Ocean Unit Study: Week 1

Sun catcher art by First Sprout inspired by the book Out of the Ocean by Debra Frasier.

We have an opportunity to visit Florida beaches this October, so our upcoming family vacation field trip seemed like a great reason to kick off the school year with a unit study on Oceans. We started last week by introducing the topic, sharing materials, and thinking about questions to explore. For an in-depth look my my entire 9-week plan, I thought it might be easiest to share my Oceans Unit Study Plan via Google Docs.

What can I say, except "You're Welcome!"

I think more than anything, I am really excited about the space that the sprouts helped me organize for our unit study. We have a fully-stocked bookshelf of ocean-related reading materials. We have a brand new science and discovery center. And we have a really nifty word chart that helps us link our writing, reading, and science together.

The sprouts are all really excited to learn more about oceans in this space. I am too!

I especially love how the oceans unit lends itself to hands-on exploration through the close study of shells, beach glass, driftwood, and other beach artifacts. There are also lots of neat ocean animal toys available for play and learning too.

Look at this stuff! Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Since we haven't had much chance to dive into this unit yet, I thought I would use this post to share some of my planning resources:

• My Unit Study: Oceans board was not a resource all by itself, but it helped me keep track of ideas while I was looking for information.
• Education.com had a lot of great ideas for science experiments, like this edible model of a coral polyp. Most of the science I have planned for this unit comes from them since it's free and covers a good range of elementary topics.
• Natural Beach Living blog had lots of awesome ocean printables that I laminated for our science table. 
• Pretty much all of our art plans came from these great beach-themed chalk pastel tutorials by Southern Hodge Podge.
• Brave Writer has been a huge inspiration for our language arts program, so I will be using lots of ocean-themed copy work, Poetry Teatimes,  and writing games-- such as Mad Libs Junior: Under the Sea and Rory's Story Cubes: Voyages. 
• There are tons of great children's books about oceans. I have many of them listed in my unit study plan, but if I had to pick my top 5, they would be: Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan, Out of the Ocean by Debra Frasier, Flotsam by David Wiesner, Shark Lady by Jess Keating, and Follow the Moon Home by Phillipe Cousteau. 
• I must confess to using lots of Netflix in my planning, because there are fascinating documentaries (Blue Planet), television shows (The Magic School Bus),  and movies (Moana) available about oceans.
• Last but not least, the sprouts gave me a great list of questions to consider.

When you aren't sure where to start, just write down their questions.

For our Oceans Unit Study: Week 2, we will be looking at some of the physical properties of ocean water such as the composition of seawater and the role of the ocean in climate and weather. I am looking forward to doing more science experiments, more writing, and more exploring.

Until Next Time, 

Happy Learning!