Kim Michelle Toft

Twelve angelfish are in the Great Barrier Reef, they think they are in heaven, but a diver comes along and takes one. But what happens next is heartbreaking. The fish keep dying one by one due to the harm done to their ecosystem. At the end they are all gone and the author takes advantage of this to teach ways of preserving the ecosystem.

This book could be used across the curriculum. It works for science and the sustainability of an ecosystem and the organisms living there. It also introduces the concept of early subtraction. One could read this book aloud and have students be involved in counting the fish. It could also be used to help build an ecosystem for a classroom.

Informational Nonfiction
Reading Level: 3.3… (meer)

Summary: A book of fish of course but with an informational twist of #'s to go along with each page consisting of the different number of fish counting down from 12. The book starts with 12 fish working its way down to none. One by one a fish is taken away by a diver or a hook or a net, until there is none left. Fish that die one by one may soon become none.

Personal Reaction: This book is a little underneath my skill level of math but it is a great book of colorful fish and numbers. It is a good book to read to a child who is just starting to learn to count.

Classroom Extension: Go on a field trip to a fish hatchery at the refuge and learn more about the fish in our area and how we could save them.… (meer)

Summary:
One less fish i a counting backwards from ten kind of book with the added benifet of things that happen in the ocean that our killing our fish and what we can do to protect them.
Persoal Reaction:
I thought it was a cute book to use to learn counting backwoards and also to maybe do a lesson on recycling and what we can do to help our planet.
Classroom Extensions:
1. Have a recylce day were we clean out our desks and clean up around the school and recycle what we can recycle.
2. Do a lesson were we count backwords and subtract one from different numbers to see what we come up with.… (meer)

Summary:
One less fish is a great book. It has so many wonderful aspects that could help greatly in a classroom. This book is about how our reefs are being destroyed and what steps can be taken to fix this problem.

Personal Reaction:
With the poem and the information separated, it makes it fun for children to read while not even knowing that they are learning. I think this is a great book that shows the results to our actions.

Classroom Extension:
1) We could each, or in groups, pick one of the twelve types of fish and research it. We could then write papers or tell the class about that fish.
2) We could each pick a fish and mold or make paper machete masks to look like the fish we picked out.
3) We could each take a topic from the book such as spearfishing or feeding fish and talk about the dangers that it would cause to fish.
4) We could paint empty reefs and then put Velcro in different spots. Then make fish and put Velcro on the backs of them so they could be taken off. Then read the book taking the fish off as we read.
5) We could look at the poem and make our own poetry based off of the same styling.
6) We could look at the dark vocab words in the book and talk about what they mean. Then use them in a sentence.
7) We could look at the timeline it lays out and do more research to mask timelines for reef protection.
8) We could study the Great Barrier Reef and look at how they are trying to protect it.… (meer)