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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP Jr. topic Ocean Habitats, and supports the standard of making observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students to share what they know or wonder about the ocean. Display this image from the movie (timestamp: 0:36):

Prompt students to share observations. Ask:

  • What might we learn about animals who live in the ocean by looking at this picture? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Play the Ocean Habitats movie.  
  • Click the pause button each time a question appears in Annie’s Notebook and discuss it as a class. Then play to see how Annie answers it. 

TIP: The pause button turns red to remind you to pause. 

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Students take the Easy Quiz or Hard Quiz, demonstrating what they learned about the topic while applying essential literacy skills.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about ocean habitats while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student or grade-level needs.

  • Draw About It: Draw the organisms that live in one ocean zone. 
  • Activity: Conduct an experiment to learn about how an oil spill can affect ocean habitats and marine life. 
  • Talk About It: Compare and contrast two animals from an ocean habitat.
  • Write About It: Write a letter to a government leader explaining why it’s important to protect ocean habitats. 

More to Explore 

Habitats Unit: Continue to build understanding around diversity of life by exploring more BrainPOP Jr. topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments