After 6 weeks of immersing ourselves in researching the ocean in our classroom, we were ready to investigate live salt water creatures at Aqua Imports.
We took the city bus and the bike path to get to our destination.
We kept the children engaged at the bus stop by describing ocean animals and having children guess which creature matched the description.
One child asked a pertinent question, “What kind of teeth does a plecostomus (type of catfish) have?” We took the question straight to Parker, an Aqua Imports worker. Parker showed us several different kinds, some had small rows of teeth while other types had no teeth. Children came to the consensus that the plecostomus in our school tank was the latter type but were sure to check it when we returned to school.
In a deep tank, children had to take turns climbing a ladder to see the mysterious lungfish hiding in the corner. Lungfish would not reveal its face. Parker tried with some effort to pull lungfish out of the corner it was hiding in but to no avail. This sparked a curiosity in the children’s mind, so upon our school return we looked up its photo on the Ipad and children drew the lungfish.
We discovered corals, bio-luminescent algae & fish, sea stars, and sea urchin. Children excitedly called out, “sea anemone and clown fish”. They also accurately identified “black angelfish” as a fish that lives in our tank. Among the reptiles, we observed there were turtles, python, king snake, tarantula, bearded dragon and a monitor. It was an additional bonus to have a chance to see these reptiles up close and personal because we are highlighting Australian land animals over the next couple of weeks before we close the chapter on our oceanic studies.