Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Connecting to the ocean

30 minutes

Find Out: Sea story stones

10 minutes

Take Action: Sharing our sea stories
5 minutes

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students understand:

Students understand how they feel about the ocean and the living things within it.

Success criteria

Students will:

Be able to listen quietly during an ocean mindfulness activity.
Be able to identify and communicate their feelings.
Be able to share a story using symbols about the ocean.

Tune In: Connecting to the ocean

Step 1

The practice of mindfulness is used to begin this lesson and will provide a shared learning experience of oceans for the whole class. The mindfulness process takes the students on a journey using their imagination, and allows time for students to concentrate on their own feelings and responses to the sounds of natural ocean.

Explain to the students the purpose of mindfulness as a practice of taking care of the mind. Practising mindfulness is about slowing our thoughts down, thinking about what we are experiencing through hearing, touching, smelling or seeing, and connecting these thoughts to feelings.

Use the following clip to guide your mindfulness activity. Invite students to listen to the whale songs and to consider what they are hearing and how they feel about what they are hearing:

Whale song (https://youtu.be/WabT1L-nN-E)

Step 2

Once complete, invite students to share their responses to the clip, asking:

How did you feel when you heard the sounds of the whales?

You could consider sharing your own feelings with the class first to get the discussion started. For example, "the whale songs made me feel calm/happy/sad". Extend student contributions to the discussion by asking them to provide a reason for this feeling, for example "It was the whale's slow movement that made me feel calm".

Step 3

Now, replay the clip and ask the students to slowly turn these sounds into movements. Watch and move with the students to create a physical response to the sound that you are hearing or feeling. Movements should be slow, careful and gentle to match the sounds you are hearing.

Find Out: Sea story stones

Step 1

Provide each students with six flat river stones or a copy of the Sea Story Stone Template. Explain to the students that a symbol is a clear, simple drawing of one thing (the Sea Story Stone Template has sample symbols for students to view). The symbols connect to the sea (i.e. whale, waves, wind, sunshine, small fish, turtle, clouds, birds).

For each sea story stone invite students to create:

Four stones to create the characters of the story (i.e. whales, fish, turtles and seabirds)
Two stones about a situation (weather or event) that arises (waves, wind, rainstorm, rainbow, lightning, sunshine).

Provide the students with time to draw their symbol on their stones or on the Sea Story Stone Template. If using the Sea Story Stone Template, students should cut the stones out, being careful not to lose them.

Step 2

Bring the students together in a circle to model an example of telling a sea story for the class using the sea story stones. Lay out your story stones and begin to tell a story.

Each story starts with:

One day in the great big blue...a...until...then...

Encourage the students to find a space and lay out their completed sea story stones with drawn symbols facing up. Have students select one stone and add the stone creature into the story, progressively adding all of the other stones into the story as it proceeds. Students should practise this method of storytelling individually with their stones.

Take Action: Sharing our sea stories

Step 1

Organise students into a circle. Ask students to share their sea story or invite students to pair up and share their sea story stones with a classmate.

Step 2

Select one or two stories and create a class artwork around these stories, such as a collage or montage. Ensure all students have the opportunity to contribute both to the design and development of the artwork. Consider displaying this artwork somewhere at your school where all students and teachers can see it.

Reflection

Engage students in a class discussion around what they felt during this lesson. Consider the following questions in your discussion:

How did listening to the ocean make you feel?
How did moving to the sounds feel?
How did others in the classroom feel: calm, relaxed or bored?
Was our classroom a calm and safe place?
Do you feel connected to the sea?
How do you feel connected to the sea?

Extension

If you are interested in encouraging students to think about some of the other ways that humans are connected to the ocean, consider watching the following clip and using the questions below to stimulate discussion around the clip:

We owe the ocean (https://vimeo.com/1056609166/f127af1031)

Questions for discussion:

What did you see in this clip? What happened in this clip?
What are some of the ways humans are connected to the ocean? For example, we need the ocean for the air we breath, the fish we eat and the water we drink (NOTE: we don't drink sea water, but our oceans are part of the water cycle, which sees freshwater evaporated from the ocean and brought to land as rain, hail or snow.)
How does this clip make you feel?
What questions do you have about this clip?

Tip: You could record student thoughts and use some of these ideas to guide further discussion or inquiry.

Assessment

Teachers can use the following items as part of their assessment:

Participated in developing communication skills by taking part in turn and talk discussions.
Watched a video clip for understanding.
Participation in movement and feeling activities.
Created story stone symbols.
Make a simple story about the ocean using story stones.

For summative assessment, visit the Drawing Conclusions lesson: Blue: Ocean Guardians Caring For Our Oceans – F to 2.

Take it further

Invite students to apply their learning in a real world context by participating in the lesson: Ocean Guardians Being Turtle-Friendly - Social Action - Year F, 1 & 2.

How Are We Connected To The Ocean? Sea Story Stones

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson guides and printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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