Blog posts from when I was teaching this in 2017 (making calendars):
- The BEST Way to Make Ocean Zones in a Jar
- Recipes from the Ocean
- Photos from the Classroom
- "Creep into the Deep" Expo / Museum Walk
includes full set of photos of our finished museum exhibits
Updated Book List - July 6, 2020
Habitats: Mesopelagic, Bathypelagic, Abyssopelagic, Hadalpelagic Zones
Blog posts from when I was teaching this topic in 2020 (making MLBs):
- Layers of the Ocean & Their Animals MLB
includes the math for how we worked out the scale of the MLB - Mariana Trench and the Challenger Deep - Links
includes oil pastel transfer method for adding maps to MLBs
It worked best for us to make our Ocean Zones book in this order:
1. do the calculations and label the depth in meters at the bottom of each page (the math for that is all written up here)
2. add Table of Ocean Zones to the last page
3. read about people who have traveled to the bottom of the Challenger Deep; use the oil pastel transfer technique to add the map of where the Mariana Trench is located to the second to last page (where ocean ends)
4. do contour model kit; color and add the topo map of the Mariana Trench to the inside back cover
5. read the books on the booklist and make a list of interesting ocean animals which we might want to add to the MLB
Weird Sea Creatures
by Erich Hoyt (my newest book)
6. do the Walking into the Deep sorting activity from the Georgia Aquarium
- this is worth printing in full color!
I wrote the name of each animal on the back of its picture and then cut the fact cards apart so that she had to match the info with the picture of each animal before sorting them into what zone they live in
7. revisit the list of interesting ocean animals which we want in our book; research and add the depth of each animal beside its name on the list
8. draw faint lines across the MLB where each new ocean zone begins
9. use stickie notes to mark the MLB pages where each proposed animal will go, and see if there are too many or too few animals for each zone
10. make decisions about art projects for chosen animals
11. do the art and add it to the book!
- I also added my little foam penguin from the
Penguin Camo activity
to do this activity you'll need 2 mm thick craft foam in white and black, glue, bowl of water, flashlight, piece of black paper, scissors, and a penguin pattern (which I printed at 60%)
I fastened my little penguin in with a loop of tape, so that I can remove it for future demonstrations of penguin camo
12. add name, age, and year the book was made to the back cover
front cover
watercolor painting
painting a seal by painting the watery environment around it...
based on the seal painting I did with Leah
inspired by this painting (which was inspired by this Live Ed! lesson)
page 1
craft foam penguin from Penguin Camo activity
page 2 - 27 m
colored pencil coral reef
based on One Night in the Coral Sea
page 4 - 1000 m
colored pencil helmet jellyfish
based on Walking into the Deep (PDF)
page 5 - 1175 m
lift-the-flap 10 inch diameter paper circle for giant squid eye
based on Actual Size
page 5 - 1200 m
colored pencil blobfish
based on Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World's Perfectly Pink Animals
page 7 - 2200 m
colored pencil yeti crab
based on Weird Sea Creatures
page 8 - 2400 m
glass squid collage with tracing paper and self-adhesive gems
based on this picture
page 9 - 2700 m
ping pong tree sponge stamped with wine corks
based on this picture
page 9 - 3000 m
colored pencil vampire squid with spots of glow in the dark paint
based on Down Down Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
page 11 - 3500 m
krill stamped with pinkie finger
based on the Krill Swarm project I did with Natalie
page 12 - trash
this was a piece of trash we actually collected from the ground outside
page 15 - 5000 m
Enypniastes (sea cucumber) collage with tracing paper and colored pencil
based on this picture
this is the one piece of art I'm most frustrated with
the clear tracing paper works so well to show that the creature is completely see-through, and it is so fun to see all of its organs! it's quite adorable
but I have never found an adhesive that doesn't show through
in the calendar I used glue dots and this time I used Elmer's liquid glue and for both of them the glue shows and quite ruins the translucent effect
page 16 - marine snow
old toothbrush & screen speckled white paint on black paper
based on Down Down Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
page 17 - 6000 m
pencil drawing of a sea pig
based on Walking into the Deep (PDF)
page 23 - 8145 m
white chalk pencil drawing of Mariana snailfish on black paper
based on this picture
page 25 - 9000 m
tissue paper dancing violet deep-sea Holothurian (sea cucumber)
attached only at the top so that it can flutter and move
based on this video
Violet sea cucumber swims above sea floor near Mariana trench (0:36)
page 29 - bacteria
monoprinted with acrylic paint, cotton swabs, and 8-inch round Gelli plate
page 30 - 10,900 m
colored pencil worms
based on Down Down Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea
page 31 - oil pastel transfer map of Mariana Trench location
page 32 - five zones of the ocean
inside back cover - topographic map of the Mariana Trench
We actually did this as a Math block, so the emphasis was on the place value, math calculations, scale, measurement, estimation, etc. Doing the art for the animals was an awesome bonus! It's great when you can take take the skills you want to teach and fold them into the topic that the child has chosen and is truly interested in.
When I taught this in Science Club as an Ecology block, we went much deeper into different aspects of the ocean. You could, however, incorporate a little bit of a conservation slant by adding a piece of trash that you find on the ground, like a candy wrapper, to one of the pages of the MLB. We did this! I think it is important to talk with kids about trash going into the ocean.
One of the nice things about doing the calendar is that every month has its piece of art. It's tidy and complete. The nice thing about doing it as a book is that you have room to add new animals that you learn about. There is plenty of space left! I did have several empty pages, but I think that just serves as a reminder of how vast and unknown the depths of the ocean are...
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Immersive Experience
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