An Overview of the Seagrass Activity Kit

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An Overview of the Seagrass Activity Kit
Grades
Pre-K-K Build a Seagrass Puppet Community Seagrass /Animal Cards/Who am I Game?
1-4 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 Chain/Web--Level 2
Educators background information Background Information (optional, applies to any or all activities)
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• Build a Seagrass Community using the Who Am I
  clues
• Suggested Time 45 minutes
• Materials
• Printed copy of each page in this presentation,
  containing the nonliving and living components of
  the seagrass community (Arrows are for the food
  chain activity).
• Who am I? Clues hand-out (Print one copy of
  Level 1 Who am I? for K-3 students)
• Print out Who am I in the food chain? Clues
  (for the food chain activity only).
• Felt board, poster board or wall in classroom
  (approximately 3 to 4 ft. by 2-4 ft. in size)
• Clear tape for sticking components to poster
  board or wall OR Velcro for sticking animals to
  felt board
• round scissors for students to use when cutting
  out animals.

Notes For young students, you may want to print
out only selection of animals from the entire
kit. You will also want to print out more than
one example of each animal in your
selection. The students may be enlisted to cut
out the components to be used in building the
community. This can be a separate activity prior
to initiating the activity described below. If
the components are to be used again, it may be
good to laminate them.
Figure 1. Seagrass Community
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Who Am I Clues?
1. Sun I am very large and very, very hot. I
shine down on the earth to make it warm. The
plants depend upon me to get energy to grow.
2. Seawater Marine animals live and swim in me.
I taste as salty as the sea. 3. Seagrass I
grow on the sandy bay or ocean bottom. My roots
dig into the sand and my green leaves stick up
where they can get sunlight. I use the energy
from the sun to grow and make my own food. Lots
of animals like to live in me and a few of them
eat my leaves, too. 4. Bay Scallop My soft body
is covered with two hard shells that connected to
one another. My shells are shaped like fans. Just
like my close relatives , the clams and oysters.
I am food for other marine animals and some
people, too. 5. Queen Conch I am an animal that
grows a heavy shell around my body. Sometimes you
can only see my eyes sticking out from beneath my
shell. My shell grows larger as my body grows.
On the inside, my shell is pink, but on the
outside it is almost white and can be covered
with plants that help me blend in the seagrass.
6. Tulip Snail I grow a spiral shell on my back
and have a soft body with two eyes on stalks. I
use my body as a "foot" to move along the sand.
I feed on smaller snails and clams.
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7. Common Octopus I have a large head with two
eyes. I have 8 long arms that I use in moving
and catching my food. 8. Horseshoe Crab I have
a shell that is shed each time I grow larger. I
have two tiny eyes on top of my large round head,
but I can't see very well. I use my many legs
that are found underneath my large head to bury
myself in the sandy seafloor for protection. I
have a long pointed, sharp tail. 9.Hermit crab
I have lots of legs and claws like a crab, but I
am not a real crab. I live in an old shell that I
carry on my back for protection. When I become
too large for this shell, I must find a new one
and crawl into it. 10. Shrimp I have many small
legs and a thin shell that cover my long body and
tail. I have two long pinchers or claws that I
use to feed myself. I live in the seagrass. I am
food for lots of animals, including fish and
people. I can be green in color just like the
seagrass. 11. Blue Crab I have 10 legs. One
pair of legs is really a pair of pinching claws
used for getting food and defending myself.
Another pair of legs are paddles used for
swimming and burying myself in the sand. I have a
bluish colored shell. People like to eat me and
catch me in traps or with bait. 12. Spiny
LobsterI have a shell that is shed each time I
grow larger. I have ten legs, a tail, and two
sets of feelers or antennae on my head. I like
to back my body into holes in the reef to hide. I
can also use my tail to swim fast backwards.
Fishermen catch me in traps. I am reddish in
color.
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13. Cushion Sea Star My body is covered in small
bumps. You can't tell from the picture, but my
mouth is underneath my body. I live and feed in
the sea grass. I have five pointed arms. I am
shaped like a star. 14. Grassbed Urchin My round
body is covered with pointed spines. The spines
help me to move and protect me. I like to hide
in the grassbeds and am often green in color.
15. Gray Snapper I am an animal with a
backbone, scales, and gills. I am popular to for
fishermen to catch and eat. I love to swim
through grassbeds feeding on shrimp and other
small animals. I have a stripe across each eye
that helps me hide from other fish. 16. Sea
Horse I am with a tail that I can wrap around
corals and seaweeds. I have a long narrow mouth,
which I use to feed on very small animals that
are floating in the ocean. I am a fish that
looks like a "horse". 17. PinfishI swim in
shallow waters over the grassbeds. I have large
eyes, but a small mouth. I eat clams and other
shellfish, which I crush with my strong jaws. I
have a yellow body with stripes and a spot near
each of my eyes. 18. Barracuda I can swim
forward very quickly to catch smaller fish to
eat. People are sometimes afraid of me. I have a
silvery body, large jaws, and sharp teeth.
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19. Loggerhead sea turtle I have a backbone and
scaley skin. I carry a large heavy shell on my
back and have four legs that are used like
flippers to swim. I breath air, but live my life
at sea. My head is large and my jaws are strong.
I use my strong jaws to crush small conch and
lobsters for food. 20. Brown Pelican I have
feathers, wings and hollow bones. I dive down to
catch fish for food and rest in the mangrove
trees along the shore. 21. Dolphin I am an air
breathing animal that lives at sea. I take care
of my young and like to jump and play with others
of my kind. I can communicate with others of my
kind and people love me.
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Sun
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Seawater represented by waves
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Seawater represented by waves
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Seagrass (turtle grass)
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Bay Scallops
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Queen Conch
Queen Conch--young
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Common Octopus
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Tulip Snail
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Horseshoe Crabs
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Hermit Crab
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Pink Shrimp
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Blue Crab
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Spiny Lobster
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Cushion Sea Star
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Grassbed Urchin
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Gray Snapper
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Sea horse
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Pinfish
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Great Barracuda
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
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Brown Pelican
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Bottlenose dolphin