Do you teach about sharks? Sharks are not in my curriculum, but my students LOVE learning about them so I make sure to have a fun week focusing on sharks to practice lots of skills! In honor of Shark Week, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite resources to teach about these amazing creatures!
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Before we even dive into any reading passages about sharks, I always like to play the “Baby Shark” song for kids to get excited about learning! We all stand up and do the motions together! It’s a great way to have fun and get all of the wiggles out before diving into the content.
After the song, I show students anywhere from 3-4 books on the topic and let them choose which one to discuss aloud as a class. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a read aloud, but more of a “Book Talk” where we have a discussion about the main points in the book. These are my top 3 shark books we choose from!
- So Cool! Sharks
- The Ultimate Book of Sharks (National Geographic Kids)
- Sharks and Other Deadly Ocean Creatures Visual Encyclopedia
After that, we create a KWL chart about sharks. If you aren’t familiar with what a KWL chart is it stands for what you “Know”, what you “Want” to know, and what you “Learned”. We fill out the “K” and “W” to begin with and either halfway through our unit or at the end we fill in the “L” for what we learned! It’s always so much fun to already assess what students know about the topic and the interesting things they want to actually learn while studying our subject matter!
A quick YouTube video is usually next on the agenda to give students a visual. Here are some of my top favs!
This video gives tons of facts about the different types of sharks and why they are each important! Students can also have an opportunity to fill in some of their KWL chart while watching this video if they wish!
This video shows real life footage of where sharks live and what they eat!
Students love this animated video that teaches on the many different types of sharks including the Great White, Hammerhead, Whale Shark, Goblin Shark, and Megalodon!
Another way I integrate some fun shark learning into my classroom is with a quick informational text with accompanying comprehension questions. My students always read the questions first to set them up for success when they are reading the informational text. Instead of reading the text “for fun” they have a purpose for reading.
After working with the text and comprehension questions, my students create a fun little shark flip book to share all of the things that they learned! They love taking this booklet home to share the information with their family!
Click here or the image below to download it from my TpT Store!
Don’t feel like you have to squeeze all of these shark activities into one day. Spread it out over a weeks time and students will love telling their parents all about what they learned! You are also guaranteed at least 20 different stories of students telling you about, “that one time they went to the beach and saw a shark…”