To introduce the children to information about fish, I have been reading a few pages of What's It Like to be a Fish? to them each day. I am trying to figure out how to embed an image of a book from Amazon into the text of my blog posts but haven't got it figured out yet. However, I've added a link on the Amazon sidebar if you are interested.
Before I read this type of book to the children I have them "wake up their brains". We rub our heads and wiggle our listening ears a little bit. I have found this gets them into a good state of mind to pay attention to what I am reading. I also tell them that after I read I will have them tell me what they learned about fish.
Following the read aloud, I call on students individually to tell what they remember from what I've read. This is pretty hard for young children, but it's a very good thing to help them practice. They are very inclined to get a little off-topic and start telling their own "fish stories" such as "Once I had a fish and he died" or "My grandma had a fish", etc. I gently tell them that they can tell me about THEIR fish later, but this is a time to think hard about what we read in the fish BOOK and tell me what they remember. I have been pretty impressed with what they are able to recall.
Some of the main things we have learned so far about fish are:
*Fish are living things.
*Fish live in water. Water is their habitat. (We talked briefly about the fact that a habitat is the place where something lives.)
*Fish have fins and specially shaped bodies that allow them to swim very well and very fast.
*When fish open and close their mouths, they are "breathing." They take in water, their bodies remove the oxygen and then the water leaves their body through their gill openings.
*Fish eat flakes that are made from ground-up flies, shrimp, crab, fish, oats, corn, carrots, and vitamins.
If you are the parent of a child in my class, be sure to ask your child what they are learning about fish. Next week we will learn the parts of a fish and we'll have out some more work on the science shelf to support that learning.
Oh............I almost forgot. We have a new class pet named, Finnegan. And...........as you may have guessed............he's a goldfish. He lives in a little bowl on our peace shelf. But I FORGOT to take a photo of him. Perhaps he'll make an appearance in a future post.
Recent Comments