Ourworld

JUNE 2009 35www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus

CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS TO

P IM

AG

E ©

PH

OTO

DISC

INC/

GET

TY IM

AG

ES; B

OTT

OM

IMA

GE

© P

HO

TO.C

OM

/JU

PITE

RIM

AG

ES

The oceans cover roughly 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface. They are the world’s biggest habitat, containing huge areas that are

still unexplored and full of undiscovered creatures. Split into five huge bodies of water, the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern, Indian and Arctic, the oceans fill deep basins between the continents. They serve many functions, including affecting the Earth’s weather and temperature. It may be difficult to think of something so massive and powerful as being under threat, but for

Dive into our creative topic and discover how the world’s oceans can inspire exciting cross-curricular learning...

Online extras! The fantastic Poster, ‘Save our oceans’ and Photocopiables, ‘Oceans’ (that include worksheets

and story starters) are both available at www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus Plus, subscribers can access exclusively-online poems and activities to link to World Environment Day.

many years now we have been using the oceans as giant dustbins and supposedly never-ending sources of food. Climate change is impacting on our oceans and bringing new threats. It is time that we took on the challenge to repair some of the damage that we have caused and to make our oceans cleaner and healthier for the sake of the creatures that live there and the future of the Earth. World Environment Day (www.unep.org) on 5 June is the perfect opportunity to inspire your class to save the Earth’s oceans!

Caroline Petherbridge, freelance education writer and designer

oceansSAVE OUR

It’s your creative topic!

It is time that we took on the challenge to repair some of the damage that we have caused and to make our oceans cleaner and healthier

AU

DIO

PO

STER

ACT

IVIT

IES

POST

ER

As always with the Junior Ed PLUS creative topics,

the ideas that follow make for a fantastic teaching unit, but can equally be adapted and tailored to suit your own space and time constraints. If exploring all five oceans is too much, pick out individual activity ideas from one or two that you feel you could incorporate into your current timetable. There are lots of cross-curricular links in an oceans-themed creative topic and we always love to

hear how you have used or adapted our ideas on our forum ‘teacher talk’ (www.scholastic.co.uk/magazines/forums). Search our online archive (www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus) for lots of other creative resources that you can link with this oceans topic, including an audio poster of the poem ‘Aquarium’ (from Carnival of the Animals), an ‘Ocean treasures’ poster and ‘Objects of the ocean’ dance and drama activities.

JUNE 2009www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus36 JUNE 2009 www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus 37

The Atlantic Ocean

ACTIVITIES

DO

LPH

IN ©

DIG

ITA

L VI

SIO

N L

TD/G

ETTY

IMA

GES

; WAV

E ©

PH

OTO

DISC

INC/

GET

TY IM

AG

ES; F

ISH

AN

D D

ECO

RATE

D PL

AST

IC C

ON

TAIN

ER ©

CA

ROLI

NE

PETH

ERB

RID

GE;

RU

BB

ISH

-STR

EWN

BEA

CH ©

GRE

G FR

EGU

SON

/WW

W.IS

TOCK

PHO

TO.C

OM

; BEA

CH ©

VIT

ALY

TIT

OV/

WW

W.IS

TOCK

PHO

TO.C

OM

The facts: The Atlantic Ocean is the body of water between Africa, Europe, the Southern Ocean and the Western Hemisphere. Its area is 76.762 million sq km – slightly less than six and a half times the size of the USA.

Environmental issues: Advances in commercial fishing have had a devastating effect on the numbers of fish in the

Atlantic and also the condition of the seabed. Large boats drag heavy nets along the seabed, ploughing it up and damaging marine habitats. Huge numbers of fish are caught in the nets, along with some unwanted animals, such as dolphins, who become tangled up in the nets and can drown. Erosion, accelerated by human activity, is also causing Atlantic coastlines, along with those of other oceans, to shrink.

1. Crumbling coasts Explain to the children that if sea levels continue to rise, more and more of the world’s coasts will disappear into the oceans. Although natural erosion causes exposed places like coastlines to erode, human activity, such as coastline urbanisation, has accelerated this process. The sea cannot keep up depositing sand back ashore so our coastlines are shrinking. In groups, get the children to demonstrate erosion by placing a generous amount of sand against one end of a large, deep container. Tell the groups to add water until the sand is about half covered. They should then use the side of a ruler to generate steady, even ‘waves’ in the container. Encourage the children to notice that the water removes sand from the upper part of the mound (or coastline) and deposits it below the waterline. Afterwards, discuss with the children the implications of coastal erosion on both animals and humans.

2. News flash In groups, ask the children to create a news bulletin about a particular type of fish that is under threat from over fishing. All children should take on a role (presenter, camera operator, and so on). The bulletins should appeal to the public not to buy so much of the fish in order to reduce demand. Allow each group to work out their scripts, rehearse and then present their bulletin.

3. Dolphin friendlyThousands of porpoises and dolphins are killed each year when they become tangled up in nets used to catch tuna. Many tins of tuna can now be bought with a ‘dolphin-friendly’ logo on that means the fish have been caught using more ethical means. Invite the children to design their own ‘dolphin-friendly’ label for a can of tuna. Tell the children to make sure that a consumer would easily be able to pick it out on the shelf from any ‘non-friendly’ products. Encourage the use of eye-catching, bold colours and get the children to consider their wording very carefully to draw consumers’ eyes to their product.

4. A fishy displayCreate a large classroom display highlighting the plight of fish caught up in trawler nets. Start with a blue background, either sponged or printed with different shades of blue paint to create a textured 3D effect or bubblewrap. Take an old piece of net and drape it across the background. Next, make fish that will be trapped in the net (see below). Use large, empty plastic bottles with the bottoms removed. Imagining that the nozzle end is the fish’s mouth, press the sides of the bottle together and cut out the body shape of the fish, including its tail and fins (beware of sharp edges). Then, stick the sides of the bottle together using clear sticky tape. The fish can now be painted using child-friendly, water-soluble glass paints. Paint two coats to make the colours stand out. When the fish are dry, tangle them in the net on your display.

ACTIVITIES

The facts: The Pacific Ocean is the body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia and the Western Hemisphere. The Pacific is the largest of the world’s five oceans and covers 28 per cent of the Earth’s surface. This is larger than the total land area of the world.

Environmental issues: In the Pacific, there is a slow-moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by the air’s high-pressure system. These currents cause lots of rubbish – most notably plastic – to collate. Known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, this is the world’s largest landfill. An estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic are floating here in every square mile of ocean. Seventy per cent of this eventually sinks, damaging marine life. The rest floats and some washes up on distant shores.

1. Headline newsUsing Photocopiable 1, ‘Ocean News’ (available at www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus) invite the children to write articles for the front cover of a newspaper, highlighting the issue of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Tell them to research and include information about the effect floating plastic has on marine life. What happens to a sea creature if it eats plastic, mistaking it for food? Encourage the children to look for or draw images of ocean pollution that can be included as part of their article and think carefully about attention-grabbing headlines. The children could then send copies of some of the articles home to parents to raise awareness of this environmental issue. 2. Clean-up timeUltimately, rubbish gets into our oceans because it is left on beaches. Litter can also be carried into the ocean after being dumped into rivers. Hold a D&T session, asking the children to come up with some designs for a litter pick-up tool. Talk about the end user and objective of the tool. Discuss aspects such as the handle, any mechanisms and how it will pick up rubbish.

The Pacific Ocean

3. The perfect view Discuss what the ocean and its shores should look like in an ideal world. Does our image of beaches and oceans include floating rubbish and pollution? Look through magazines and photographs as a class and find pictures of the perfect beach and ocean – clean and uncluttered. Collect together some plastic containers – ones that takeaway and chip shops use to put food in and ultimately often end up dumped on the beach or floating in the sea. With supervision (if necessary) get the children to cut out some window shapes from the back of each tray and

stick their ideal beach pictures on so that they look like the view from a window. Invite the children to decorate the front of the tray with scraps of material for curtains. You may like to carry out the same activity to show the worst-case scenario – views of beaches and oceans that are polluted and full of litter.

CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS

JUNE 2009www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus38 JUNE 2009 www.scholastic.co.uk/junioredplus 39

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIESThe facts: The Southern Ocean circles the continent of Antarctica. Also known as the ‘channel’, it connects the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and has a powerful influence over the Earth’s climate.

Environmental issues: The world’s largest living animal, the Blue Whale, lives in the Southern Ocean. In the last century, Blue Whales have been hunted almost to extinction along with other species of whale such as Humpbacks. Since 1986, commercial whaling has been banned but some countries, such as Japan, Iceland and Norway, have started whaling again. The Southern Ocean was designated a whale sanctuary in 1994, but will the Earth’s whale population survive?

1. The whale debateHold a class debate on whether some countries should be allowed to continue whaling. In groups, ask half of the class to research the arguments ‘For’ (whale meat is sold and helps to fund data for conservation and management of whale stocks; in some places such as the Faroe Islands, whales are killed as part of a traditional fishing activity, and so on). Ask the other half of the class to research the arguments ‘Against’ (scientists can study living whales to provide data for whale management; numbers of whales have not recovered enough and many are still dying from pollution and collisions with boats, and so on). Can the children find out other points for both sides of the argument?

2. Whale sweet pastriesInvite the children to make whale pastries (see image, left), to highlight the plight of our world’s largest animal. Start by placing a piece of baking parchment on a baking tray. Take strips of fresh pastry and shape them on the baking parchment to make a whale sitting on a line of waves. In the empty

spaces inside the pastry, place boiled sweets (you don’t need to use many). Then, place the baking tray in the oven on a low heat and cook until the pastry has turned golden brown. The boiled sweets will melt, creating a bubbly effect. Carefully lift the parchment off the tray and leave until cool and set hard. You could hold a sweet pastry stall and sell your pastries to raise money to adopt a whale (visit www2.wdcs.org/hych/adopt/adopt.php).

3. Whale magazine Invite the children to start a whale-themed magazine full of articles, editorials, pictures, puzzles, facts and advertisements about whales and how to save them. Turn an area of the classroom into the magazine office and organise folders for incoming features that will be included in the magazine. Assign roles to the children so that everyone has a job to do. You may want to invite teachers, parents and other children in the school to contribute to the magazine. When it is finished, make sure that you display it in a central part of the school where it can be shared and enjoyed.

The facts: The Indian Ocean is the body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia and Australia. The Indian Ocean is the third largest body of water on Earth covering 13 per cent of the world’s surface.

Environmental issues: Due to climate change, ocean temperatures are rising causing coral to bleach and die. In 1998, 16 per cent of the world’s reefs were lost due to bleaching with Indian Ocean reefs being the worst affected. Many coral reefs will be permanently destroyed if this continues. In addition, pieces of coral are also often collected for use in jewellery and other marine souvenirs, further damaging these fragile reefs.

1. The beauty of coral Invite the children to create a coral-reef painting. Use blue poster paint for a background. Create rocks of various shapes and sizes using a sponge. Once dry, add white highlights by printing blobs with the end of a paintbrush. Water down some bright pink and orange paint, then place a drop just above a rock. The children should then use a straw to blow the paint in different directions, repeating the process to create some weird and wonderful sea plants. Glitter can be added to highlight tips of plants and leaves. Finally, tell the children to cut a piece of sponge into a small fish shape and sponge a shoal of white fish swimming around the reef. While the white paint is still wet, sprinkle glitter on.

2. Souvenir alertExplain to the children that a great deal of damage is also caused to coral reefs by divers collecting souvenirs to sell in gift shops. Coral is used to make jewellery and natural sponge is taken to sell in shops. Ask the children to design a range of holiday souvenirs that do not involve damage to coral reefs. Encourage them to think of different sustainable materials that can be used without causing damage to the environment – perhaps gifts made from recycled rubbish – and name these in their designs.

The facts: The Arctic Ocean is the body of water between Europe, Asia and North America. The Arctic is the smallest of the world’s five oceans. Much of it is covered in ice all year round and with no daylight from October to March, the Arctic Ocean is one of the world’s most amazing habitats. It is home to a multitude of unique life forms, all highly adapted to cope with the extreme and seasonal weather conditions.

Environmental issues: Climate change has caused the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to shrink. Due to the melting ice, sea levels are rising increasing the likelihood of flooding around the world. Scientists are urging the world to take notice of how climate change and global warming is affecting sea levels, and also the animals who live in the Arctic as their natural habitats shrink.

The Southern Ocean

The Indian Ocean

The Arctic Ocean

2. Melting iceIn order to illustrate how global warming can dramatically affect the ice in the Arctic Ocean, conduct an experiment to find out how quickly ice melts in different temperatures. You may have done this sort of experiment before in a science lesson – linking it to a topic on the oceans is a good way of making learning connections (see pages 18–19 for more advice on making learning connections). Firstly, ask the children to use thermometers to measure the temperatures of two glasses of water. Make one glass of water a few degrees warmer than the other. Next, place an ice cube into each glass and record how long each cube takes to melt.

1. Save our home Explain to the children that due to the threat to their habitat, the lives of Polar Bears, seals and other wildlife are increasingly threatened. Explain that the children are going to help create a simple display of the Arctic and some of its inhabitants (see image, right). Provide them with some white polystyrene packaging that they can break up to look like pieces of polar ice. Get the children to place them on a white tablecloth and edge it with some white corrugated card cut into icicle shapes. Place model Polar Bears and seals around the display – these can either be small toy models or if time allows, the children could make or paint their own clay Arctic animals. Finally, sprinkle white glitter over the ice to make it gleam in the Sun. Encourage the children to decide on a message to add to highlight awareness of the plight of these creatures – perhaps ‘Save our home’.

(The Arctic) is home to a multitude of unique life forms, all highly adapted to cope with the extreme and seasonal conditions

CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANSCREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANS CREATIVE TOPIC: OUR WORLD: OCEANSPO

LAR

BEA

R ©

PH

OTO

DIS

C IN

/GET

TY IM

AG

ES; O

THER

IMA

GES

© C

ARO

LIN

E PE

THER

BRI

DG

E