Shark Week Book Spotlight & Research Activity

How do you celebrate Shark Week? Do you celelbrate with books? With Activities? With Research? Do you celebrate at all? If your class is like mine, they are absolutely obsessed and excited about all things shark. I don't know if it is the perceived danger, the powerful jaws, the fact the they are some of the strongest preditors in the sea, but they LOVE all things sharks. If I can capitalize on a love they have by inserting it into my curriculum, I am all over it. Why even wait for shark week? You can study sharks any time!

A couple of weeks ago I was at Five Below, browsing the aisles and I came upon a book section...I have a weekness for books and when I found this one, I knew it had to come home with me. I mean, who doesn't need another shark book for their growing collection? ...all in the name of student reading engagement, right? 

Let's take a quick peek inside the book. It has super cute grapics with over 100 facts! The book has many different engaging sections that are set up in a unique way compared to other shark books I have seen before....which equals, we are gonna learn something new or at least learn it in a new way.

The different sections are perfect to enhance research on sharks. I also love the speech bubbles as though the sharks are talking directly to us. 

This book busts some myths that give sharks a bad rap. Students are always surprised to find that these powerful preditors are actually not commonly a threat to humans. It also ends with telling ways that people can help protect sharks. That is a win for sure!

This book has laid around my house for a couple of weeks just waiting for me to create something with it. Well, today I created a research guide activity that goes right along with this book, although it can be used with other books or even online research too. 

If you are looking for ideas for upper elementary students to use while learning about sharks, you can check out this resource that helps bring the facts to life in one booklet. Here is a peek at the inside of my research guide. It has seven different sections covering these different topics:

Location: Use a map to record the areas where six different sharks live

Anatomy: Draw and label the parts of one shark.

Smarts: What makes sharks so smart?

Senses: How do sharks use their senses to thrive and survive?

Teeth: What types of teeth do sharks have?

Danger: What danger do sharks pose to us?

Save the Sharks: How can we protect sharks?

If you want to see more or are interested in purchasing this research guide, you can click the link here to be taken to the product in my store.

Looking for even more shark related activities for all your shark-loving students? Be sure you also check out my Shark Bite Multiplication Game. It's a blast!