Fish Tank

The Fish Tank is an activity in JumpStart 2nd Grade. It is accessed by clicking on the water cooler in the clubhouse. It is designed to teach number sense and phonics skills for second grade.

Characters

 * CJ
 * Edison
 * Gilda

Description
The user must click on a worm and move it to the bubble with the correct answer and the fish will swim to it. The starfish comes out of the treasure chest and holds up the sign telling you which bubbles to get. Edison is holding a jar of worms and CJ comes out from the top of the castle.

There are five rounds to collect all the bubbles for the fish. Edison is holding the jar of worms. Click on the treasure chest for the starfish to come out and it will hold the sign. A shark is also seen during this activity.

The fish swims to the correct bubble to match them when a worm is moved. When the game is finished the bubbles say "You Win!"

Another obstacle is the jellyfish. If the fish touches the jellyfish, its face will turn blue. If it swims to an incorrect bubble, its face will turn green. Another obstacle is the shark. If the fish touches the shark, it will get bitten.

Math (Number Sense)

 * Even Numbers
 * Odd Numbers
 * Less Than
 * Greater Than
 * Between

Language Arts (Phonics)

 * Consonants
 * Short Vowels
 * Long Vowels
 * Blends and Digraphs

Game Play

 * Scout: The jellyfish is the only obstacle.
 * Explorer: The shark is the only obstacle.
 * Trailblazer: Both the jellyfish and the shark appear.

Edison's Dialogue

 * "Take another look at the starfish."
 * "The goldfish looks sick."
 * "Ooh! That's the wrong bubble!"

Digital manual description


Descend into the fanciful fish tank by clicking on the classroom water cooler. Your job is to help feed the hungry goldfish.


 * Click on the Treasure Chest to start the game.
 * The starfish will show you which bubbles to eat.
 * The bubbles sink toward the bottom of the tank.
 * Edison has a jar of worms to help you bait the correct bubbles. Click on the jar to select a worm.
 * Click on or beneath the bubble to place the worm. As Gilda Goldfish goes to gobble up the correct bubbles, she will pop the bubble above it.
 * Be careful! Gilda turns green if she pops bubbles with incorrect answers.
 * Click on the Green Arrow to return to the Club House.

Educational and Developmental Benefits

The Fish Tank Game is a fun way to continue improving the visual skills while practicing math and language arts. The math skills reviewed include addition (1 and 2 digits), subtraction (1 and 2 digits), more than, less than, and place values. The language arts skills include: beginning consonant such as, short vowels, long vowels, vowel rules, vowel teams, blends, consonant teams, and silent letters. Also included are different types of words such as synonyms, antonyms, compound words, and rhyming words.

Levels

1. Scout: The obstacle is the jellyfish. The content are numbers greater than and less than the number held up on the starfish's sign.

2. Explorer: The obstacle is the shark. The content includes numbers held up on the starfish's sign.

3. Trailblazer: The obstacles are the jellyfish and the shark. The content includes: odd and even numbers, odd and even numbers between numbers held up on the starfish's sign, greater than and less than numbers.

Trivia

 * Coincidentally, the starfish resembles Patrick Star from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, which aired three years after the game's release.
 * The instrumental version of the chorus of "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" by Jamaican band Inner Circle plays in this activity, but in a higher pitch.