Title of Book: Sea Secrets – Tiny Clues to a Big Mystery
Author: Mary Cerullo and Beth Simmons
Publisher: Moonlight Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9779603-9-2
Grade levels for recommended use: High School Aquatic Biology (can be modified for
any food web or adaptations TEK throughout elementary and middle school as well)
TEKS: (10) Science concepts. The student knows environmental adaptations of aquatic
organisms. The student is expected to:(B) compare and describe how adaptations allow an
organism to exist within an aquatic environment; and (C) compare differences in
adaptations of aquatic organisms to fresh water and marine environments. (11) Science
concepts. The student knows about the interdependence and interactions that occur in
aquatic environments. The student is expected to: (A) identify how energy flows and
matter cycles through both fresh water and salt water aquatic systems, including food
webs, chains, and pyramids;
Brief Summary: Three example organisms (a seabird, whale, and penguin) from the Pacific
Ocean are used to set up an ocean mystery to find the connections between these animals.
Readers explore ocean ecosystems and their food webs, finding out that the tiny organisms
that roam our oceans called plankton are a very important component to these systems.
Materials Needed:
Plankton sample (or pre-made printed cards), microscopes if using live plankton, index
cards, large paper for group observations, markers and pencils, reference guide (optional:
Zooplankton of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts by Johnson & Allen)
Suggested Activity:
1. Read the book ‘Sea Secrets’ and highlight the importance of plankton in all ocean
food webs.
2. Ask students what else they have heard or know about plankton. Review a broad
idea that plankton are drifters, moving with the ocean currents. They do however
have some interesting adaptations that we will explore today.
3. Distribute the plankton sample, emphasizing that we can make our descriptions
creative and descriptive rather than technical.
4. Have students look through their sample, identifying structures, shapes, forms of
movement, or whatever else they can describe. Students can sketch their plankton
on the index cards.
5. Place all index cards on the board, moving them into groups based on visual
similarity. Come up with broad grouping ideas, and then attach terms such as
phytoplankton and zooplankton. Identify producers and consumers based on
evidence gathered from student observations.
Adapted by (K. Dana Sjostrom, 2013)