GRADE: ESAM: 3-5

CONTENT STANDARD: Earth and Space Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Oceanography

CONCEPT: Oceans are important to life on earth.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: D1.00 To understand the physical features of the oceans

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

1.01 define oceanography terms.
1.02 locate and label oceans on maps.
1.03 identify five features on the ocean floor.

I. Identify the five oceans of the earth
III. Identify five features of the ocean floor

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts of Science

TN GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical, and earth/space science.

2.1 SCALE AND MODEL - The development of models provides a conceptual bridge between the concrete and the abstract, while the use of scales allows for a comparison of differences in magnitude between the model and the desired form.

2.1a A model is a representation used to simplify complex phenomena.

BENCHMARK: Models are developed to represent structures or concepts. These models may be manipulated for simplified analysis of complex ideas.

2.1c Models are often used to study processes that happen too slowly, too quickly, or on too small or too large a scale to observe directly.

BENCHMARK: Scale models represent real objects, events, and processes. These representations may not be exact in detail.

TIME REQUIRED:

Two instructional periods

MATERIALS:

Orange or apple, construction or art paper, crayons or markers, world map

(Take an apple or orange. Hold it up in front of the class.) This is the earth. (Cut equal parts. Hold up one section.) This represents all the dry land on the earth. As you can see, very little land actually covers the earth. Water makes up the biggest part. For the next few days, we will learn about the four oceans, their names and locations.

(Secure a large map to the blackboard or wall, and point out the United States and any place in Europe.) Could a person travel to these points without crossing a body of water? (Verbal responses or thumbs up/down, etc.) (Point out and write on the chalkboard - Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean.) Which ocean is nearest us? (response) After discussing the locations of all the oceans, ask the children to turn to a neighbor and tell him at least one, or more, oceans. Call on one students to answer out loud. Teacher will monitor responses.

Name oceans by unscrambling ocean names on a labeled map.

CLOSURE:

(Have each child use construction paper or art paper to make a flat map, showing land masses and labeling the oceans.)

This Classroom Connector addresses Instructional Objective 1.03.

MATERIALS:

Blackboard, writing paper and pencils

Children, I want you to close your eyes and, for a moment, picture in your mind how the land looked on the way to school. (Wait a minute) Hold up your hand if you traveled a stretch of level land, passed any ditches, any gullies, went up or down a hill. (pause) Just as the land we see and travel across has many different features, so does the ocean. Today, we are going to learn about some features of the ocean floor.

Scientists have seen much of the ocean floor by using submersibles, sonar and satellite mapping. Five specific features of oceans are . . . . .(??) (Refer to reference books to draw the ocean floor. Make a profile drawing on the board of the ocean floor, labeling the 5 points. As you introduce each section, ask):

What words would you use to describe the way this part of the way this part of the diagram looks? (continental shelf, continental slope, plain, trench, volcanoes.) The continental shelf is the part or area of the floor that you first walk out on from the shore. It gently slopes. Water is very shallow here. Continue out and the deeper slope and steep drop into the water is the continental slope. Here you will find little valleys or canyons cut by mud or currents moving across the ocean bottom. The very bottom of the ocean is the plain. Trenches are like very deep ditches in the ocean floor. The deepest trench is deeper than the tallest mountain on land. Volcanoes are also on the ocean bottom. The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes. (Be sure the sketch is still on the board.) Which are better for fishing? coldest?

Class, now that you have seen me point out and discuss the darkest features of the ocean floor, let's see if we can get these parts in the right place. Please put everything aside and get a piece of paper. Please write numbers 1 through 5. (Erase the sketch.) Draw from memory the ocean floor and use the numbers through 5 to label the features.

(After several minutes, ask the children to share their sketch with a neighbor. Allow time for comparison.) Class, now I am going to draw the ocean floor on the board again. Together we will put the features in the correct places. Please help me locate the continental shelf, continental slope, plain, trenches, volcanoes.

(Have sketch without the names of the features on the chalkboard.) Class, I am going to point to a place in the drawing. If I say the correct name for this part, show me (Thumbs up/down, flash cards, etc.). (Continue this procedure until the class comprehends the lesson.)

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