First Grade: Oceans

We just finished up an oceans unit in first grade!  We started the unit by getting to know the location of the world's oceans.

We explored some myths about sea creatures living in bodies of water on the earth, and then we created our own mythical sea creatures.



1st Grade students came up with some creative creatures like the Water Owl, Merfish, Car Crusher, Sea Bigfoot, Sea Chicken, Oofy, and Frank of the Ocean.


Students also wrote fictional books about their mythical sea creatures that told about their predators, prey, what oceans they are found in, and some of the special features. This is a sample page in one of our books.

Then students researched an actual creature in the ocean. They completed nonfiction research and presentation about their animals. Some of the animals researched and presented were manatees, basking sharks, sea turtles, sea spiders, orcas, and saltwater crocodiles.


We learned about the ocean layers and the animals' adaptations in the different layers.


We learned about what was at the bottom of the ocean, who has explored there, and how.

We also researched some islands that are found in our world's oceans. After researching, we created a peep box that showcased our island. A peep box is a special kind of 3D diorama, and it makes the whole island look like a hidden secret. Interesting because some of the islands we researched are seemingly hidden secrets--Brac Island, Cat Island, Robben Island, Christmas Island, Kangaroo Island, Zhoushan Island, and Kauai!





At the end of our ocean unit, we talked about how plastic and other trash end up in our oceans. We learned that scientists and inventors are coming up with new inventions that help clean and save our oceans. Students were challenged to create their own inventions that could help clean up the plastics in the ocean.

At the very end of our unit, students tried to create a robot that would clean up plastic in the ocean with our We Do Lego Robotics.



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Click here, here, and here to see the kids experimenting with the programming of the lego robotics.  

Click here to see and hear students' explanations of their robot.  

This was an engaging unit! It was a fun way to end our school year together.