Whales, Octopi & Sharks, Oh My! is designed for Grade 3 and aligns with Module 1, The Sea. Also for Grade 1 and aligns with Module 2, Creature Features. Perhaps the next best thing to an ocean field...
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Whales, Octopi & Sharks, Oh My! is designed for Grade 3 and aligns with Module 1, The Sea. Also for Grade 1 and aligns with Module 2, Creature Features. Perhaps the next best thing to an ocean field trip is this musical dive into sea science. Through a progressive sequence of participatory song, movement, puppetry and story, students learn about: the FOOD WEB; adaptations and behavior which allow ocean creatures to find and eat PREY; how to evade PREDATORS with CAMOUFLAGE and BIOMIMICRY.
My teaching style includes putting the lessons into our bodies. Examples include: who eats CLAMS and how? At low tide, SEAGULLS can pick them up, fly high and drop them on the rocks; at high tide, SEASTARS can wrap their arms on either side of the BIVALVES and pry them open; humans know where on the MUDFLATS to dig from the clams’ squirt holes. Once I’ve demonstrated the tides and movements, students act out an entire song while I play it on the ukulele. Similarly, they learn about the FOOD WEB by acting out a seafood chain with finger/hand/full body movements of SHRIMP, EEL, OCTOPUS, TUNA, SHARK, WHALE. Learning the differences between sharks with GILLS (FISH) and whales with BLOWHOLES (MARINE MAMMALS) is done through the whale version of “Head, Flippers, Tails and Flukes.” Students will always remember what BALEEN is because they’ve acted it out. The entire audience becomes my backup song and dance team when we do the hard-rocking “Do the Octopus Baby…Make Your Tentacles Wavy.” Students will be up and moving periodically throughout the show, which has about a dozen routines and songs in a variety of genres. They will have boatloads of fun while learning about the sea and many of its inhabitants.
