The Manatee
Project emerged after the class took a field trip to the Dallas World Aquarium
in July. The large swimming mammals
fascinated the children. During the
river dive the diver groomed the manatees.
When the manatees rolled over and wanted their tummies rubbed, the
children were really enchanted! They
then could relate these behaviors to those of their own pets.
The children’s fascination and imagination really began to increase.
After filling the room with books about manatees and pictures of other
forms of ocean life, the project began.
In order for the children to have a basic under-Standing of what manatees actually are, we began by reading books about these unusual mammals, showing pictures of where they live, and explaining what their environment needs to be for them to survive. We read Mary Manatee, A Tale of Sea Cows, by Suzanne Tate. Ms. Barbara asked the children to make predictions; Sera said, “They’re going to get hurt!” Rachel thought, “They’re going to cut his back.” Andy said, “Something’s going to happen, the little girl will hurt him.” Hayley thought “the little girl’s going to bring him home. Mark said, “Maybe him the gate will close behind him.” Abby thought, “Maybe the girl is going to bump into the thing.”
We printed the word “manatee” on the board and asked the children to identify the letters found in “manatee”. Some children actually pointed out that there are two A’s and two E’s! We started singing about the letters with “Tommy Tiger”, “Marvin the Monkey”, “Apple Annie”, and “Elmo the Elephant”. With each letter we presented, we asked the children to make the letters with their bodies, then to go to the different centers and find ways to make the letters found with the things they found in each center. Some examples were using paint, markers, crayons, play dough, using the oatmeal in the sensory table, using blocks and dinosaurs, beads from the dramatic play area, and stamps. The children really enjoyed trying to come up with different ways to make their letters.
To introduce more about the manatee’s environment, Ms. Kris brought in
different seashells, starfish, and plastic forms of sea life.
The children were especially interested in the starfish she brought to
share. Each child selected a
seashell to hold and examine during circle time, and was asked to describe it to
the others. Some of the
children’s comments were, “They live in the sea.” Said Hayley.
Lauren said, “No, I think it was a hermit crab (that lived in one of
the large shells). Griffin “felt
sand in the shell, and maybe another shell.”
Lauren said, “I can really hear the ocean in there.”
Michael said, “My shell is little.”
“My shell is black,” said Sera.
“I see a starfish,” Abby said. Hayley
said, “My shell is white and blue.” “I
hear the waves,” Andy said. Ms. Kris also taught the children “Baby
Beluga” which we read and sang together.
This has become a favorite for them.
Ms Barbara asked the children to make an ocean mural to include pictures
of manatees, other ocean life, and upper and lower case letters found in the
word “manatee”. They had a
great time drawing and using their imaginations to create this wonderful
masterpiece.
We are also continuing to introduce the letters and sounds of M and T.
We asked the children to find words that begin with those letters in
books and tell us when they find them. Griffin
picked these letters out of one of our puzzles!
During another center time, Ms. Barbara asked the children to play in
their centers keeping the ocean and different forms of sea life in mind.
Braden played in the sand, with different sea creatures, while Griffin
and Mark played in the block center making boats and submarines.
Several children played with body suits pretending to be manatees,
sharks, crabs, and whales. They all swam to music.
Several children made sea animals from play dough.
Ms. Kris showed the children pictures from the book Manatee, by
Akemi Hotta, and illustrated by Rei Ohara.This book has 85 beautiful photographs
in it, and Ms. Kris asked the children to describe, or tell us what they saw in
the pictures. Griffin said, “It
looks like it’s breathing, getting some air.
I see bubbles coming out of its nose.”
Gabrielle noticed,” It has a circle nose.” Lauren says, “It has a paddle shaped tail.”
“It looks like she’s jumping in the water, she looks like a big
log,” said Adit. Aidan thinks,
“It looks like a fish with arms.” “The
manatees are hugging,” says Abby. Hayley
says, “ She’s trying to go to sleep,” and Rachel thinks, “She looks like
she’s curling up like an egg.” Natalie
says, “It looks like she’s swimming.”
Savannah and Michael both think they look like they’re swimming.
Madeline says, “It looks like he’s kissing.” Mark thinks, “They’re hugging.”
Max observes, “There’s a rope he uses to capture something to eat.”
Jordan says, “…(cage?) pulling it up on the boat.”
Braden sees,” That thing…that goes on it.
He’s trying to pull the string for the baby.”
Andy says,” He looks like he’s climbing.”
Ms. Barbara found a video at the library for us to view called”
National Geographic-Really Wild Animals-Deep Sea Dive.
Some of the Childrens comments were: “ Cool fish, why are they moving
so fast?” (Griffin) “ I saw a
manatee! I heard them say
alien!”(Abby) “It scared me!
A jelly fish-that thing hurts you!” (Natalie)
“The octopus! Those
creatures sometimes go into a hole and scary creatures come and eat them.”
(Adit) “It shocks!” (Max)
“When I was at the beach, I found a jelly fish out of the ocean.” (Hayley)
“After the octopus, it was a jelly fish.” (Gabrielle)
“He can fly!” (Abby) “When
I went to the beach, I saw jelly fish. I
touched the head, but not on their legs. When
they’re dead they still sting you.” (Rachel)
“Once I was looking for a dolphin.” (Griffin)
“He can fly! ”Abby) “He can’t fly, he’s in the water.”
(Madeline) “I
like those kind of sharks (sic hammerhead). (Braden)
“I can make a shark! I
saw an Orea!” (Adit) “When
we went to Palm Beach, my Mommy bought me Free Willy and I saw a whale.”
(Gabrielle) “That
look like a submarine. He’s going
so fast I can’t hardly see him.”
“It’s a seal!” (Griffin) “
It made me think what now I know what’s in the ocean.
And now I know sharks are deep and they don’t bite.” (Gabrielle)
“I love the whales! (Mark)
“I love killer whales.” (Braden) “I like the whales.” (Savannah)
“Sharks, they’re big fish!” (Michael)
“I haven’t seen a dolphin before!”
(Jordan) “I like the sea
horses.” (Aidan) “I like the
baby penguins and the big dolphins.” (Rachel)
“I saw hermit crabs, he was crawling, and he pushed into his shell.”
(Lauren) “I saw the killer
whales and they were swimming.” (Hayley)
In preparation for our
field trip to the Dallas World Aquarium, the
children viewed the video sent to us by the Aquarium, showing what they would be
seeing, the different animals and sea life they would encounter, and reviewing
the rules they need to follow while at the Aquarium.
Following the video, the children were asked to draw manatees, which we
displayed on our walls for all to see. What
a wonderful job they did! During
one of our circle times, we asked the children to think of questions they would
like to ask the staff at the aquarium. Each
child prepared a note card with a question, either by writing a question or
drawing what they wanted to know.
The day finally arrived
that the children had been waiting for—we were going to the Dallas World
Aquarium! When we reached the aquarium, we were met by our guides
Tracy, Jody, and Marcus. The
aquarium actually opened early for
us so that they would have time to answer all the children’s questions.
It was a very exciting day for us. After
seeing the manatees and having the children’s questions answered, we sketched
the manatees. This truly was a
wonderful experience for the children. Following
the sketching, the children were taken to the other parts of the aquarium to
view the animals and just enjoy being in the aquarium.
The big adventure for the day was seeing the diver feed the manatees!
Before Marcus, the diver, went into the tank, he showed the children all
of his equipment he needs for the dive. The
children actually had the opportunity to touch the equipment!
He then went into the tank and fed the manatees.
He fed two manatees four to five heads of lettuce, he had explained that
they are vegetarians before he went into the tank. The children were very interested in the fact that the
manatees stayed very near the diver, actually playing and hugging him!
Very cute! These manatees we were looking at had been orphaned in a
Florida river and were taken to a zoo for seventeen months, before being brought
to the aquarium where they were kept in a holding tank for six weeks to get
acclimated and learn to swim. The
vet at the aquarium actually taught them to swim.
They will be returned to the Florida river when they are ready.
Some of the comments from the children while watching the feedings were
from Griffin, “I thought there were 1300 manatees here, but there are
only two!” Savannah said, “I
can eat like a horse. Manatees are
bigger than sharks. The turtle and
manatee are sharing. That’s
cool!” Natalie says, “I could
cook them (fish fed to aquarium animals) and eat them.” “He’s pooping!”
Gabrielle says, “That green stuff is blubber.”
Jordan notices “He’s wiping the window (diver).
He’s eating lettuce. He
goes up to breathe.” Michael
said, “What’s that coming out? He’s
going potty. What’s that white thing?(the white mark on belly)”