Whales

Guess what this is?

Today we learned all about whales!

Web Sources:
Homeschool Share
Lapbook Lessons (this one is Orcas)
Whale printables
Sea World 

Books: 
DK Whales
I can Read Whales
Baby Whales Drink Milk
Wild Whale Watch (Magic School Bus chapter book, lots of good facts in these)

We first talked about the difference between toothed whales, and baleen whales: because we had done this when we studied sharks, it was just a review.  Also another review on what makes a mammal.

Next, he did a worksheet (from the whale printables above) that was a reading comprehension activity.

We did a science experiment to see how whale blubber keeps whales warm.

You will need:
 - really cold water  (we put ice in water for a while, and then fished the ice out)
- Model magic (made by crayola, its a super lightweight clay that air drys)

1. Stick a finger in ice cold water and see how long you can comfortably keep it there.  Feel how cold it is!

2. Cover a finger with "blubber" (model magic).   You can also make this more fun by shaping it like a whale with fins and things.  

3. Dip it in the icy water and feel the difference!  The blubber will keep your finger nice and warm. 

 

Now use the model magic to make a model of a whale! 


Another project we did was to compare different whale spouts.   (he has his whale outfit on, and he is wearing a shirt for once!)    I drew the outline of different spouts, and he used a q-tip to fill them in.   Then, he added whale shapes and waves cut from paper, and glued on the name of each type of whale.


Auntie Shawn helped.

 


And these are the notebooking pages he completed for whales and dolphins:

We learned all about crabs today, and tomorrow we will also be starting some Olympic stuff, along with our next sea creature!