To look for the answers to
these interesting questions, we decided to document everything we wanted to
know about the octopus. We made a web. The web helped us organize the project's development and guided our study. The class
brainstormed all sorts of questions; some of their questions were very similar;
so we grouped them into eight different categories.
After we structured our web, we began to study
various facts about the octopus. We focused on the parts of its body and the
function of these parts. We also studied the interesting characteristics of this
sea creature; such as how it changes it's color and texture to hide from its enemies (camouflage). The
children were very surprised to learn this, and we did a journal entry about
what it would be like to be able to camouflage. We also learned how octopi are
able to eject their ink, and why they do it.
After a few weeks, the children became even
more engaged with our study. We read
a book called An Octopus is Amazing". It took us three days to finish reading our
book, and the children were very interested and amazed with all the information
we obtained from the book. We found answers to most of our questions on our web.
As our
project developed, the children's
interest increased. We thought of more interesting questions, such as:
We did many activities in the classroom related
to our project. Most of the
activities involved art.Drawing was
a great way to obtain feedback about what the children learned. We made "observationaldrawings " and "memory drawings" .
We also made octopi out of clay. This activity helped the children to focus their attention to the octopi anatomy and dimensions.
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We created
books, which included information that we learned about the octopus.
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We also read another book about an octopus, called I Was All Thumbs". The language in the book was quite difficult
for the children to understand; but we tried to convert it into a much more
simple language, so they could understand. This made it a lot easier for
them. This story helped us
reinforce what we learned about the octopus. We did a journal entry about the
book.
We reviewed the parts of an octopus body
by giving the children each part separately. They had to put it all together,
and they also made sure they weren't missing any of the parts. Some children tried arranging the parts
before they pasted them on paper.
We went
to the water tables and took the plastic octopi and other kinds of sea animals.
The children worked in groups and we let them interact freely with the plastic
animals, and listened to their conversations. We also asked them questions while
they played and talked about the octopus. During the children's dramatic play, they showed how much they
learned and they shared their knowledge with their peers.
Isabel, one of our students volunteered to
draw an octopus. We all thought her drawing was beautiful, so we decided to
enlarge it with the overhead projector. We photocopied it on an acetate sheet
and enlarged the image on the overhead projector, and traced it on butcher
paper.
Since the
octopus changes color depending on its mood, we all decided that the mood of our
octopus would be happy". So we colored our octopus orange and cut it
out.
"We studied the Octopus" until all our questions were all answered, the
students interests were
completely satisfied, and the children felt they had all the information they
wanted. Our project lasted for four months.
K-10 students are now octopus experts. Ask us and
see!