Teacher's Resource Pack - Sydney Aquarium

Teacher’s
EARLY
STAGE 1
& STAGE 1
(Kinder - Year 2)
Resource Pack
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excursion today!
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(02) 8251 7801

Welcome to SEA LIFE
Sydney Aquarium’s teaching resource
This teaching resource has been developed with practising teachers to provide a complete set of tools for a
series of informative and stimulating lessons. This toolkit aims to use the exciting variety of animals that live in
seas, oceans and rivers to inspire your students and help them understand a wide range of Early Stage 1 and
Stage 1 curriculum topics. Accompanied by a trip to a SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, where students can see,
touch and experience true Wow moments, these resources will help you to create amazing, inquiry based
learning opportunities for your class.
The toolkit focuses on the K-6 science and technology curriculum as well as the K-6 HSIE
curriculum topics. These are:
Science and Technology
● Built environments
● Living things
● Knowledge and understanding
● Skills
HSIE
● Environment
Conservation and education always has been, and always will be, at the heart of SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium’s work. This resource
highlights the importance of marine welfare, drawing out conservation messages in all the relevant topic areas. A trip to SEA LIFE Sydney
Aquarium will help to provide a greater understanding of the conservation issues we face, what SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is doing about
them, and how every one of us can help.
This resource also supports intergrated learning using the sea’s creatures as a focus for activities that support K-6 Creative Arts
(Visual Art and Drama), English, Maths and ICT. It also aligns with the new Australian Curriculum’s learning objectives in the area of
Science.
Each topic is supported by the following elements:
Teacher notes
Student worksheets
Powerpoint slides
The notes in this booklet lay out the
background information, learning objectives
and cross curricular links for each topic.
They also contain intergrated lessons
which can be carried out pre, during or
post a visit to SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium.
Each section also features exciting Wow
facts to inspire students and teachers alike!
The Student Worksheets contain all of the
resources which your students need for
each topic’s activities. These are designed
for each child to have their own set of
worksheets.
The PowerPoint slides, which are able to
be used on an Interactive Whiteboard,
contain engaging information and striking
pictures to help your students develop
their understanding in each area.
1

Movement & Senses
These resources look closely at two of the core life processes; movement and senses. The
incredible range of species at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium will help your students see that animals
can move in many different ways. You can take it further in the classroom with role-plays and
discussion about the way each animal’s body affects the way it moves. Students will also look at
the role of the senses and the sensory organs.
Resources provided
Student Worksheet 1
Movement PowerPoint slides
Pre & Post Lessons
Lesson 1:
Introduction: How do you move?
Introduce core life processes using the slides.
Ask students to think about the different way
they can move and make a list of as many
different ways that they can think of (for
example, running, jumping or crawling).
Ask students to demonstrate some of these
types of movement.
Resources:
Slides 1-3
Learning Task:
Make out the movement
Explain that different animals which live
under the sea can move in lots of different
ways.
Students should look at the pictures and
descriptions on Student Worksheet 1 and
work out which description applies to each
animal.
Students can cut out the description and
stick it in the box next to the relevant animal.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 1
Slides 4-5
Closing Task:
Acting like an animal
Show the class the animals on slides 6-10.
Ask students to suggest how that animal
moves. As a class act out that movement.
Resources:
Slides 6-10
Lesson 2:
Learning Task: Animal Art
Ask students to draw a picture of a sea
animal and then using play dough or clay; ask
them to make a 3D version of their sea
animal.
Ask students, ‘What words would you use to
describe how your animal moves?’
Resources:
Play dough/clay, paper and pencils/markers
Lesson 3: Excursion to
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
During your visit
Ask students to look for three creatures
which move in very different ways. Ask them
to also see how each of the three animals
chosen breathes and sees.
Lesson 4:
Introduction: Senses Quiz
Introduce students to the different senses
using the slides.
Use the PowerPoint slides to run the Senses
Quiz.
Students should look at the sense organs
shown on the slides and decide which of the
three animals listed it belongs to. Click on
the name of the animals to find out if they
are right. If the class is wrong, then ask them
to try again.
Once you have worked out which animal the
sensory organ belongs to, ask them to name
which sense it is associated with.
Resources:
Slides 11-34
Learning Task:
Invent a Sense
Ask students to think of a brand new sense
which could help them in their day to day
life.
Ask them to write a short paragraph
explaining the sense and how they use it – or
ask them to draw a picture of themselves
using that sense.
Resources:
None required
Lesson 5:
Learning Task: Senseless
Collect a number of items with strange
textures.
Place each of the items in a separate box
with a hole in the lid.
Learning objectives
● Know that all animals move and
have senses.
● Understand that different animals
move in different ways.
● Know that other animals’ senses
can be different to a human’s.
Syllabus areas
● Science and Technology
● Drama
● Visual Art
● English
Wow facts!
● Seahorses can move each of
their eyes independently – so
they can look forwards and
backwards at the same time!
● Sea jellies do not have brains
● Dugongs can hold their breath
for up to 8 minutes!
● Rays breathe through special
holes behind their eyes.
● A tuna never stops swimming
during its lifetime. Every year it
swims as far as to the moon and
back!
● By using their lateral line, fish can
find other fish through sensing
tiny vibrations.
Blindfold students and ask them to take it in
turns putting their hands in the box. Once
they have felt the object inside tell them to
write down what they think it is.
Once students have tried all the boxes, ask
for their answers.
Explain that living underwater can mean that
some animals cannot use some senses (deep
sea fish cannot see due to a lack of light for
example).
Explain that some animals make up for this
by developing other strong senses.
Resources:
Boxes with a hole cut in the top of each one
Objects with strange textures
Blindfolds
2

Reproduction
These resources start by introducing your students to the basic life cycle of all living
things. They will consider the changes that take place during an animal’s life cycle, and
recognise the big differences between some species and their young. Finally, students will
be introduced to the different ways animals reproduce. The incredible range of species at
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium provides a great context to compare different animals and
their young, helping your students to understand the idea of a life cycle.
Learning objectives
● Know that all animals have a life
cycle, which involves growing from
a baby to an adult.
● Know that there are lots of
different ways in which animals
reproduce.
Resources provided
Student Worksheets 2-3
Reproduction PowerPoint slides
Pre & Post Lessons
Lesson 1: The life cycle
Using student worksheet 2, students are
to place the different stages of a
penguin’s life cycle in the correct order.
They should read the statement and
decide which statement corresponds to
each animal. They can cut out each
description and stick it next to the
correct animal.
Display the answers on slide 6.
Resources:
Slides 1-6
Student Worksheet 2
Lesson 2: Life cycle collage
Ask students to cut out pictures of
humans and other animals at different
stages in their life cycles.
These can be turned into a collage to
show how animals change as they
progress through life.
Resources:
Magazines and the internet
Scissors
Glue
Lesson 3: Excursion to
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
During your visit
Students could try to spot a baby animal,
and note how it is different to the adults
of that species.
Ask students if they can spot any signs of
new life such as eggs or pregnant
animals. They could draw a picture of
any they see.
Will your students dare to hold a crab
or touch a sea star? They will get the
chance when they visit SEA LIFE Sydney
Aquarium’s fantastic interactive rockpool.
Lesson 4: True or false quiz
Use the slides 7-9 to explain to students
that different animals reproduce in
different ways.
Now use the questions on slides 10-18
to conduct a true or false quiz. There are
some challenging questions and students
may be surprised by some of the
answers which can be discussed as a
class!
Resources:
Slides 7-18
Lesson 5: Animal snap
Put students in pairs.
Cut out the two sets of cards on
Student Worksheet 3. One contains
pictures of underwater animals; one
contains pictures of their babies.
Give one set to each of the pair.
One student should lay down a card
showing an animal.
The other should then try to lay down
the card with an image of a baby or
adult which matches the animal.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 3 printed onto card
Syllabus areas
● Science and Technology
● Visual Art
● English
Wow facts!
● Male seahorses give birth to their
young! The female lays her eggs
in his pouch and they stay there
until they hatch.
● It’s not genetics that determines
whether a hatching turtle is male
or female - it’s the nest
temperature.
● A newborn Blue Whale calf will
weigh about 2,700kg – that’s
more than a car!
● The clownfish can change from
female to male, once the male in
its colony dies.
● The Emperor Penguin can make
six journeys of 100 miles to
collect food while their partner
looks after its egg.
● The Ocean Sunfish can produce
up to 300 million eggs at any one
time.
3

Living Creatures
Understanding the different life processes and being able to work out whether an object
is living or not is vital to life science. These resources will help your students to grasp
the meaning of the life processes. They are also encouraged to look more closely at
nutrition, seeing how each animal is suited to catching the food it eats. A visit to SEA
LIFE Sydney can be a great introduction to the topic, or give your students a chance to
reinforce their learning in this topic.
Resources provided
Lesson 4: What’s for dinner?
Learning objectives
● Know what the key life
processes are.
● Know that a living thing must
demonstrate all of the life
processes.
● Know how to tell the difference
between animals and plants.
Student Worksheets 4-5
Living Creatures PowerPoint slides
Pre & Post Lessons
Lesson 1: Living creatures
Use the slides 1-7 to introduce students
to the fact that all humans and animals
grow, feed, reproduce, eat and use their
senses.
Students to look at Student Worksheet
4, which contains these life processes as
key words and mixed up descriptions.
Students should match the key words to
the descriptions.
Use Slide 8 to reveal the answers.
Resources:
Slides 1-8
Student Worksheet 4
Lesson 2: Am I living
Students to complete the table on
Student Worksheet 5 for each of the
living and non-living objects listed.
They should work out if the object is
living or not by putting a tick or a cross
against some of the different life
processes i.e. grow, feed, reproduce,
sense and move.
Students may need help deciding on the
answer for some objects.
Resources:
StudentWorksheet 5
Lesson 3: Excursion to
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
During your visit
Students could list the living and
non-living things in the rock pool during
their visit.
Students could find out what the
different creatures in the touch pool eat.
Using the slides, explain that all animals
eat different foods and that often their
bodies are specially adapted to help
them catch their food.
Conduct the quiz on slides 10-29 as a
class.
Display the picture and description of
the animal and ask students to choose
which of the animals shown below it
eats.
Click on the answer to find out whether
it is correct.
If PowerPoint facilities are not available
you could print out copies of the slides
before the lesson.
Resources:
Slides 9-29
Lesson 1: Living collage
Students can make a collage to celebrate
all of the different types of living things
that exist in the world’s oceans.
They should make sure to include plants,
mammals and reptiles as well as fish.
Resources:
Sources for downloading images
Syllabus areas
● Science and Technology
● Visual Art
● English
Wow facts!
● Sharks have been around longer
than dinosaurs, over 350 million
years!
● Turtles are ancient reptiles -
they’ve been around for 200
million years and can live to be
100 years old!
● If a sea star loses an arm, it just
grows another one!
● Catfish are covered in taste buds,
which helps them to find food in
muddy water.
4

C lassification & Variation
These resources introduce your students to the idea of classifying animals. They show
that common features between animals can often mean that they are part of the same
family. Your students will be encouraged to look closely at animals in order to recognise
small details about their appearance; a key skill for young scientists to master. Coupled
with a visit to SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, this resource will help your students to
understand the distinction between the different animal families.
Resources provided
Student Worksheets 6-8
Classifying animals PowerPoint slides
Pre & Post Lessons
Lesson 1: Grouping animals
Use the slides 1-13 to explain that
animals can be categorised into groups.
Cut out the cards on Student Worksheet
6 and give a set to each student.
Explain that animals can be broadly
grouped together based on their
characteristics, and that often those
animals which look similar come from
the same family.
Ask students to look at the pictures on
the cards and try to separate the animals
into groups.
Alternatively, ask students to start
looking closely at animals’ features by
asking them to find all the species which
share a certain characteristic (such as
fins or grey skin).
The animals are shown grouped by class
on slides 9-13.
Resources:
Slides 1-13
Student Worksheet 6
Lesson 2: The Fish Class
Explain that within each animal group,
there is a huge variety of species that
have very different features.
Use Student Worksheet 7 to get
students looking at different species of
fish. They could highlight the similarities
and differences between the species.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 7
Lesson 3: Excursion to
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
During your visit
Students could look for one/two species
from each class (fish, reptile, mammal and
bird) and draw pictures of these animals.
Ask them to try and find any differences
between the species.
Ask students to make a note of one fish,
one reptile, one bird, one mammal and
one crustacean during their visit.
Lesson 4: Which class
Ask students to look at the pictures of
the animals on Student Worksheet 8.
They should then read the descriptions
of five different types of animals and
decide which class each animal comes
from.
They should cut out each description
and stick it in the box next to the
relevant animal.
You can display slides 4-8 again; these
contain more information about each
group.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 8
Slides 4-8
Lesson 5: Celebrity Animal Head
Choose three students to come up the
front and sit on chairs that are in front of
the whiteboard/blackboard.
Above each students head, write a
different animal that they are going to
try and guess, by asking yes or no
questions. Or ask other students to
come and write up an animal that has
been discussed during this unit of work.
The goal is to guess the celebrity animal
name first by asking questions like; ‘Do I
have fins?’ or ‘Do I have wings?’
Swap over students so all can have a go.
Learning objectives
● To recognise similarities and
differences between animals.
● To group living things according to
noticeable similarities and
differences.
● To spot similarities and differences
between different environments
and ways in which these affect the
animals and plants found there.
Syllabus areas
● Science and Technology
● Visual Art
● English
Wow facts!
● Unlike other bird species,
penguins have solid bones and
can’t fly.
● An octopus has blue blood, three
hearts and can alter the
complexion of its skin in the
blink of an eye!
● Fish are the most diverse class of
vertebrates – there are more
than 31,500 species of them!
● The crocodile family is believed
to be over 200 million years old.
● Six species of fish account for
more than half of the 70 billion
fish caught for food around the
world every year.
5

Caring For Animals
And Their Environments
These resources will help your students to understand that all animals have a specific
environment that they prefer. They will learn how humans can change these natural habitats
and the importance of helping to protect them. The lessons also highlight, the plight of coral
reefs. A visit to SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium will help your class to understand what
conservation issues we face, what SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is doing to help and how every
one of us can make a difference.
Learning objectives
● To understand what a habitat is.
● To understand the importance of
habitats to the animals which live
there.
● To know that humans have a role to
play in protecting these habitats.
Syllabus areas
Resources provided
Student Worksheets 9-10
Protecting habitats PowerPoint slides
Pre & Post Lessons
Lesson 1: Where do I live?
Use slides 1-7 to introduce students to the
concept of habitats.
Students look at the pictures of the
environments on Student Worksheet 9
and identify which of the animals lives
in each habitat.
They should draw a line to connect the
animal to its habitat.
Resources:
Slides 1-7
Student Worksheet 9
Lesson 1: Wordsearch
Students should read the story about the
destruction of a coral reef environment on
Student Worksheet 10.
They can then complete the wordsearch
on Student Worksheet 10, finding words
associated with the damage being done
to the reef.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 10
Lesson 3: Excursion to
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
During your visit
Students could write notes on two of the
different environments they see. They could
make a note of the different types of cover
which can be found, and the animals which
live there. Students could also draw this
information as well.
Students could make a note of one of the
conservation tips that they see during their
visit.
Students could ask questions to the SEA
LIFE Sydney Aquarium staff at the
interactive rockpool to find out how they
can look after animals that live in rock pools.
Lesson 4:
Download the PDF story of Dhyum the
Dugong by Mariana Fuentes, from the SEA
LIFE Sydney Aquarium Schools page.
Read through the story with your class
either via an Interactive Whiteboard, IPAD
or simply by printing off and making into a
book.
Afterwards, give students a piece of A3
paper and ask them to draw and write a
simple sentence about how they can help
protect our sea animal’s habitats. Turn these
pages into a class big book for all students
to read through in your own reading corner.
You may also like to visit the SEA LIFE
Conservation Fund website as a class, to
find out all the fabulous things we can do to
help protect our sea creatures.
Lesson 5: Happy ending
With students, read the story about the
coral reef once more.
Then ask student to now write a happy
ending for the story.
Resources:
Student Worksheet 10
● Science and Technology
● Visual Art
● English
Wow facts!
● The biggest threat to seahorses is
their use in Chinese medicine. Over
20 million die every year.
● 100 million sharks are killed by
people every year!
● The biggest threat to sea turtles is
plastic bags in the ocean! The
turtles mistake them for sea jellies
and eat them.
● The Giant Pacific Octopus species
is protected due to their declining
numbers.
● 60% of the known species of fish
live in coral reefs which are one of
the most threatened ecosystems
on Earth!
● 75% of the Earth’s surface is
covered by water, which means fish
have plenty of choice about where
to live!
*SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
acknowledges the sharing of the
story ‘Dhyum the Dugong’ by
Mariana Fuentes and thanks her
kindly for allowing it be used for
educational purposes.
6

Movement & Senses
Worksheet 1- Make Out the Movement
Wow Fact
Did you know
octopus swim using
jet propulsion?
Sea creatures move in all kinds of amazing ways – swimming, walking, crawling or even
seeming to stay still! But can you figure out which animal does what? Check out the pictures
of the animals below. Decide which description explains the way each animal moves. Once
you have found the right description, cut it out and stick it next to the picture of the animal.
Octopus
Barnacle
Dugong
Hermit C rab
Sea Star
This animal has 8 legs. It moves by
crawling around on its legs or by sucking
in water and blowing it out again.
This animal swims by moving its big
tail up and down in the water.
This little one moves very slowly! It
attaches itself to a rock and tries to
live a quiet life under its shell.
This animal creeps along the ground
or the side of rocks using lots of tiny
suckers on the underside of its five legs.
This animal has eight legs
and two claws. It scuttles sideways
along the sea floor.
7

Reproduction
Worksheet 2: The Life Cycle
Wow Fact
Male seahorses
give birth to
their young!
Every living thing has a life cycle. And at different stages in the life cycle,
the same creature can look quite different!
Can you work out the order of a penguin’s life cycle? Cut out the descriptions below and stick it
in the boxes above in the right order.
The chick is a fully
grown penguin. It can
catch all of its own food.
The adult penguin lays
an egg and looks after
it until it hatches.
The egg hatches.
The penguin chick
has fluffy feathers
and is looked after
by its parents.
The chick grows bigger.
Its feathers become
thick and oily.
8

Reproduction
Worksheet 3: Animal Snap
Dugong
Penguin
Turtle
C rab
Clownfish
Shark
Platypus
Sea Star
Octopus
Crocodile
Clownfish Fry
Crocodile Hatchling
Penguin Chick
Dugong Calf
Turtle Hatchling
Baby Crab
Puggle
Baby Sea Star
Baby Shark
Baby Octopus
9

Living Creatures
Worksheet 4: Living Things
Wow Fact
Turtles can live to
be 100 years old!
All living creatures grow, feed, move, use their senses and reproduce. Can you
understand which is which? Draw a line to match the keywords below and the
sentences which describe them.
Reproduce Sense Feed Grow Move
Eating Food
Producing
Babies
Getting
bigger
Moving
parts of the
body
Reacting to
the things
around you
Colour me in
10

Living Creatures
Worksheet 5: Am I Living?
Wow Fact
Sharks have been around
longer than dinosaurs -
over 350 million years!
Can you figure out which are the living things and which are not? All living creatures
move, feed, grow, sense and reproduce. For each object listed in the table, put a
tick or a cross in each box to show whether it can (√) or cannot (X) do that action.
Put a tick in the final column if you think it is living.
Move Reproduce Feed Grow Sense Living?
Speedboat
Bee
Cat
Desk
Human
Sea Jelly
Chocolate
Shark
Fire
11

C lassification & Variation
Worksheet 6: Grouping Animals
12

C lassification & Variation
Worksheet 7: The Fish Class
Wow Fact
There are more than
31,500 species of fish
Animals can be grouped into different classes, like the fish or mammal family. In
each class there is a huge variety of animals that come in all shapes and sizes!
Look at the pictures of four different fish below.
Circle all the things that are the same on the fish.
Underneath each image, describe the things which makes each fish different.
13

C lassification & Variation
Worksheet 8: Which C lass?
Wow Fact
Did you know that
whales are mammals
not fish?
Using these descriptions, let’s see if you can figure out which class these animals
belong to. Cut out the description and stick it next to the creature it belongs to.
Birds
Reptiles
Fish
Mammals
Crustaceans
We have feathers,
wings and a beak.
We have tough scaly
skin.
We have scaly skin
and fins instead
of legs.
We have hair and
have limbs
(arms/legs).
We have hard shells
and claws to help us
catch our prey.
14

Caring For Animals
And Their Environments
Worksheet 9: Where Do I Live?
Conservation
Fact
Plastic bags are the biggest
threat to sea turtles - they
mistake them for sea jellies
and eat them!
All creatures adapt to where they live and sea animals are no different!
Draw a line to connect each animal to the place it lives.
Frog
C rab
Freshwater
Fish
Clownfish
Shark
Open Ocean
Coral reef
Freshwater
River
Rockpool
Pond
15

Caring For Animals
And Their Environments
Conservation
Fact
60% of all fish live in coral
reefs which is one reason
why it is so important to
protect them.
Worksheet 10: Wordsearch
Read the story below about Bob’s habitat. Find all of the words which talk
about destroying the coral reef in the word search below.
Bob was a clownfish. He lived in the sea near Australia with his mum, dad and his brother. They lived in a coral
reef, a place where lots and lots of other animals lived. There were turtles and sea snakes, crabs and sea stars –
there were even sharks!
Bob was very happy living on the reef, but things had started to change and this was making life more difficult.
Human divers who had come to look at the reef were walking on it and causing damage. Lots of human rubbish
was also floating onto the reef and ruining their homes.
And that wasn’t all! Pollution from the human’s factories near the reef was beginning to make the water warmer
and dirtier. This meant that the reef was beginning to die. Soon the fish would have nowhere to live!
r u b b i s h i f
h i e o g e a a g
d i r t y y c n g
p o l l u t i o n
s e a m o g s e i
t s r r a s e p k
h a i m o a o e l
w e a p n d i r a
s d h u m a n s w
Words
Factories
Walking
Damaging
Warm
Dirty
Humans
Pollution
Rubbish
Happy ending
You can make a difference when it comes to coral reefs. And that means you can help clownfish
like Bob and his neighbours: the turtles, snakes, crabs, sea stars and sharks. Let’s all do our bit.
• Think about what humans could do to make sure that Bob’s home is protected.
• Write a happy ending to Bob’s story.
16