In Part 1 of this activity, students will work in pairs. In Part 2 of this activity, students will work in groups of four to play the Big Fish game. Homeschool students can work on their own for Part 1, but will need a few friends in order to play the game.

Plan Your Time

Part 1 (building an ecosystem) takes 10 to 15 minutes. Part 2 (playing the game) takes at least 20 minutes.

You may want to divide this lesson into two sessions, stopping after Part 1 and continuing with the game at a later point. If you plan to do the activity in two sessions, the group game begins at Step 12.

Sort Materials for Part 1 and Part 2

Divide your materials into two piles.

For Part 1, you’ll need:

• Half of the Fish-O-Meter printouts
• Big Fish Ecosystem Cards
• scissors
• binder clips (optional)

For Part 2, you’ll need:

• the rest of your Fish-O-Meters (so each student has one)
• Check the Pond
• Pick-a-Card/Discard Pile/How to Play
• Action Cards
• scissors

Planning for Two Sessions

If you want to do Part 1 and Part 2 on different days, you can keep materials organized by having each pair of students clip their cards, their Fish-O-Meter, their pointer, and their worksheets together with a binder clip at the end of Part 1.

When you are doing Part 2, start by giving each pair of students their materials from Part 1. Then have pairs get together to make groups of four and distribute the additional worksheets.