Unit 1: The Ocean
- 1. The World Ocean
- Students use a globe to learn about the world’s oceans and their origins.
- 2. Beach Treasures
- Following a general discussion of beaches, students observe, sort, and classify objects from a particular beach.
- 3. No Place Like Home
- Safety issues are addressed and conservation practices are stressed in this important prelude to any trip to the tide pools.
- 4. It’s Happening At the Beach
- Guidelines for a class trip to the beach are presented along with a collection of interdisciplinary activities that have been successful with groups of students.
- 5. Salt Water
- Experimentation with table salt and water provides students with the opportunity to see some of the properties of sea water.
- 6. Icebergs
- Experiments with ice cubes made of both fresh and salt water lead to discoveries about icebergs and glaciers.
- 7. Making Waves
- Students use their breath to generate waves in a container, simulating the action of wind on the surface of the ocean and make a simple tool for measuring wind speed.
- Unit 2: Plankton
- 1. Sea Soup
- Plankton are collected and observed; students then construct a dramatic version of their observations.
- 2. Tiny – But Important
- Students draw and measure several types of plankton, comparing their sizes to the length of the blue whale, a major plankton eater.
- Unit 3: The Kelp Forest
- 1. Algae Are Plants, Too
- Marine algae are first compared to land plants; then, they are grouped and regrouped.
- 2. Food Chains in the Kelp Forest
- To help them understand the inter-relationships among plants and animals, students make a variety of food chains in a study of the kelp forest.
- 3. Interdependence
- Students assume the roles of sun, plants and animals and use yarn to link together in a kelp forest food web.
- 4. Who’s For Dinner?
- Students assume the roles of shrimp, kelpfish, and harbor seals in this role-playing game designed to further understanding of the food chain concept.
- 5. Take a Role in the Kelp Forest
- Students look at the specific habitats of the many types of animals living in the kelp forest.
- 6. Nature’s Protection
- Through readings and graphics, students examine predator-prey relationships and the stability of aquatic ecosystems in relation to their diversity.
- 7. Kelp in the Kitchen
- Students discover that substances extracted from seaweeds are found in many common household foods and products.
- 8. A Kelp Forest in the Classroom
- Using a variety of materials, students construct an almost-life-size kelp forest.
- 9. Creating Kelp Creatures
- This craft activity provides opportunities to “populate” the classroom kelp forest while studying the many interesting adaptations found in the kelp forest.
- 10. Visual Aid
- Working in small groups, students construct a simple, water-lens microscope which they use to examine small items from the kelp forest or beach.
- Unit 4: Fish Features
- 1. Observing Living Fish
- After observing goldfish, students mime fish body parts and behaviors.
- 2. Heads, Tails, and Scales
- To review names and functions of the body parts, students create a fish from puzzle pieces.
- 3. Read a Fish
- Inferences made through observations of a fish’s body shape and the shape of its tail, lead to predictions of its swimming speed.
- 4. Fish In The News
- As part of a look at camouflage strategies, students “go fishing” for newspaper fish living in a newspaper “fish pond”.
- 5. Hide and Go Fish
- Frosting and other edible decorations are used to camouflage fish-shaped cookies on a sea floor of brightly colored wrapping paper or cloth.
- 6. Going Fishing
- Using scrap paper and art materials, students create a stuffed fish for display and to reinforce the relationship between form and function in fish.
- 7. Schooling for Survival
- Students simulate schooling behavior as they investigate schooling as an adaptation that helps some species of fish survive in their habitat.
- 8. Shark!
- Playing a board game gives students new information about sharks, providing them with a new appreciation of this much maligned animal.
- 9. Fishing Boats
- Using milk cartons and classroom supplies students make and test a sail boat and a paddle boat.
- Unit 5: Marine Mammals
- 1. Sea Otter Style
- Students use their own bodies to gain an understanding of the importance of greater surface area in swimming; they also try getting food “sea otter style”.
- 2. Urchins, Kelp, and Otters
- A fun card game helps reinforce the complex interrelationships among these three organisms.
- 3. Who Are Those Pinnipeds?
- Making the body parts of seals and sea lions helps students recognize the differences between them.
- 4. A Seal Pup Rescue
- Students use their imaginations to understand the plight of a baby seal left alone on the beach and, in the process, learn the correct human response to such a situation.
- 5. Marine Mammals in the Garbage
- Human litter is examined to understand the negative impacts we are having on marine mammal populations and to learn how to minimize that impact.
- 6. Whales Are Mammals
- Students practice classification of sea animals to better understand the differences and similarities among them.
- 7. Whale Adaptations
- By simulating whale breathing and designing a “blubber mitt,” students experience two of the special physical features of whales.
- 8. The Oceans As Whale Habitat
- Baleen whales and their feeding habits are the subject of this four part activity.
- 9. If Humans Lived in the Sea
- Students use drawings and their imaginations to determine the physical adaptations they would need to survive in the sea.
- Unit 6: The Deep Sea
- 1. Exploring the Sea Floor
- Building a model of the landforms at the bottom of the ocean gives students a sense of the many mountains, valleys, plains and volcanoes to be found there.
- 2. Deep In the Ocean, the Pressure’s On
- Students conduct a variety of experiments to understand the increase of pressure with depth in the ocean.
- 3. Creatures of the Deep Sea
- Creating models of deep sea fish and simulating a trip in a submersible, help students learn about the adaptations found in animals living in the deepest parts of the world’s oceans.
- Unit 7: Make an Underseas World
- 1. Zones of the Ocean Mural
- A whole class project enables students to dramatically present the varied habitats of the ocean.
- Production Credits
Below, you’ll find helpful resources for use with the above activities.
- Unit 1: The Ocean
- Activity 1 The World Ocean
- Make your own globe instructions
- Earth globe
- Great-Circle indicator
- We Care About Oceans Slide Show
- Slide Script
- Themes
- Oceans Activities
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- National. Wildlife Federation Creed
- Message from NWF Vice President
- Introduction
- Credits
- About the National Wildlife Federation
- Activity 2 Beach Treasures
- Root words
- Activity 4 It’s Happening At the Beach
- Enduring litter
- Unit 2: Plankton
- Activity 2 Tiny – But Important
- Plankton identification sheet 1
- Plankton identification sheet 2
- Unit 3: The Kelp Forest
- Activity 5 Take a Role in the Kelp Forest
- Kelp forest canopy image
- Kelp forest mini-tour
- We Care About Oceans Slide Show
- Slide Script
- Themes
- Oceans Activities
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- National. Wildlife Federation Creed
- Message from NWF Vice President
- Introduction
- Credits
- About the National Wildlife Federation
- Activity 6 Nature’s Protection
- Fish drawings
- Alikes – grouping activity
- Activity 8 A Kelp Forest in the Classroom
- Kelp forest mini-tour
- National Wildlife Federation Kelp Habitat slide show
- Slide Script
- Marine Debris and Entanglement slide show
- Marine Debris slide show script
- Unit 4: Fish Features
- Activity 3 Read a Fish
- Fish card set
- Activity 7 Schooling for Survival
- Swimmy activities
- Activity 8 Shark!
- Sharks and Their Relatives part 1
- Sharks and Their Relatives part 2
- Sharks and Their Relatives part 3
- Food chain activity
- Unit 5: Marine Mammals
- Activity 1 Sea Otter Style
- California sea lion image
- Activity 4 A Seal Pup Rescue
- Seal images
- Activity 5 Marine Mammals in the Garbage
- Marine Debris and Entanglement slide show
- Marine Debris slide show script
- Enduring litter
- Activity 8 The Oceans As Whale Habitat
- Whale feeding habits
- Feeding cards
- Gray whale migration routes
- Origami whale
- Activity 9 If Humans Lived in the Sea
- Kelp forest diver image
- Unit 6: The Deep Sea
- Activity 1 Exploring the Sea Floor
- How to find marine information
- Activity 2 Deep In the Ocean, the Pressure’s On
- Bathysphere image
- Activity 3 Creatures of the Deep Sea
- Deep-sea exploration
- Deep-sea fish cards
- Unit 7: Make an Underseas World
- Activity 1 Zones of the Ocean Mural
- Life in Zones of the ocean
- Ocean zones information cards
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