Activity #2: Fish parts

Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to identify the physical attributes of koi.

Materials:
chart paper
large picture of koi (see Activity 2 – Photos 1 & 2)
koi body part page (see Activity 2- Body Parts Sheet)
optional: pre-cut and placed in an envelope for each student.

Exploration:
1. Show students a large picture of a koi fish. Ask students to describe what it is. Explain to them that this is a special kind of fish called a “koi” that lives in ponds. Tell students that they will be visiting a pond and will see koi fish on their trip to the Japanese gardens.
2. Ask students to identify the physical attributes of the koi in the picture by coming to the front and pointing to the part they are describing in the picture (ex. say “fins” and point to all the fins on the fish).
3. Next, have students describe the colors of the koi in the picture. Explain that koi have many different colors (you may want to show more pictures of koi at this point).

Activity:
4. Explain to students that when they go to their work stations, they will each be given an envelope with the body parts of a koi fish inside (show an example). Demonstrate to students how they will first arrange the body parts in the correct places on a piece of construction paper to “build a koi,” and then they will glue the koi to the paper.
5. After students have completed the activity, let the koi dry completely (possibly overnight) and then have students color the picture with the colors they observed in the pictures of koi.
Display student work a bulletin board (this will be added to after the field trip).