Pre-Visit Activities : Introduction to the South Carolina Aquarium : Procedures K-Second Grade Online Curriculum : Habitats

Materials

• SCA introduction video
• Map of SC
• Various optional aquarium story books
• Curious George Visits the Aquarium by H. A. Rey
• My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki.
• Large chart paper or board for KWL chart

1. Construct a KWL chart using the focus question "What is an Aquarium?".
   • Tell the students they will soon be going on a field trip to the South Carolina Aquarium. What is an aquarium? Why do people build aquariums? Who has been to the South Carolina Aquarium? What do you think you will see at there?
2. Read a storybook to introduce the concept of an aquarium: Curious George Visits the Aquarium by H. A. Rey or My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki.
3. Show the orientation videotape of South Carolina Aquarium. Ask the students to raise their hands when the tape begins to talk about a habitat. Write the habitat names on the board.
4. Following the tape, tell the students they are going to see these habitats at the South Carolina Aquarium and are going to go on a sensory hunt to learn more about the living and non-living things in a habitat. They will also be meeting some of the plants and animals that live in South Carolina habitats.

5. Ask students to predict, using what they have learned in the previsit activities thus far, what each habitat will be like. What animals & plants will be found there?

6. Using a map of South Carolina identify the general location of the five major regions/habitats of South Carolina (Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain, Coast, Ocean).

7. With student input, plan what the class will need to bring. Put the equipment into bags which chaperones will be responsible for (i.e. binoculars)

8. Discuss Aquarium etiquette. Act out appropriate behaviors. As a class, create a list of aquarium rules.

9. Create nametags as specified by the South Carolina Aquarium.

Follow-up question
In the book Curious George Visits the Aquarium, how could Curious George have improved his behavior? Were any of the animals misidentified? The animal called a seal in this book is actually a sea lion. Sea lions, unlike seals, make a barking noise, have very long front flippers, and are able to rotate their hind flippers up under their bodies (last characteristic conveys good locomotion on land).