Whales

This post is overdue, but I had to include some photos and notes about our whale lesson two weeks ago!

Whales were the first marine animal we studied as part of our oceanography unit. The lesson began with a PowerPoint covering main characteristics of all whale species. We specifically talked about why whales are mammals. We also learned that whales can be classified as toothed or having baleen.

Then we dove (no pun intended :) into six specific kinds of whales - Great Blue, Humpback, Gray, Beluga, Killer, and Sperm. Whale information sheets were placed at each table, and students rotated around and answered questions. Each info sheet focused on one kind of whale, and included pictures and facts. I think the class had fun with this part. They would call out to me, "Ms. Spencer, did you know that _____??" It was great!

As students finished their questions, several of them decided to do "calculations" using their recently acquired knowledge about whale lengths. This proved to be an exciting part of the class as we discovered how long our classroom was in comparison to different types of whales. (We figured out that a large Blue Whale would not even fit down the long hallway of our school!)

I am including a video of Greta and Kathryn explaining some of their calculations. (Hopefully it works.)

Finally, we finished off the day by making clay whale models. Students chose a type of whale to represent in clay. I was impressed by the details so many of them included in their models. Here are some fun photos showing the variety of products: