Ocean: Our Important poems and Quilt

A Patchwork of Places and Poetry

Marci McGowan's First Grade
H. W. Mountz Elementary School
Spring Lake, NJ

Fall 2002

The Ocean

Our class selected the ocean as our special place this year. Our whole school begins an Ocean Study in the spring. We are using the MARE program and will be the first school in our county to include this in our curriculum.

The ocean is a great topic for young children and especially for us. Our school is just a few blocks away from the Atlantic. This is a picture of our boardwalk.

In the spring, first graders will learn about rocky seashores and tidepools. This project helped us learn more about the whole ocean. We had more than thirty ocean books to look through. Everyone loved the pictures! We'll be ready for more in the spring.

We wrote one poem with the whole class showing important things we learned about the ocean. Our poem uses Margaret Wise Brown's pattern from her Important Book. Then our class made individual illustrations of an ocean animal or use. Finally, we wrote an acrostic poem about the ocean (this whole class experience prepared the students to write acrostic poems about themselves for another project).

The Ocean

The important thing about the ocean is that it is home to   many living things.

* There are plants and animals in the ocean.
* There are mountains and volcanoes under the ocean.
* There is more ocean than land.
* The ocean has four names: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific is the largest.
* The ocean is part of the water cycle.
      Water evaporates and makes clouds.
      Rain and snow fall from the clouds.
      Water runs into rivers that flow to the ocean.
* People use the ocean for travel and to move things.
* People dump garbage there. We need to keep the ocean   clean.
* We eat fish and shellfish from the ocean.
* People use the ocean for swimming, fishing, boating,         tubing, surfing, and riding the waves.

But the most important thing is that the ocean is the home of living things.

THE OCEAN

T ake care of the ocean.
H ave fun playing in the ocean.
E asy for us to get there!

O utstanding waves
C overs volcanoes, shells, and sand
E normous!
A nimals and plants live there
N ever dump garbage in the ocean.

Along with this, we read several quilt books and saw some real quilts too (pictures coming).

Our drawings are displayed in a paper quilt. Some favorite quilt books were:

Reuben and the Quilt by P. Buckley Moss
Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt by Barbara Smucker
Quilting Now & Then by Karen B. Willing

We'll be reading more about quilting as the year goes on.

Here's our (slightly lopsided) quilt.

marcy_image2.jpg (44181 bytes)

You can see each of the quilt blocks by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

Steven's Great White Shark	Paige's Friends	Justin's Seahorse	Sarah's Penguin
Victoria's Dolphin	C.J.'s Octopus	Giana's Manatee	Tyler's Eel
Erin's Crab	Patrick's Ray	Sean's Porcupine Fish	Connor's Angelfish
	Joanna's Sea Star	John's Hammerhead

Quilt Blocks

This is the block we used in our quilt. Click on this image to see a larger version. You can print out full size 7" block also.

Our project is aligned with the following standards:

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

Language and Literacy
3.2 listen actively in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources.
3.3 write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes.
3.4 read various materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis.
3.5 view, understand, and use nontextual visual information.

Social Studies
6.4 acquire historical understanding of societal ideas and forces throughout the history of New Jersey, the United States and the world.
6.7 acquire geographical understanding by studying the world in spatial terms.

Science
5.5 (CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE) All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.

National Educational Technology
Standards for Students. (NETS)

Use technology communications tools:
Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.

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Ed. note:This off-white quilted background is part of a quilt I made when my children were small. It hangs in our living room all year long.

Patchwork of Places and Poetry Homepage

Mrs. McGowan's First Grade