Our last day of class for the school year! We brought everything together in this last lesson with our animal presentations and the creation of a tidepool food web. Each student brought a 3D representation of the animal they chose last week, as well as their completed posters. In class, we looked at how these animals all interact. They each presented their animal, telling us about their habitat, adaptations for survival, and predator/prey relationships. They placed their animal on our tidepool model when they were done and soon, we had a tidal zone with crabs, anemones, a sea urchin, octopus, hairy chiton, seal, and black oyster catcher. We added in a few extras (plankton, algae, and a few more common invertebrates) and then the fun began. Using yarn, the students connected their species with all those that they ate, and that ate them. It didn't take long to have a mess of yarn going all over the tide pool because these animals are so dependent on one another to survive. species being wiped out by an algae bloom. Each situation required them to look at the food chain and decide which species would be affected and then remove the corresponding Jenga blocks, or in some cases, replace a block for a species that was thriving. We saw a lot of fluctuations and the tower crashing when too many species are lost is an important visual for what goes on in our oceans and all over the planet.
I'm so proud of all these kids and the hard work and insights and enthusiasm they have brought to class this year. We've had a lot of fun exploring biology together and starting little sparks of interest surrounding these different topics. I hope everyone stays curious this summer and comes back with new observations and questions in the fall!
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May 2020
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