Did you see my shark post from yesterday? If not, click HERE!
Today I want to show you a couple of more activities that the students just LOVED during Shark Week!
Last year I read The Doorbell Rang, but I used a little booklet I made and Cookie Crisp for the kids to manipulate. You can see that HERE. I wanted to read the book again, but I decided to have the kids play Feed the Sharks while we were reading the book. I gave each student 12 shark cards (I used THIS clipart from TriOriginals) and 12 Swedish Fish.
As we read the book we modeled the division problems with our sharks and fish. The students had to divide the fish evenly out among the sharks.
They had a blast feeding the sharks!Afterwards, students got to sample a couple of Swedish Fish. They took the rest home in a baggie to eat later 🙂
Since they had already learned division, this was definitely more of a review!
After reading, we talked about the different parts of the shark’s body that the book mentioned. We went through and labeled the Parts of a Shark using this activity from Rooted in Reading.
Seriously, if it involves a shark… they think it’s the best thing ever!
We also talked about all of the vocabulary words from the book. We played a silent matching game with the words and definitions. I gave each student either a word or a definition, spread them out all over the room, and gave them three minutes to find their match (vocab word to definition) WITHOUT talking. They had to read each other’s cards and use nonverbal communication to figure it all out!
We also used this vocabulary flap-up to write down the definition of the vocabulary words in our own words.
After all of that it was time for a little cooperative learning! This activity actually comes from a STEM project by The Teacher Studio called Help Harry. I gave the students a mission. They had to SAVE THE SEAL from the shark.
Here’s what I gave each group of three students:
12 pipe cleaners
3 pieces of tape
2 pieces of foil
1 rubberband
2 notecards
1 paper cup
a seal to save!
Groups had to work together to plan out how they were going to save the seal. I gave them an image of a shark popping out of water to put on the ground. They had to build a structure that would lift their seal far above the shark! It is always so neat to see what they come up with!
My only rules were: You have to use everything in your bag. You cannot use anything extra.
Here’s how some of the students Saved the Seal!
This group said they created a force field that would electrocute the shark if it came near 🙂
A couple of the groups had to completely start over several times because they didn’t make a plan first. It was a great learning experience for everyone! Those that worked together, made a plan, and thought through each step were so much more successful! Sometimes we have to let our students fail so that they can learn from their mistakes and try again 🙂 It’s not an easy thing to watch, but it will soooooooo help them in the long run.
And that’s that! I hope you enjoy the end of the year with your students 🙂
Hi, I'm Amy
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
