Megalodon : A Genius Hour Project

     At school this year, my teachers decided to let us choose any topic of our choice to learn more about. They said it could be about ANYTHING we wanted to learn about, except violent topics. Once we learned more about our topic, we had to present it in some way. It could be a skit, slide show, game, model, presentation, etc. We could do it alone, or in a group (max of 3).

Some of my friends and I decided to research Megalodon. We chose Megalodon because Andrew (my good friend since kindergarten), told us about Megalodon at recess. Then we heard about Genius Hour and we decided to research Megalodon. There wasn't a lot of information about Megalodon in our library, so we used Wikipedia and You-Tube. We had a lot of "I WONDER" questions that we answered during our presentation.

We decided to present on a tri-fold board. I painted it to look like
you were looking up from the deep ocean.

We used our "I wonder" questions to form our paragraphs. This is a photo of how
 we brainstormed and organized ideas for the paragraphs.

  

I used the cue cards / paragraph planners, to create a layout on the
tri-fold presentation board.

  

The colour photos that I printed at the library were added to help create
the layout for our presentation. Once we were happy with how everything
fit on, we glued and taped the photos and paragraphs on.

  

We bought "scuba gear" for the presentation day, and planned
to wear our "swim gear" for amusement.

   

This is the big day! Note my friend's Megalodon model on
the right side. He made it out of cardboard boxes and
assembled it at school using tape.

 

Next is my part of the presentation on Megalodon. I used my "I wonder" questions as guidance to form my paragraphs. To get a level 4, I needed to write 3 paragraphs that were 7 sentences long. The information had to stay on topic and the spelling had to be pretty good. I found it hard to write the topic sentences until I found a "main-idea sentence starter" list that I could use. It was way easier to add my ideas to the paragraph after that!



 

What is a Megalodon?

 

     Try to visualize a shark way bigger than a whale. Let me fill you in on a shark called Megalodon. The word Megalodon actually means "big tooth". It's incredible that it had the biggest jaws of any animal that has ever been in my backyard! Megalodon's closest relative is the Great White Shark. It is rumoured that the Megalodon once roamed the world's oceans. Marine biologists believe that Megalodon lived millions of years ago and died along with the dinosaurs.

 

 

Could the Megalodon still be alive?

 

     For years, scientists have been finding evidence of Megalodon that once existed 2.6 million years ago. Did you realize that many people still wonder if Megalodon is extinct or elusive? Surprisingly, Discovery Channel has made a fake documentary about the existence of Megalodon being alive today. People were angry after learning it was fake because they wanted to know the truth about Megalodon and they wanted it to still be alive. There have been a lot of "sightings" of Megalodon around the world, in warm water. None of these sightings have been proven my marine biologists. Some people wonder if Megalodon could still be alive, but hiding in the deep and warm waters of the Mariana Trench. I would like it if Megalodon was still alive because then scientists would answer more of my unanswered questions.

 

 

Where are Megalodon teeth found?

 

      It is interesting to note that many Megalodon shark teeth have been discovered in a valley called Tooth Hill. Tooth Hill is a valley in southern California on the Pacific Ocean. It is also known as "Shark Tooth Hill" because a lot of shark teeth have been found there. Shark Tooth Hill is famous because there are a lot of fossils found there that belong to creatures who are extinct. People can visit Tooth Hill, but they need special permission to go digging around or to take important fossils or teeth. It's hard to believe, but there are many theories about why the marine animals died and their fossils are found there. Some believe that volcanoes erupted and the ash poisoned the creatures. Some believe that ocean water evaporated too quickly and the creatures got trapped and died. Some others believe that germs, bacteria or viruses killed the animals. I think Tooth Hill is an interesting place to excavate fossils.

 

We had a blast! Shark week is now on Discovery channel, and I`m getting really excited to learn more about these mysterious creatures!