South Carolina Aquarium on Charleston Harbor ~ Free Standards-Based Structured School Programs

Students visiting the Aquarium as part of a K-2 Structured School Program participate in activities that reinforce the concepts introduced in the curriculum. Students meet in the classroom for an introduction and then break up into three smaller groups that rotate between three activities, all based on the theme of habitats.

Introduction
In the introduction to the K-2 activities, students discuss some of the habitats of South Carolina and learn a song to help them remember what plants and animals need to survive in a habitat.

Classroom
In the classroom, students observe and touch live animals from both land and water habitats of South Carolina and discuss how these different animals may get air, food, water and shelter.

Coast Gallery

While exploring the Coast Gallery, students discover animals and determine how these animals use different types of shelter for protection within their habitat.

Coastal Plain Gallery
While exploring the Coastal Plain Gallery, students engage in a scavenger hunt to learn about some of the animals in coastal plain habitats. The students answer riddles about these animals and their habitat needs, based on their observations.

Students visiting the Aquarium as part of a grades 3-5 Structured School Program participate in activities that reinforce the concepts introduced in the curriculum. Students meet in the classroom for an introduction and then divide into three smaller groups that rotate between three activities, all based on the theme of adaptations and food chains in communities.

Introduction
In the introduction to the 3-5 activities, students participate in a role-playing activity to learn how the adaptations of plants and animals determine how they are connected in a community through food chains.

Classroom
Students examine live animals, such as sea urchins and snakes, to determine the adaptations these animals have that help them to survive in a community as a part of a food chain.

Coastal Plain Gallery and Salt Marsh Aviary
Students explore the exhibits to find plants and animals to determine their roles in a food chain. Students then use pictures of these organisms to construct food chains found in these environments.

The Ocean Gallery
Students will examine the fish in the exhibits and discuss what adaptations a fish needs to survive underwater. Students will then build their own fish while comparing the parts to the gear used by a diver.

Students visiting the Aquarium as part of a grades 6-8 Structured School Program participate in activities that reinforce the concepts introduced in the curriculum. Students meet in the classroom for an introduction and then break up into three smaller groups that rotate between three activities, all based on the theme of watersheds.

Introduction
In the introduction to the 6-8 activities, students will discuss what watersheds are and how they connect all of the habitats represented in the Aquarium.

Classroom
Students will examine live animals and discuss how they are dependent on watersheds to survive and how they may be susceptible to contamination caused by human action.

The Galleries
Students conduct water quality tests on water samples taken from different aquatic habitats and use characteristics such as temperature and pH to determine where these water samples would be found in a watershed.

The Ocean Gallery
Students perform an activity representing a river collecting pollution as it flows through South Carolina from the mountains to the sea and discuss how pollution affects watersheds. Students will also discuss decomposition rates while discovering the positive outcomes of recycling.