The National Week of the Ocean is Coming! Share these Fun Ocean Facts

Exploring the Ocean Blue: 

National Week of the Oceans is March 29-April 4, 2015

Share these fun facts with your students!

Coral has been used to repair bones in humans!http://www.thekidswindow.co.uk/News/Ocean_Life.htm

Blue Whales can weigh as much as 30 elephants and are as long as three Greyhound buses! It’s heart is about the size of a Volkswagen!(http://marinebio.org/MarineBio/Facts/index.asp )

Basket Starfish has the most arms of any sea life... 80,000!

The highest wave ever record hit near Lituya Glacier in Alaska in 1958. It was 1740 ft. high!

Wondering how many marine species exist? According to World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) at least 212,906!(http://marinebio.org/MarineBio/Facts/index.asp)

Scientists say the jellyfish is older than the dinosaurs dating back at least 650 million years ago! 

Did you know that a dolphin sleeps with one eye open and with only half its brain.

The highest tides occur in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia,Canada, reaching 53 ft. high!(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ocean-facts.html )

The Ring of Fire located in the Pacific Ocean is the largest zone of active volcanoes on the sea floor... About 1133 of them!

20, 500, 2000, there are 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean!

On April 17, 2013, a bottle  washed up on the shores of a beach in the country of Croatia. It had been thrown into the sea in Nova Scotia, Canada....4000 miles away! Scientists say it probably traveled 5x that in its 28 years at sea!

Great Britain(2013) is building the world’s largest wave farm. It will power about 30,000 homes.

A fish thought be be extinct for 60 million years was caught alive by fisherman off the southern coast of Africa in 1938. Called a coelacanth, the fish has been around for 300 million years.(http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-atlantic-ocean-3522.html)

If you measure the tallest mountain from the sea floor up, Mt. Everest isn’t the record holder.! The highest mountain would be Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. It is 33,474 ft from the ocean floor but only 13, 680 ft. above sea level.

Need light? An electric eels can make enough electricity to run about 10 light bulbs!

The longest mountain range on Earth is found in the Atlantic Ocean,  from Antarctica to Iceland!

There is so much salt in the ocean that all the salt  was dried and collect, it would cover all the continents with 5 ft. of salt! http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/education_oceanographic_facts.html

There is enough gold in the world’s oceans for each person on the planet to have almost nine pounds of gold!http://www.buzzle.com/articles/oceanography-facts.html

You can see the world’s largest reef, the Great Barrier Reef,in Australia,(1616 miles long) from outer space!http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/greatbarrierreef.html

The earth has an estimated 315,000 miles of coastlines...that’s enough miles to go  12 times around the Equator!http://fun.yukozimo.com/facts-about-the-ocean/

Extension Activities:

Have kids illustrate/color a fact about the ocean.

Pretend to be a fish and tell about a day in your life. Use 3 facts about the ocean in your story.

Ocean Resource:Looking for an activity to use with your students? Check out my Exploring the Ocean Blue: A Webquest. There are 9 informative web  questions, Fun Facts, comprehension questions, extension activities and links. Skills include reading for information and using research/computer skills.

Click Here:https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oceans-Exploring-the-Ocean-Blue-A-WebquestExtension-Activities-705943

Gail

Group Hopes to Change the Face on a Twenty Dollar Bill

Use the news to develop short activities for the beginning of the class or if there is time at the end of a class.

Possible Bell Ringer Activity I'd like to Share.

       In 2020, it will be the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment, giving women in the United States the right to vote. A group think that this would be a great opportunity to have a woman's image placed on the twenty dollar bill by this anniversary date.

Currently, Andrew Jackson's portrait is found on a $20 bill. With Jackson's policies towards Native Americans, especially the forced movement from their lands(called the Trail of Tears),with the Indian Removal Act of 1930, it is this bill's image, which Women on $20s seek to change.

The group is asking people to vote on one of fifteen women,including Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt, to be considered, as a replacement. There is also a petition asking the President to recommend that the US Treasury make such a change.

And, if you are wondering, Sacagawea, is currently honored on a dollar coin. Previously, there was a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin and Helen Keller's image can be found on one side of the 2003 Alabama quarter.

     Click here to learn more and vote on your selection for the woman you'd like to see honored: http://www.womenon20s.org/candidates

Questions
      Which woman might you wish to see honored on a $20 bill? Why?
       Is there a woman who you'd like to see considered who is not on this list?
       Read about the Trail of Tears and write a summary. Do you think Andrew Jackson should be honored on the $20 bill?Why,why not.
        http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans/trail_of_tears.php
  

Great short activity to use during Women's History Month! Students could also do a mini-research on one of the 15 suggested candidates and,then share with the class why they believe their candidate deserves to be selected on a $20 bill.

Gail
Check out my Reader's Theater Script on Eleanor Roosevelt: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Eleanor-Roosevelt-A-Biographical-PlayTo-Tell-the-Truth-Play-590590

Check out my Women's History Month web quest:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Womens-History-Month-Webquest-501023