The Giant Octopus

Monday (04/04/2011) a) The Giant Octopus · It’s arm’s length could be until 7 meters long..wow! I brought in a measuring tape ad measured 7 m long and it’s almost from them whiteboard to the toilet length. However, when I measured the kid’s arm, it’s less than 1 meter. Its weight is about 200kg……which is equivalent to the weight of 4 adults! b) Protection · The kids thought of many ways of how an octopus protects itself. Not all octopus has got these features. i) They live I a de ad can squeeze through many cracks because it has no boes. ii) It can squeeze black ink (said Rei) iii) It can camouflage like Camellia (said Zhe Qing) iv) It can break off its arms just like a starfish, jellyfish, a crab, a lizard ad they can regrow slowly again. (said Xing Tog) v) It can mimic (some species) into a lionfish, an eel and some other forms. · Is the octopus clever? I asked the kids to think about what it can learn. Kids thought that mother octopus will eat its baby. That’s not true. I fact, they are one of the best animal parents. · We also leant about predator ad prey. The predator includes whales, sharks, birds, eels and humans. The preys include crabs, shells, shrimps, smaller octopuses, fish, and snails among others. c) Class craft · The kids wondered if we could have a Giant Octopus in the c class…….eeerrr…..of course! · Some helped me to cut the garbage plastic bag into strips while the others folded A4 paper into log rectangles, drew circles ad cut them. One cut produces 7 circles…….that amazed them. The they pasted the circles (suction cups) onto the octopus log arms with glue. We shall continue tomorrow.