Tidal Pools and Sea Animals That Use Camouflage

Today was a slower day and we didn't get as much accomplished as yesterday, but it was still a good day. We began the day by learning about tidal pools. How tidal pools are formed and what can be found in them. We watched a very interesting video about tidal pools and it even touched on another subject matter we were learning about. Sea animals that use camouflage.

We watched the little crab scurry along and we were amazed at how fast that little eight legged creature could boogie! He could also camouflage himself very well. That brought up the subject of how sea animals use camouflage for protection and to catch their prey. Next we watched a video I stumbled upon of  an octopus using camouflage extremely well. Until he moved we couldn't see the octopus at all! You can find a link to the octopus video we watched here. I am so glad I happened to come across this video.

Next we discussed tides. What they are and how they are created. The girls had some ideas about what they are and what causes them such as wind or hot weather. Once again it was time for a video and we watched one that explained tides and how they are created very well. The teacher on the video sure had their attention when he hollered and swung a bucket of water over his head.

After watching the videos we decided it was time for some experiments.  The girls were interested in why things sink or float in salt water so we did an experiment on buoyancy. I had the girls gather at least five items from around the house for the experiment. They made predictions of whether the items would sink or float. Why do some items sink and others float in salt water? We also did some research on salt water density. I have to say our research findings were different than we expected.

We moved on from research and experiments to math and language arts. While McKenna was looking up the meanings of buoyancy, salinity, tidal pool, and camouflage and later working on the Kindle, I helped McLarin.What better math fun for an ocean unit could there  be than counting fish crackers? I had her also practice her scissors skills by cutting pieces of paper in two and gluing the long piece on one side of her paper and the short piece on the other.


Some of the interesting things we learned today are:

1. Oceans are home to some of the most diverse life forms on earth.

2. 71% of the earth is covered by oceans.

3.  A sea is a smaller body of salt water and it is sometimes connected to an ocean.

4. A Mid-Ocean Ridge is a ridge in the middle of some oceans and looks like an underwater mountain range.

5. There is as much water in the Atlantic Ocean as Antarctica has ice.

6. Every year there are tons of fish caught in the oceans. About 70-75 million tons.

7. What is an Ecosystem?

8. What is Camouflage? Esp. Cryptic Camouflage.

9. Seagrass is home to many species of sea life.

10. Some oceans are saltier than other oceans.

Our Kindle has been a great resource for homeschooling! Between our Kindle and Pinterest and Youtube we can always find something interesting to add to our day of learning.