Sharks Unit Study
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This shark unit study was so fun to not only make but also to teach! My kiddos loved learning about sharks and begged to do extra slides each day. This unit is almost no prep and just requires you to add in the links that will work best for your classroom or homeschool. I will be adding the ones we used further down in this post. If you would like to try a digital notebook, check out this blog post on the Arctic Fox. First, let's take a look at what is included with this Sharks Digital Notebook.
PURCHASE HERE
or
PURCHASE ON TPT
Planner Pages
Two slides of planner pages are included. I covered this material over a four week period but you can choose the amount of time that works best for you.
Here is an example of our first two weeks.
I assign a book to read that goes with the slides that will be assigned for that. The beauty of this resources is you can choose what you do and don’t want to cover. You can also change up the order of things by simply moving slides around.
KWL Chart Slides
At the beginning of the unit, the students can add what they know and what they want to learn to the slide below. I like to review the responses for “what I want to know” so I can make sure to include those topics. At the end of the unit, the kids can add what they have learned and what questions they still may have.
Vocab Slides
Included in the unit are vocabulary slides. The first slide has vocab words already picked out. Those are cartilage, endangered, gills, migration, ocean, predator, and school. You can add your own vocab words to the following slide that has been left blank.
Digital Resources Slides
Up next are two slides to include extra digital resources. These slides can be added in wherever you see fit. They may be used to help answer a question a student had that may not have been covered or could also be used to do more of a “deep-dive” into a topic that the student really loves. To use, right-click on the transparent shape above the books/laptop clip art. You will then add the hyperlink. There is a place for students to type in what they have learned and a fun fact.
About Sharks Slides
Before talking about individual sharks, the shark unit study covers generic information about sharks. There is a slide to introduce the topic and include a digital resource that you link. I have left these without links so that you can choose the resource that will work best for your students. See this blog post for ideas. Some ideas would be a link to an online video, an online encyclopedia, a link to a zoo page, or a digital book.
Also included are 2 reading passage slides with a question per slide. One covers sharks in general and the other shark’s habitat.
Last is a sharks question slide. Questions include:
Sharks don’t have bones, what do they have?
How do sharks breathe?
What is an apex predator?
How are sharks classified?
Why do we need sharks?
Individual Shark Slides
Each of the sharks has their own slides.
Sharks included are:
-Basking shark
-Bull shark
-Goblin shark
-Great white shark
-Hammerhead shark
-Leopard shark
-Nurse shark
-Whale shark
The first slide for the individual sharks is a digital resource link slide. You can right click on the transparent shape over the computer and add your own hyperlink. (see video preview for help)
Next, is a reading passage about the shark and option for student to add their own image.
Also included is a stats slide. These stats are an average of what is currently thought to be the upper limits of each shark. It is, of course, hard to exactly measure age, weight, and length, which is discussed in the sharks overview.
The following slide allows the student to add their own stats to a chart. It also included three questions related to the reading passage.
And last but not least, a slide to add their own pictures and fun facts. This is my students’ favorite slide!
Shark Extras Slides
Sharks Extras: To finish up the unit, this resource includes the following extras:
-Sharks Extras Title Slide
-Draw a shark (link will need to be added)
-Draw a shark (step by step)
-How Big are They (charting/math)
-Interactive Word Search
Digital Resource Ideas
I have not included any outside links to digital resources. Links can change and you might like to use a different resource that is available to you. For this next year of school we signed up for Discovery Education Techbooks and am as looking at their Education Experience. In looking through it after finishing this unit it offers several video clips that would have been a good addition to this unit. So, for that reason, I have left the links up to you to add. And if you don't want to use links, that would work as well.
Shark Unit Study
Videos
How to Draw a Great White Shark
Books
Another good option for books is Epic! We use Epic for our reading time and the kids love it. Epic has several different options for books about the arctic fox.
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