Download Ocean Facts - Oxford Culturemania

Summer Corner
Upper Primary
1
Activity 2
Ocean Facts
Introduction
In this activity, the children learn about the oceans and some of the animals that
inhabit them. They then use the information to do a crossword.
You will need:
•
•
one copy of Worksheets 1 and 2 for each child
one copy of Worksheet 3 for each child
Instructions:
1. Distribute Worksheets 1 and 2 to your students. Read through the words with the
children to make sure they understand them.
2. Distribute Worksheet 3 and explain that they can complete the crossword with the
information from Worksheet 1.
Key: Across: 1. endangered, 2. Pacific, 3. krill, 4. eyes, 5. jaws, 6. white, 7. pouch,
8. pup, 9. water, 10. elephant. Down: 11. echolocation, 12. mammals, 13. horse, 14.
five, 15. eyespot
Optional extension activity:
Ask the children individually or in groups to prepare a presentation on one of the
animals. They can use the following pages to gather information:
http://www.wonderclub.com/wildlife.html
http://www.ypte.org.uk/animal-facts.php
www.animalcorner.co.uk
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215242/
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/
creaturefeature/
http://www.kidzone.ws/sharks/index.htm
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/
planetocean/ocean.html
Or you might like to try the quiz on this page:
h t t p : / / k i d s . n a t i o n a l g e o g ra p h i c . c o m / k i d s / g a m e s /
puzzlesquizzes/quiz-your-noodle-ocean-creatures/
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Summer Corner
WORKSHEET 1
Oceans
There are five oceans. The oceans cover
71% of the Earth’s surface. The largest
ocean is the Pacific. It takes up a third
of the Earth’s surface. The other oceans
are the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern
and the Arctic (which is the smallest).
The Atlantic is saltier than the Pacific. The
oceans have the tallest mountains in the
world and the deepest valleys.
Octopuses/Octopi
Octopuses have eight tentacles: two
legs and six arms, with tiny suction
cups on each one. They use the
suction cups to grip rocks and to
trap and hold their prey. They can
change colour for camouflage. They
also change colour according to how
they are feeling. When they are scared,
they turn white. If they are angry, they
turn red. They normally hunt at night.
They use ink to hide themselves from
their enemies and from their prey.
The most famous octopus was Paul
the Octopus. He predicted that Spain
would win the 2010 football World
Cup against the Netherlands!
Photocopiable
© Oxford University Press
Dolphins
Dolphins are mammals not fish. Female dolphins give birth
to one baby every two or three years. A baby dolphin is
called a calf. When it is born, the mother pushes it to the
surface to breathe. Dolphins cannot breathe under water
but they can stay under water for about eight minutes.
When they sleep, only one half of their brain sleeps. The
other half controls the breathing so they float near the
surface of the water and surface to breathe without waking
up. They are intelligent. They use whistles and other sounds
to communicate and they use echoes to find food and to
navigate. This is called echolocation.
Sharks
Sharks have no bones in their body. Even their jaws,
which are very powerful, are made of cartilage. Sharks’
teeth are in different rows. They can lose and grow
over 20,000 teeth in their lifetime! Sharks vary a lot
in size. The dwarf shark is just 20 centimetres long but
the whale shark is 15 metres long. The white shark is
one of the most dangerous.Two-thirds of the brain of a
shark is dedicated to its sense of smell. Baby sharks are
called pups. Sharks have been around for about 400
million years. They existed before the dinosaurs.
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Summer Corner
WORKSHEET 2
Blue whales
Blue whales are mammals. They are the
biggest animals on Earth. They are twice
as big as the biggest dinosaur was. A baby
whale, a calf, already weighs more than 2,000
kilogrammes and is over seven metres long.
An adult weighs 150,000 kilogrammes and is
33 metres long. A blue whale’s tongue weighs
as much as a small elephant! Every day a blue
whale eats 3,600 kilogrammes of krill. A blue
whale lives for 80 – 90 years.
Starfish
Starfish are not fish and they cannot swim.They
crawl and climb. Most starfish have five arms,
but some have forty! If an enemy bites off an
arm, the starfish can grow a new one. Starfish
don’t have eyes, but on the tip of each arm
they have an eyespot. The eyespots are made
of cells that can see if it is light or dark, but
they cannot see shapes clearly. Starfish have
no brains and no blood. Their nervous system
is spread through their arms and their “blood”
is filtered sea water. To eat food bigger than
its mouth, the starfish can push its stomach
through its mouth, digest its food and then
slide its stomach back into its own body.
Photocopiable
© Oxford University Press
Seahorses
Seahorses have been an endangered species since
2004. They are the only fish that swim in an upright
position. They are not good swimmers so they spend
most of their time stationary. They use their tails to
attach themselves to vegetation. They have no teeth
and no stomach so they must eat almost constantly.
The male seahorses become pregnant. They carry
the young in a pouch. The Greek name for seahorse,
Hippocampus, means ‘horse sea monster’ (hippo =
horse, kampos = sea monster).
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are carnivores. They have sting cells in their
tentacles to paralyze their prey. They eat small fish,
eggs and crustaceans.They do not have an excretory
system so their mouths are also their anuses. They
do not have a skeleton, a brain, a respiratory system
or a circulatory system. Ninety-five percent of their
body is water. The box jellyfish has twenty-four eyes
but it cannot see very well. Jellyfish can be different
colours: white, pink, yellow, orange, red, blue, green
and multicolored. They can also be different sizes:
some measure three centimetres across and some
four metres.
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Summer Corner
WORKSHEET 3
12
1
11
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14
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15
5
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13
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Across
Down
1 Seahorses have been an ___________ species since
2004.
2 This is the biggest ocean.
3 Blue whales eat 3,600 kilogrammes of this each day.
4 The box jellyfish has 24 of these.
5 The shark has the most powerful _________.
6 When an octopus is scared, it turns this colour.
7 The male seahorse carries the young in this.
8 This is the name of a baby shark.
9 Ninety-five per cent of a jellyfish is made up of this.
10 A blue whales tongue weighs as much as a small
_________.
11 Dolphins use this to navigate.
12 Dolphins and whales are not fish but _______.
13 The Greek word ‘Hippos’ means this.
14 Most starfish have ______ arms.
15 A starfish has an __________ on the tip of each
arm.
Photocopiable
© Oxford University Press
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