Pls help me with Marine Biology for 5th grader

[freesia]

My fifth grade dd is and has been passionate about marine biology for years.  She loves watching documentaries and shows like Jonathan Bird's Blue World.  She is less thrilled with the idea of reading books about different animals, etc. (Although she is a reader and might be interested if it's really good....)

We have done aquariums and an aquarium membership.  The closest one, however, is about an hour away, so regular classes are not going to happen with 2 older siblings at home and no public transport to get them to work or activities.

So, any ideas?  Any shows like JB's Blue World that your enthusiast loves?  online resources? great books?????

In some ways she is self-propelled in this area, but I'd love to strew some resources.

[Lori D.]

How to Be an Ocean Scientist in Your Own Home (Simons) -- gr. 5-8; text and experiments; out of print, but available cheap used on Amazon
Marine Biology unit -- free download of 13-lesson unit from The Good and The Beautiful
Next Level Homeschool: Marine Science -- 4 8-week online courses; they build, and must take part 1 before part 2, etc.; unfortunately, part 1 has passed for this year
Ocean First Education -- digital lessons/courses
Apologia: Swimming Creatures (Christian)

supplements:
Jonathan Bird's Big Blue World -- videos
Blue Planet: Ocean -- gorgeous documentary series on the oceans and ocean life
Marine Biology coloring book
Quark Chronicles: Zoology -- first 8 chapters are on marine life
Fieldwork: Science in Its Natural State -- blog with an assortment of "fieldwork" ideas on oceanography/marine biology -- some could be field trips
marine biology dissection lab -- depending on how your family feels about dissection
Marine Biology website -- info and resources

from an April 2018 post by Targhee:
"... Marine Bio is pretty specific area of biology and only a sliver of Marine Science/oceanography (which is more physical/environmental based) I cobbled together a course when my oldest three were 8, 10, 13.  We used this book for physical environment, this book to make interactive notebooks with, and did activities from this book (we had access to the pacific while this is geared towards the Atlantic it still worked).  We did lots of other things (discussions, dissections, museums, lectures from mom, videos) as well, and covered general biology topics from a few sources."

past threads for more ideas:
"Field trip/vacation ideas for marine biology study" -- field trip ideas
"Oceanography resources" -- mostly at-home ideas -- a gold mine of resources in this old thread!

Edited October 19, 2019 by Lori D.

[Guest]

If you're interested in an online class, there are several Junior instructor ones at Athena's Academy focused on Marine biology topics. JI classes are taught by kids, who have a strong interest in the topic, with an adult moderator and a lot of mentoring in the class design phase. Emma has been doing this for quite awhile (she was the first JI at Athena's), and is really, really good. My experience (as a moderator for DD's classes) is that kids who already have read everything they can get their hands on about a topic usually really enjoy JI classes just for the chance to discuss with other kids. 

[freesia]

Thank you so much. This all looks great. 

[lewelma]

Are you near the ocean? If so, I can give you a ton of hands on ideas.

[ktgrok]

The Good and The Beautiful has a Marine Science unit study! May be beneath her if she's already been studying it, but it's free to download, so worth a shot! Lots of hands on stuff, and we've really enjoyed it. Also has a book list suggestions. (oops, see someone linked it above!) I'll say I've learned quite a bit doing it with the kids, and there are plenty of options to research more when something strikes her fancy. 

As for shows, not super educational but we love Ocean Vet, Sea Rescues, and Jeff Corwin's Ocean Mysteries. 

Also, Pagoo is wonderful. Might seem a bit young/silly to her, but it's super educational and the art is fantastic. Everyone from the 2 year old to the 9 year old to my 43 year old self is LOVING it. 

[freesia]

11 hours ago, lewelma said:

Are you near the ocean? If so, I can give you a ton of hands on ideas.

We are about an hour away, but will do a week at the beach this summer. I’d love to hear your ideas. 

[freesia]

6 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

The Good and The Beautiful has a Marine Science unit study! May be beneath her if she's already been studying it, but it's free to download, so worth a shot! Lots of hands on stuff, and we've really enjoyed it. Also has a book list suggestions. (oops, see someone linked it above!) I'll say I've learned quite a bit doing it with the kids, and there are plenty of options to research more when something strikes her fancy. 

As for shows, not super educational but we love Ocean Vet, Sea Rescues, and Jeff Corwin's Ocean Mysteries. 

Also, Pagoo is wonderful. Might seem a bit young/silly to her, but it's super educational and the art is fantastic. Everyone from the 2 year old to the 9 year old to my 43 year old self is LOVING it. 

Thank you. I’d never seen the Good and the Beautiful one and I think it will work nicely. It looks like enough new to help guide and fill out what she knows and maybe provide new directions for rabbit trails. 

And thank you for the show ideas. I don’t think she’s watched them. The Ocean Vet one, in particular, may be a hit. 

[ktgrok]

7 hours ago, freesia said:

Thank you. I’d never seen the Good and the Beautiful one and I think it will work nicely. It looks like enough new to help guide and fill out what she knows and maybe provide new directions for rabbit trails. 

And thank you for the show ideas. I don’t think she’s watched them. The Ocean Vet one, in particular, may be a hit. 

If you are on facebook there is a group for their science units, and someone typed up a HUGE list of books, including ones for older kids, to go with the marine biology unit. 

[lewelma]

9 hours ago, freesia said:

We are about an hour away, but will do a week at the beach this summer. I’d love to hear your ideas. 

Great! A few questions, so I can brainstorm ideas:

Do you have access to the rocky intertidal or any rock pools?

Any jellyfish, muscles, oysters, barnacles, seaweed?

Are there any jetties, sea walls, lighthouses?

Do you have access to barrier islands? or inlets? dunes?

Are there coves/bays or just a straight beach? 

Is it windy? Does the wind direction vary?

Are there waves? Is there large variability in tidal height?

Do you have access to a microscope? 

Do you have any chemistry equipment?

Edited October 21, 2019 by lewelma

[Soror]

19 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

The Good and The Beautiful has a Marine Science unit study! May be beneath her if she's already been studying it, but it's free to download, so worth a shot! Lots of hands on stuff, and we've really enjoyed it. Also has a book list suggestions. (oops, see someone linked it above!) I'll say I've learned quite a bit doing it with the kids, and there are plenty of options to research more when something strikes her fancy. 

As for shows, not super educational but we love Ocean Vet, Sea Rescues, and Jeff Corwin's Ocean Mysteries. 

Also, Pagoo is wonderful. Might seem a bit young/silly to her, but it's super educational and the art is fantastic. Everyone from the 2 year old to the 9 year old to my 43 year old self is LOVING it. 

We've been doing G&B and enjoying it.

[freesia]

On 10/20/2019 at 7:00 PM, Ktgrok said:

If you are on facebook there is a group for their science units, and someone typed up a HUGE list of books, including ones for older kids, to go with the marine biology unit. 

Thanks, I'll have to look into that.

[freesia]

22 hours ago, lewelma said:

Great! A few questions, so I can brainstorm ideas:

Do you have access to the rocky intertidal or any rock pools? The closer beaches are rocky.  I don't remember amazing tide pools there like when we lived in the pacific northwest.

Any jellyfish, muscles, oysters, barnacles, seaweed? yes for our vacation beach

Are there any jetties, sea walls, lighthouses? yes jetties and lighthouses

Do you have access to barrier islands? or inlets? dunes?  Yes, barrier islands, dunes and sound beaches.  There is also an inlet at the barrier island.

Are there coves/bays or just a straight beach? Mostly straight--but I can get to a cove on the sound.

Is it windy? Does the wind direction vary? The barrier island where we will spend the week is usually windy.  It does vary, but more seasonally.  The sound beach is not as windy.

Are there waves? Is there large variability in tidal height?  Yes, for the vacation place.  No for the sound.

Do you have access to a microscope? Yes

Do you have any chemistry equipment? Yes

We go every other year to a barrier island and spend a week. This will be the year.  It is sandy and straight with an inlet on one side.

The easiest beaches for me to get to around here are sound beaches and I know them less well.

I tried to answer your questions above.  thanks so much.

[mumto2]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:41 AM, Ktgrok said:

The Good and The Beautiful has a Marine Science unit study! May be beneath her if she's already been studying it, but it's free to download, so worth a shot! Lots of hands on stuff, and we've really enjoyed it. Also has a book list suggestions. (oops, see someone linked it above!) I'll say I've learned quite a bit doing it with the kids, and there are plenty of options to research more when something strikes her fancy. 

As for shows, not super educational but we love Ocean Vet, Sea Rescues, and Jeff Corwin's Ocean Mysteries. 

Also, Pagoo is wonderful. Might seem a bit young/silly to her, but it's super educational and the art is fantastic. Everyone from the 2 year old to the 9 year old to my 43 year old self is LOVING it. 

Pagoo was one of my favorite home ed  science experiences.  We ended up turning it into a unit study using animal classification books from the library.  The kids did drawings, labeled parts, wrote short reports.

I think these were the books https://books.google.com/books?id=WQMdjJe_04YC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=animal+classification+children's+books.+mollusks&source=bl&ots=-LuzgF9cZg&sig=ACfU3U3JxJQ3MPu5vriBkTWs1j-uQSiBqA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIyOqZ567lAhUPRa0KHSt5D_oQ6AEwDXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=animal classification children's books. mollusks&f=false

[goldenecho]

My 5th grader is into this too!   Let me introduce you to my pinterest page....

https://www.pinterest.com/galel/habitats-ocean-ships-and-the-sea/

So, up at the top it's all fun facts cause I just stumbled on a whole bunch of those I want to show my kiddo (and I'm gonna be pinning a lot that others have shared here...so just scroll past the top part).   But below that there's some really awesome science experiments, projects, and printables about marine life and the ocean.     One of my favorite ones that I didn't figure out how to pin there is a buoyancy experiment about whales that you can find here:

http://circle.adventist.org/files/nadscience5-8/Print Materials/ACTIVITIES/LS-BLUBBER VS BUOYANCY.pdf

I really like the DK books on whales, sharks, the ocean.   There's a book with a 3D model of the insides of a shark that's really cool (would make a good Christmas present for a budding marine biologist...I got it for my son last Christmas).   Inside Out Sharks: Look inside a great white in three dimensions!  by David George Gordon

When/if she decides to go to the next level and learn more, The Seaside Naturalist is good.   I got it but my kiddo isn't there yet with the reading, and it's mostly in black and white (but with good illustrations even so).   It has an east coast focus though and we're on the west coast (but still will probably use it later because so much works anyways).

Wherever you are, if you are near enough to an ocean to visit frequently, find a guide book to identifying sea life in that area.  I'm in California and love "The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life of California"

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by goldenecho

[freesia]

9 hours ago, goldenecho said:

My 5th grader is into this too!   Let me introduce you to my pinterest page....

https://www.pinterest.com/galel/habitats-ocean-ships-and-the-sea/

So, up at the top it's all fun facts cause I just stumbled on a whole bunch of those I want to show my kiddo (and I'm gonna be pinning a lot that others have shared here...so just scroll past the top part).   But below that there's some really awesome science experiments, projects, and printables about marine life and the ocean.     One of my favorite ones that I didn't figure out how to pin there is a buoyancy experiment about whales that you can find here:

http://circle.adventist.org/files/nadscience5-8/Print Materials/ACTIVITIES/LS-BLUBBER VS BUOYANCY.pdf

I really like the DK books on whales, sharks, the ocean.   There's a book with a 3D model of the insides of a shark that's really cool (would make a good Christmas present for a budding marine biologist...I got it for my son last Christmas).   Inside Out Sharks: Look inside a great white in three dimensions!  by David George Gordon

When/if she decides to go to the next level and learn more, The Seaside Naturalist is good.   I got it but my kiddo isn't there yet with the reading, and it's mostly in black and white (but with good illustrations even so).   It has an east coast focus though and we're on the west coast (but still will probably use it later because so much works anyways).

Wherever you are, if you are near enough to an ocean to visit frequently, find a guide book to identifying sea life in that area.  I'm in California and love "The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life of California"

 

Thank you so much.  We are on the Atlantic side right now.  I will look at your Pinterest board later today, thanks for sharing it.

[lewelma]

21 hours ago, freesia said:

We go every other year to a barrier island and spend a week. This will be the year.  It is sandy and straight with an inlet on one side.

The easiest beaches for me to get to around here are sound beaches and I know them less well.

I tried to answer your questions above.  thanks so much.

 

Animal Diversity: Classify every animal you can find in Kingdom, Phylum, Class, and possibly Order

Anatomy: Dissect all dead creatures you can find and identify parts and look up their functions. Compare anatomy between different phylum (jellyfish vs fish for example)

Botany: Classify all seaweed you can find, make slides of slivers of tissue and compare parts between different species, identify function.

Microbiology: get samples of different water from different locations (including tide pools), classify species, and compare what is in different water samples.

Ecology: find two locations with different environmental conditions (shade/sun or tidal action/protected) and compare communities of organisms living in each. Do this also for the microbiology in different types of water (old evaporated pools vs ocean).

Physics: observe how water waves move as they reflect, refract, diffract, interfere with seawalls, jetties, lighthouses, coves, inlets. Study how light refracts as it moves from air into seawater and how this affects where you think something is located underwater

Geology: observe longshore transport of sand by looking at the sand accumulation on either side of the jetties. Observe the impact of the prevailing wind on the shape of coves. 

Chemistry: evaporate seawater and if not a polluted beach, taste the salt. Compare tastes between different locations.

Pollution: gather sand from different areas and look for microplastics. Where is there more?  How does surf and wind impact where it collects?

Ok, that is about all I can think of in 10 minutes.  Hope your trip is fun!

Ruth in NZ

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by lewelma

[freesia]

20 hours ago, lewelma said:

 

Animal Diversity: Classify every animal you can find in Kingdom, Phylum, Class, and possibly Order

Anatomy: Dissect all dead creatures you can find and identify parts and look up their functions. Compare anatomy between different phylum (jellyfish vs fish for example)

Botany: Classify all seaweed you can find, make slides of slivers of tissue and compare parts between different species, identify function.

Microbiology: get samples of different water from different locations (including tide pools), classify species, and compare what is in different water samples.

Ecology: find two locations with different environmental conditions (shade/sun or tidal action/protected) and compare communities of organisms living in each. Do this also for the microbiology in different types of water (old evaporated pools vs ocean).

Physics: observe how water waves move as they reflect, refract, diffract, interfere with seawalls, jetties, lighthouses, coves, inlets. Study how light refracts as it moves from air into seawater and how this affects where you think something is located underwater

Geology: observe longshore transport of sand by looking at the sand accumulation on either side of the jetties. Observe the impact of the prevailing wind on the shape of coves. 

Chemistry: evaporate seawater and if not a polluted beach, taste the salt. Compare tastes between different locations.

Pollution: gather sand from different areas and look for microplastics. Where is there more?  How does surf and wind impact where it collects?

Ok, that is about all I can think of in 10 minutes.  Hope your trip is fun!

Ruth in NZ

 

Thank you so much, Ruth. It was so kind of you to put this together for me.  Dd and I will enjoy these projects. 

[hippiemamato3]

On 10/19/2019 at 6:54 PM, dmmetler said:

If you're interested in an online class, there are several Junior instructor ones at Athena's Academy focused on Marine biology topics. JI classes are taught by kids, who have a strong interest in the topic, with an adult moderator and a lot of mentoring in the class design phase. Emma has been doing this for quite awhile (she was the first JI at Athena's), and is really, really good. My experience (as a moderator for DD's classes) is that kids who already have read everything they can get their hands on about a topic usually really enjoy JI classes just for the chance to discuss with other kids. 

DD did all the marine science classes at Athena's when she was younger and loved them!