LCA Ocean Discovery for February

This is another aspect of the learning environment at Lighthouse Christian Academy.  Since we live on an island and have access to the magnificent ocean life, it is only logical to include it in what is taught at the Academy. Our teachers are taking what we know about the ocean and incorporating it into the other areas of the classroom. For example, our Dramatic Play area has sea creature puppets. The Dress Up section has swimming masks and flippers. Creative Art is being done with sand, seashells, foam sea creatures, etc.  Our classroom libraries have books with ocean pictures and stories.  Each month we teach a different topic.

This month our ocean adventures take us to discover: Sharks and Rays.

Sharks

Size:               As small as about 6 Inches (dogfish) and as big as 50 feet (whale shark)

Color:              Blue, gray, Tan

What it eats:    fish, plankton, squid, and small fish by filter feeding

Where it lives: Several layers of the ocean

There are nearly 400 species of sharks.  Sharks are special since they do not have a skeleton, but cartilage. The more popular sharks to the keys are sand and nurse sharks, in addition to bonnetheads and blacktip sharks.

Rays

Size:               3 to 22 feet across, depending on the type. The largest one, the Atlantic Manta, weighs in at over two tons.

Color:              Reddish to olive-brown, or black on top with gray and black splotches underneath.

What it eats:            Plankton, fish, shellfish, worms and other small animals.

Where it lives:  In oceans all over the world, in the middle and bottom depths.

Rays are the graceful cousins of sharks.  Both have bodies made of a soft substance called cartilage-like what the tip of your nose is made of.  The fins of manta rays work like the wings of a bird.  With them, rays can glide through the water very quickly.  They simply flap their underwater wings.  But manatees cannot swim backwards.