Elakha. Phtot courtesy of the Elakha Alliance.
Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to Relationships between Humans and the Environment
Lesson 2: Sea Otters and the Food Web
Lesson 3: Sea Otters, A Keystone Species
Lesson 4: Native Americans and the Sea Otter
Lesson 5: Dangers to Sea Otter and Responsibility of People
Extending the lessons/References
Standards
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
EL.03.RE.08—Demonstrate listening comprehension of more complex text through discussions.
EL.03.RE.34—Take part in creative response to text, such as dramatizations and oral presentations.
EL.03.SL.09—Answer questions completely and with appropriate elaboration.
EL.03.WR.02—Discuss ideas for writing, use diagrams and charts to develop ideas, and make a list or notebook of ideas.
LIFE SCIENCE
SC.03.LS.04—Describe a habitat and the organisms that live there.
CD Segments to Play
Background
Suggested Strategies
In preparation for today’s lesson, print out the picture of the kelp forest at HYPERLINK “http://www.mbayaq.org/lc/kids_place/pnd_prnt_kelpcolor01.html”http://www.mbayaq.org/lc/kids_place/pnd_prnt_kelpcolor01.html.
Also, for today’s lesson, you will need a piece of string the diameter of the class standing in a circle; one for each child.
Activities
1. Review
Pass out the kelp forest picture. Remind the students of yesterday’s information on kelp forests, A Kelp Forest looks like giant leaves, they grow from the bottom of the ocean all the way to the top. Kelp is actually giant seaweed, which are algae. In a kelp forest live different kinds of algae (besides the giant kelp). Have the students look at the page they colored yesterday of the sea otter eating the sea urchin. Ask if they can find a sea urchin in the kelp forest color page.
2. Discuss
Ask: What do you think that sea otters eat? (They love to eat sea urchins which live in the kelp forest. They also like clams, crab, turban snails, mussels, shrimp, octopus and fish.)
3. Play a game
The Food Web Game
Write four living organisms on the board: sea otter, sea urchin, fish, and kelp.
Divide the class equally into the four groups. Have them write their name on a piece of paper and place it on their shirt.
Tell the students who eats who:
a. Sea otter eats sea urchin and fish, but their favorite food is the sea urchin.
b. Sea urchin eats kelp.
c. Fish eat smaller fish and algae (kelp).
d. Kelp converts sunlight to energy.
Have the students stand in a circle, each with a piece of string. One student holds a piece of string and walks over to something it would eat and drapes the string along the floor from where they started to where they end. The organism that gets eaten finds something to eat and drapes the string from the starting point to the next organism. Once a student eats something they must sit down.
Continue until all the students have had a chance to eat something. The kelp does not eat anything, but uses the sun; the teacher should be the sun, so the kelp has something to go to.
After all the students have eaten something, have the students look at the food web they have just created. Remind the students that many Native American Tribes consider all things are related to each other. Ask them if they can see by the food web how everything is actually related to each other and how dependent upon each other that the organisms are.
Now, have the students pick up their string and start over. But this time remove all of the sea otters from the group. Have each student sit down after they have been eaten.
All that should be left standing are the sea urchin.
Ask the students what will happen to the kelp forests?
4. Draw
Have the students color their kelp forest picture.
