Jellyfish Lapbook
Habitat/Where on the map Jellyfish are found in every ocean in the world. Where there's salt water from icy polar seas to tropical Pacific shores there are jellyfish. Complete: Finding Jellies Matchbook Classification Jellyfish belong to a group of soft, boneless sea animals called cnidarians (neye- DAYR-ee-uhns), one of the most common groups of sea animals. Other animals that belong to this family include sea anemones, corals, sea fans, and freshwater hydras. Complete: Is a Jellyfish a Fish? mini-book Anatomy Jellyfish are simple creatures that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. A jellyfish is little more than a stomach surrounded by a bell-shaped body. They have no bones, ears, eyes, hearts or brains! And because they are invertebrates, which means they re animals that lack backbones, their bodies are like jelly. That s how they got their name! They also don t have any lungs or gills. They absorb oxygen through their skins instead. Fast fact some Jellyfish have light sensors called eye spots. These sense sunlight coming through the water s surface. They help jellyfish determine which direction is up! Its mouth is located at the center of the bell s underside. Some jellyfish may have four to eight frilly oral arms. These surround a jellyfish s mouth and digestive tube which look like a short tube hanging down from the center of its body. Some also have tentacles, which hang down from their bells. Complete: Anatomy Shutterfold
The smallest jellyfish are much less than one inch wide, about the size of a fingernail. The largest jellyfish can grow to eight feet across and more than 100 feet long. Fast fact the arctic lion s mane jellyfish is the world s largest jellyfish. Its tentacles make it the longest animal in the sea. The largest one on records was 120 feet long. That s longer than two school buses. Complete: Size Fan Fast fact A jellyfish s body is about 95% water. If jellyfish is taken out of the water, it quickly dries up and dies. Fast fact Some jellyfish can produce light by a process called bioluminescence, just like fireflies. This enables them to communicate in the dark, either at night or deep beneath the sea. Lifecycle Jellyfish have a complicated life cycle and go through several stages before becoming adults. Most jellyfish begin life in an egg. After a few days, the egg develops into a tiny animal called a planula. It looks like a worm and is transparent. It can swim but mostly just floats. After a few days or weeks, the planula changes into a tub- like creature called a polyp and sinks to the bottom of the water. A polyp has a mouth and tentacles but cannot swim. It s stuck to the ocean floor. It eats by stinging animals that swim nearby. Small saucer-shaped disks begin to grow from the polyp. After a few weeks or months, a polyp has many disks which eventually break off. The disks float around for about a week. By the end of the week, each disk becomes a medusa, which is another name for an adult jellyfish. Complete: Lifecycle Strips Fast fact- Most jellyfish only live to be about a year old. Locomotion Jellyfish can expand and contract their fluid bodies to move. This looks like an umbrella opening and closing. When a jellyfish contracts its body, the water inside it is forced out. This moves the jellyfish forward. The process is a simple
form of jet propulsion. Even with this skill, they re not very efficient swimmers. Instead, water currents and strong winds usually determine their path and many find themselves washed up on beaches. Complete: On the Move Simple Fold Fast fact Unlike fish, jellyfish don t have swim bladders to keep them afloat. If a jellyfish stops pumping its body, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Diet Most jellyfish are carnivores but they don t chase their prey. Instead, they wait for small animals to swim or draft into their tentacles. They feed mostly on a variety of small animals like zooplankton, comb jellies, small fish and occasionally other jellyfish. Complete: What's for Dinner? Matchbook Jellyfish tentacles are well equipped for hunting food. They contain stinging cells that explode when they come into contact with prey. Then, the stinging cells shoot tiny threads of toxins into the animal. This paralyzes their prey. Complete: Hunting with Tentacles Simple Fold One type of jellyfish, called the Cassiopea or upside-down jellyfish, doesn t hunt at all. Instead it grows lots of very small plants called algae inside its transparent body. The algae make food for the jellyfish from sunlight, using the process called photosynthesis. Predators/Defense For jellyfish, the oceans are very dangerous. Many animals, which are not affected by their stings and have strong mouths and stomachs, like to eat jellyfish. These include spadefish, sunfish, large sea snails, sea turtles, crabs and some birds. Even some humans like to eat jellyfish! Complete: Who Wants to Eat a Jellyfish? T-book
Some jellyfish use their stinging tentacles to keep them from getting eaten. Box jellyfish are some of the deadliest creatures in the world, killing more people than sharks! If a human is stung by one of these jellyfish, he or she may die within minutes. Sometimes, instead of swimming alone, jellyfish form groups called smacks. This increases their chances of defending themselves and escaping. Jellyfish also use their transparency to hide from predators. Even the colorful kinds of jellyfish are transparent, or clear like glass. This quality makes them difficult to se in the water. This gives them some defense from enemies because jellyfish have few places to hide. Complete: Protection Tri-fold Vocabulary Bell the umbrella-shaped body of a jellyfish Bioluminescence- a chemical reaction that causes an organism to glow Carnivore meat-eating animal Colony a group of animals of one kind living together Current the flow and movement of a large body of water Gelatinous jellylike Invertebrate an animal with no backbone Paralyze to make unable to move Predator an animal that eats other animals Propulsion something that drives forward or adds speed to an object Smack group of jellyfish
Tentacle a long, slender body part that grows around the mouth or head of some animals Toxin a substance that is harmful Transparent clear like glass Tropical an area on Earth where temperatures are warm Play a game with the vocabulary lotto boards! Store boards in a pocket on the back of your lapbook, if desired. Books Jellyfish by Lloyd G. Douglas Jellyfish by Deborah Coldiron Jellyfish : Animals With a Deadly Touch by Eulalia Garcia Jellyfish by Elaine Landau Jellyfish by Leighton Taylor Discovering Jellyfish by Miranda MacQuitty Scary Creature Jellyfish by Gerard Cheshire Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha Materials and information may be used for your own personal and school use. Material may not be used for resale or shared electronically. Homeschool Share
Finding Jellies What s for Dinner? Cut each book out as one piece. Fold matchbook style. Materials and information may be used for your own personal and school use. Material may not be used for resale or shared electronically. Homeschool Share
Cut out book as ONE piece. Fold bottom and top flaps under. Fold book in half. Others in the Family Is a Jellyfish a Fish? Family Name
Anatomy What Jellies Don t Have What Jellies Have Cut out book as one piece. Fold sides to the front. Fold top flap (anatomy) and glue down.
Large Small PRINT ON CARDSTOCK. Cut out pieces. Write about jellyfish sizes on the pieces. Stack together with cover on top and secure with a brad.
Hunting with Tentacles Cut book out as one piece. Fold in half. Cut book out as one piece. Fold left side in. Fold right side in so that it is on the cover. On the inside of the book write about three different ways that jellies defend themselves. Protection From Predators
Materials and information may be used for your own personal and school use. Material may not be used for resale or shared electronically. Homeschool Share Cut out book as one piece. Fold in half. On the Move
Cut books out on solid lines; fold on dotted lines. Fast Fact Fast Fact Fast Fact Fast Fact
Cut out as one piece. Fold left side in. Fold right side in. Fold top down.
Cut out the pieces. Complete information. Stack pages together with cover on top and staple. Title: Author: I learned Title: Author: I learned Title: Author: I learned
Title: Author: I learned Title: Author: I learned Title: Author: I learned Title: Author: I learned
PRINT PAGES on CARDSTOCK. One person should take turns calling out word definitions The players should cover their boards with markers (use buttons, paper squares, or anything else you can think of!) each time they hear a definition that matches a word found on their board. Winner: Before each game decide how to determine the winner (four in a horizontal row, four in a vertical row, or four corners). VOCABULARY LOTTO Colony Bioluminescence Transparent Tropical Bell Gelatinous Smack Toxin Propulsion Invertebrate Carnivore Fragile Predator FREE SPACE Paralyze Tentacle
VOCABULARY LOTTO Smack Paralyze Invertebrate Bell Tropical Propulsion FREE SPACE Fragile Transparent Bioluminescence Tentacle Gelatinous Colony Predator Carnivore Toxin
VOCABULARY LOTTO FREE SPACE Predator Toxin Fragile Paralyze Transparent Propulsion Tentacle Gelatinous Tropical Carnivore Invertebrate Bell Colony Smack Bioluminescence
VOCABULARY LOTTO Bioluminescence Smack Carnivore Propulsion Invertebrate Bell Predator FREE SPACE Gelatinous Toxin Fragile Paralyze Tropical Transparent Tentacle Colony
Directions: Cut out the cover (on this page). Cut out each rectangle (solid black lines). Fold like a hotdog on center gray line. Cut dotted gray lines. Repeat steps with each rectangle. Stack rectangles together (with the cover on top) and staple on the left side where indicated. You will be able to lift the flaps of each strip up. You should also be able to flip in your book from strip to strip. Cut/paste the information under the appropriate strips. Jellyf sh lifecycle Most jellyfish begin life in an egg. After a few days, the egg develops into a tiny animal called a planula. It now looks like a transparent worm floating along in the water. After a few days or weeks, the planula changes into a tube-like creature called a polyp and sinks to the bottom of the water. It is stuck on the ocean floor. Small saucer-shaped disks begin to grow from the polyp. After a few weeks or months, a polyp has many disks which eventually break off. The disks float around for about a week. Each disk from the polyp becomes a medusa, which is another name for an adult jellyfish.
egg Planula
Polyp Medusa