Marine Life: Anatomy of a Humpback

Carolyn Hawkins                Adam Clayton Powell Elementary School
                               7530 South Shore Drive
                               Chicago, IL 60649
                               312-933-6650

Objective:

Grade 3 

To prepare students to visit Shedd Aquarium.
Students will assemble a picture of a Humpback whale on a grid.  

Materials Needed:

Humpback whale puzzle
Humpback whale grid
scissors
glue
chalkboard--colored chalk
posters of whales

Recommended Strategies:

1. Outline the Humpback whale on chalkboard.  
2. List the anatomical parts(to be read by students).
3. Have volunteers label and outline each part in different colors.  
4. Distribute jigsaw puzzle and grid.
5. Children will cut out the puzzle pieces, match the letter/number key of the 
   pieces with the letter/number coordinates of the grid, assemble whale pieces 
   onto the grid and glue the pieces down to complete the picture.
6. Optional: Color the whale.
             Have students label parts on their whale.                
 
Resources:

Shedd Aquarium gift shop has an excellent selection of books and posters on 
whales.  
A drawing of a Humpback whale can be traced onto a transparency.  Using the  
overhead, project this image onto the chalkboard.  The image of the whale can be 
enlarged to desired size by moving the overhead either forward or backward.  You 
can then outline the enlarged image onto the board.