Objective:
The student will be able to participate in a variety of classroom and home activities that will prepare him/her for a year-long study of fish. This lesson would be most effective if conducted near the beginning of the school year.
Materials Needed:
Activity:
In order to effectively prepare students for the Aquademics™ aquarium education program, encourage the students to participate in any or all of the activities below.
Ask students to name all the different kinds of fish that they have seen in aquariums, at home, at school or in the community.
As a homework assignment, tell students to go on a "Fish Hunt" at home. They should bring a list of as many places as possible that they see fish in the home.
Allow students to use classroom computers (or they can do this from home) to e-mail other classrooms around the country or around the world and ask these far away students what types of fish are found in their communities. Post the return e-mails on the class bulletin board.
Designate an Aquademics™ Bulletin Board in the classroom to display all of the students' fishy creations, along with important charts about the classroom aquarium, throughout the year.
Ask students to name different kinds of fish that get their names from other objects (such as GOLDfish, ANGELfish, CLOWNfish, etc.)
Ask students to name as many sayings, puns, slogans or other funny expressions that use fish terms (such as "something fishy's going on" or "she swims like a fish").
If possible, take a field trip to a local aquarium, a large regional aquarium, or invite a local aquatics specialist to give a talk to the class.
Ask students to create a Venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between two different species of fish. Students could work in pairs or small groups on this activity.
Venn Diagram:
Result:
Ask students to name at least three new things that they learned about fish when doing one or more of these activities.
