Friday, October 20, 2017

School-Age: Giant Squid

This week's topic was inspired by Candace Fleming's new juvenile nonfiction book: "Giant Squid". 

1. Reading
The book, "Giant Squid" by Candace Fleming is a wonderful partnership between Fleming and Eric Rohmann. Rohmann captures the mystery and darkness surrounding the sea creature known as the Giant Squid and Fleming brings it to life with her poetic words.



2. Activity
To demonstrate how GIANT these squids really are, I wanted to give them a way to understand how big 40 feet really is! I cut a string of yarn to about 40 feet and then showed them how long a foot of yarn is using a ruler. 

Then I had my teen helpers pull the string out straight and lay it on the ground. 40 feet may sound big but, when kids can see it with their own eyes, they can truly have a better appreciation for the size of one of these beasts. 

3. Discussion
We played a True/False game about ocean facts and creatures. I found some facts from the "Giant Squid" book - which was a good way to see if they were listening throughout the book. Some of the other facts I found through National Geographic for Kids.

4. Craft
I found a giant squid craft that was originally created to accompany "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean" by Kevin Sherry. I found the template and instructions on the I Heart Crafty Things blog. I made my own squiggly legs on a Publisher document so that I could have an easier time cutting them out prior to the program.

Here's my sample I made before the program this week:

And here are a few that my teens made as examples:



Notes:
The book was a little dark as a read-aloud but the kids certainly got into it. Honestly, some of my favorite weeks are when we are doing something science-related. It was so much fun to see how much the kids know about the ocean and all the deep sea creatures that live in it! 

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