One Fish, Two Fish

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In our Life Science class, we have a variety of animals that we care for and learn from on a daily basis.  The children begin to distinguish between a hamster and a rabbit, or a lizard and a tortoise.

On this particular day, Ms. Heidi asked the children what they knew about fish.  Answers included , "fish swim", "live in water", "Nemo is a fish", and "sharks eat fish".  She showed the children pictures of a person, an elephant, and a tortoise.  She asked if any of the pictures showed a fish.  Everyone said "no".  Then she asked, "how do you know they are not a fish?"

We then discussed what characteristics describe a fish.  The children determined that fish live in the water.  They have fins that help them swim.  Their body is covered with hundreds of scales and they breathe through gills.

Next, Ms. Heidi showed them a variety of items on a tray.  The children had to investigate each item and use the criteria of characteristics to determine if any of them were indeed a fish.

The children said the shrimp lived in water and swam.  But they couldn't find fins or scales on the body.  The clam also lives in water, but again, it had no fins or scales.  

The yellow item, which one student described as looking like an "anemone", was found to be a plant clled buddha's hand.  It smelled like a lemon.

They did find one fish and they were able to touch the scales and look under the gills.  They counted several fins on the body and noted that they were different shapes and sizes.

Finally, Ms. Heidi took the students to the aquarium in our school foyer.  We had to identify five different organisms that lived in our tank.  The fish were easy to spot!  But, we also found snails, shrimp, coral, and a sandstar.