Shark Unit Study for Homeschoolers {with FREE Shark Research Guide}
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Do your kids love learning about sharks? Every year, Discovery Channel hosts the wildly popular “Shark Week”, and it’s the perfect time and opportunity to do a shark unit study. Of course, you can do this unit study at any point during the year – and I’ve got some fun suggestions and activities for you to use as you plan out your lessons.
I created a fun printable you can use to supplement a Sharks homeschool unit study that is perfect for your elementary-aged kiddos. Grab a copy below from my shop, then read on for additional resources and activities you can use to supplement your shark unit study (including my FREE shark research printables).
>>> Click here to grab the Sharks Unit Study Guide <<<
You can plan your sharks unit study to last over the course of a week. I’ve got some tips and suggestions for what to include each day.
Day 1: What is a shark?
Today, discuss what makes a shark a shark, and about the different types of shark species that exist.
Sharks have characteristics that make them unique, even though they are classified as fish. Use pages 3-6 of the Sharks Unit Study Guide to learn about the parts of a shark and some distinguishing features.
Here is a quick video from Sci Show Kids that show what makes sharks special:
Did you know that sharks have many rows of teeth, which are constantly falling out? In fact, a shark will lose thousands of teeth during it’s life, but, they will never run out. Watch this quick video to learn why:
Shark Websites
Here are a few more interesting websites you might visit to learn about some of the shark’s unique features:
Use page 7 of the Unit Study Guide to have your kids pick out their favorite type of shark to research and fill out the fact sheet about it. Then, use page 13 to complete the crossword puzzle about different types of sharks.
Shark Books
Head to the library to grab a few books about sharks to read this week. Here are my top picks:
We also love using Epic! to check out ebooks and audiobooks – definitely check them out if you are not familiar with that resource (we use it all the time in our homeschool!).
Want More Shark Research?
I’ve got a freebie for you to use if your kids want to research and learn even more about different types of sharks. Click the banner below to grab it for FREE from my shop!
And if you have younger kids, they might enjoy making this shark headband craft to wear as you study sharks this week!
Day 2: Shark Adaptations
To start off the second day of the unit study, learn about some of the unique characteristics that sharks have that help them survive and thrive in their environments.
Dermal Denticles (a.k.a. “skin teeth”)
Dermal denticles are the V-shaped scales that help sharks swim fast! Boats and swim-gear have been modeled after the sleek design of shark-skin.
Take a closer look in this video:
Neutral Buoyancy
Buoyancy is the ability of something to float in the water. Sharks are missing something that helps other fish stay buoyant: a swim bladder. But, there are other ways sharks are able to keep from either sinking or floating too much.
Watch this video to learn about those adaptations:
Shark Senses
Sharks have the same 5 senses that humans do (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch), but did you know they also have a 6th sense that helps them find their prey?
Ampullae of Lorenzini are sensory organs that help sharks detect electrical impulses in the water.
Muscle contractions in living things give off small electrical fields that sharks can detect (even if something is buried under the sand!)
Watch this video clip to learn more about shark senses:
Lateral Line
Sharks have a lateral line that helps them detect changes in pressure and movement in the water.
The lateral line is a series of small pores that make up canals that run along the shark’s body. There are small hairs all along the canals that connect to sensory cells. This is another way a shark can sense it’s prey without even having to see it!
Countershading
Camouflage is something you (or animals!) would use if you wanted to make yourself hard to detect, or blend in to your surroundings.
Many sharks are countershaded, which means they are light on the bottom and dark on top. This helps hide them from prey they are hunting (and helps conceal them from other predators!).
Click here and view the video on this website to learn how this is beneficial for sharks.
Finish the day by working on pages 8 and 9 from the Unit Study Guide. You might also do a little baking with these fun Shark Fin cookie cutters! Here’s a great tutorial and recipe, but you might want to try adding a little countershading to the cookies in your decorating.
Day 3: Super predators
Begin today with asking your kids to find out (either in their books or on the internet) how many shark species there are. (Answer: a lot. Over 400, with more still being discovered!). You’ll spend some time today learning about what a predator is, what sharks eat, and whether or not they are as dangerous to people as we seem to think they are.
Visit this website to learn about various sharks and their orders. On this website, scroll down and choose a few specific sharks to learn more about.
Apex Predators
What is an apex predator? Click here to find out, and learn about the world’s top apex predators.
The Great White Shark makes the list:
Perhaps the most feared predator in the world, the great white shark truly is the king of the oceans, and thanks to movies such as Jaws is generally feared – and even hated – by humans. These sharks are at the top of the food chain, though they may be considered a controversial pick for this list of apex predators as they sometimes fall prey to orcas and other, larger great white sharks.
What Sharks Eat
What sharks eat varies by species, but they can typically be classified into two groups: Carnivorous sharks and Planktivore sharks. Click here to learn more about what those classifications mean.
Watch this video to learn a bit more about what sharks eat:
Shark Poke Cake
While learning about what sharks eat, you’re sure to get hungry! Here’s another fun baking activity: Shark Poke Cake. Find the recipe here.
How Likely is a Shark Attack?
Contrary to popular belief, humans are not among the preferred foods of sharks.
Take a look at this infographic on the occurrence of shark attacks:
From Visually.
Who has more to fear?
There are many reasons to believe sharks should be fearing us more than we fear them.
Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack. Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, skin, and fins in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.
10 Most Dangerous Sharks
You’ve seen that the chances of being attacked by a shark are minimal, but there are some sharks that are considered more dangerous than others. Click here to see which ones made the list.
Then, finish the day with a little fun working on pages 12 and 14 of the Unit Study Guide.
Day 4: Where are sharks located?
Sharks are found in every ocean around the world, and even in some rivers.
Learn more about shark habitats from the books you checked out from the library or Epic!, or check out this website to learn more about a shark’s habitat.
Shark Tagging
Scientists can put tags on sharks to learn about lots of different things. By tagging sharks, we can measure their growth and movement, track their speed, and also record information like water temperature and depth.
Ocearch is an organization that collects real-time data on Great Whites and other animals in the ocean that have been tagged.
Watch these videos to learn how Ocearch is using the Global Shark Tracker to collect data and give researchers live access to sharks around the world:
Track Some Sharks!
Click here to visit the Ocearch Shark Tracking page (they also have a free app you can download). Spend a few minutes getting familiar with the website and learning about the different sharks they have tagged.
- Scroll to zoom in and out on the website.
- Click on the small dot on the right-hand side to see recent pings. Click on any of them to view more information about that specific shark.
- You can also click on any shark in the water to learn more about it and view it’s travel log.
Day 5: Shark conservation
For your final day, spend some time talking about why sharks are important and what threatens them.
Sharks are more important than you may think; click here to learn 5 reasons why, then let your child fill out the writing prompt on page 10 of the Unit Study Guide.
Are sharks endangered?
Talk about what it means for a species to be endangered, and do some research with your kids to find out where sharks fall on the spectrum.
There are multiple threats that sharks face such as finning, bycatch, and habitat loss.
Shark finning is the practice of removing the fins from a captured shark, and discarding the animal at sea, still living or dead. This reprehensible and wasteful act is largely driven by the high value placed ion the fin, and the low value off shark meat, Sharks captured as bycatch- (an untargeted animal)- in the tuna and swordfish industry were once released, but are increasingly killed for the fins. The high value and increased market for shark fins is creating huge incentive for fishermen to take the fins and discard the animal, leaving room in the ship’s hold for the more valuable meat of the tuna or swordfish. Shark finning is wasteful, inhumane and unsustainable.
How we can help
Check out this inspiring list of ways real kids are helping make a difference for sharks, and talk with your kids to see if there are any ways they would like to get involved. Here are a couple of other ideas:
For a final project, let your kids create an infographic about sharks! Tell them that they should create an infographic that will convey what they think is important to know about sharks. They can choose to create an infographic on a specific shark, interesting facts about sharks in general, or maybe even shark conservation.
If you want some more inspiration, visit these websites to see some more examples of shark infographics:
http://www.infographicsking.com/tag/shark
https://www.sharks4kids.com/infographics
Your kids might enjoy making a poster, or if they enjoy working on the computer they can use a program like Canva to create their infographic.
I hope this post gave you a lot of great ideas to get started on a Sharks homeschool unit study! I definitely learned a lot more than I ever knew about sharks, and I’m sure your kids will love learning about them too.
Don’t forget to grab your Sharks Unit Study Guide from my shop to help you navigate through your unit study. Have fun learning!
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