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| Theme: Ocean Treasures
Volume
III, Issue 7 |
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March marks the beginning of spring
and the time we know as spring break. This brings to mind the sound of crashing
waves, sand between the toes, the smell of salt in the air and the curiosity of the
creatures of the sea. There are oceans of resources to engage your students.
The challenge is which resource will best suit your students needs. Connect your
lessons with technology but don't let the wave of material sink your lessons. Stay
afloat by selecting small bits and pieces that boost your curriculum and meet the
different learning styles in your classroom.
Life at the Seashore
A great way to begin the study of the sea is to draw upon memories and
brainstorm what the students recall from a visit to the ocean. Primary students can
easily use stamps with the first template below. Older students can utilize a table
in a word processing document or a diagram in Inspiration as shown below. It is
important to select the technology tool that best suits your students' needs. With
the information gathered, the activity can be extended. Essential questions can be
formulated as to what the students know and what they want to research and learn utilizing
a KWL chart. This activity can be a springboard to send to your students on a
virtual field trip to the seaside before the real springbreak arrives! |
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Kid Pix Template
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MS Word Template
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Inspiration Diagram
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The
above activities can be a springboard for the following activities. |
Journal Writing - Students can utilize the
journal writing tool in The Amazing Writing Machine, Ultimate Creative Writing Center or
other word processing program to write about their most recent adventure to the ocean, a
lake or river.
Create Stories - Students can select an item
from their list to write a story. Student software programs such as The Amazing
Writing Machine and The Ultimate Writing and Creativity Center provide many tools to
engage young writers.
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Treasures
@Sea
This is an excellent site with lots of classroom
resources. Give individual students topics to research from Treasure Chest of Ocean Facts
or Diving
for Ocean Facts.. Use this template from Word or design your own! Two
excellent books, Swimmy and Rainbow Fish
are just two literature selections with online activities! |
OceanLife for Kids
This site is awesome for lower elementary.
Be sure to take your students on a virtual field trip to visit and learn interesting facts
on an easy to read level! Students can take an easy online quiz after investigating
and then create their own fish! Did you say create a fish! Try the drawing
activity below! |
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| Fins, Flippers and Blowholes
From Classroom Connect this is an easy technology lesson on whales.
Use a paint program and draw a whale or another fish to label. Here is a guide for
your students on how to draw fish. Inspiration, PowerPoint or KidPix could be
used for labeling.
Right click on image, save target as and save to appropriate
folder. Import into KidPix or Paint. |
Explore a Whale of a Sea and Poetry
Sea Poetry - Use this Lesson Plan from Encarta
and guide your students in writing A Whale of a Tale or Sea Poetry! Amazing Writing
Machine poem writing tool is a great way for students to present their work!
Another Whale of a Site! Great resource
for the younger student! |
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| The
Food Chain This site is a
wonderful online illustration of the food chain from BBC. Divide
your students into cooperative groups of five. Each group will study one of the
links in the food chain and gather information to report back to the whole group.
Students can make a wall mural, individual slides with PowerPoint or create a web with
Inspiration. Select the tool that best suits your classroom needs.
Encarta Lesson
Marine Food Chain
Food
Chain Template
Oceans of the World -
Another great research site for the world's largest habitat.
eNature.com
- Learn more about the sea creatures in the middle of the food chain by viewing
these wonderful photos of seashore creatures. This site has copyright information
that is important to know when using photos and graphics from the web! |
Monterey
Aquarium Foundation This
site in itself is a virtual field trip to the ocean habitats for students. Using a
Treasure Hunt created in Microsoft Word or Ultimate Creativity and Writing Center students
can gather information about their selected habitat and can create a multimedia
presentation. This site also has a great selection of E-Q postcards that would be great to send to
parents with e-mail addresses.
MS
Word Template pdf file |
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| Fish at
Enchanted Learning - Younger students have many
resources to use to learn about the creatures from the sea. What a great resource
for a Fish ABC Book! |
| Neptune's Web
- This site is awesome with student's Sea of Knowledge contains facts and a quiz.
The Teacher's Realm offers interdisciplinary lessons with many integrated ideas. |
| Sea
Animals Webquest - This is an easy webquest for first and second graders.
Get your feet wet and try this one! |
| Undersea and Oversea -
Another great resource from the Franklin Institute. Be sure to investigate the
Marine Animal World Records. |
| Oceanlink - This a great
place to ask a scientist questions about the sea! Did you know March 22 is the Day
of the Seal. Learn more about seals by asking an important question. |
| SeaWorld and Busch Gardens - Not
only is this a beautiful place to visit this site is another safe resource for your
students. Check out the sea animal sounds! |
| Fisheye View Cam
- Go underwater and visit Coral Gables Florida to see how scientists
are studying slow moving corals. |
Sydney
Aquarium - This is a definite crafts page that links art with the curriculum.
Take a virtual
tour of the aquarium. |
| Gander Mountains Oceanography Page -
This is a great hotlist of resources for your ocean unit. Be sure to visit the
upper elementary scavenger hunt
pages! |
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Kathy
Adkins
March
2000 Tech Bits and Bytes
The
Technology Loop
Instructional Technology Specialist
Forsyth County Schools
Midway Elementary |
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