CORAL CAM LESSON PLANS
CREATED BY THE
TEACHER ADVISORY GROUP

Coral Cam Web Site

Here are some interdisciplinary suggestions for how to use the coral reef materials in your classrooms.  These ideas have been recommended by our advisory group teachers, as well as other teachers.  The activities range from math to music and include many ideas for writing and art. Enjoy these activities that cross disciplines!

MATH
Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) data may be used for mathematics.  The data may be graphed in different forms, i.e., line, bar, pie, at lower levels.  The data may be plotted and analysed statistically at the senior high school level.  (From Cesare Filice)

This is a pop-up graph activity created by Virginia De Silva and one of her students with instructions in English and Spanish, with accompanying Bermuda map by Wolfgang Sterrer.
 

SOCIAL STUDIES
Older students can do a contour map of Bermuda. They can use Styrofoam or construction paper to build the Island. (From Hilda Taylor)

ART
Masks of zooplankton  (From Amy Pearson)

Students can use modeling clay, salt dough or other materials to create coral reefs. They can then do a biodiversity study to determine who lives where. They can use pictures, create  flags using tooth picks and stick them on the habitat of  particular organisms.  (From Hilda Taylor)

Search art museums(local) for paintings of fish, ocean views, mollusks, seaside storms or scenes - do a field trip to the museum and plan a scavenger hunt for these, then questions about them once found.  (From Amy Pearson)

At the middle school level, students can use paper mache to create a large coral or an entire reef system. (From Cesare Filice)

Design this Stuck-Fast creature,attached to the underwater reef rock!  This is an activity combining science and art  in English and in Spanish. .(From Virginia De Silva)

ART & WRITING
For all grade levels, students can create Haikus about Coral reefs. They can also highlight  them with all forms of art work. (From Hilda Taylor)

"When I take students on a field trip to Cape Cod, after a day of doing science,
we sit on top of a hill that overlooks Nauset Marsh and sketch the scene at near sunset.  Then each of us writes a poem.  It doesn't matter that we are not artists or poets. Emily Dickenson has some neat poems about the sea...as does Carl Sanburg.."The fog comes in on little cat's paws.."  (From Gail Swenson)

WRITING
At all levels, students can write a story from the coral's point of view or from the point of view of one of the reef organisms.  Students can include any biological relationships that they may have, any fears or hopes.  Students can really go wild with this topic. (from Cesare Filice)

LITERATURE AND POETRY
For middle and high school students a connection between the literature of the sea and coral reefs would be appropriate.(From Gail Swenson)

Poetry related to oceans; example "Dunes" by Robert Frost From Amy Pearson)

Ideas for Poem themes from coral reef concepts and terms. Presented in English and Spanish.. (From Virginia De Silva)

MUSIC
Listen to sea chantys - try writing one ! (From Amy Pearson)

HISTORY
" There's an interest in ship wrecks on coral reefs. History might be connected in this way." (From Gail Swenson)

MEDICINE & NUTRITION
Finally, food is a great way to learn about the reef. Using the products of reef ecology.  And medicine."(From Gail Swenson)

© BBSR and TCOE Coral Web Site Team 1999      http://www.coexploration.org/bbsr/coral
Funded by a grant from the Goldman Foundation