oceans in general.  This would easily progress the class to the coral reef study the following week.

We began similarly to the first class, but this time listed "What We Know About Oceans."  Finding all the oceans on a world map, each child colored and labeled their own personal size map.  Next we read The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor, by Joanna Cole.  The children love these science stories filled with fascinating facts.  We discussed some of the information, and then tried to put together a huge 100 piece floor puzzle called Under the Sea, by Melissa & Doug.  The children pointed out different animals, and then we played "I Spy" using the floor puzzle.  This puzzle is a beautiful illustration of a cross section of the ocean.  Springing from the puzzle to the levels of the ocean was easy.  We talked about the various zones of the ocean and how much, or how little, sunlight each received. 

This discussion led to several demonstrations of how scientists have determined the depths of the ocean floor.  Using a library find, Awesome Ocean Science, by Cindy A. Littlefield, the children made sounding lines connected to a small floating 'boat,' watched water stream out of a bottle due to pressure, and felt water pressure by inserting their hands into large buckets while wearing a bread bag glove.  The favorite activity of the day was a different water pressure demonstration from the same resource.  Littlefield suggests filling a tall glass with water and attempting to blow a single bubble at various depths.  The children squealed with delight over this activity.

Class ended by summarizing "What We Learned About Oceans," and a snack.  Beginning this week, I'll be using the lesson plans I borrowed from the previous teacher.  Though it was fun to pull together two extra lessons, I am very grateful to not have to create a lesson every week for the rest of the school year.  For the remainder of the ocean unit, we will study coral reefs in depth.  Each student will be making their own coral reef model.  I won't be sharing her lesson plans, but will share any extra ideas that I add to the unit.

Related:
A Wet Lesson on Water

A Wet Lesson on Water

This is our second year participating in a local science class co-op.  Last year, I helped with the fourth and fifth graders, but this year, I am teaching the PK to third graders. 

Our units of study will cover ocean life and chemistry.  The mom who taught this class for many years before me has graciously lent me her lesson plans.  For this, I am incredibly grateful, especially because I feel a little intimidated 'taking her place' as lead teacher.  The lesson plans are wonderfully laid out and will be easy to follow.  However, the year she taught these units, science co-op had two less classes scheduled.  Figuring it would be easier to expand the ocean unit, I pulled together two lessons to add at the beginning of the school year. 

The first class was an introduction to water.  Since all of the children were familiar with water in general, we began the class by creating a list of "What We Know About Water."  After listing many serious and silly facts about water, we moved onto some water explorations.  These investigations were from Water, published by Evan-Moor Corp as part of the Science Works For Kids Series.  Students learned about water taking the shape of its container, traveling to the lowest spots, and having surface tension.  The pennies in the bowl demonstration was their favorite.

Next, we learned about the forms of water, including solid, liquid, and gas.  The children labeled a worksheet.  Using red arrows to represent heating and blue arrows to represent cooling, students decided how water went from one form to another.  Then, using another idea from Water, I asked the children to pretend they were water droplets.  Each student stood very still and very close to one another when they were ice (solid form).  For water (liquid form) the students moved slightly apart and moved slightly.  Spreading far apart and dancing, the students pretended to be steam (gas form).  We then played a game.  As the children continued to pretend to be water droplets, I held up a blue piece of paper.  The blue represented cooling, and the children had to decide if they were to move closer and become still, or move further apart and dance.  When I held up a red piece of paper they again needed to decide how to move.  We played for several minutes moving through the three forms. 

This activity easily led into an explanation of the water cycle.  By reading This is the Ocean, by Kersten Hamilton, the children learned about water droplets traveling from the ocean to the air, over land, and down to rivers that travel back to the ocean.

We followed the reading with a water cycle demonstration I found in A Project Guide to Earth's Waters, by Christine Peterson.  Having tried the experiment a few days before class, I knew it would work.  The children could see water, a bit of fog, and condensation.

Once the water cycle demonstration was completed, I wanted the children to observe what happened when fresh river water flowed into salty ocean water.  In another book from the library, I found the perfect demonstration.  Awesome Science! Investigating the Secrets of the Underwater World, by Cindy A. Littlefield devised a easy to implement investigation.  Tweaking the instructions a smidge, I made the salt water very salty to ensure success.  Also, I had to use spring water and not tap, as Littlefield suggests.  Our tap water did not work, as it is treated with too many chemicals.  Once those alterations were in place, it was fascinating to watch the fresh water float on top of the salt water. 

A small discussion on waves mixing fresh and salt water followed, and the class concluded with a summary activity of listing "What We Learned About Water." 


I had hoped to end the class with a few outside water games as it was a hot day.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time.  Tomorrow, I'll share the second lesson.