Ocean Animal Book

We prepared for our trip to the aquarium by making a book of the unusual animals that live in the sea. After reading about each animal Julia created a picture and dictated a fact about that animal.

To learn about jellyfish we read Jellyfish by Lloyd G. Douglas. This simple non-fiction book has interesting photographs and basic facts about jellies. We also visited the website of Monterey Bay Aquarium to see pictures of jellyfish and to watch a jellyfish swim. To make this jellyfish craft, Julia stuck strips of translucent paper to the bottom of a bell shaped piece of contact paper. Then she covered the bell with small squares of translucent paper.

Stars of the Sea by Allan Fowler is filled with fascinating pictures and information about sea stars. After reading the book we made bumpy sea stars. To create the sea stars, I cut a star from coarse sand paper. Julia placed the star under a piece of white paper, rubbed it with the side of a crayon, and cut out the star. (After seeing this picture I realize that I spelled 'stomach' wrong. I'm off to correct Julia's book!)

Julia loved the "Don't Just Sit There" activity in Sea World's Ocean Discovery for Early Learners Teacher's Guide. First, Julia had to pretend to be a sea anemone. She sat on the floor and used her tentacles (arms) to try to catch her prey (bubbles). Then she pretended to be a shark. She ran around catching prey. We discussed which animal is able to catch more prey and which animal uses more energy catching prey. We also enjoyed the simple text and awesome pictures in Sea Anemones by Lola M. Schaefer.

Julia is so proud of her sea animal book. I love it when she chooses this when I ask her to choose a book for me to read. Our study of these animals paid off during our visit to the aquarium. Julia was so thrilled to see the tank with sea stars and anemones!

I Went Swimming Chart

The girls and I enjoy reading our song and poem charts together so I created a new ocean themed poem. I cut this poem into strips and placed them in a mini pocket chart. The ocean animal word cards are also cut apart. We read the poem several times, changing the animal word card each time.

I Went Swimming Chart
Ocean animal word cards

After reading the poem several times, Julia reconstructed cut up sentences.

I gave Lauren a magnetic letter s. She traced it with her finger while saying "s". Then she searched for the letter s in the poem.

Lauren also used a card with a cut out window to frame the letter s.

Additions to Ocean Writing Station

I found these great ocean themed shapes and stationary on storyit.com to add to our ocean writing station. Set your printer to landscape before printing.

Fish shape

Starfish shape

Ocean border

Sensory Tubs

The girls have enjoyed two new sensory tubs. The spring sensory tub has a base of styrofoam covered with a thin layer of paper grass. A basket holds several silk flowers, small pots with foam and paper grass, and flower cards on dowel rods.

The girls pretend to plant the flowers by poking them into the styrofoam. They can use the flower cards to label their rows of flowers. I am planning to add a few more materials to this tub to make it a more literacy rich play set. I'll write a follow-up post when I'm done.

The ocean sensory tub is simply a tub of water and plastic ocean animals. This tub combines the sensory experience of splashing in water with exploration and imagination. As the girls play with the animals they often act out what we have read about sea creatures. Such play allows them to gain mastery of new information. One day Julia pretended the octopus sprayed his ink to get away from a moray eel. Another time I heard her talking about one of the animals escaping from his enemy. Oral language develops as the children communicate using newly acquired vocabulary. This has been a popular activity that is as fun as it is educational!

Fish Mobile

After admiring the pictures of colorful fish in an old copy of Your Big Backyard the girls made these beautiful fish mobiles.

To make a fish mobile you need a paper plate, blue paint, sponges, scissors, fish shapes cut from construction paper, colored chalk, sugar, water, string, and tape.

1. Mix 1/3 cup sugar into 1 cup water and soak the chalk overnight in the sugar solution. Now the chalk will have bright colors that will not smear. I found this procedure in Preschool Art from Mary Ann Kohl.

2. Sponge blue paint on the paper plate. When the paint dries, sponge paint the other side of the plate.

3. Use the chalk to draw designs on both sides of the fish.

4. Cut the plate into a spiral.

5. Cut string into 8-12 inch lengths. Tape a string onto each fish and tape the other end of each string to the spiral. Hang your mobile and enjoy your beautiful fish!

Fish Pattern Blocks

I found these great pattern block fish cards at Prekinders.com. Five year old Julia uses the black and white cards and reproduces the fish on the floor or table. Two year old Lauren uses the color cards and places the blocks directly on the card.

Black and white small fish

Color small fish

Black and white big fish

Color big fish

Fish Song Chart

We've added I'm a Little Fishy to our song and poem charts. For an explanation of the charts please visit this post. We sang the song a few times while tracking the print with a pointer and then we did a few follow up activities.
The big girls played fishing for sight words. I cut several construction paper fish and on each fish I wrote a high frequency word from the song. I clipped a paper clip to each fish and made a fishing rod by taping a magnet to a string that I tied to a pencil. The girls took turns fishing for words.
After catching a fish, the child read the word and found it on the chart. We then read that line of text together. This game could also be played with letters written on the fish. The child would catch a fish, identify the letter, and find the letter on the song chart.
I also used the chart to practice the /sh/ sound. We read the word 'fishy' and noticed that the letters sh made the /sh/ sound. The girls have already been introduced to sh so this was a review. We used these cards from My Montessori Journey to practice reading sh words.
Finally, the girls enjoyed Jello fish bowls while I read Into the A,B, Sea by Deborah Lee Rose to them.

Ocean Writing Station

I've changed some of the materials in our writing station to go along with our study of ocean animals. It is amazing how a few new materials can renew a child's interest in a familiar activity. Along with the writing materials I have also set out a tub of several nonfiction ocean books. The girls can look through the books for inspiration for their writing.

The writing station holds a booklet containing several pages of ocean words and pictures that I downloaded from Kidssoup.

An envelope holds some pictures of ocean animals that the girls can glue onto a page and then write their story.

I've added story paper with a blank space at the top for drawing a picture and lines at the bottom for writing a story.

A mini clipboard holds sheets of blue paper. I have also provided blue flip books and white flip books. I am going to add some small stapled books with blue covers cut along the top to look like waves. This tray always sits on the playroom table. The girls can choose from a variety of materials including crayons, markers, pencils, scissors, glue, and hole punches. We also have a tray of white 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper on a nearby shelf.
Here Julia wrote about a sea turtle. Her writing says, "Daon at the bobdm" (Down at the bottom). I suspect she had more to say but ran out of room and decided to stop. Notice the number 8 on the turtle's back. The girls have been enjoying Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward and TJ Marsh. Each page in the book has a hidden number and Julia incorporated that idea into her work.

Here she used story paper to write a shark fact after we read about sharks. Usually I do not write on a child's writing station work but (for some reason that I cannot remember) this time I did.

Counting Nemos

In preparation for an upcoming trip to the aquarium we have begun a study of ocean animals. The girls played a counting game using Finding Nemo fruit snacks. This game is a variation of "Hunt for It" in Developing Number Concepts Book 1: Counting, Comparing, and Pattern by Kathy Richardson. Developing Number Concepts is essential reading for anyone who teaches math to young children.

Materials:

• Finding Nemo fruit snacks
• six small bowls
• tray or cookie sheet
• paper bag
• number cards

Preparation: Hide sets of Nemo fruit snacks under the bowls to match the numbers on the number cards. Place the number cards in the bag.
A child pulls a number card out of the bag and reads the number. She then lifts a bowl and counts to see if the number of fruit snacks matches the number on the card. The child continues to lift bowls and count until she finds the correct set.
The number cards I used have a numeral on one side and a set of pictures on the other. The children can read the number or they can count the pictures to determine how many fruit snacks to hunt for.