As you might remember, Ms. Harden's fourth grade class went to the New England Aquarium. You can read about their partnership with the aquarium and their visit here.
While they were there, the kids had an assignment to study the animals in the Boulder Reef Exhibit. They were supposed to think about the kind of living place (habitat) the animals had. Then they each had to pick one of the creatures and write about how it was suited to live its life in that environment.
Time was short, however, and there were rays to pet and penguins to watch. Luckily Jessica, the educator from aquarium, had a date to come to the Perkins to continue discussing habitat and adaptations.
There, the kids had a chance to talk about the observations they had written down. Here are some examples of their work:
Jessica had a chance to talk about many of the adaptations the kids mentioned. She also added a few more of her own.
To the blogmaster, author-in residence Susan E. Goodman, one of the best parts of the assignment was having the kids write down questions THEY had at the bottom of the page. In the case of--
Renny: How fast does this animal (seastar) move?
Isabel: Why do fish get scared when you tap the glass?
Shakira: Why do the (seastar's) suction cups look macaroni?
Curiosity is great. How else do you learn? Questions are great. How else do you learn? You can be sure that most discoveries made by scientists began with questions they wanted to answer!
The kids will be answering these questions and more when the next part of their scientific adventure begins--WRITING THEIR OWN CLASS BOOK ABOUT AQUATIC ANIMALS AND THEIR ADAPTATIONS.
