At school today we made paper starfish as part of our ocean unit. The kids are so cute and funny with their enthusiasm about each new creature we study. They listened intently as I read nonfiction books and we collected facts about starfish. We noted the amazing way it eats its prey. They loved hearing about a starfish's body, and how if one arm gets cut off or eaten by a predator, another one grows in its place.They were beside themselves with excitement when I showed them the craft project we would be making...a paper starfish. Each child decorated theirs, then carefully cut one arm off and attached a new "arm" to the back with a brad fastener. The high point is when they could turn the paper arm to make it look like it miraculously grew back.
In order to make the most of this teachable moment, I reviewed what we'd learned about the starfish. The kids were able to remember so much about the body, habitat, and food. Last, I asked them what was a predator to a starfish. Without hesitating, a chorus of children responded, "Scissors!"
Moments like that are the reason I love this job.
4 comments:
The Starfish Story
A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a
beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish
have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man,
walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one
starfish after another and tossing each one gently into
the ocean.
“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,”
he asks.
“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I
don’t throw them further in they will die.”
“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and
miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t
possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of
them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts
won’t make any difference at all.”
The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick
up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a
difference to that one.”
scissors are dangerous!
That is such a clever lesson idea. I don't know where you find the time to come up with the ideas and then to keep up with the blog. Good job! And yes, scissors can be dangerous, but that's why they make SAFETY scissors. I hope anonymous was just being facetious.
Hey I finished my blog about "Count your blessings" Read it.....I noticed today when I read it that I never finished the tapestry story. Must have been an ADHD day for me :) LOL
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