Meet the Dolphin. Sample file. Amuse Their Minds Publishing

Transcription

1 Meet the Dolphin Amuse Their Minds Publishing

2 2 Table of Contents Page Introduction 3 Lesson One: Meet the Dolphin 4 Lesson Two: Measure the Dolphin 7 Lesson Three: Chart the Dolphin 8 Lesson Four: Map the Dolphin 9 Lesson Five: Paint the Dolphin 10 Lesson Six: Feed the Dolphin 12 Lesson Seven: Match the Dolphin 13 Lesson Eight: Copy the Dolphin 14 Finish the Dolphin Book 16 Annotated bibliography 21

3 3 Introduction Welcome to the Meet the Animal series from Amuse Their Minds Publishing. This educational product was created with you and your children in mind. As a parent, you want professional, high quality materials that will engage your children and meet their learning needs. Your children want fun materials on the topics that interest them. The Meet the Animal series brings you and your children exactly what you ve been looking for! Professionally developed materials created by educators Content delivered in story format, so each animal speaks directly to your children! Affordable units that make it easy for you to meet your children s interests Printable pages with a goal of eliminating paper waste and reducing your printing costs! Lapbook templates that encourage individual creativity Age appropriate materials that you can use with more than one child in your family Well-organized material that encourages your children to continue to develop their reading, writing, drawing, painting, and measuring skills! How to Use this ebook: 1. We recommend using a twin pocket folder that comes with 3 metal prongs for inserting papers on the inside. 2. Print pages Three-hole punch the papers and insert them into the folder. Now each of your children has his or her own animal workbook to complete! 4. After your children have completed the 8 lessons, they can use the lapbook directions and cutouts on pages to complete their animal books! We recommend printing pages on cardstock. Examples of the book are shown on page 16. Are you ready to jump in and get started? Gather your supplies and let s begin!

4 4 Lesson One: Meet the Dolphin Materials needed: Drawing materials Are you surprised to learn that I m not a fish? I m a mammal, just like you! Mammals are warm-blooded. That means we try to keep the insides of our bodies at a constant, comfortable temperature. Fish, on the other hand, are cold-blooded. Cold-blooded means an animal s internal temperature is dependent upon the temperature outside. Mammals also give birth to live babies. That means mammals do not lay eggs. Hello there! Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about me. I m a bottlenose dolphin. I am an amazingly intelligent marine mammal, if I do say so myself. We dolphins are a varied bunch. There are over 40 species of dolphins roaming the world s oceans and rivers. We come in different sizes and colors, too. My cousin the Maui Dolphin is the smallest dolphin. My cousin the orca, who also goes by the name killer whale, is the largest. Some dolphins I know have different color patterns, but, for the most part, we are gray with dark backs. Sometimes people confuse us for sharks because of our dorsal fin, which sticks up out of the water when we swim. Well, a shark is a fish, which means when it swims, its tail moves from side to side. Dolphins are not fish, as you already know, so our tails move up and down when we

5 5 swim. So, if you re ever out on the ocean and you see an animal that looks like it could be a shark or a dolphin, watch its tail when it swims. If the tail goes back and forth like a fish, it s a shark! If the tail goes up and down, it s me, the dolphin! Would you like to see more pictures of me? Take a look at the photo album below: Here I am on an underwater vacation. Don t I have a pretty smile? I should have won a gold medal for this move!

6 6 So, how do I spend my days? Well, when I was a young dolphin, I stayed with my mom for the first 5 years of my life. Now, I usually live in a large group of about 100 dolphins. We like to travel together and hunt together. We prefer shallow water where there are lots of yummy fish to eat. Sometimes, we hunt together. A bunch of us will circle around a large school of fish, trapping the fish in the middle. Then we take turns swimming through the school of fish to get dinner. Another really cool thing about me is that I use echolocation to find my food. Echolocation means that I make a high pitched sound under water that bounces off other objects. I listen for the echoes and then I know where to find my next meal. Did you know all dolphins have teeth? Our teeth help us chew our food, which sometimes even includes crunchy shellfish. We don t eat any vegetation in the sea. We just like meat. That means we are carnivores. We breathe air, just like you do. In fact, when I was born, the first thing my mother did was rush me to the surface of the water so I could get my first breath of air. Since we sleep in the water, where we can drown if we do not get air, only half of our brain goes to sleep. The other half stays awake to keep us breathing. I am very playful and friendly. I like to jump out of the water. I have a lot of fun following whales and boats! The average lifespan for a dolphin like me is about 40 years. There are many threats to dolphins. Sometimes, we get caught in fishing nets. Because we need to breathe air, we drown when we get tangled in nets. Pollution in the water also harms us. Many types of dolphins are protected by governments to make sure we do not become extinct.

7 7 Now that you ve read my story and learned a bit about me, it s time for you to have some fun. What I want you to do is draw a picture of me! Take a close look at me and look for shapes, lines and colors. What shape am I? What color am I? When you re done drawing a picture of me, move on to Lesson 2. See you later! Materials needed: Lesson Two: Measure the Dolphin Tape measure Scotch tape Scale Welcome back! That s a great picture! It looks just like my friend Bob. In the last lesson, you learned about my life. In this lesson, you re going to learn about how big I am. And you re going to learn about how big you are, too! With the help of an adult, follow the directions below: 1. Gather a measuring tape and some scotch tape. 2. Select a wall in your home to place the measurements on. It should be at least 8 feet long. 3. Use the measurements below. Mark the height and length on the wall using tape (that can easily be removed without damaging the surface!) 4. Then hop on a scale and see how much you weigh compared to a bottlenose dolphin. How many members of your family need to get on the scale to weigh as much as one bottlenose dolphin? 5. Compare your size to that of a bottlenose dolphin! Bottlenose Dolphin Average height: I m about 8 feet long from the tip of my nose to the tip of my tail Average weight: Between pounds You Your height Your weight

8 8 Lesson Three: Chart the Dolphin Materials needed: Writing materials Welcome to Lesson Three. In this lesson, you re going to learn about how long an average dolphin lives. I am 12 years old. How old are you? Look at the chart below. A dolphin s average lifespan is about 40 years. Can you place that on the chart where it belongs? Go for it! Hamster Dog Dolphin Human True or False? Circle the correct answer: Dolphins live longer than humans. True False Dogs live longer than dolphins. True False Hamsters live longer than dolphins. True False Years