Sea comes to life at Aquarium

Published: 20 June, 2011

Year 4 visited the National Marine Aquarium recently, where they were met by Lauren from the Learning Team.  She showed the pupils food chains and different types of plankton - the class was amazed to find out that jellyfish were plankton.

Next the children went to the Atlantic Reef, where they were told to find a flatfish. The pupils found lots in the sand but they were hard to see because of the sand patterns on their backs.

After this they went to see the 4D film about the ocean, which told the children that people should not kill sharks or drop litter. They saw sharks; there were three, two girls and a boy.

The class then saw an octopus called Inca and after that they had lunch.

In the afternoon the pupils went back to the Atlantic Reef and saw some divers come in to clean the tank and feed some of the sea creatures. The students communicated with a diver using sign language.

The children finished the day with a return visit to see Inca, the octopus, to sketch her. Some found different creatures and made observational drawings of them instead.