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Museum
Educator-led Programs
Pre & Post Visit Resources
Underwater
Investigation
Grades 1-2
Scroll down the page to find items on the menu below or click on a link to jump to an item.
Program
Description and Frameworks
Program
Outline
Key
Terms and Concepts
Classoom Activities
Print and Web Resources
Go
to the Aquarium Gallery page
Click
here for printable version of all resources listed above
Program
Description and Frameworks
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Description:
Learn about underwater life in this wet, hands-on program. Travel
from the coral reefs to the Amazon and discover an array of fish
characteristics. Open your eyes to the world of differences and
similarities among aquatic organisms.
Location:
Aquarium
Length: One hour
Grades: 1 - 2
Massachusetts
Frameworks
Science and Technology/Engineering Strand 2
| 1 |
Recognize
that animals (including humans) and plants are living things
that grow, reproduce, and need food, air and water. |
| 5 |
Recognize
that fossils provide us with information about living things
that inhabited the earth years ago. |
| 6 |
Recognize
that people and other animals interact with the environment
through their senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. |
| 8 |
Identify
the ways in which an organism's habitat provides for its basic
needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals
require food, water, air, and shelter). |
New York
Standards
Math, Science and Technology: Standard 4 Science The Living Environment
1, 3, 5, 6
| 1 |
Living
things are both similar to and different from each other and
nonliving things. Students will describe the characteristics
of and variations between living and nonliving things. Students
will describe the life processes common to all living things. |
| 3 |
Individual
organisms and species change over time. Students will describe
how the structures of plants and animals complement the environment
of the plant or animal. Students will observe that differences
within a species may give individuals an advantage in surviving
and reproducing. |
| 5 |
Organisms
maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. Students
will describe basic life functions of common living specimens
(guppy, mealworm, gerbil). Students will describe some survival
behaviors of common living specimens. |
| 6 |
Plants
and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.
Students will describe how plants and animals, including humans,
depend upon each other and the nonliving environment. Students
will describe the relationship of the sun as an energy source
for living and nonliving cycles. |
Program
Outline
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only this section
Introduction
Students are given a few moments to look around the Aquarium to
observe the diversity of marine life and habitats.
What
Is a Fish?
Students join in a lively discussion using a fish puppet to discuss
what makes a fish different from other animals that live on land
and in the water. Gills, scales, fins, movement, eyes, and coloration
are touched upon.
Fish
Lip Model
Models and props demonstrate the way fish feed including mouth
types and feeding preference such as, filter feeders, suckers,
scrapers, and gulpers. Types of food covered include krill, plankton,
algae, and other fish.
Fish
Hunt
Students are given colorful fish cards featuring certain physical
features of fish, behaviors, or other characteristics. Their job
is to search for a fish in the Aquarium that they think is a good
example of their feature or behavior. This activity encourages
careful observation, and offers an opportunity for active, goal-oriented
exploration. It also challenges students to differentiate between
fish and other aquatic animals.
Fish Hunt
Discussion
The whole group gathers together to share what they have found,
and a few interesting stories about fish adaptations.
Touch
Tank
Students form small groups to examine and handle invertebrate
tide pool animals. They will learn proper handling techniques
while observing sea stars, urchins, horseshoe crabs and hermit
crabs and learn about their adaptations.
Conclusion
Brief discussion to review and share discoveries.
Concepts
Covered
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only this section
- Fish use
fins to move about in the water.
- Fish have
gills that allow them to breathe underwater.
- Fish have
scales that protect them.
- Fish coloration
can help a fish to be camouflaged, or send a warning.
- There is
saltwater, freshwater and brackish water.
- Fish have
different kinds of mouths, and eat different foods in different
ways.
- Not all
aquatic animals are fish. Sea stars, crabs, snails, and sea urchins
are not fish.
- There are
similarities and differences among fish and other marine life.
Key
Terms Used During the Program
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only this section
- Camouflage
concealment by protective coloring or pattern that allows a thing
to blend into its environment.
- Algae
organisms (living things) similar to plants that live mostly in
the water. Plankton
may include algae. Some kinds of algae are green or brown, are
fuzzy and slippery and can grow on rocks in ponds. Sea weeds are
also kinds of algae.
- Scale
the thin transparent (clear) plates that cover most fish.
- Fins
those parts of a fish that help it to move through the water.
- Gills
the parts of a fish that absorb oxygen from the water.
- Coral
coral is an ocean animal that lives in colonies. Some corals leave
a hard, stony skeleton when they die.
- Plankton
very small organisms (living things) of any kind (plant, animal,
or other) that float in the water.
- Krill
small shrimp-like, marine crustaceans.
Pre
& Post Visit Activities
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only this section
Word Search
Using familiar terms create a puzzle with the help of Puzzlemaker.
Design-a-Fish
Encourage students to draw and color a picture that shows a fish
that blends in with its surroundings. Or ask each student to color
one fish without coloring the background. Then students exchange
fish and are challenged to create a background with colors that
their fish will blend with. Emphasize same and different concepts
as they relate to blending in or camouflage.
Pond Habitat
Model
Students make their own individual pond cross-section models.
Cut paper bowls in half and give one half to each student. Students
can cover the bottom of the pond with natural, self-drying clay.
Then students can create all sorts of pond organisms like fish,
turtles, plants and insects out of colored clay, paper, beads,
and pipe cleaners. To add the surface of the water, stretch a
piece of blue or green plastic wrap over the top and tape it to
the sides of the bowl.
Then cover
the edge of the plastic with colored clay. Note: Wait until after
the plastic has been attached to add plants and animals to the
edge of the pond.
Fish
Autobiography
Choose a fish you have learned about. As a class, write a cooperative
story as if you were that fish. Describe your life and your habitat.
Try to imagine a fish adventure.
Assessment:
K-W-L Chart
Include these three columns or sections…What I Know about Fish…What
I Want to Learn about Fish…What I Learned about Fish. Pre-visit,
have the students brainstorm ideas for the first two columns of
the chart. Post-visit, ask the students to share what they have
now learned and fill in the third column.
Suggested
Web and Print Resources
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only this section
Use the Berkshire Athenaeum’s on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Central/Western Massachusetts.Print Materials
for Students
Galloway,
Ruth. Fidgety Fish. Wilton, CT: Tiger Tales, 2001. A picture
book. Sent out for a swim in the deep sea, Tiddler, a young fish
who just can't keep still, sees many interesting creatures and
one very dark cave.
Hellers,
Ruth. How to Hide an Octopus & Other Sea Creatures. New
York: Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., 1992. Clear, crisp, vibrant illustrations
show how particular species of fish, like the pipe fish, are extremely
well camouflaged. A picture book. Though it is non-fiction, it
reads like a story.
Royston,
Angela. Sea Animals (A Dorling Kindersley Eye Openers Book).
New York: Aladdin Books/MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992. Clear,
brief, simple text accompanies large images of different kinds
of animals who live in and around the sea. Each page also features
close-ups of important adaptations like beaks, scales, and webbed
feet. A non-fiction picture book.
Sill, Catherine.
About Fish: a Guide for Children. Atlanta, GA : Peachtree,
2002. Introduces various species of fish, describing their food
needs, body structures, protective mechanisms, habitats, and reproduction.
Wood, Ellen.
Hundreds of Fish. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions, 2000.
Distressed that the baby ducks she enjoys watching are being eaten
by a monstrous pike, an Inuit girl catches it and comes to understand
the ways of nature.
Print Materials
For Educators
Arthur, Alex.
Shell. (A Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Book). New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. Many beautiful images of different kinds
of shells, and very accessible but specific text about the animals
who create them and dwell in them. A great resource for information
about aquatic invertebrates.
Nadeau, Isaac.
Food Chains in a Tide Pool Habitat. New York, N.Y.: PowerKids
Press, 2002. Shows the relationships among producers, herbivores,
omnivores, carnivores, and decomposers. Each page of text faces
a full page of photographs that include some of the flora and
fauna mentioned.
Parker, Steve.
Fish. (A Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Book). New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. An easy-to-understand book filled with
photos, illustrations, and explanations of how fish function.
Powell, David.
A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer.
California: UC Press, 2002. Beginning with the pioneering "do-it-yourself" days of scuba diving in the late 1940s, Powell guides us through
his career at several of the best aquariums.
Web Materials
for Students
Enchanted
Learning
This is a fun, educational site for audiences as young as preschool.
Users will find science, language arts, geography, and craft pages,
among others. Rated A+ by Education-World.com.
International
Year of the Ocean Homepage
Games, puzzles, trivia, mazes and more. These resources were created
by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Fisheries
Science Center for the NMFS 125th Anniversary Activity Book Series.
New
England Aquarium
Link to the New England Aquarium, located in Boston, MA. This
site offers activities and a guide to the Aquarium itself.
Web Materials
for Educators
National
Geographic
A complete lesson plan in which the students will be introduced
to different ocean depths and to the ways in which animals have
adapted to live at different depths.
New
England Aquarium
This site offers free curriculum consultation and loan materials,
a link to a ListServe and Educator Enrichment Programs.
Puzzlemaker
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students
and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword
and math puzzles using your word lists. A part of the Discovery
Channel's Discovery School Web Site.
 The
Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal
grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation
of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities
supports the Berkshire Museum.
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