Lesson Plan: Fish, Their Habitat and Food Chain

Materials:
(for each student and one for the classroom)
2 liter clear plastic soft drink bottle with cap.
2 cup or so of clean gravel, does not have to be pet store quality
1 3 to 6 inch piece of river grass with roots, feathery floating sea weed, big gob of algae, or any living plant you find in the river or lake.
enough non- chlorinated or softened water to fill bottle
1 fish, a guppy works well and feeder guppies usually cost less than 25 cents each.
1 snail if possible

Start the week with a book about fish, Rainbow Fish, or work of fiction. Discuss the characteristics of the fish characters. List the things the children think the fish needs to survive. Mention that one fish is fish, two fish are fishes but a school of fish is fish.

On Monday talk about fish needing water. Rinse out the soda bottle until you cannot smell the soft drink that was in it. Wash the lid. Using a permanent marker label each bottle for the children. Wash the gravel in a colander. Using a funnel pour in the gravel. Add the clean water. Put the lid on each bottle and set them aside while you write a class story about what you did today. Mention that the gravel is important to the plants and will help keep the fish poop out of the swimming area.

On Tuesday add the plant life and discuss the oxygen/ carbon monoxide cycle. The plants use the fishes breath to make food, It releases new oxygen back into the water for the fish to use. Mention the need for the fish fertilizer for the plants. They need certain nutrients that fish supply by producing solid waste. Draw a circle for the oxygen/ CO2 making a diagram like picture of plants with floaty lines going up to represent oxygen, Show a fish breathing out wavy lines of CO2.

On Wednesday add the snail, usually you can get these at the fish store for free. You just need little ones, the kind they keep trying to get rid of. If you don't have a snail add the fish to the tanks. Discuss the need of food for the fish. The plant has little bitty animals living in it's leaves. The fish will snack on them. If your plants are sterile you have to add one!!! flake of fish food each day. Show them how to open the cap, sniff it and if it smells yucky, not like nice lake water, do a fix. You'll need to wait until later and dump most of the water out and add new water. Don't lose the fish in the gravel.

On Thursday write a story about each fish with the students to copy or do themselves. Name the fishes. Be aware that these are fertile fish and the big ones will probably have babies. Real cool.
The fish survive falling off the desks, being sloshed around and ignored. Mine lived it's regular life span of two years. I had to pick out the green stuff occasionally as it grows or it will smother the fish.

On Friday send the tanks home with the stories. Send an explanation of your unit and the outcome goals.

Dear parent, We have been studying animal needs and life styles. We have created a habitat which is self contained and maintenance free if all goes well. The fish should not need very much food, maybe one!!! flake of food per day or every other day. Never add more than one small flake. Keep lid on bottle at all times, the plant makes the oxygen for the fish to breath. Do not add water. If the plant life gets too thick pull some out and send it back to me in a zip lock baggy. Please call me if you have any questions. This has been a fun unit. I hope your child enjoys the pet. It should live at least 6 months, probably a year or more as it is.

Add to this unit as necessary for the kids.
Maggie