Creatures of the Ocean

Kassie Moffett
Preschool/Cognitive Development & General Knowledge

Common Core Standards:

Domain: Cognitive and General Knowledge
Sub-Domain: Science
Strand: Science Inquiry and Observation
Topic: Inquiry
Standard Statement: Make careful observations.
Domain: Cognitive and General Knowledge
Sub-Domain: Science
Strand: Science Inquiry and Observation
Topic: Inquiry
Standard Statement: Describe, compare, sort, classify, and order.
Domain: Cognitive and General Knowledge
Sub-Domain: Science
Strand: Life Science
Topic: Exploration of Living Things
Standard Statement: With modeling and support, identify physical characteristics and simple behaviors of
living things.
Domain: Cognitive and General Knowledge
Sub-Domain: Science
Strand: Life Science
Topic: Exploration of Living Things
Standard Statement: With modeling and support, identify and explore the relationship between living things
and their environments (e.g., habitats, food, eating habits, etc.).
Lesson Summary:
The purpose of this activity is for children to learn about the different creatures that live in the ocean and to
then be able to tell the difference between animals that live on the land and animals that live in the ocean.
Children will be using multiple technological outlets on top of hands-on activities to implement this lesson.
The technology used will include an online encyclopedia of ocean animals, an online ocean animal game, and
a sorting activity on the smartboard.

Estimated Duration:

Because this lesson plan is intended for preschoolers, this lesson will be broken up over a five-day week to go
along with the weekly theme. Each technological session will last roughly 20-25 minutes each day for a total
of 100-125 minutes. The time each child spends with the technology may vary, however, due to individual
preferences of each child and attention span. Due to these different interest levels of each child, the 20-25
increments may have to be spread out during the day as children explore the programs during their free choice.

Commentary: I plan on getting children interested initially by reading a nonfiction book on Ocean Animals or
by making a picturefile to go over with the children. After that, I plan on showing a video on ocean animals to
really get their attention. Seeing the animals in live action should gain their attention. Problems I see arising
from this activity include children losing interest or the technology taking away from the hands-on approach. I
plan on leaving most of the activities up for the children to explore on their own time, like leaving the game up
on the computers and the online encyclopedia up as well. I also plan on using the technology alongside of the
normal hands-on activities, which is why it will be spread out over the week.

Instructional Procedures:
Day 1: I will share with the children a picture file of about three different ocean pictures/ocean animal pictures
and ask them questions about each pictures to get the children interested in the subject and to get them
comfortable talking about the subject as well. (10 minutes)
I will then take the children to the smartboard to play a video titled Underwater Film of Various Sea Life in
the Pacific: Video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kj_vwleR6Q) and pause the video at
various points if the children have questions or if I have questions that I want to stop and ask the children or if
there are details that I want to point out. (total of 20 minutes)
Afterwards the children will be transitioned into centers
Day 2: The children will be introduced to the online encyclopedia of ocean animals found at:
http://oceana.org/marine-life and we will go through some animals as a class; based on which animals the
children are the most interested in. I will talk about each creature they pick and read off some facts to
demonstrate the use of an online encyclopedia. (20 minutes)
Children will also have access to the encyclopedia on the computer during free choice/centers.
Day 3: Group time will start off by me reading the children the book National Geographic Little Kids First Big
Book of the Ocean by Catherine Hughes. This book has 128 pages, however, so I will just pick out certain
animals to read about, like ones we havent really covered yet or ones that the kids want to know more about.
The big will then be left out for the children as a center choice for them to explore on their own. (10 minutes)
I will then introduce the children to the computer game Animal Ocean Game found on:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/animals/ocean/animaloceangame.htm in which the children have
to listen to the clues to figure out which ocean animal the clue is referring to. The children can also play a
game in which they create an ocean scene using various animals

(http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/animals/ocean/animaloceancreate.htm). These can be

screenshotted and displayed once the child is done. The children will also still have access to the online
encyclopedia. (5-10 minutes per child)
Day 4: On the smartboard, we will use the website: https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/ to create a
stacked bar graph of the childrens favorite sea animals. (The stacked graph allows the children to better see
which animal each person chose) The children can be interactive in this by picking the color they want their
square to be, typing their name, and then typing a 1 by the animal that they want to choose. This graph can
then printed out and hung up for further discussion. (20-25 minutes)
The children will still have access to the online computer games and the online encyclopedia during center
time.
Day 5: Using the SMART Notebook program, the children will participate in an ocean/land animal sorting
activity. A few different scenarios will be made so that each child is exposed to different animals. The page
will have about ten different animals at the bottom and the children will have to move the animal to either the
land side or the ocean side to sort them. (20-25 minutes).

Pre-Assessment:
To pre-assess the children, I will get an idea from each child of what they know about ocean animals from the
picturefile discussion. I will make sure to prompt every child to talk and take notes of what they know. This
can also be done as we are discussing the video watch the first day, as some children will know more facts than
others.
Scoring Guidelines:
Through my observations, I will make notes of what each child knows that way I can compare notes
from the beginning of the week to the end of the week to determine how far each child has progressed.
This will be mainly based on my judgment, combined with checking it against the standards listed for
this lesson plan.

Post-Assessment:
The post assessment will also be based on observations of each of the children. The game of identifying ocean
animals will help determine if a child can recall facts about each animal based on their observations. I can
monitor this as the children are in the computer center and make note.
The sorting game will also determine of the children are able to differentiate between animals that live on land
or in the ocean, showing their understanding of the habitats of the animals and showcasing their ability to sort
and classify in general. Again, this will be noted for each child to see if they have met those standards by the
end of the week.
Scoring Guidelines:
After noting my observations of each child, theyre progress and abilities will be matched against each
standard statement to determine if they have met that standard or not. This is a yes or no checklist

method.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated
students:
If students appear to be flying through the games and become bored in the computer centers, I could pair them
up to help someone who may be having trouble correctly guessing the animals so that they can help them. I
could also try to do more one-on-one with them, if they are accelerated I could place out more books for them
to go through and help them read through the facts. I could also find more challenging games for them. If they
are struggling, I could sit down one-on-one with them to help them through the activities and go through what
they dont understand or what they are struggling with.
Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the
material:
If a child was struggling, I would go through the computer game one-on-one with them and ask them questions
or point out thing to help scaffold them to understanding. I could give them extra sorting activities to do or
give them more hands on activities, such as a paper matching game or bring in more books for them to look
through or read it to them.

Extension
Because my class would be preschool, they wouldnt be able to click on links and read them to better
understand the standards. I could, however send their parents an email with a link to the Early Childhood
Standards because they give examples under each standard, so that they understand why I am implementing
this lesson and what their child will learn from it. http://www.earlychildhoodohio.org/files/elds/ELSD
%20Cognition%20Standards.pdf

Homework Options and Home Connections

Because my students would be too young for homework, I would send out a link to the sheppard software
games so that the parents can explore these games at home with their children to help the children gain a better
understanding. I would also send them the link to the online encyclopedia of ocean creatures and highly
encourage them to check that out with their child at home. Parents can provide more one-on-one time with
their child so their interest levels and individual needs in general are more likely to be met.

Interdisciplinary Connections
Literacy: The students will be given paper with vocabulary words (various ocean animal names) written on it
andand itiiandand a andand
and a space next to each word. They will have to build each word by sorting through magnetic letters and

placing the correct ones in the space next to each word.

Creative Art: The students will use clay to make their own sea creatures. Once the clay has dried they can
then paint them as well.
Materials and Resources:

For teachers

Smartboard, internet, printer, picturefile of ocean pictures, the book National

Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean by Catherine Hughes, student
computers

For students

Materials for the students will be provided

Key Vocabulary
Ocean, sea, water, ocean animals names (turtle, octopus, crab, whale, fish, etc.)

Additional Notes
Because its for preschool, I just wrote down the lesson plan for the technology part of the lesson instead of
writing out a whole plan.