Year 4 Blue Abyss Midterm Planning ENGAGE STAGE Memorable Experience Visit an aquarium to gain a unique insight into the world of the deep. Observe aquatic life, finding out about the different species that live in the depths of the world’s seas and oceans. Watch and draw different creatures in a sketchbook. Record information in notebooks and on digital tablets, paying special attention to the variation within and across species. Listen to experts talk about different animals, asking questions to help them learn more. Back in the classroom, encourage the children to use information and photos gathered during their visit to recount it. Work in pairs or groups to discuss and make a bulleted list or mind map of things seen and discovered. Share observations and information with classmates, comparing the recordings made by different groups or pairs. Work together as a class to compile a list of research questions for project work. Curriculum Enrichment: Under the Sea! Essential Skills Children could… Programmes of Study Sort a wide range of images of living things seen at the aquarium into groups. Re-sort the images repeatedly using a different grouping strategy each time. Group digital images onto a presentation slide, adding a title for each group and labelling Sc LT 1 Recognise that living Science individual creatures. things can be grouped in a variety Develop own classification keys and assign Teacher Note of ways.Co 5, 6, 7; Sc WS 4; living things to groups, using these keys. Living things might be organised by species, En W C 2d adaptations, food, number of legs, or the oceanic zone they inhabit. Provide a range of printed and digital images that children can sort either by cutting and sticking or by using the cut and paste function on digital software. Use maps, globes, aerial images and atlases to Ge LK 3 Identify the position and significance of Geography identify the world’s oceans and seas. Identify their latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Locate and explain the significance of the position in relation to the Equator, the Tropics of Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Cancer and Capricorn and the Arctic and Antarctic Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer Circles. Use websites and information books to find Prime/ Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including and Capricorn to a range of countries of the out features of the different seas and oceans, day and night). world. recording their findings in a table or Ge SF 1; Co 5, 6, 7;En R C 1a, 1b, 3; PSHE 5f spreadsheet. Observe any patterns in characteristics according to where the seas and oceans are situated. Watch live webcams to explore the waters of oceans, reefs and seas. Teacher Note Ask each group to research the following information about each sea or ocean: depth, area covered, bordering continents, hemisphere, special features and climate. Special features might include a coral reef, an underwater volcano or a habitat suited to a unique species of animal. Use classification keys (branching databases) to identify creatures that live in seas and oceans and sort them into groups, including cnidarian, mollusc, fish, mammal, arthropod, annelid, reptile or echinoderm. Watch film and documentary footage of a range of deep sea creatures to observe their features and behaviour. Sc LT 2 Explore and use Teacher Note classification keys to help group, Science Examples of creatures which fit into the above groups identify and name a variety of Develop own classification keys and assign are jellyfish (cnidarians); octopus, squid and clams living things in their local and living things to groups, using these keys. (molluscs); sharks and rays (fish); dolphins and wider environment.Sc WS 5; Co 6, 7; whales (mammals); crabs (arthropods); En SL 1, 3 sandworms (annelids); turtles (reptiles); and starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers (echinoderms). The classification of living things into their ‘phylum’, ‘class’, ‘family’ or ‘species’ is very complicated and relies on separating things based on their traits and ancestry. Look carefully at a range of aquatic creatures bought from a fishmonger or supermarket, including flat and standard fish, squid, mussels, and crabs. Identify the external features of each specimen. Use hand lenses or digital microscopes to observe the finer Art & Design AD 1 Create sketch books to record their observations details, such as scales, claws, eyes and patterns, and Draw from close observation to capture fine and use them to review and revisit ideas.AD 2, 3; Sc make detailed sketches of one chosen creature. Use details. WS 3; En SL 1; Co 6 pencil, pen and ink to create effects. Teacher Note You may want to show children examples of similar artwork on an IWB, pointing out how the artists have captured the creatures’ form and detail. Search online for good examples, such as the work of artist J. Vincent Scarpace. Wash hands after handling specimens and store them in the refrigerator so they don’t become smelly! Find out about the different layers of the ocean, namely the sunlight zone, twilight zone, midnight zone, abyss and trenches. Identify each layer’s characteristics and inhabitants and draw a cross- sectional diagram to show the layers. Make a 3-D AD 2 Improve their mastery of art and design model of the ocean zones to show each layer and its techniques, including drawing, painting and Art & Design physical features, plants and creatures. sculpture with a range of materials [e.g. pencil, Select and record visual and other information Teacher Note charcoal, paint, clay].DT D 2; DT M 1, 2; Co 5, 7; to develop ideas on a theme. Scientists have divided the ocean into five main layers En R C 1b, 3; En SL 3; or ‘zones’ that extend from the surface of the ocean to Sc WS 5; Ge HP 1 the most extreme depths. Light can not reach the deepest zones, which are inhabited by some of the most bizarre and fascinating creatures. In deeper, largely unexplored places, the temperature drops and the pressure increases at an astounding rate! Curriculum Enrichment: Deeper and Deeper Essential Skills Children could… Programmes of Study Keep brine shrimp in a classroom tank or recycled plastic bottles. Look closely at the creatures using digital microscopes and hand lenses. Devise a set of questions about the creatures using question prompt cards. Sort their questions into those they could Science answer now, such as ‘Are the shrimp alive?’, those Suggest relevant questions and know that they demanding observation or research, such as ‘Where Sc WS 1 Ask relevant questions and using different could be investigated in a variety of ways, in the tank do the shrimp prefer to be?’, and those types of scientific enquiries to answer them. including using secondary sources such as where the answer involves a test, such as ‘Can Sc WS 2, 6; PSHE 1a, 2e; En SL 1, 4, 6, 7, 11; Co 6 ICT. shrimps tell the difference between light and dark?’. Independently plan and perform an enquiry using the creatures, discussing the ethics of using animals for scientific research. Share their discoveries with the rest of the class. Teacher Note Brine shrimp (also known as ‘sea monkeys’) are often used as live aquaria food and can be cheaply sourced from good aquaria suppliers and online. Alternatively, eggs can be purchased online with detailed instructions for hatching and caring for them. Brine shrimp survive only in salt water (one quarter teaspoon per 40ml tap water). The water should be replenished every two weeks, and although brine shrimps can tolerate poor oxygen levels, you should add an occasional oxygenating tablet to the water. Feed the creatures with algae powder from aquarium suppliers. Use pipettes to transfer the animals when observing. When the class has finished with the creatures, they could take them home to keep as ‘pets’ or give them to an aquarium enthusiast as live aquaria food. Research the food chain of a sea creature using a diagram or model to show their findings. Use their representation to explain where their particular creature fits into the food chain. Describe it and other parts of the food chain as producers, predators or prey and consider what would happen if any of the living organisms in their chain became unavailable. Teacher Science Note Sc A 3 Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, Construct a variety of food chains and explain You could ask children to choose a mystery ‘creature’ identifying producers, predators and prey.Co 5, 6, 7; what would happen if one of the parts of the card from a ‘Blue Abyss’ box to base their food chain En R C 1b, 3 chain became ‘unavailable’. on. Children could watch film and documentary footage of different predators and prey in action. For example, giant blue whales consuming vast quantities of krill using their food-sifting baleen plates, killer whales hunting seals or octopus catching crabs. Children could explore different ways of representing their food chains in either 2-D or 3-D. Watch clips from the BBC’s Blue Planet series about creatures of the deep. As they watch, make notes on Science how creatures have adapted for survival in this Sc WS 5 Record findings using simple scientific Choose appropriate ways to record and extreme environment. Select an adaptation from their language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar present information, findings and conclusions observations and find out more about it. Decide how charts, and tables. for different audiences (e.g. displays, oral to present their information, making sure it is clear and En W C 1b, 2b, 2d; Co 5, 7; En R C 1b, 1c, 3 or written explanations).