Ocean animal cards

Ocean Creature Venn Diagrams and Flash Cards

Create a list of marine creatures from a KWL chart at the beginning of the unit and put each creature name on a single index card.. Use the cards as manipulative in categorizing activities throughout the unit. Add new cards as new creatures are learned. Use the cards to test sight word acquisition of the creature names.

Objectives:

The students will show a defined awareness of several marine creatures. They will gain reading practice by manipulating the creatures in a short list and be able to speculate how a simple food chain might occur. The students will categorize animals by their environments.

Materials:

Index cards

Poster board or other paper for a large chart.

Materials either in print or on the internet that show lots of pictures of a variety of marine creatures.

Procedure:

The students add to the circles as they learn about more creatures. Each creature on this chart also has an index card with its name on it.

3 way Venn Diagram to list creatures by locomotion and by environment:

The students list all the marine animals they know of now and categorize them as either crawlers, swimmers or flyers. Copy each name on an index card. Draw 3 big circles on a poster board and add the names of each new animal in a category as the students learn of more creatures. Later in the unit take the list and the groups regroup each creature to new categories in another 3-way Venn Diagram as either an ocean dweller,a beach dweller or a fresh water dweller.

Last, the students take each creature name on the the index cards and manipulate them to demonstrate food chains. They may speculate but usually the larger eats the smaller until you reach the whales and others that survive on plankton.

Reading practice and testing:

Throughout the unit have students read the names from the charts where everyone can see as you point to the words.
Have students use the names on the index cards as creative story telling prompts.
After the unit use the index cards as flash cards to see if individual students are able to read the names of the creatures.
Have small groups take one creature and summarize what they know of it in writing. Have them draw the creature. Later, help students edit the written work into a class book of sea creatures.

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