Sea creatures across the curriculum

by Donna Burk & Allyn Sniderillustrated by Tyson Smith Bridges Breakout Units Bugs Across the Curriculum Crossing the Pond: A Probability Game Exploring Money: Adding, Counting, Sorting

Sea Creatures

Across the Curriculum

Excerpts From Bridges in Mathematics

©2001, The Math Learning Center

by Donna Burk & Allyn Snider

illustrated by Tyson Smith

Bridges Breakout Units

Bugs Across the Curriculum

Crossing the Pond: A Probability Game

Exploring Money: Adding, Counting, Sorting and Patterning

Exploring Time: Hours, Minutes and Paper Clocks

Frogs Across the Curriculum

Geometry: Pattern Blocks, Polydrons and Paper Quilts (Grade 1)

Geometry: Shapes, Symmetry, Area and Number (Grade 2)

Math Buckets: Sorting and Patterning

Math with a Sock: Probability and Fractions

My Little Farm: Money, Place Value and Mapping

Penguins: Measuring, Sorting, Computation and More

Sea Creatures Across the Curriculum

Science, Literacy, Art, Social Studies & More Math Activities 1

Sea Creatures Across the Curriculum

These integrated activities are intended to enhance your use of the bucket ofsea creatures, and may also be used as part of a larger unit on sea life

Manipulatives and materials included in the breakout are listed below

You’ll need

text

Deluxe Breakout includes

*also included in Economy Breakout

Sea Creatures Across the Curriculum

INTEGRATED THEMES

Science, Literacy, Art, Social Studies & More Math

Activities

Overview

Because young children engage eagerly

when things are framed in a context

that is familiar and intriguing, we use

sea animals as a vehicle for teaching

sorting, patterning, graphing, counting,

and computation The study of these

sea animals is a fascinating topic in its

own right, and you might choose to

make it an integral part of your

curricu-lum What follows is a collection of

ideas we’ve used in our own classrooms

to extend learning about sea creatures

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What Do You Know? What Do You Wonder?

We open any new study by finding out what our children already know about

the topic There is rarely a school year that we don’t have a student who is

quite knowledgeable about one or another of these animals Since many

chil-dren have watched nature programs on television, nearly all of them know

something about these creatures, even if they live far from any ocean It’s

im-portant to acknowledge the things your students have learned by asking them

what they already know You might enter their ideas on a large class chart

What do you

already know

about crabs?

Crabs live in the ocean.

Crabs have pinchers.

They have hard shells.

They have lots of legs.

They walk sideways.

Some people eat crabs.

What do you already know about sea stars?

They live by the ocean.

Sometimes they’re on rocks.

Lots of people call them starfish.

Dead sea stars feel all bumpy.

You can see them at the aquarium.

They’re pretty colors.

Some are bright red or orange.

Sometimes we make a chart of questions ahead and ask our children if theyknow any of the answers (If they give us incorrect information, it can always

be corrected later.) Questions that can’t be answered provide a focus for ture investigation

fu-Sharks

What do they look like?

Where do they live?

How do they breathe?

What do they eat?

Why do they keep swimming?

How do they have babies?

Students’ answers often generate new questions As these come up, we turnthem into “question bubbles” and post them We then review these questionswith the group prior to reading books, watching videos, or looking at picturesthat have to do with sharks In this way, we can alert our students to listenand watch for information that will answer some of their questions

Do they hav

e ear s?

Are there different kinds

of sharks?

Can they see far away?

Do they have noses?

How big can sharks get?

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Live Visitors A Hermit Crab

Teachers tell us that hermit crabs make good classroom pets You might want

to investigate that possibility if you enjoy having animals in your classroom

Be sure to read Eric Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab even if you don’t want a

live creature in your classroom

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Eyes-On Experiences Picture Walks

We like to set up picture walks in our classrooms These walks provide

oppor-tunities to learn about a particular topic by studying illustrations and

photo-graphs In order to set up a picture walk, we lay out a large photograph or

two at each table and set up clotheslines of pictures tied across a couple of

ar-eas of the room We’ve used calendars that feature large, beautifully colored

photos of whales (We usually wait until after the new year to find these

cal-endars on sale, and have been able to build up good photo collections over a

couple of years.) We’ve also scanned pictures from books about these animals

or set out the books themselves, clipped or banded to display particular pages

Once we’ve set things up, we assign children to small groups or partners, and

ask them to examine the pictures and find out as much as they can We start

a formal rotation in the beginning, but as interest wanes, we encourage

ev-eryone to be sure they’ve seen every picture We occasionally ask for parent

volunteers or fifth or sixth grade volunteers to come in and serve as a scribes

to record children’s observations We seat the scribes at a few key areas As

each new group comes to a picture, they first examine the picture and talk to

one another about what they notice Then the scribe reads the chart for that

picture to them and asks if they’d like to add anything You’ll need to

con-sider the maturity of your group in terms of whether or not to use scribes At

locations where there are no scribes, we trust children’s observations and

conversation to carry the day We often go back to a set of pictures a second

and third day and elicit discussion

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Eyes-On Experiences Labeled Diagrams

Sometimes we create pictorials or labeled diagrams with student help Use

your overhead projector to make an outline of the drawings (see Blacklines

5–6) Show children the enlarged crab picture and ask if they can label some

of its body parts Are there other things they want to include on the pictorial

such as special features or facts that intrigue them? They love the idea thatsea stars can grow new arms and that they spit out their stomachs to digesttheir food They try hard to imagine how those tube feet work to propel seastars through the water Their fascination with crab eyes on stalks that canturn around makes them wish their eyes would do that, and they often trywalking sideways on all fours pretending to be crabs.

cheliped (pincer)

mouth parts

eye

abdomen

cheliped stomach testes

mouth

antenna antennule eyestalk

gills

heart intestine cartilage hepatopancreas

swimming leg carapace

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Minds-On Experiences Songs, Poems & Books

Books and videos, both fiction and nonfiction, add yet another dimension toany study There have been many excellent sea animals books published foryoung children over the past few years The best of them are simply writtenand beautifully illustrated with full-color photos We’ve included a list of ourcurrent favorites on pages 9 You may find some of these in your school li-brary or in the public library, along with others we haven’t listed Many ofthe most recent publications can also be ordered through Web booksellers If

your school has a Reading Rainbow video collection, look for Seashore

Sur-prises and Humphrey the Lost Whale, A True Story.

Having lived through the frustration of not being able to find (or afford) goodfactual books for our students, we’ve also included fact filled songs and po-ems You’ll find some printed on 11″ × 17″ sheets, which can either be bound

to make big books, or backed with construction or butcher paper to makewall charts You’ll find other poems on Blacklines 1–4

These songs and poems pack a lot of data into small packages, are easy tocome back to several days in a row, and won’t go out of print They do tripleduty in our classrooms, setting foundations for children to approach some ofthe math lessons with greater depth and investment, teaching science con-tent and research skills, and providing yet another source of literacy learning

Seals and sea lions in the sea Eating fish, sea birds, and squid.

They have sharp teeth but cannot chew,

Some have ears but not all do.

Seals and sea lions in the sea Eating fish, sea birds, and squid.

Seals & Sea Lions

(to the tune of “Twinkle,

Twinkle, Little Star”)

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Retelling a Story A Four-Part Chart

After a favorite story, fold a length of butcher paper into four sections and write

questions similar to the ones shown on the chart What do children

remem-ber about the story? Make some simple drawings as they retell the story Go

back to the drawings and add phrases or sentences that summarize the things

they remember Ask students to help spell some of the words as you write

Who? Where? the problem?What was problem solved?How was the

Humphrey,

Humpback

whale

San Francisco, California He got mixed up and then left the ocean

to swim up a river and he got kind of stuck

People tried to scare him by clanging pipes.

They played sounds

of whales eating He finally swam back

to the ocean.

Chart shown generated by a San Jose kindergarten class a day after

their teacher read Humphrey The Lost Whale, A True Story

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Guided Writing

Once you’ve launched any sort of animal study, you’ll find children reportingsomething new nearly every day Perhaps some families made a trip to thepublic library or children watched a nature program on television If you livenear a coastal area, there may be some local news about whale watching orshark sightings If your children are sharing news in class, you might create anews chart occasionally Is there a large aquarium nearby that you might en-courage families to visit? Children would definitely have some things to re-port if that’s a possibility

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Interactive Writing

If your class has discovered some interesting information, you might do a bit

of interactive writing, in which the children themselves share the pen andact as scribes In this sort of lesson, the group and the teacher help with theideas and spelling as students (and the teacher) take turns writing the words

This works particularly well when children are excited about the topic andthe amount of writing is held to a single sentence Be sure to post these veryshort pieces of class writing beside a question that has been answered or be-side the picture or book from which the information came

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Independent Writing

We have found it useful to create a word bank to help support students’ forts at creating booklets and journal pages These are most effective whenthe words are brainstormed with the children We ask for their help in spell-ing Many of our children utilize these charts for their own writing

ef-What are they doing?

swimmingsingingdivingbreathingblowingleapingsplashing

chart poems (Blacklines 9–17, run on

cardstock and cut apart)

Many young children delight in simple poems that communicate and teach

in whimsical ways We’ve included blacklines to help you produce the three

poems, and we certainly encourage you to create others If you can find or

draw pictures to match, all the better Once children are familiar with these

poems, they love mixing the words up, one line at a time, reading it the

mixed-up way, and then trying to fix it.

there.

you’re glad

We’re

rocking, Rolling,

air, for

Rising

diving, Swimming,

Whales

In our own classrooms, we choose one poem at a time to display for several

days, getting all the learning mileage out of it that we can As interest fades,

we replace it with another The possibilities for teaching beginning reading

strategies with these poems are endless as children search for words thatrhyme or words that start or end with a particular letter or cluster, or even lo-cate a word the teacher has named.

Words to Other Pocket Chart PoemsSeals

Zooming through waterSearching for food,Resting on rocks

Does the sun feel good?

SharkBaby shark in a mermaid purse,Eat the yolk to grow,

Chew your way out after a year,Now it’s time to go

Some groups of students will also enjoy coming up with a poem of their ownabout one of the sea creatures they’ve been studying

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A Graphic Organizer Likenesses & Differences

If your children are excited about the new facts they’re learning and if somestudents are beginning to read, a graphic organizer is a great way to compareand contrast these sea creatures To create a graphic organizer, take a largesheet of butcher paper and fold it into columns Label it with simple questions

to create a chart similar to the one shown below The information in the boxeswill come from your students as they collect facts about each of these sea ani-mals Don’t try to have them enter too much information on the chart in oneday It’s important to keep interest high, and shorter sessions seem to work best

What? Where do they live? What do they eat?

They are cold blooded.They swim so they don’t sink

Special Features

seals

seals andsea lions

fish and large animalskrill

They have fur

They are warm blooded.They have flippers

They are mammals

They come up for air.They are mammals

They are warm blooded.They come up for air

The possibilities for teaching across the curriculum are endless We hopeyou’ll find that your students engage eagerly in the things you try

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Good Books About Sea Animals

Whales

• Archambault, John The Birth of a Whale Parsippany, NJ: Silver Press,

Simon & Shuster, 1996

• The Cousteau Society Whales New York, NY: Little Simon, 1993.

• Esbensen, Barbara J Baby Whales Drink Milk New York, NY: Harper

Collins Publishers, Inc., 1994

• Gibbons, Gail Whales New York, NY: Holiday House, 1991.

• Golden Books Whales New York, NY: Golden Books Publishing Company,

Inc., 1999

• Hodge, Judith Animals of the Oceans, Whales Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s

Educational Series, Inc., 1997

• Jeunesse; Delafosse; Fuhr and Sautai Whales, A First Discovery Book New

York, NY: Scholastic, 1993

• London, Jonathan Baby Whale’s Journey San Francisco, CA: Chronical

Books, 1999

• Ryder, Joanne Winter Whale New York, NY: William Morrow and Company,

Inc., 1991

• Tokuda, Wendy and Richard Hall Humphrey The Lost Whale, A True Story.

Torrance, CA: Heian International, Inc., 1992

Seals & Sea Lions

• Catala, Ellen Seals New York, NY: McClanahan Book Company, Inc., 2000.

• The Cousteau Society Seals New York, N.: Little Simon, 1992.

• Hodge, Judith Animals of the Oceans, Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses.

Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 1999

• National Wildlife Federation, June 2000, Ranger Rick “Fin Footed, Furry,

and Fun!

Sharks

• Brocker, Susan Animals of the Oceans, Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s

Educa-tional Series, Inc., 1997

• Gibbons, Gail Sharks New York, NY: Holiday House, 1992.

General Sea Creature Resource

• Toft, Michelle and Allan Sheather One Less Fish Watertown, MA:

Charlesbridge Publishing, 1998

Crab Poem

Under the water,

Deep down in the sand,

Dwell ten-legged creatures

With features quite grand!

They have two beady eyes,

Each one on a stalk,

They can look all around

Wherever they walk.

They often walk sideways

And many can swim.

They molt and grow shells,

When the old ones get slim.

They breathe under water

Through gills in their sides.

They eat shrimp, clams, and mussels

Whatever the tides.

There’s a mouth in the front,

Two antennae help them feel,

Antennules help to smell and taste

And find a juicy meal.

Their five pairs of legs

All have special features:

The pincers on the front,

Help them snatch other creatures,

Three sharp-pointed pairs

Help them walk here and there,

A pair of paddles behind

Help them swim everywhere.

If they’re lucky enough

To avoid the crab pot,

They might live 13 years

And not be served hot.

There are 4500 kinds,

Many good to eat,

They have to be boiled and cracked,

Their meat’s a special treat.

by Donna Burk

illustrated by Tyson Smith

European Shore Crab

carapace cheliped eye

walking legs

abdomen cheliped

stomach testes

mouth

antenna antennule eyestalk gills

heart intestine cartilage hepatopancreas

swimming leg carapace

cheliped (pincer)

Sea Star Poem

Under the water,

On rock or in sand,

Dwell five “legged” Sea Stars

With features quite grand.

Their skin is quite spiny,

Their skeletons have plates,

When they lose an arm,

The body regenerates.

They spit out their stomachs

To digest what they eat:

Mussels, worms, clams, snails—

While they move on tube feet.

The sea water enters

Through holes in their skin,

It reaches their tube feet

From pressures within.

At birth they’re the same

On their left and their right,

The “eye spots” on the ends

Of their arms “see” light.

Twenty inches per minute

They can move at high speed,

They pile up on each other

When one starts to feed.

Fish have a backbone,

And fish have a brain

Many folks call them starfish,

But that name’s down the drain.

Sea Stars are orange, red,

Blue, green, and more,

Take time at a tide pool

To find one near the shore.

by Donna Burk

illustrated by Tyson Smith

eyes

Lobster Song

(to the tune of “B-I-N-G-O”)

There are some creatures in the sea

Who smell with four antennae.

They hide in holes or under rocks,

They hide in holes or under rocks,

They hide in holes or under rocks,

These creatures are crustaceans.

These creatures have two claws in front

To catch their prey and crush it.

Two claws to catch their prey,

Two claws to catch their prey,

Two claws to catch their prey,

These creatures are crustaceans.

These lobsters have eight walking legs

And two big claws in front.

8 + 2 that makes 10,

8 + 2 that makes 10,

8 + 2 that makes 10,

These creatures are crustaceans.

These creatures have two eyes on stalks

To search for food or danger.

Eyes turning here and there,

Eyes turning here and there,

Eyes turning here and there,

These creatures are crustaceans.

A female carries thousands of eggs

Which then turn into larvae,

Very few of them grow up,

Very few of them grow up,

Very few of them grow up,

These creatures are crustaceans.

Some get caught in lobster traps,

And folks cook them for dinner.

They turn bright red when they’re cooked,

They turn bright red when they’re cooked,

They turn bright red when they’re cooked,

Would you eat one for dinner?

by Donna Burk

illustrated by Tyson Smith

eyes

Whale Song

(to the tune of “Did You Ever See A Lassie”)

Did you ever see a whale, a whale, a whale,

Did you ever see a whale with a fluke on its tail?

It uses those flukes to push up and push down,

Propelling through the oceans past country

and town.

Did you ever see a whale, a whale, a whale,

Did you ever see a whale with flippers on its

sides—

To turn and to balance on top or down deep?

A whale breathes on the surface, awake or

asleep.

Did you ever see a whale, a whale, a whale,

Did you ever see a whale without any teeth?

Plates in its mouth filter food like a screen;

Plankton, fish, and shrimp get caught in the baleen.

Did you ever see a whale, a whale, a whale,

Did you ever see a whale whose teeth grab

and tear?

They eat fish and squid, a whole lot each day.

As much as ten elephants, is what one might

She gives birth to her calf and feeds it her milk,

A newly born blue whale is seven meters long.

by Donna Burk

illustrated by Tyson Smith

NAME

NAME

Sea Star

Whale

food, Resting on rocks Does the sun

feel good?

shark in a mermaid purse,

Eat the yolk to grow,

after a year, Now it’s time to go.

Whales Swimming, diving, Rising

for air, Rolling, rocking, We’re glad you’re

there.

Sea Creatures

Poems & Songs

Excerpts From Bridges in Mathematics

©2001, The Math Learning Center

by Donna Burk & Allyn Snider

illustrated by Tyson Smith

Bridges Breakout Units

Bugs Across the Curriculum

Crossing the Pond: A Probability Game

Exploring Money: Adding, Counting, Sorting and Patterning

Exploring Time: Hours, Minutes and Paper Clocks

Frogs Across the Curriculum

Geometry: Pattern Blocks, Polydrons and Paper Quilts (Grade 1)

Geometry: Shapes, Symmetry, Area and Number (Grade 2)

Math Buckets: Sorting and Patterning

Math with a Sock: Probability and Fractions

My Little Farm: Money, Place Value and Mapping

Penguins: Measuring, Sorting, Computation and More

Sea Creatures Across the Curriculum

P0201

Copyright © 2001 by The Math Learning Center, PO Box 12929, Salem, Oregon 97309.Tel 800-575–8130 All rights reserved

The Math Learning Center grants permission to classroom teachers to

reproduce blackline masters in appropriate quantities for their classroom use

This project was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation Opinions pressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation

ex-Prepared for publication on Macintosh Desktop Publishing system

Crab Poem

by Donna Burk illustrated by Tyson Smith

Deep down in the sand, Dwell ten-legged creatures With features quite grand!

They have two beady eyes,

Each one on a stalk, They can look all around Wherever they walk.

walking legs