October, 2000

Objective Using the sense of touch, students will describe and try to guess the identity of hidden objects.     Before Class Preparation 1. Cut a slot in the top of the shoe box large enough to fit student’s hand. Glue square of material on inside of lid over slot. Cut material to open slot again. Material hides contents of box while student pushes hand in. 2. Peel grapes. 3. Spray vegetable oil on cooked spaghetti 4. Assemble touch boxes by placing one item in each box. Tape lids on boxes. Place boxes around room. Action 1. Begin activity with a class discussion. Ask students to name a scary animal or sound, or something they’ve felt. Ask students to describe using adjectives. If readers, write the words on the board. 2. Divide class into groups to match number of shoe boxes. Begin with equal or almost equal number of students for each box. 3. One at a time, ask students to reach in to touch the mystery item. Can they identify? What does it feel like.? Ask student to remember feelings. For older students, ask them to draw the image they feel. Can they guess the name of the item? 4. If time allows, rotate the class through all the shoe boxes. For younger students with short attention spans, each group could feel only one box. 5. After feeling, ask students to be seated and begin a class discussion. What did students feel? How did it feel? What was most scary? Hardest to identify? 6. Open boxes and show students the items inside. Are any of the items scary? Do students who were afraid want to touch again? Was it more scary when students didn’t know than now that students do know? Deeper Depths Read a story about a sea monster. At the conclusion, ask student if they were frightened? Now show picture of giant squid. Scientists don’t know much about this animal and are searching for one to study. For more information see http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html or http://partners.si.edu/squid/ or the book The Search for Giant Squid by Richard Ellis ISBN: 0140286764 Materials 4 shoe boxes with lids 10 grapes 1 cup cooked, cooled spaghetti 1 cup cold gelatin soft rubber spider rubber snake spray vegetable oil scissors heavy scrap fabric garbage bags for clean up

 

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Objective Students will create an imaginary animal and describe how that animal lives.     Action 1. Begin activity with a class discussion about animals that scare or frighten them. What makes these animals scary? Some possibilities might be appearance, sound, movement, hunting methods, and so on. 2 .    Distribute paper and drawing tools. Students can work individually or in cooperative learning groups. Remembering the conditions that make animals appear scary, have students create a new imaginary animal with scary characteristics. Students should be able to describe and explain these characteristics. 3. After students complete pictures, begin another class discussion about the real scary animals they talked about first. The "scary" things about these animals are adaptations they use to survive (roar of lion, teeth of shark, bite of spider). 4. Ask who would like to describe their scary imaginary animal. What makes it scary to them? If this animal was real, how would this characteristic benefit them? In other words, what would be the adaptive advantages of these dangerous features of the animals?   Deeper Depths Watch videos of dangerous animals to observe how they use their adaptations. Some suggestions: Shamu TV: Myth, Monster, or Misunderstood to air October 20, 2000 To buy a copy of the video, call SeaWorld San Diego 1-800-23SHAMU (74268) Materials paper pencils markers (optional) watercolor or tempura paint (optional)

Return to the October "Land, Sea & Air Mail"

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