Review: Both of these titles are excellent GEMS guides (Great Explorations in Math and Science). GEMS guides are known for their success as classroom-tested guides, with clear, step-by-step instructions, assessment suggestions, literature connections, and background information for the teacher. One Ocean explores the oceans critical impact on all life on Earth. Currents explores how currents affect the Earths environment and the course of human history. Both of these guides are appropriate for fifth through eighth grade. Approx. 200 pages.
Other Information: Only One Ocean: Marine Science Activities for Grades 5-8 ($24.00), and Ocean Currents ($24.50) are available from GEMS, Lawrence Hall of Science #5200, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5200. Call 510-642-7771, fax 510-643-0309, online at http://www.lhsgems.org.
My elementary science students, grades one through four, work to achieve a wide-angle perspective of the ecology that surrounds our small, suburban school campus. As these students grow, they follow the movement of water from an upland forest through our schoolyard and eventually to a salt marsh. By following a small stream, my students gauge the impact of the school community on downstream habitats.
Commercial fishing is one of those real-world topics that can offer you and your students opportunities to examine several viewpoints at once, and to integrate several core subject areas. That tuna fish sandwich or breaded fillet has traveled a long way and through many processes before being served in your school cafeteria.
From the plight of manatees to the threat of global warming inundating our coastlines, there is no shortage of environmental issues to examine with your students. Time is the much greater challenge.
Two free resources are presented here that foster students connection to oceans while promoting solid academic content. The potential each offers for a multi-disciplinary focus gives you hooks into other subjects, enabling ocean studies to spread across the curriculum.