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OCEAN EXPLORATION: Shapes and Patterns Under the Sea (Grades K-3)

OVERVIEW

Children have a natural interest in geometry and in sea-dwelling creatures. Combining the two topics for a classroom investigation can be intriguing and motivating. Spatial abilities can be developed and a greater understanding of environmental relationships can be enhanced. The lesson begins with free exploration of shapes, and then moves to viewing the video to discover how similar shapes and patterns are found in the ocean environment. A focus of the lesson is to help children recognize and appreciate geometry in the world under the sea.

ITV SERIES

3-2-1 Classroom Contact, 3-2-1 Classroom Contact, Lesson 27: How Do You Know? Collect the Data

3-2-1 Classroom Contact, Lesson 5: Ocean Environments: 3D Sea, Scene 2: Ocean Motion

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to

recognize and identify two dimensional shapes
relate objects in the ocean environment to geometric figures
identify patterns in nature
create patterns and designs with shapes

MATERIALS

For each student:

wooden or plastic pattern blocks
pattern shapes kit 1 in resealable bag from the Activity Sheets (one of each shape-star, circle, semicircle, square, heart, triangle, spiral, fan, oval, long oval, diamond, crescent, hexagon) You may want to reproduce the shapes on colored paper.
paper
scissors
glue
pencils
crayons, markers, water color paints

For each cooperative group of 4-5 students:

pattern shapes kit 2 from the Activity Sheets (about 7-8 of each shape) in resealable bag You may wish to reproduce the shapes on colored paper, or let the students color the shapes.
large pieces of poster or chart paper, or butcher paper

For teacher

overhead projector
overhead pattern blocks
transparency pens

Sea Shapes. MacDonald, S. (1994). San Diego: Gulliver Books, Harcourt Brace & Company.

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES

1. Organize students in groups of three or four. Hand out sets of wooden or plastic pattern blocks for each group to share and use in free exploration. You may wish to use the copy of pattern blocks provided at the end of the lesson if wooden or plastic blocks are not available. Ask students to name the shapes that they know. Use shape names on chalkboard or overhead as students offer names. Provide names for shapes that are unfamiliar. Ask students to describe various attributes of the shapes in the set. Return shapes to box or bag.

Hand out pattern shapes kit 1 to each student. Allow students to explore different shapes in the kit. Ask students to name any new shapes in the kit that have not already been listed on the chalkboard or overhead. Use these shapes and let students discuss their attributes. Help each student select one of the shapes to use in the next part of the activity. Be sure that all of the shapes are selected. Replace all other shapes in the resealable bag. Ask students to look around the room and find example of their shapes. Let them discuss shapes and objects. Ask, "Where are some other places that you can find these shapes."Allow students to respond and discuss their ideas.

FOCUS FOR VIEWING

Direct students to look for examples of their selected shape as they watch the video. Tell students to hold up their shapes and call out the names of the shapes they see in the video. To give students a specific responsibility while viewing, ask them to look for the patterns in shapes or in the movements of the creatures.

VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Start the 3-2-1 Classroom Contact video, Ocean Environments: 3D Sea, with the scene called "Ocean Motion," just before the host says, "Oceans have all kinds of different environments too and all kinds of different life. Just stick your head under water, you'll see." Let children call out the name of their shapes as they see them on the screen. Pause after the end of the scene with the jellyfish and ask students how the animals with different shapes moved and how they behaved in the water. Ask students to describe differences in the movement of creatures with different shapes. For example, "how does the sea star (or starfish) move; and how do most fish move? What makes them move differently?" Help students discover that the shape of the animal helps determine its movement pattern.

Fast forward the video to the segment entitled "Separate Quarters," just before the host says, "Different animals not only live at different water temperatures, they live at different depths too." Tell students to watch where different kinds of fish swim in the tank. Then turn off the sound so that students focus on watching the fish in the tank and view the segment until the host moves away from the tank with fish in it. Stop the tape after viewing the segment and ask, "What was alike or different about animals in different places in the water?"Allow for students to respond. "Why do you think animals behave this way?" Use other similar questions in the discussion to help students reason that animals of different shapes are more or less adapted or suited to different environments.

Ask students, "What's on the ocean floor?" Allow time for discussion. "The ocean floor is totally dark and cold; there is a lot of pressure; and there is not much to eat except tiny animals like bacteria. Given that environment, what are the shapes of or kinds of animals that live on the bottom of the ocean?" Help children speculate or predict the shapes of these animals. Play the video continuing with the last segment entitled "Life Down Under." Stop the tape.

POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Ask students, "How many of the shapes did you see in the video?"

Read and discuss the book Sea Shapes by Suse MacDonald.
After reading the book divide students into small groups of 4-5. Give each group a bag of pattern shapes, kit 2. Tell students, "Use the shapes; put them together to make pictures of the animals in the book." After students have made several of the animals from the book say, "Can you make other animals with the shapes?"

View the first video segment again. After viewing the segment ask students to use the reproduced shapes to make some of the sea animals that they saw in the video. Working in small groups, allow the students to color or paint the shapes and glue them on large pieces of butcher paper. Tell students to complete their underwater scene by adding drawings of ocean plants, sand and any other sea life. They can create a nice, "watery" effect by using blue or bluegreen water color paint over the entire collage.

ACTION PLAN

This lesson could provide an introduction to a comprehensive unit on oceanography. Invite a guest speaker to speak to students about his or her experiences in an ocean environment. Contact speakers from a state wildlife refuge, a college or university, or a professional scuba diving organization. A culminating activity for this unit could be a trip to a nearby aquarium.

In the school publishing center, publish a picture book about shapes and patterns under the sea based on what students learned in the lesson. Use the stories students write from the language arts extension described below.

EXTENSIONS

Math. Use geoboards to let students create congruent figures they have discovered. Show art prints "VegaNoe" by Vasarely, "Pie Counter" by Thiebaud, and "Three Musicians" by Picasso as examples of symmetry. Point out symmetry. Have children find other examples of symmetry in the shapes. Fold the shapes to show symmetry.
Art. Have small groups of students create a large mural of sea life with the various shapes.Students could add plant life with the shapes and create an underwater scene.
Language Arts. Students could write a story about one of the sea creatures they have created and use the shape picture to illustrate the story.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Books:

Carle, E. (1974). My Very First Book of Shapes. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers.

Ehlert, L. (1989). Colorzoo. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott.

Gardner, B.(1989). What Is It? A Spinabout Book. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.