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I'm teaching the difference between mammals, particularly whales, and fish. Who can share about this topic?

I've found that Discovery Education has some pretty handy free lesson plans. Just keep in mind that not all of their lesson plans are free. I did manage to find this: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/whats-a-mammal.cfm Hopefully you find this helpful. I particularly like the idea of having students guess what animals they think are mammals. This would ideally help get rid of any misconceptions about which animals are mammals or not.

Hi Haylie! Whales are grouped in an order with dolphins, porpoises, seals, and walruses called cetaceans. They are not fish, the are mammals. There are several reasons as to why whales are mammals who live in the ocean. First, if an individual were to see the inside bone structure of a whale, one could see that it has tiny hind legs. This is because 50 to 60 million years ago, whales roamed around on the earth, but their bodies evolved through time because they began to reside in the ocean. Their front legs turned into flippers and their hind legs became invisible to the naked eye. In addition, similar to mammals, whales are warm blooded, breathe through their lungs, and drink milk. Furthermore, they give birth to their young, not eggs. Their young are born with sparse patches of fur and can provide milk for their young to drink. On the other hand, fish are cold blooded, lay eggs, and get oxygen directly from the water through their gills. An interdisciplinary strategy I would suggest you use is a venn diagram! I'm not really sure what grade you teach, but this is a good way for any elementary student to see the comparison between the two categories. Good luck! http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2536