4th Grade Aquarium Virtual Field Trip

Standards: 4.1.4.D Explain how specific adaptations can help organisms survive in their

Environments.

4.5.4.C Describe how human activities affect the environment.

Objectives:

1. During the virtual field trip, students will be able to (SWBAT) identify at least 3 different

organisms and at least two of the characteristics they display (diet, color, predators, etc.).

2. After class discussion about the field trip, SWBAT explain one effect of pollution on the

organisms in the ocean and one potential way to fix this problem.

3. After class discussion and review of different organisms, SWBAT identify one organism

and an adaptation that helps it survive.

Facts:

● Ocean-themed class decorations and ocean sounds. The goal here is to create an out-of-

class feeling to enhance the virtual field trip experience.

● Supplemental information for each virtual station so students can read about the animals

they are observing. This will help them to fill out the field trip notebook they will be

given.

● Stations with a computer for each live cam:

○ Jellyfish: Jelly | Live cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium

○ Sharks: Sand Tiger Shark · Tennessee Aquarium (tnaqua.org) or Secret Reef Cam

· Tennessee Aquarium (tnaqua.org)

○ Seals: Harbor Seal Cams | Seattle Aquarium

 ○ Penguins: Penguin | Live cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium

○ Manatees: Homosassa Springs Underwater Manatees | Explore.org

○ Otters: Sea Otter | Live cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium or River Otter Falls Cam ·

Tennessee Aquarium (tnaqua.org)

○ Dolphins: Live Webcams - Clearwater Marine Aquarium (cmaquarium.org)

○ Coral Reef, Stingrays: Octopus Live Camera - Aquarium of the Pacific |

Explore.org

○ Turtles: Mavis’s Rescue Hideaway Cam - Clearwater Marine Aquarium

(cmaquarium.org)

● Smartboard/projector to explore the deep sea: The Deep Sea (neal.fun)

● Speaker for ocean music.

Assessments:

1. Students will have a flipbook and turn it in. The flipbook will include animals they

observed and characteristics about them. (Objective#1)

2. In groups, students will research one solution to a problem occurring from pollution (each

group will be given a different problem and will need to identify an organism it affects);

each group will then make a poster of their work and present it to the class. (Objective#2)

3. Students will individually answer a prompt, picking one animal and explaining an

adaptation that helps them survive, as well as describing two other characteristics (color,

diet, habitat, predator, etc.). (Objective#3)

What will students experience?

Coming into the classroom, students will find a class transformed into an underwater escape.

Students will feel an out-of-class experience as they enter this virtual field trip into an aquarium
to explore underwater organisms. Students will be given a fouldout fan so they are able to list the

animals they observed on this trip.Students will split into small groups and rotate stations to view

live streams of ocean animals and organisms. After going to every station, students will come

back to their desks and we will talk about the animals they saw in each station. We will talk

about some animals and their characteristics. After this discussion, students will write a response

to a prompt asking about one animal and an adaptation that helps them survive. Then, students

will go on a deep dive into the ocean to explore more animals all the way to the deepest part of

the ocean. After concluding the deep dive, I will begin discussion on problems ocean animals

face. After this, students will then get on computers in groups to research problems that pollution

poses on the ocean and the animals in it. Students will then make posters to show this problem

and a potential solution to help.