I love it when I can incorporate multiple subjects into one lesson or multiple learning styles into one lesson. Our Florida Oceans lesson was one of those lessons that just jelled well together. We got a bit of geography lessons, science lessons, and a bit of art fun.
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What you need for the Florida oceans lesson
Parrotfish and Sunken Ships: Exploring a Tropical Reef
Florida oceans lesson
I found a wonderful book called Parrotfish and Sunken Ships: Exploring a Tropical Reef
Slowly page by page it talks through the different areas of Florida’s shoreline and oceans. As he went through each step we drew and illustrated what we’d find there in the Florida oceans.
If we weren’t sure, we’d refer back to the book and look for more ideas.
After each step, we’d paint watercolors over it, so it could look like it was underwater The first area is shallow, about 18 inches deep, so it’s the smallest piece of paper.
The second area is deeper and has some coral reefs. We used a crinkled-up plastic bag and acrylic paint to simulate this one. This is where it got a bit messy, to be honest. Future Ticia here, I’m chiming in to say, this is also why we bought a card table, we knew we would get covered in paint.
As each layer was added I required more of the product they were making because they had more room. By the time they got to the third layer of the book they were drawing at least 5 sea creatures, and one sunken object. Not too surprisingly they all opted to put in sunken ships. Of course one of the boys decided there were ghost pirates in the water too……
The fourth layer has the more amazing coral structure from Florida oceans, so on this one I required a couple of different coral types and colors. I’m working with the kids on including colors in their drawings. This isn’t a problem so much for Princess who takes her time on any art project, but the boys…… There are some projects they just hurry-scurry through and then have a rather pitiful result.
I have no painted version pictured because we had to wait for the tempera paint we used for the coral to dry, and then the boys got impatient after it was painted, and stapled their projects together before I was ready for it……….
Yeah, we had some talks about patience after that one………….
Let’s learn some more about Florida’s oceans and the layers
We’d talked about the ocean’s layers before when we studied Swimming Creatures using Apologia Swimming Creatures. This is a much deeper and in-depth version of the ocean, and a bit different from what we learned about the Florida ocean layers.
Deep water in the ocean
I’m combining another post into this one, as it makes no sense for them to be two separate posts, when this is a deeper look at the same topic.
Okay, so let’s look at what the deepest layer of the ocean is like.
Well, last week I talked about how the wind and surface waves affect the ocean, this week we’re diving down deep to see what it’s like on the Abyssal Plains, where my kids were very disappointed to learn sharks and manta rays did not learn. I can see how this science book is going to go, “Mom, do manta rays eat this?” “No, they don’t.” “Oh, can I pretend manta rays eat them?”
So, after clarifying that manta rays and sharks do not go down there, we got out a balloon or three.
Then, to make sure they would pay attention to the lesson, they got to play for five minutes or so.
We sat down in the kitchen and talked about how the balloon was like the air in our lungs and the air inside of fish. We talked about how big it was right now, and nice and round.
Then, to show how much pressure there is when you go deep into the ocean, they lay on top of the balloons to show how it smashes the balloon down. They were very careful to not put too much pressure on their balloons and pop the OH SO IMPORTANT balloons.
Very important. It was a great tragedy when, later, Mac popped one of the balloons while chasing it. The teary-eyed boy then had to go outside and find all the broken balloon pieces before he was given a new balloon.
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