Salmon

World Book for Kids

WBFK has a two-paragraph entry on salmon and a printable picture of a sockeye salmon.  There is also a link to a "creatures" game in which students find examples of birds, amphibians, insects, mammals, etc.

National Geographic Salmon Page

National Geographic has a single page on Sockeye salmon that would be suitable for more capable readers.  Includes a map of salmon range, a side-bar of facts, and links to videos about fish.

Salmon Life Cycle

Nice photos and explanation of the life cycle on this page from the Seymour River Hatchery in North Vancouver.  Suitable for more capable readers.

DFO Downloadable Units

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has free downloadable Stream to Sea educational units at both the primary and intermediate level.  You can download Kurzweil versions of the student reading/activity pages for these units in SET-BC's CurriculumSET or from ARC-BC.

Enchanted Learning Salmon Page

Enchanted Learning has a diagram, basic information, and 5 study questions about salmon.  The page is printable but contains a few ads so you might try using a free utility such as Print What You Like to get rid of the ads. 

Anatomy and Dissection Photos

Great website shows a labeled picture of the external anatomy of the salmon with links to more information about each part of the salmon's anatomy.  This is followed by step-by-step instructions for salmon dissection with photos.  A grade 4/5 teacher recently had her students read the dissection instructions in pairs prior to a visit from a DFO biologist who planned to do a dissection with the class.  She reports the reading level is not too difficult, especially when each pair includes a stronger reader.  The students also completed the virtual dissection in the Oracle Thinkquest game in the games and interactives section below.  The students were well-prepared for the biologist's visit!

Science Up Close

Excellent animated explanation of how fish get oxygen.  Has optional voice, keyboard shortcuts, and captioning options.  It takes several seconds for this to load the first time but is well worth the wait.  Check out the wealth of other activities at this excellent website.

SET-BC Accessible Books

There's a great student-written and narrated accessible book demo online entitled "The Fishing Trip."  Other titles related to fishing and specifically salmon include A Salmon for Simon, Salmon Creek and A Promise is a Promise.  You can order these books on CD from the Accessible Book section on the SET-BC website or download them from ARC-BC in .pps format.

These accessible etext books play with the free PPT player and feature color illustrations read by a human voice.  

Fish Passage Tour

FWEE website hosts an interactive tour which shows how fish pass through a dam unharmed.

Dive BC Interactive Fish Anatomy

The site has a diagram and self-checking quiz which provide information about basic fish anatomy.  Requires reading.

Salmon Life Cycle Song 3:41

The students in Caren R. grade 5 class highly recommend this hilarious and educational parody of the tune I will Survive.  The video, includes subtitles with the lyrics and shows the stages in the Salmon Life Cycle. 

Neok12 Salmon Life Cycle 3:25

Excellent video about the life cycle of pacific salmon.  The video is part of a page on marine animals; there is no separate page for salmon.

Bear vs Salmon 2:11

Dramatic and graphic Animal Planet video shows Russian bears catching salmon.  Suggest you preview to ensure this video is not too disturbing for some of your students.

Chum Salmon Eggs Hatching

Hilarious video of alevins wiggling out of the eggs with a wicked jive playing in the background.  Made me laugh out loud.  Filmed at the Seymour River Hatchery in North Vancouver.

Grade 2 Student Video

Cute and very informative video produced by a group of grade 2 students.

Salmon Lifecycle Unit

This is a set of 7 Clicker grids dealing with salmon anatomy and with each stage of the salmon life cycle.  Each grid contains a red/yellow/green pre and post test, a short illustrated book about that portion of the life cycle, and a choice of writing activities at 6 different levels of difficulty.  Created by yours truly and a team of Prince Rupert teachers.

Connections Canada Salmon Canneries

This gridset contains a learning and a writing section.  Created for grade 5 students studying salmon by Kathy Ryan. 

Salmon LifeCycle Lesson (Requires Notebook Software)

I couldn't find anything on the Activity Exchange so I created this lesson using many of the photos and ideas from the Clicker5 grids above.  It's a 9 MB download.  The lesson contains a red/yellow/green pre and post test, brainstorming for background knowledge using pictures as cues, information about salmon lifecycle pages and activities such as putting pics of the lifecycle in order and matching life cycle pics to words.