Madison County Record : News

Heritage students learn reading, math, conservation with mural project

By Ms. Wheeler's second grade class at Heritage Elementary
(Updated: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:06 AM CDT)

Our class reads a chapter book from the popular Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne each week. In preparation for Earth Day, our class has read Dolphins at Daybreak and Afternoon on the Amazon. Through these books we have learned very important lessons about water habitats and how vital it is that we protect these environments. We researched the topics we studied in books we checked out from the library.

Our study was an example of "project- based learning." We integrated reading, writing, mathematics, science, environmental conservation, art, and even social studies within this unit.

As Sarah Fry remarked during our study, "Hey! We're doing all kinds of math, reading, and science in here!" Throughout this study, we worked on producing a huge classroom mural of a coral reef, which measures approximately 12 by 15 feet in size. After all of us created our ocean scene, we researched different types of coral and learned about the living animals called polyps, which actually make the coral reef. We studied hard and soft corals such as: brain coral, fan coral, mushroom coral, and Spanish dancers, and reproduced the various corals with paint and added them to our ocean mural. Brain coral seemed to be one of our favorites!

After creating our environment, we began working on the animals that call the coral reef their habitat. We studied the animals in and around coral reefs. Each student studied a different animal and had to research the size, shape, and color.

Through reading and learning about these, they learned much more about their chosen animal. Each animal represented on our classroom mural had been carefully drawn by a student and was actually drawn true-to-size after being measured carefully. Students chose all types of various animals to add to the mural.

Darius Gaiter made some playful clownfish to swim in and out of our anemones. John Larsen and Sarah Fry chose to each create a small, venomous blue-ring octopus. Kaley Arnett and Maya Day created a life-sized flatback turtle, which can be found in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

A realistic-looking lionfish was created by Dillon Kelley, while Connor Gilpin created a really neat nautilus and moray eel. We have a really playful bottlenose dolphin created by Michael McClellan and Seunghyun Kim. Next to it, in front of our sunset, Meghan Alkire and Shalini Pandey have created a graceful porpoise. Swimming gracefully along below them, you will find two lemon sharks created by Vincenzo Caccavale, Ramy Haggag, Drew Hicks, and Jalen Slaughter. No scene is complete without a perky puffer fish, which was created by Rhea Maladkar, and Hayley Whatley made a seahorse.

Through this project, we have learned about the importance of protecting our coral reefs and water habitats. These are important parts of our environment, and ultimately impact our environment and our lives.

It has been projected that within 20-30 years, coral reefs and animals that thrive there could be non-existent, if we don't do something proactive to save them. This will affect our whole world as well.

Not only do we find important natural resources in these habitats, but they give us the opportunity to witness the breathtaking beauty that is found on our earth. Are you doing your part to protect and preserve it?

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