1st Grade- Tidepools
Suggested Field Experience(s):
- Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area; http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/yaquina/education-groups.php
- Oregon Coast Aquarium, "Tidepool Talk" lab; www.aquarium.org/education
- Hatfield Marine Science Center, "Sticky Science" lab; http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/education-programs
Unit Overview: The harsh environment of a tide pool is the perfect ecosystem to explore the needs of living things. In this unit, students will first explore the basic needs of living things and how scientists sort and classify. The unit will then apply these skills specific to how animals meet their needs in the harsh environment of tide pools. Students will practice sorting, compare and contrast, and inquiry skills.
Goals:
Students will be able to identify basic needs of living things. Students will be able to compare and contrast characteristics of tide pool invertebrates.
Objectives:
1. Students will be able to explain the zonation pattern of tide pools and how this creates constraints on the diversity of life in that zone.
2. Students will be able to identify how invertebrates that live in each tide pool zone get their basic needs met.
Oregon Content Standards:
Science
1.1 Structure and Function: Living and non-living things have characteristics and properties.
1.1L.1 Compare and contrast characteristics among individuals within one plant or animal group.
1.2 Interaction and Change: Living and non-living things interact.
1.2L.1 Describe the basic needs of living things.
1.3 Scientific Inquiry: Science explores the natural world using evidence from observations.
1.3S.1 Identify and use tools to make careful observations and answer questions about the natural world.
1.3S.2 Record observations with pictures, numbers, or written statements.
1.3S.3 Describe why recording accurate observations is important in science.
Ocean Literacy Principles
5. The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.
5.c. Some major groups are found exclusively in the ocean. The diversity of major groups of organisms is much greater in the ocean than on land.
5.d. Ocean biology provides many unique examples of life cycles, adaptations and important relationships among organisms (symbiosis, predator-prey dynamics and energy transfer) that do not occur on land.
5.f. Ocean habitats are defined by environmental factors. Due to interactions of abiotic factors such as salinity, temperature, oxygen, pH, light, nutrients, pressure, substrate and circulation, ocean life is not evenly distributed temporally or spatially, i.e. it is “patchy”. Some regions of the ocean support more diverse and abundant life than anywhere on Earth, while much of the ocean is considered a desert.
5.h. Tides, waves and predation cause vertical zonation patterns along the shore, influencing the distribution and diversity of organisms.
Prior units/background knowledge:
· Living vs. Non-living things
Suggested Order of Activities (click links to be taken to each lesson plan):
1. Animal Habitats.Students will explore a familiar local habitat.
2.. What do I Need? Building a Habitat.Students will build a fish tank or create a diorama for an animal. They will have to identify and meet the needs of a living thing.
3. Classifying Like a Taxonomist. This activity focuses on the activity of sorting things into groups like a taxonomist.
4. Compare and Contrast Invertebrates. This activity focuses on comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of tide pool invertebrates.
5.. Tide Pool Zones. Tides and waves in tide pools cause vertical zonation patterns. This activity explores the zones as habitats for animals to live and have all their needs met.
6. Where Do I Live in the Tidepools? This activity explores where animals live in the different tide pool zones based on their needs.
7. Field Trip to a Tidepool. Students will take the knowledge that they gained about the needs of living things to a tide pool on the Oregon Coast. There they will observe and record plants and animals.
8. Keeping Wet. Many rocky shore creatures spend part of their time on land but need to stay wet to survive. In this activity, students see how animals use different adaptations to keep wet.
Supplemental Materials (see files below):
Tidepool Invertebrate Background Information
Sea Star Finger Puppet
Octopus Puppet
Living in a Tidepool Big Book
Songs about Tidepools
The Tides- a lesson to introduce the concept and causes of tides