The seashore is where the ocean meets the land. Some seashores are jagged and rocky, while some are flat and covered with sand. The sandy shores are called beaches. Many kinds of plants and animals live on the seashore. The sea gull lives on the shore and feeds in the ocean. They eat fish, insects, and the eggs of other birds. Usually, sea gulls are gray and white in color. They often rest by floating on the water. Sea gulls build their nests on rocky ledges and lay from one to four eggs. Throughout the centuries, sailors have welcomed the sight of the sea gull because its presence meant that land wasn't far off and their long sea journey would soon be over. OYSTERS WITH A PEARL - Submitted by Cherilyn of the K.O.S. Loop Art: Oyster with pearl Let the kids paint the *inside* of 2 paper plates - Add glitter if you want - then have them glue a marble in the center of one of the plates. Staple the plates together at one edge and VIOLA!! You have an oyster complete with a *pearl*. SUBMARINE - Use an appliance box to create a mini-submarine. First cut an access hole in the back of the box. Cut portholes for viewing and cover with plastic wrap. Draw marine animals on the outside along with plants. Hang fish in front of the windows. Add gadgets inside the box for instrument panels. Place the box in the housekeeping area. SEA MAMMALS - Make a file folder game by matching mother and baby sea mammals. Which are pups and which are called calves. (Seals, walruses and sea lions are pups. Dolphins, whales and manatees are calves.) I LIVE IN THE OCEAN - Discuss with your children animals that live in the ocean and animals that do not. Then say the name of an animal. If the animal lives in the sea have the kids make waves with their hands
Math SKILL?BUILDING AQUARIUMS - There's nothing fishy about this activity that has youngsters following directions while sharpening their color recognition and counting skills. Give each child in a small group a sterilized, blue Styrofoam tray (aquarium) and ten colorful paper fish. Next give the group various directions to follow, such as "Place three fish in your aquarium" or "If you have a yellow fish or a blue fish, put it in your aquarium." Encourage your little ones to take their fish and aquariums home, then share this activity with their families. Susan Luengen?Preschool Special Education Makalapa School Honolulu, HI
Games & Movement TRANSITION CHANT - For a smooth transition into circle time, have your little ones perform this charming chant. Sit like a butterfly. Buzz like a bee. Shake your head like a monkey in a tree. Put your hands down on your knees. Make your mouth like a fish in the sea. Wanda Odom?Pre?K Waller Elementary Youngstown. FL
Snacks Fried Shrimp Sautéed Shrimp
Work Sheets Fun At Sea Find Their Homes The Big Catch Food From the Sea Fish And Sell Make A Poster What Is A Food Chain The Manatee Where is the land? Where is the Water?(2 pages) Sea Plants Sea Animal cutouts Sea animals The Walrus The Sea Lion The Sea Otter Strange But True How Many Dolphins?
Books Sand Dollar, Sand Dollar by Joyce Audy Dos Santos Who Sank the Boat by Pamila Allen Swimmy by Leo Lionni Clams Can't Sing by James Stevenson

Seawater Facts
·Seawater tastes and smells salty. Although seawater is saltier in some
parts of the ocean than others, most seawater verges 3.5 percent salt. The
salt in seawater is mostly table salt
·Seawater also contains all the minerals found on land.
·When seawater evaporates, the salt and other minerals are left behind.
·Objects float more easily in salty seawater than in plain water because
seawater is more dense and can support more weight.

Geology
GLOBE - Use the globe to show where the oceans are. Ask the kids first if
there is more land or water and then show them how 2/3 of the earth is
covered by water.

Ocean Wave Facts
·Wind causes most ocean waves. Waves are always moving.
·The water in a wave moves up and down, not forward. Only water in a wave
that hits land moves forward.
·Waves that keep hitting a certain part of the earth can cut away slopping
land and make cliffs. They can also break up rocks to become beaches.
·A special kind of ocean wave is set off by an earthquake on the sea floor.
This wave is called a tsunami (sue-nah-mee). Tsunamis can travel as fast as
600 miles per hour on the open sea. ·Eventually they slow down, build in
height and may crash onto land. Tsunamis occur mostly in the Pacific Ocean.

 Seaweed Facts
·Any plant that grows in the sea can be called seaweed; however, botanists
(plant experts) refer to seaweed as only brown, red and green algae.
·Seaweed grows along the coastlines of most parts of the world oceans, from
polar seas to tropical waters. Seaweed "beds", the places where a lot of
seaweed grows in one spot, provide food and protection for many animals.
·Most seaweed is edible and can be eaten raw or cooked.
·Various kinds of seaweed are found in many products, from medicines and
make-up to soft drinks and condiments. For example, sea lettuce is used in
soups and salads and brewed in tea. Carageenan, made from several kinds of
seaweed, is used a thickening agent in many kinds of hand lotion, cough
syrup, chocolate milk, too-paste, ice cream and cottage cheese.

Art
Language
Science
Math
Games & Movement

Snacks
SEA WEED GELATIN - Get some Agar Agar flakes (known as Kanten), explain that
the flakes are seaweed that has been boiled and pressed into a thick gel,
and dried. Then make some Jell-O. Put 4 cups of any kind of juice except
orange juice in a saucepan. Sprinkle 2 tab Agar Agar flakes over the top of
the juice. Bring to boil reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until the
flakes are dissolved. Chill until firm. If desired, add cut up fruits to the
Jell-O.

Work Sheets
Books
Movies
Web Links

Songs, Poems & Finger Plays

Seaweed Grows
Tune: three Blind Mice
Seaweed grows, seaweed grows,
In the sea, in the sea.
Seaweed grows in brown, red and green,
It's the prettiest algae you've ever seen,
If you find some, then you'll know what I mean.
Seaweed grows.

Introduction to the Coral Reef
Around the world, in warm and shallow waters, coral reefs are like complex
cities that support a dazzling diversity of life. The surprising architects
of the city are little animals called coral polyps. Usually no bigger than
peas, the coral polyps look like tiny chrysanthemums and are just as
colorful ? a garden of yellows, pinks, purples, oranges, blues, and greens.
The coral polyps are able to extract calcium from the seawater around them.
They convert the calcium into limestone and form little skeleton cups of
rock to support their soft bodies. The coral polyps live in colonies with
each polyp cemented to its neighbor by its skeleton and an outer skin. As
the polyps grow, they build new skeleton cups on top of the old ones. The
limestone formations, or coral rocks, built by millions of coral polyps are
called coral reefs.
The structures formed by the polyps may be branched, cup?shaped, or rounded.
There are corals that look like flowers, the horns of an elk, mushrooms or a
human brain. Each different kind of coral grows in a specific pattern.
The Coral Polyp
A coral polyp looks like a tiny sack with tentacles around the top. The
polyp builds a little cup of rock, called a skeleton cup, to hold its soft
body. The polyps live close together in colonies. All the polyps in a colony
are joined together by a common skin and by their skeleton cups.
People dredge up pieces of coral to use as a building material. During very
low tides, coral dies when it is expose to the sun. Discards fishing line
gets tangled in coral and breaks it. Sea stars and parrotfish eat coral.
Sponges, worms, and clams bore holes in the coral and weaken it. Silt form
dredging runs into the sea and smothers the coral. Divers carelessly touch
coral. Divers collect coral. Fishermen drop anchors on the coral reef.
Fishermen use bleach to make lobsters come out of their holes.
The Coral Reef Community
Coral reefs provide a great variety of food and habitats for other animals.
A coral reef is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Scientists
estimate that 500,000 sea animals live in or around coral reefs. For a skin
diver, a swim through a coral reef is like being in a giant aquarium.
The coral reef community includes neon?colored tropical fish, moray eels,
sea urchins, sea anemones, soft corals, sponges, tubeworms, barracudas,
sharks, sea stars, manta rays, sea turtles, lobsters, crabs, and shrimp. All
of the plants and animals in the community are part of a complex and
balanced system, where each one has its special place and function.
Symbiosis: Living Together in a Special Relationship
In the densely populated coral reef, some sea animals and plants live
together in a special way. Two different species may be closely associated
and interdependent throughout their lives. One or both of them is benefited
and neither is harmed. This special relationship is called symbiosis.
Symbiosis literally means "living together."
Threats to the Coral Reef
The solid appearance of reefs might lead us to think they are permanent,
but, actually, coral reefs are fragile, carefully balanced ecosystems that
are easily threatened. A change in the temperature or quality of the water,
or a change in the amount of light that penetrates the water, can kill the
coral polyps.
Some destruction of the coral reef results from natural causes, but man
causes the greatest damage to the reef. Once a reef is damaged, it may never
recover. The polyps grow so slowly that before they can become established
again, other more vigorous animals and plants move in. In many places, the
dead and dying coral reefs are covered with thick algae. Nothing can grow
beneath it, and the once?colorful reef community becomes a dense green
graveyard.
Coral reefs occupy a portion of the world equal to twenty?five times the
size of the United States. The reefs harbor millions of sea animals that
couldn't survive anywhere else. Without the reefs, the wonderful diversity
of life that lives around them would be lost?and many other species, which
depend on reef animals for food, would disappear, too.
Coral Facts
·Coral animals are generally found in warm and tropical seas. They have
cylindrical bodies that are usually less than 1 inch in diameter. Coral
animals can be a variety of colors such as tan, orange, yellow, purple and
green.
·Each coral animal has one end that attaches itself to a hard surface and
one end that has a mouth with tiny tentacles. The coral uses its tentacles
to eat algae that floats by.
·Over time coral animals produce calcium carbonate (limestone) that collects
around the lower halves of their bodies. As a group of coral animals grow,
the limestone deposits become bigger and bigger. When coral grows in a line
horizontal or perpendicular to the coastline, the deposits are called a
reef. When coral grows on a sunken bank or the crater of a volcano that has
sunk below the surface of the sea, it is called an atoll.
·The largest construction on earth, bigger than any man-made structure, is
the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.

Whale Facts
·The largest animal that has ever lived is the blue whale. Measuring 95 feet
long and weighing 150 tons, the blue whale is even larger than the biggest
prehistoric dinosaurs.
·Whales are mammals, which means they are warm-blooded and bear their young
alive. They also breathe through lungs and must hold their breath when
underwater. When whales return to the surface after being underwater, they
"blow" their breath out blowholes.
·Whales can be found in all oceans. Some whales live in groups called herds,
schools or pods. A female whale is called a cow, a male whale a bull, and a
baby whale a calf
·There are two kinds of whales - toothed and baleen. Toothed whales, such a
sperm whales and killer whales have teeth and eat fish and squids. Baleen
whales, such as blue whales and humpback whales, have no teeth. They use
their specially formed mouths to strain food, primarily plankton, out of the
water.

Facts About Killer Whales
·Killer whales, or Orcas, are not fish, but mammals. They have lungs and
breathe air. Their young are born alive and drink milk from their mother.
·Killer whales, sometimes called "sea wolves," are hunters and live in all
the world's oceans. They eat fish and squid, as well as dolphins, porpoises,
penguins, seals, and walruses. Other than people, killer whales have no
natural enemies.
·Fully grown Orca bulls (males) are about 30 feet (9.15 in) long and weigh
between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds (6,800?9,100 kg). Cows (females) give birth
every few years. A newborn calf is 8 feet (2.44 in) long and weighs about
400 pounds (180 kg).
·Black on top and white below, a killer whale has a white patch above each
eye and a patch of gray behind its dorsal (top) fin. Its triangular fin
keeps the whale steady and it shows above the surface when it swims. Killer
whales can swim more than 35 miles (56.32 km) per hour.
·Killer whales travel, hunt, rest, and play in pods (groups) of 20 or more.
They communicate by clicks and whistles and by sliding against one another.
·A thick layer of fat, called blubber, helps keep killer whales warm.
·Whales have good vision, but they can see very little in the dark murky
waters of the ocean. ·Whales cannot smell, but they can hear sounds many
miles away with their small ear slits. ·They locate objects in the water by
listening to the echoes of sounds.
·A killer whale breathes through a blowhole on top of its head. The hole
closes when the whale dives under water.
·By taking a deep breath, whales can stay under water for several minutes
before coming to the surface to breathe. When a whale comes to the surface,
it exhales or "blows" a spout of water high into the air like a fountain.
·Whales swim and dive by using flat, powerful tails, called flukes. Whales
move their tails up and down when they swim, not side to side like fish.
·Sometimes whales jump out of the water. This is called "breaching."
Scientists are not certain why whales do this.

Shark Facts
·Sharks are considered to be meat-eating fish, although they are not really
fish but a part of the family osteochondrichthys. They are commonly found in
warm seas.
·Sharks have no bones. Their skeletons are made of cartilage, a tough
elastic substance. (the human ear get its support from cartilage.) In fact,
the name osteochondrichthys means bone-cartilage-fish.
·A shark has several rows of teeth. When a tooth is broken or warn out, a
new one grows to replace it.
·A shark's sense of hearing is well developed, and it can see very sell in
dim light. A shark also has special sensory tubes that allow it to detect
electrical impulses generated by moving objects.

Sea Star Facts
·Formerly known as starfish, sea stars are not fish but are a kind of
echinoderm (a group of animals that includes the sea urchin and sea lily).
·Sea stars can be found in all oceans.
·Most sea stars have five arms. Each arm has tube feet with suction disks at
the ends. A sea star uses the suction disks for crawling and attaching to
hard surfaces. If an arm is broken off, a sea star can regenerate (grow) a
new one.
·Sea stars come in a variety of colors such as yellow, orange, pink red and
purple.
·A sea star's mouth is located on the underside of its body in the middle.
Sea stars feed on mussels, clams and oysters.

Sea Horse Facts
·A sea horse is a kind of fish with a head that resembles a horse's head.
The sea horse moves through the water in an upright position.
·The average sea horse is 5" long. Although most fish have scales, the sea
horse had armor-like bony plates on its body. It has a long tail that it
uses to anchor itself by coiling it around rooted plants and seaweed
floating in the ocean.
·Each female sea horse lays about 200 eggs at a time. The male keeps the
eggs in a kangaroo-like pouch until they hatch.

Octopus Facts
·An octopus has a soft body and eight arms, or tentacles. On the under side
of each tentacle are two rows of small, round muscles that act like suction
cups, that stick to objects and help the octopus pull itself along and move.
·If one of the tentacles gets caught or bitten off by an animal, like a
shark, it will grown back in a few weeks.
· These arms are webbed together by a layer of skin called a mantle. An
octopus has neither bones nor inside shell.
·Under this layer of skin are color cells that make the octopus look white,
grey, orange, red, or brown. Being able to change colors can help the
octopus catch its dinner. It's bright colors attract and confuse other sea
animals. When they swim closer to look at the octopus, he catches the
animal for his dinner. They can change their skin color to blend in with
their surroundings also.
·An octopus has two eyes and sees well. It has three hearts and breathes
through gills as fish do.
·The octopus swims by drawing water into its body and expelling it to move
itself backwards.
· When the octopus is in danger, it can squirt a cloud of black ink and
hides the octopus from its predators. Then it swims away fast.
·The octopus is actually a very friendly and gentle creature - despite his
scary appearances.
·He likes to live alone of under a rock on the bottom of the sea.
·He catches his food, most often shellfish, with the suckers on his long
arms.
·Octopus eggs are very tiny (microscopic), about the size of a grain of
rice. Mother octopi lay about 1000 eggs at a time in a nest she builds under
rocks.
·The female octopus is a very good mother. After laying her eggs, she is so
busy taking care of them she does not even eat.
·When the eggs hatch, she dies. Her work is done.
·In zoos, octopus has shown itself to be very intelligent.
·The plural form of octopus is octopi - long "i" sound.

Jellyfish Facts
·Jellyfish live in the ocean, usually along the coast.
·Jellyfish can be various, colors, including pale orange, pink, blue or
clear. They range in diameter from a few inches to 7 feet.
·Jellyfish swim by taking water inside their bodies and then pushing it out
to propel themselves.
·Some jellyfish catch fish to eat by stinging them with their tentacles.

Crab Facts
·Crabs live on rocky, muddy or sandy seashores and are found throughout the
world. They make their homes in burrows that they dig or find.
·Crabs have a flat, broad body covered by a shell, called a carapace. Most
crabs have 10 legs, four on each side of the body and two big claws or
pincers, in front.
·Crabs use their legs to walk sideways across rocks and sand.
·Crabs molt every year, which means they shed their old exoskeleton and grow
new ones.

Scuba Diver Facts
·The word scuba originated as an acronym for self-contained under water
breathing apparatus.
·The first scuba gear was the Aqualung. It was invented in 1943 by
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emil Gagnan of France.
·Scuba diving, unlike deep sea diving, requires no airlines or hoses from
the diver to the surface. It is often called free diving.
·A scuba diver wears a tank of pressurized air. A mouthpiece helps regulate
the air as it is breathed in and out.
·Scuba divers can dive to 130 feet below sea level.

Hermit Crab Facts
·Hermit Crabs do not have a hard outer shell or exoskeleton like other
crabs, so they need to use a seashell of another animal that has died to
make a home and protect himself.
·Hermit Crabs are nocturnal.
·They have a very acute sense of smell, they seem to like strong odors
·Their eyesight is less than keen but they can spot a good ?house? shell
from a considerably distance. The eyes are on stalks and are dark or black
in color.
·They have antennae and shorter antennules which assist them in feeling. The
antennae are often brownish or red.
·They have two claws and eight legs. Four of the legs hold the shell tight
on their bodies and the other four are used for walking. The claws are used
for defense, climbing, and tearing food apart. The left claw is
significantly larger than the right claw. The claws are often tipped with
blue or purple.
·Hermit Crabs are born in the water but live on land in sandy or rocky
seashores. They like to dig in the sand and climb on rocks and wood. They
also like to hide under rock and wood during the day and to escape from
other animals that would eat them.

CLASSROOM PETS - To keep one in your classroom, fill the bottom of an old
aquarium with sand and some small pebbles. Put several small sticks or
branches in for them to climb on. Put a shallow dish in for water. Use water
that has set out long enough for them additives to dissipate. Change every
couple of days. Put in another shallow dish for food. They will eat a
variety of food such as: bananas, apples, cornmeal, lettuce, peanut butter
and hermit crab chow. You can also add some plant for them to hide under;
they will on occasion eat them. They need a moist environment so keep a
spray bottle of water handy and spray their home once a day or when you want
to wake them up. A cover for the aquarium helps to keep in the moisture.
They prefer a temperature between 70 and 80, they can tolerate it a littler
warmer or cooler. Do not place them in direct sunlight or lamplight. Be sure
to have some larger shells for them to choose from when they outgrow their
old one.

Fish Facts
·Two-thirds of all fish live in the ocean. About 21,000 different kinds of
fish have been identified with various features and unique qualities. All
fish have three things in common: they are vertebrates (they have
backbones); they breathe through gills; and they are cold-blooded. Most fish
have thin, bony scales. Some fish live together in schools.
·Fish come in all colors. Many tropical fish are brightly colored red,
yellow, blue, or purple, with polka dots and stripes.
·Fish vary in size from the ?? pygmy goby to the 60? whale shark.
·Most fish have fins. Fins help fish swim and keep their balance in water.
Fish move their fins with muscles.
·Fish are able to float because of a swim, or air, bladder. A fish can
inflate or deflate this bladder as needed to swim at the depth it wants.