The Great Swim Off

Theme:Water Protection
Location:Waterfront
Map #:5
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Purpose

Students become the fish in a fun relay race where they will learn that different species of fish rely on different habitats and adaptations for survival within a lake

Key Messages

  • Ontario has an abundance of different kinds of fish; there are approximately 175 species in Ontario.
  • Ontario’s lakes provide a diversity of habitats for our native fish and Ontario’s fish have adaptations specific to their preferred habitats.
  • If fish cannot find their specific habitat, these adaptations may not be beneficial to the fish and may put the fish to a disadvantage

Ontario Curriculum Connections

Science and Technology
  • Understanding Life Systems, Grade 4 (Habitats and Communities)
    • analyze the positive and negative impacts of human interactions with natural habitats and communities, taking different perspectives into account, and evaluate ways of minimizing the negative impacts
    • identify factors that affect the ability of plants and animals to survive in a  specific habitat
    • demonstrate an understanding of habitats as areas that provide plants and animals with the necessities of life
    • demonstrate an understanding of a community as a group of interacting species sharing a common habitat
    • describe structural adaptations that allow plants and animals to survive in specific habitats
    • identify reasons for the depletion or extinction of a plant or animals species (e.g. changes in or destruction of its habitat), evaluate the impacts on the rest of the natural community, and propose possible actions for preventing such depletions or extinctions from happening
    • describe structural adaptations that allow plants and animals to survive in specific habitrats
    • explain why changes int he environment have a greater impact on specialized species than on generalized species
    • demonstrate an understanding of why all habitats have limits to the number of plants and animals they can support
  • Understanding Life Systems, Grade 6 (Biodiversity)
    • describe ways in which biodiversity within and among communities is important for maintaining the resilience of these communties
    • describe interrelationships within species, between species and between species and tier environment, and explain how these interrelationships sustain biodiversity
    • describe ways in which biodiversity within and among communities is important for maintaining the resilience of these communties
    • explain how invasive species (e.g. zebra mussel, Asian longhorned beetle, purple loosestrife) reduce biodiversity in local enviroments
    • use scientific inquiry/research skills to compare the characteristics of organisms within the plant or animal kingdoms
    • demonstrate an understanding of biodiversity as the variety to life on earth, including variety within each species of plant and animal, among species of plants and animals in communities, and among communities and the physical landscapes that support them
    • describe ways in which biodiversity within species is important for maintaining the resilience of those species
    • investigate the organisms found in a specific habitat and classify them according to a classification system
Health and Physical Education
  • Living Skills, Grade 4 (Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts and Strategies)
    • perform different combinations of locomotor movements with and without equipment, alone and with others, moving at different speeds and levels, using different pathways, and going in different directiosn
  • Lviving Skills, Grade 5 (Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts and Strategies)
    • explore different combinations of locomotor movements with and without equipment, alone and with others, moving at different speeds and levels, and using different pathways
  • Living Skills, Grade 6 (Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts and Strategies)
    • perform a wide variety of locomotor movements, in combination, at different speeds, in different directions, and using different pathways, while moving around others and/or equipment

 

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