Coral Oceans KS2: Coral reef building

For teachers wishing to bring a hands-on and creative element to the unit, this lesson provides the template for building a reef in your classroom and can act as the basis for future lessons.

Rather than a traditional lesson, these resources describe two possible ways of making your own reef in the classroom: reef-in-a-box and a reef mural. Depending on the time, you have available, you can either use one or both of these approaches over the course of the unit.

This is a single lesson from the unit Coral Oceans 7-11. This science-based unit uses the stunning imagery and 360 media from the XL Catlin Seaview Survey and covers several of the main concepts for students studying living things at upper elementary level.

The unit can be used as a standalone primer for students, using a new and exciting context of corals, clownfish and sharks, or as a comparative study to the local environment.

Students work through a series of connected lessons to develop their understanding of:

• habitats and how they provide the basic needs of plants and animals
• identification, classification and the use of keys
• life cycles, anatomy and sexual reproduction
• how animals obtain their food using the idea of food chains
• how animals and plants are adapted to their environment
• human impact on the environment

Access the full unit’s resources here: https://encounteredu.com/teachers/units/coral-oceans-science-7-11