Observing Fish as an Aquanaut
Focus
Grade Level
Focus Question
The life of fish in the coral reef.
Kindergarten
What kind of environment do fish need to survive?
Learning Objectives:
NC State Objective and Goal Being Addressed:
Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies to read
and write.
Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to
comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral,
written, and visual texts.
Learner Objective(s): At the completion of this lesson, students will be
able to:
Objective 1.03: Recognize some words by sight including a few common
words, own name, and environmental print such as signs, labels, and
trademarks.
Objective 2.03: Use preparation strategies to activate prior knowledge and
experience before and during the reading of a text.
Objective 4:03: Use words that describe color, size, and location in a
variety of texts.
Materials
Audio/Visual Materials
Teaching Time
Seat Arrangement
Maximum Number of Students
Key Words
Background Information (Prior
Knowledge)
Rainbow Fish book, crayons, colored paper, glue, markers, tape, toilet
paper cardboard rolls, and rubber bands.
Rainbow Fish book, YouTube clip of Aquarius
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyKAuuwOppY&feature=relmfu),
and while the students are working soundtracks from “The Little
Mermaid” and “Finding Nemo” will be playing softly to set the mood
and the students can feel like they are underwater.
45 minutes
Students will remain in their assigned seats at their tables
28
Fish, coral reef, scales, starfish, octopus, waves, gills, tail, Aquarius,
Aquanaut, waves
The book Rainbow Fish was read to the class a day prior in a lesson
where students learned the importance of sharing, how fish breathe
underwater, and identified sequences: understanding the beginning,
middle, and end of the story.
Opening Activity
To engage the students, we will first have a discussion about the book
Rainbow Fish. Reviewing the storyline and how fish breathe. Then we will
proceed to go through the book and look at the photos, describing the type of
environment Rainbow Fish, Little Blue Fish, Wise Octopus, and Starfish live in
the ocean/coral reef.
Learning Procedure ( Activity)
The students describing the type of environment will move into the
learning procedure. While students continue to discuss the pictures
from the story, I will put up the clip of Aquarius “Dive into an
Underwater Laboratory”. I will proceed to inform students that
Aquarius is an underwater laboratory in Florida where scientist can live
for 9 days inside the lab to study fish, the environment where they live,
as well as the other underwater animals/creatures. I will also explain
Observing Fish as an Aquanaut
how the scientists are called Aquanauts (underwater astronauts) and
when they venture out into the ocean they wear scuba gear: goggles,
wet suit, and oxygen tank. They can also observe the fish from inside
the lab.
Connections to Other Subjects
Closing Activity and
Assignment
I will then pass out to each student a packet of papers that contain a
large blue construction sheet, cutouts of coral, seaweed, fish, and
some other sea animals (starfish, and octopus). Students will begin to
create their own living environment for their fish to survive ( get to
decorate and color their own type of fish).
Science-oxygen, understanding the behaviors of underwater animals,
how they breathe differently from us on land.
Visual Arts Education- individually get to decorate their own
underwater fish environments, understanding everyone has their own
idea of what the ideal environment can look like.
Once the students have completed their underwater fish environments they
will each tape it up around the classroom, so that is looks like a collage of
various underwater environments. Once that is done each student will get
their very own Aquanaut scuba goggles (made from the toilet paper
cardboard rolls: two taped together side by side and secured with a rubber
band). Every student will put up on their Aquanaut scuba goggles and walk
around the room observing the fish underwater living in their environment.
Should take no longer than 10 minutes. Each student gets to see their peer’s
interpretation of the environment needed for a fish to survive.
Assessment
Students will go back to their seats we will once again discuss the type of
environment fish need to survive underwater. I will also ask students to say
something nice that they liked from a peer’s underwater fish environment. I
will verify student understood the lesson and material by reviewing their
underwater fish environments; seeing if they incorporated all the underwater
materials created out of paper I provided for them to put in their
environment. It is important to see what materials the students use when
creating their environments because if they understand that coral, seaweed,
fish, a starfish, and an octopus can live together in the environment (just like
in Rainbow Fish).
Other Links and Resources
Aquarius YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyKAuuwOppY&feature=relmfu
Rainbow Fish book
Learn NC:
http://www.learnnc.org/
Observing Fish as an Aquanaut
Observing Fish as an Aquanaut
The attached model of an underwater fish environment is a mini version. Students will use a large blue
piece of construction paper to represent the ocean.