Alaska Seas and Watersheds Curriculum

Overview: In this 2-3 day investigation, children begin to learn about the tiny plants, animals, and nonliving things that are in sea, river, or pond water. They listen to a read-aloud, explore at learning centers, roleplay, and then make a recipe for Sea Soup.

Focus Questions:

• What is in the water around us?
• How do you know?

Engagement (30 minutes):
Introduce the idea of Sea Soup through a read-aloud: This Is the Sea that Feeds Us by Robert F. Baldwin and/or Sea Soup by Mary Cerullo. Then, lead a discussion and brainstorming session about what is needed to create a recipe for Sea Soup. Support students’ thinking by making a poster, graphic organizer, or bubble chart to record children’s ideas.

Exploration (45 minutes to 1 hour):
Set up the classroom to support learning centers that have to do with Sea Soup:

1. Water center, with plankton nets that students can use to filter water and see pretend plankton (large sequins or other available objects) in the water.
2. Water center, with rocks and shells and laminated field guides (such as MACs) or local ID charts.
3. Globe Toss
4. Flannel board to retell story, using cutouts of "characters" from the story. 
5. Lotto game with both living and non-living things represented.(see samples provided)

Explanation (15-20 minutes):
Gather the whole group for a dramatic role play of Sea Soup:

Use green sequins and spangles to represent phytoplankton and different colored sequins, spangles, and beads to represent zooplankton.

• Invite students to sit around a large blue sheet (paper or cloth) on the floor.
• Ask the students: "Who are you in a tide pool?" (or Who are you in a river? or a pond?) Each student chooses an animal that they want to be; it must be an animal that eats phytoplankton and/or zooplankton.
• Explain to them that they must remain sitting in one space, only moving their arms from this space.
• Sprinkle phytoplankton in the sea and let the "animals" begin "eating" (collecting in a cup) phytoplankton.
• Next, sprinkle larger zooplankton in the sea and let children "eat" zooplankton.

Describe the sea soup process, reading excerpts from Sea Soup by Mary Cerullo as children collect plankton. Discuss, and encourage students to ask questions: "What are you eating?" "How do they know what to eat?"

Elaboration (20 minutes):
Have the students illustrate, draw, and/or explain the Sea Soup recipe in their science notebooks to show their own understanding of what is in the water around them. To support student success with this independent drawing and labeling activity, you may wish to supply them with cutouts of sea soup ingredients that can be colored or examples to draw from.

Evaluation:
Create a checklist based on the expectations for understanding. Make sure the drawing includes water, phytoplankton, zooplankton, the sun, and possibly minerals and salts.

Extension:
Have children make individual jars of Sea Soup, following a class recipe or one they may have written in their science notebook.

Some possibilities for a recipe include:

Shake and mix the jar of Sea Soup, to "feed the world"!

Have children explain their thinking about their recipe. "What did they put in the Sea Soup?" How did these creatures feed the world?

Teacher Preparation:

Read through the investigation, including the Teacher Background section.

Gather the materials that you will need.

Make the flannel board cutouts to retell the story, This is the Sea that Feeds Us. You may want to xerox the images from the book to create the cutouts, or create simple images or silhouettes on your own. 

Print and copy the Sea Soup recipe for student posters, or prepare a class-sized poster. See sample Sea Soup recipe poster.

Print and laminate the Lotto Cards. You may use the ones provided here, or create your own. You may want to focus on marine plants and animals, freshwater plants and animals, or sea soup ingredients.

Make and laminate  3-4 Lotto boards. Each board needs to have the same images as the ones on the Animal cards, and the pictures shold be placed differently on each board.

Sample Marine Lotto

Sample Freshwater Lotto

Set up the classroom to provide space for children to explore water centers.

Curricular Connections:

Literacy: Students write their own Sea Soup recipes, supported by a graphic organizer that assists them to color and write.

Ideas for adapting to different local environment or context: For freshwater and Interior environments, change the name of the activity to "River Soup," "Pond Soup," or "Bear Creek Soup" (name it for a local water feature).

Alaska Science Grade Level Expectations Addressed:

In Investigation 2, kindergarten students begin to build toward these K-12 Alaska Science Standards:

Science as Inquiry and Process
(A2) develop an understanding that the processes of science require integrity, logical reasoning, skepticism, openness, communication, and peer review.

Concepts of Life Science
(C2) develop an understanding of the structure, function, behavior, development, life cycles, and diversity of living organisms.

(C3) develop an understanding that all organisms are linked to each other and their physical environments through the transfer and transformation of matter and energy.