Pre-Visit Activities : Introduction to the South Carolina Aquarium : Procedures
Third - Fifth Grade Online Curriculum : Communities

Materials

Procedure
  1. Construct a KWL chart using the focus question "What is an Aquarium?".
    1. 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. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Ask students to predict, using what they have learned in the pre-visit activities thus far, what each community in each region will be like. What animals & plants will be found there?
  5. Using a map of South Carolina identify the general location of the five major regions of South Carolina (Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain, Coast, Ocean).
  6. 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)
  7. Discuss Aquarium etiquette. Act out appropriate behaviors. As a class, create a list of aquarium rules.
  8. Create nametags as specified by the South Carolina Aquarium.