Is Seahorse a Fish?

            Today was such a special day! It was special because everyone in Flowers came to Ohana. If you count the number of friends in our class photo, you’d see 13 children. Indeed, today was an extra HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

            After a great time playing at Kogai Park, we gathered for a circle time. Yu volunteered to read today’s question of the day. Ky counted how many friends who answered YES and NO and tried his best to write the number by himself. Everyone knows that after counting the number on the YES and NO columns, brilliant minds will be at work to discuss our answers. And today was not an exception. Is seahorse a fish? Seven friends said NO, it’s not and here’s why:

            N: Because they are longer and straight.

            Ch: Seahorse is long and is curly tail. Fish have hard tail and circle shape.

            T: Do you know that electric eels have straight tails? Fish don’t have long mouth. Fish have a short mouth.

            K: Seahorse go back and forth, and fish go left, right, up, and down.

            S: Tatsu no otoshigo is this one. Is long this way (vertical)) and long this way (horizontal).

            Za: Poop is circle for the fish, but the seahorse has long poop.

            Ti: Where do they poo?

            Z: On the floor of the ocean and people pick them up.

 Six friends said YES, it is and here’s why:

          Y: I am thinking.

           Kyi: Yesterday, tell. Fish baby is seahorse.

           Di: Because I love it. It’s yummy!
          A: Because it has a shark tail.

           Ky: I find the book (about seahorses).

           A: It has a shark tail.

  Going back to our question, is seahorse a fish? We have heard the reasons for both sides and we felt like it made us a bit more unsure whether seahorse is really a fish or maybe it isn’t. Perhaps, we could spend more time “researching” to find out the answer to this.

            Our interest about seahorses grew stronger and stronger so, we decided to keep that discussion open until next week. For now, we read a book that Ky kept for Vieda which talks about seahorses. And these are what we found out!

            A seahorse has a:

                        Head like a horse

                        Pouch like a kangaroo

                        Tail like a monkey

                        Strong tail that can grab on things to avoid being thrown about by the waves! Speaking of strong tails, K said that “seahorse hooks his tail on the seaweed. It’s like an anchor”. T thought that “the wave is going this way so; the seahorse is hiding”.

  Seahorse is such an amazing creature! We were just in awe as we heard how strong his tail that Ky and A tried to pose like a seahorse! Why does it have a pouch? That is another interesting topic to talk about next time. Then, as Vieda read more from the book, she mentioned about the seahorse’s ability to change color to match its habitat. Habitat?! Konosuke said, “We know that! Habitat is somewhere the animals can live!”. Za excitedly shared her idea that it’s “Like a chameleon!”.

            There is one big word that we learned before that refers to the creature’s ability to change its color to blend in its environment. There was a long pause as we tried to recall what the word was. And then K raised his hand and said, “It’s called CAMOUFLAGE!”. We all chorused to say the word! Our younger age group seemed a bit confused. It was just in time when K excused himself and grabbed his jacket from the red box. He said, “This is camouflage!”. Furthermore, he shared with us another meaning of camouflage. He continued, “Camouflage is also used in the army battle. When the people do not want the others to see them, they go down like this (Please check his photo!) and hide in the grass and bushes and look for their enemies like this”. On the other hand, Ky stood up and showed us how an animal camouflaged themselves. He explained, “When they see bad people coming, animals go like this to hide”.

            Next week, please share your thoughts about the seahorse’s diet and activity in the ocean. As always, we would love to hear your ideas!

            For our morning activities, we were busy preparing the habitat for the sea creatures that we would be talking about. We had a wonderful time getting our hands wet and “fluffy” with paint to make an ocean! We also continued to work on our special love tree just in time for Valentine’s Day next week.

            Please enjoy the rest of the evening! See you on Monday!

 LOVE,

Flowers XOXO