Second graders took a tour of two biomes located in the sunlight zone of our oceans: coral reefs and kelp forests.
First, they looked at pictures of the coral reef to find commonalities and infer information about the biodiversity found there. Beautiful pictures!
Next, we discussed the needs of giant kelp. We determined that these long plants need some way to help them reach the sunlight in order to photosynthesize. We used creative thinking to think of ways the plant may have adapted to solve this problem. Using balloons (air bladders), streamers (stipes and blades), and weighted bags (holdfasts), we made models of giant kelp and talked about the anatomy.
Then....WE CREATED OUR VERY OWN KELP FOREST!
We explored the concepts of camouflage by hunting for different colored cards, and explored what it may be like to be an animal living in a kelp forest. To end the day, students compared and contrasted the coral reef and the kelp forest to find similarities and differences between the two biomes.
