Crabs Lesson Plans

Students use online tools and resources to examine data concerning key indicators of the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the factors that affect them. They examine how industrial and residential runoff affects the bay.

Students use online tools and resources to examine the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. They examine the various animals and plants that inhabit the watershed and explore how each one is an important part of the bay.

Explore the fables of today along with Aesop's ancient fables. Learners will understand the structure of a fable, critically think about the fable's message, and create a lesson that they would like to teach through a fable. Suggested fables are included along with follow-up activities. There is also a rubric for writing a fable.

Students study the characteristics of an insect and use their newly discovered knowledge to invent their own insect. They go on a class bug hunt, using the tools and supplies that biologists use when they go out in the field.

Students construct plankton models from materials of various shapes and densities to simulate adaptations that slow sinking. They race their models and calculate sinking rates. They discuss the importance of these small sea creatures.

Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, they invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They use different styles of music to practice their movements and retell the story's major events.

Students look at owl migration and its impact on the environment and the food chain after reading an article from The New York Times. Students then apply this information to and research different food chain situations for other species of animals.

Learners imagine and describe fictitious sea animals that might live in the ocean. After reading an article, they reflect on new discoveries found in the ocean recently. Using the internet, they research the interdependence of animals they use to survive. They also write a short science fiction story to end the lesson.

Young scholars explore key terms, including food web and food chain. They discuss Arctic plants and animals, devise at least three Arctic food chains and create a food web showing connections among Arctic life.

Learners describe food cahins and the role of organisms. Using a set of organism cards, they color code the organisms on their cards by their role in the food chain. Once a complete chain is identified, they glue it on a sheet of paper.