Build a Seagrass Puppet Community

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Build a Seagrass Puppet Community
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A Note to the Educator
The Seagrass Activity Kit was developed for
educators and their students by Nancy Diersing
and Joy Tatgenhorst, Education Specialists from
the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This
presentation contains the Instructions for
conducting the Build a Seagrass Puppet Community
for K through 1. The animal and plant components
for this activity are found in this presentation.
The Seagrass Animal Cards that may be used to
supplement and introduce the topic of seagrass
ecology are found in a separate document called
Cards.ppt. The Background Information for the
Seagrass Activity Kit presentation (also found on
this CD) offers information about the organisms
and habitats used in the educational activities
found in the Seagrass Activity Kit. It is
intended to refresh the educator with information
relating to the activities. A glossary of terms
is provided at the end of the presentation for
reference purposes. We acknowledge the
artists, M. Gill and D. Peebles, who created some
of the artwork contained in this educational
package. For more information or to provide
input, please contact Mary Tagliareni,
Education Coordinator, Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary, [phone] x 30 or
Mary.Tagliareni_at_noaa.gov or Nancy Diersing, (305)
852-7717 x 26 or Nancy.Diersing_at_noaa.gov.
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An Overview of the Seagrass Activity Kit
Grades
Pre-K-K Build a Seagrass Puppet Community with Seagrass /Animal Cards
K-4 Build a Seagrass Community--Level 1 Build a Seagrass Food Chain--Level 1
5-8 Build a Seagrass Community--Level 2 Build a Seagrass Food Web--Level 2
Educators background information Background Information (optional, applies to any or all activities)

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Title Build a Seagrass Puppet Community Pre-K to
Grade 1 National Science Education Standards
The activity described in this presentation is
designed to meet Life Science, Content Standard
C. Build a Seagrass Puppet Community enables
students to begin to understand two of the main
concepts of this standard The Characteristics of
Organisms and Organisms and their Environments.
These two concepts are described below using
excerpts from the National Science Education
Standards (1996). The Characteristics of
Organisms Organisms have basic needs. For
example, animals need air, water, and food
plants require air, water, nutrients, and light.
Organisms can survive only in environments in
which their needs can be met. The world has many
different environments, and distinct
environments support the life of different types
of organisms. Each plant or animal has
different structures that serve different
functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
For example, humans have distinct body structures
for walking, holding, seeing, and
talking. Organisms and their Environments All
animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants
for food. Other animals eat animals that eat
plants. An organism's patterns of behavior are
related to the nature of that organism's
environment, including the kinds and numbers of
other organisms present, the availability of
food and resources, and the physical
characteristics of the environment. When the
environment changes, some plants and animals
survive and reproduce, and others die or move to
new locations. Humans depend on their natural
and constructed environments. Humans change
environments in ways that can be either
beneficial or detrimental for themselves and
other organism.
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• Title Build a Seagrass Puppet Community
• Audience Pre-K to Grade 1
• Suggested Time 35-45 minutes
• Materials
• Printed copies of puppet animals (one set per
  student printed out)
• wide wooden craft sticks (one per student)
• sheet of foam to hold the puppets (approx. 2.5
  ft. by 2.5 ft.)
• Printed copies of seagrass animal cards
• round scissors for students
• crayons or colored pencils for students
• clear tape or stick glue
• stapler
• Note You will need to have the sun wooden craft
  assembled before the activity begins. To make
  the foam sheet into a seagrass habitat, you will
  need to print out some seagrass patches, cut them
  out, and adhere them onto the sides of the sheet
  with glue or tape.

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2. Use the large sun card to explain how
seagrasses need the sun to grow. Push the wooden
craft stick with the sun into a back corner the
foam sheet. Explain to the students that there
is only one sun and it shines energy down on the
Earth. That energy is used by plants to grow.
When animals eat those plants, they are able to
grow, too. Explain that the sheet of foam
represents the seafloor with sand on it.
Decorate the seafloor with a few patches of
seagrass taped onto the sides. (see fig. 1).
Explain that the foam board is like the sand on
the seafloor and that you will have to pretend
that seawater is covering the sand and seagrass
community that you are making together. Use a
wave component taped onto three sticks to
represent the seawater. These three components,
the sun, sand, and seawater represent (some of )
the non-living components of the environment. 3.
Next, discuss the animals that are found living
or feeding in the seagrass habitats (the biotic
or living components of the ecosystem). Use the
animal cards to illustrate the variety of animals
that depend upon the seagrass to live. You might
mention that some of the animals eat the grass
itself, while others eat smaller animals that are
living in the seagrass. You might ask the
students, What do living things need to live?
How are living things different from non-living
things like the sun or seawater? For background
information, read Background Information for the
Seagrass Activity Kit and Who am I? (Level 1)
clues.
Figure 1. A foam board is used as the seafloor
in the puppet activity.
Note For a young active group, you may just have
the cards on the table when they enter the
classroom/art area. This will introduce the
animals and promote their curiosity. Then
initiate a discussion to find out what they know
about the animals--their names, what they eat,
whether we eat them, how they feed, how they
protect themselves, etc.
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4. Pass out a set of seagrass puppets, a set of
seagrass patches, and a wooden craft stick to
each student (see next page for instructions on
cutting the puppets) and then demonstrate how to
make a puppet. Show the students how to insert a
wooden craft stick through the folded puppet.
Explain that each student will color and then
create their own puppet. Show how the animal can
be pulled down into the seagrass patches to hide
or pop up to peek out at the world. You might
want to mention how important it can be for an
animal to find shelter and protection in grass
beds. It is your choice whether to provide the
students with seagrass that is already shaded
green or with seagrass patches for them to color
(both sets are available). 5. Students assemble
their own seagrass puppets. Each student receives
a puppet animal with two parts. Students cut
out each side, keeping the animal pieces attached
at the top. The animal (with two-sides) can be
placed on the wooden craft stick and secured
using tape or glue. (see fig. 2). Before the
teacher staples the two seagrass patches
together, have the student pull the puppet
animal down into the seagrass so that it is not
showing. Then staple around the hidden animal,
being careful not to staple the animal to the
seagrass patch itself. The student can then push
the animal up out from the seagrass or pull it
back in to the grass to hide from its predators.
Next, allow the students some time to try out
their puppets before moving to the next step of
creating the community on the foam sheet. Note
For young students, you may need to pre-cut the
puppets and seagrass and assist them with
assembling the puppet.
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6. To wrap up the activity, ask the students to
explain how his/her animal moves and ask
questions to bring out the concept of adaptations
and how they enable an organism to survive in its
environment. Point out that some animals will
hide while others might swim away fast when
threatened by a larger animal that might eat
them. Some examples of questions are Does it
have fins for swimming or wings for flying? Does
it hide in the grassbed when being chased by a
larger animal or does it swim away or protect
itself with claws, etc? After posing the
questions, have the students put the seagrass
animal puppets in their proper home by placing
their puppets on the foam (where the sun is
already located). They might need help pushing
the stick down into the foam sheet. 7. After
all the puppets have been placed in the
community, make an announcement about how
everyone helped build a seagrass community, which
represents the living community out in the ocean.
Explain to the class that a community of plants
and animals (a seagrass community) contains many
different kinds of living things that depend upon
one another for food and the other things they
need to live. Living things also depend upon
non-living thing such as the sun for energy. If
you have enough time, you can discuss how
seawater provides marine animals with the air
they need to breath and other things. (see fig.
4).
Cutting Out the Puppets After printing the
puppet, use a paper cutter to cut out along the
dotted lines. Then, trim along the outside lines
of the animal, being careful not to cut along the
fold line (solid line) at this point. (You may
have to do the trimming for the younger
students.) Next, fold the puppet along the fold
line and then cut a small hole, through which
wooden craft stick will be inserted. Repeat the
steps for the seagrass patches.
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Figure 1. After being placed on the foam board,
the seagrass puppets form a community of animals
and plants.
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fold line
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