Sea-horses

A set of literacy activities for P3

2020Niddrie Mill Primary School

Mr Charlton

Sea -horses

Dear parents and carers,

Our topic in class this term was going to be, Under the Sea. The following activities are all about sea-horses.This set of reading and writing tasks could be completed independently or with some help from an adult. Most primary 3 pupils will need a little support.There is no need to do them all, but hopefully you will find them fun and challenging.Please contact us if you have any questions about the activities or need guidance in supporting your child to complete them.

Mr Charlton, Mrs Miller and Miss Paterson

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Sea-horses

A sea-horse is a type of fish that swims upright. The shape of its head makes it look like a horse, but most are less than 10cm long so not even a mermaid could ride on its back.Sea-horses are always hungry and need to eat all day long to stay alive. They eat small creatures like plankton or shrimps but can’t chase after them because they’re not fast swimmers. Instead, they curl their tail around sea grass or coral to hold on and stay still. When food swims by, they suck it up with their long snout and swallow it without chewing. Sometimes they just stick their snout into holes in rocks and hoover up any little creatures hiding there.When sea-horses fall in love, they stay together for the rest of their lives. The male and female spend most of the day apart, but they meet every morning and dance together. They swim together and circle around each

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other. As they dance, both change colour to show they are happy and still in love. It is difficult to find sea-horses because they camouflage themselves by changing colour. This helps them stay hidden from enemies and makes them almost invisible when waiting for food to swim by.Crabs, penguins, tuna, rays and sea birds love to eat sea-horses, but they are not their worst enemies – humans are. People catch them and let them dry out in the sun to turn them into ornaments or jewellery. Sometimes they are kept as pets, but they usually don’t live long. Worst of all, we are polluting the water and destroying the coral reefs they live in.

Comprehension (Spicy)

1. What type of animal is a sea-horse?2. Which part of its body looks most like a

horse?3. What do sea-horses eat?

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4. What do they use their snouts for?5. What do seahorses in love do every

morning?6. How do they camouflage themselves?7. Which five animals eat sea-horses?8. Why do people dry out sea-horses?9. Why are they not good pets?10. Where do sea-horses live?

Comprehension (Hot)

1. What does upright mean?2. Why do you think sea-horses aren’t

fast swimmers?4

3. Why do you think they don’t chew their food?

4. Why do you think sea-horses in love spend most of the day apart?

5. Which colour would you be if you were a happy sea-horse? Why?

6. What do you think would happen if a sea-horse in love forgot to dance one morning? Why?

7. Would you want a sea-horse as a pet? Why?

8. Would you like jewellery or ornaments made of dried sea-horses? Why?

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Punctuation (Spicy and

Hot) Write these sentences, making sure you put in all the missing capital letters, full stops and question marks.

o sea-horses are a type of fisho have you ever seen oneo their tails can grip coral or sea grasso the fin on their head is called a coroneto on their back is the dorsal fino do you think they look like horseso food is sucked up by their snoutso sea-horses don’t chew their foodo they don’t have teetho every sea-horse can change colour to help them

hideo sometimes they change colour when they are

happyo people catch them to keep as petso my friend john had one called spottyo would you like one as a pet

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Sea-horse Diagram (Mild, Spicy and Hot)

Draw a sea-horse and use the words below to label it.The first label has been done for you.

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←Coronet

⌘

Story Writing

Use this story map to help you to plan an imaginative story about a sea-horse.

1.I saw a sea-horse in the sea.2.When I touched it I grew smaller.

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Coronet Tail Eye Dorsal Fin Snout

_________

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

3.He asked me to help him find his wife.4.I grew to normal size and went to look for

her.5.I found a shop selling dried sea-horses.6.One sea-horse was still alive, and it was his

wife.7.I took her back to the sea.8.I became small again and danced with the

sea-horses.9.I put up posters asking people to save sea-

horses.

Poster Design (Mild, Spicy and Hot)

Posters need to grab your attention. They do this with large headings and bright pictures to catch your eye.Make sure your posters have a clear heading that could be seen from a distance and bright pictures that make people stop and look.

Design a poster asking people to care for the sea. You could include –

o Stop polluting the sea.o Save the coral reefs.o Stop killing sea-horses.

Design a poster with facts about sea-horses.You could include –

o Where they live.

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o What they eat.o How they catch food.

Sea-horses

Stop killing thesebeautiful creatures

Poetry

An acrostic is a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word. Here is an example. It’s about sea-horses and uses the word, BEAUTY.

Beneath the salty blue waves.

Eating tiny plankton all day.

Alone, until the morning dance.

Upright swimming through coral and sea grass.

Twirling tail holds on, to catch food as it floats past.

You won’t see him, he’s camouflaged.

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Can you write an acrostic using the word, SEAHORSE?

You could also use, CORAL, SWIM or DANCE.

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Illustration Sea-horses can change to any colour they want. Sometimes it’s to hide and sometimes it’s to show how they are feeling. Draw some sea-horses and colour them to show how they are feeling. Draw sea-horses that are –

o Happyo Sado Frightenedo In love

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o Excitedo Lonelyo Hungryo Tired

You can use pattern as well as colour. A hungry seahorse might have a burger pattern all over it and a sad one might be covered in tear drops.

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