Today we had a terrific Tuesday learning all about one of the ocean’s amazing places- the coral reefs! Coral reefs are busy underwater cities where lots of sea animals live. We learned that coral reefs are not just colorful, they’re alive! They are made by tiny animals called polyps and they get their colors from tiny plants called algae. This algae helps make food for the coral and in return, the coral gives it a safe home.
- Review
M: ocean
A: we make the ocean, fishies, wave!
N: if the egg sinks or floats in the ocean water or fresh water
M:(we learned) where the salt comes from. When the rain falls and rock cracks and goes to the ocean.
A: I don’t know how the sea creatures live there
- Coral Reef Introduction
N: The coral sticks on a rock and grows
What gives color to the corals (polyps)?
M: the allergy(algae)!
How does the algae helps the coral?
M: When the allergy( algae) goes, the coral will die?
A: The allergy(algae) is the food?
L: If it goes, it gets sick and die
- Question of the day: Can coral reefs help animals hide?
M: Yes,
T: houses for fish, eating, sleeping
N: they protect the fish that sharks eat
J: If there’s a shark, fish go in and little fish hide.
K: Fish inside the coral. Then shark find fish and he eat
T: they’re tiny, so only the fish can go in the coral
L: the jellyfish go in the coral
Al: They have energy and if they use their energy, they will die
G: Sharks have a sensitive snout and they can smell their blood
N: Yes, The same thing everyone said
M: Fish have lots of colors, so they can hide. There’s a lot of colors of skin
H: When the coral dies, the big fish will find the little fish
A: They need algae because that gives them energy to grow.
To help us understand how the ocean water moves, we used colorful ribbons and pretended to move like waves!
How do animals survive the waves?
G: they’re under the waves
A: the animals are low
T: because they have tails. Next to the surface , there’s not much fish
H: because they’re under the ocean
M: because the wave is too high, and the animals are too low
- Homework: If the surface is calm, are there still waves deep down the ocean?
Next, we explored how coral reefs work, and we built our own! We used pink and green playdough and penne pasta noodles to make shapes, tunnels and hiding spots for the fishes.
- What we Observed
- Everyone made unique coral reef
- The small fish found a hiding spot on some of the coral reef we made
- We learned that coral reefs are important to ocean animals
We enjoyed learning more about the coral reefs. Have a nice day. See you next time.
Love,
Flowers