The last couple of weeks, we have been exploring ocean life. I got thIe idea to do this "unit" because Jonah really had a lot of fun at a recent trip to the aquarium. He sat at each exhibit, wide eyed and taking in all of the colors and combination of shapes and textures, as I kept a very simple conversation with him about the names of the creatures and what he thought they were doing.
We started the theme by discussing what animals swim in the ocean. We had this conversation a couple of times: At breakfast, in the car while driving to speech therapy, while we were shopping and he was sitting in the grocery cart. I simply asked him "What do you think swims in the ocean?" He could come up with a pretty impressive list on his own- fish, seahorses, whales, sharks. Then I asked him about various specific animals "Do cows swim in the ocean??" or "Do jellyfish live in the ocean??" He thought this was a hilarious game!
Later in the week, we added to our conversation: "Where is the ocean?" We looked at a map and various pictures of coastal beaches, boats, and harbors. We talked about how we would get to the ocean if we wanted to go (plane, car), and looked at pictures of a vacation we took to the ocean. We also talked about what to bring to the ocean/beach on a trip! If only it were possible to follow this particular lesson up with an actual trip to the ocean.
I wasn't sure how much Jonah would be interested in a whole lesson plan geared toward an Under the Sea theme, so I had originally planned for it to only last a week. He was so interested, and Eve was also having so much fun, that I extended it and we are just now wrapping it up after two and a half weeks! This might be something that we will visit again if we have time later in the year.
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