Sea Life, Not Seafood: Lessons on 'A Fish's Life'

Here at TeachKind, April is Sea Life, Not Seafood Month—an occasion to celebrate the complex and interesting lives of fish with your students. Throughout the month, we’ll be offering lessons, activities, and other resources that can aid you in teaching your students how fascinating fish are and help them understand that fish deserve our consideration.

Fish are smart, social animals with their own unique personalities—and just like dogs, cats, and humans, they feel pain. The following activities are centered around TeachKind’s A Fish’s Life comic book, which illustrates fish’s ability to suffer and feel pain and helps students see things from the perspective of aquatic animals. You can download the full-color comic here and project it in your classroom or print out your own copies.

Fish: Fact vs. Opinion

Many students already know something about fish or at least have certain beliefs about them and the ways in which they’re similar to or different from other animals—some may even have “pet” fish at home. Before reading A Fish’s Life, gauge your students’ familiarity with these animals and review some facts about them by creating an anchor chart that separates ideas into facts and opinions.

Begin by drawing a large anchor chart on the board, labeling one side “Facts” and the other side “Opinions.” Explain the difference between a fact and an opinion. (Facts are statements that are objectively truthful, while opinions are statements based on subjective feelings or beliefs and not necessary truthful.)

Start this activity by asking students to raise their hands and share everything they know or believe about fish. On the board next to the anchor chart, make a list of all the responses.

Now, read aloud the following text about fish (which can also be found here on PETAKids.com):

Like the cats and dogs you share your home with, fish have their own unique personalities. Just as we use our hands, fish use their mouths to gather food and build nests. They talk to each other with squeaks and squeals, and some have even learned how to garden, growing only the plants they like to eat best.

There are loads of interesting facts about fish, but the most important one is this: Fish are friends, not food!

Imagine that you’re out for a fun swim with your friends, and all of a sudden you’re caught up in a net and dragged through the water, terrified. This is what it’s like for fish who are caught in nets used by the commercial fishing industry. The nets not only capture fish but also turtles, dolphins, and any other sea animals. This industry causes these animals to suffer and also hurts the fragile oceans.

Think fishing in your local lake is any better? Think again! Fish have sensitive mouths and are able to feel pain and suffer, just like us. When fish are caught with a hook, they struggle to get away, often tearing their mouths even more as the frightened animals try to escape.

Can you imagine how awful drowning would feel? That’s exactly how fish feel when they’re taken out of water—they suffocate on land just as you would drown underwater, and it’s a very scary (and deadly) experience for them.

Anyone who takes a minute to learn about fish will see that they’re intelligent, interesting animals who have a right to live free, just as we do.

Once you’ve read the passage aloud, have students identify facts about fish from the text. Add these to the “Facts” section of the anchor chart. Next, revisit the statements that students gave about fish prior to the reading. Go through the list and have students decide whether each point should go in the “Facts” section or the “Opinions” section. Have them discuss their reasons.

Fishing: Cause and Effect

For the following activity, students should be familiar with A Fish’s Life. Have them read it individually, or read it aloud to the class while displaying the images.

Afterward, explain that everything we do and every choice we make has an effect on other things—and in many cases, on other living beings—in the world and that because our beliefs influence our actions, they, too, affect others.

Display a list of the causes shown below and have your students write an effect associated with each cause, based on the information given in A Fish’s Life. We’ve given some possible answers. Students should also explain whether each effect is positive or negative for fish and provide details to support their view.

Cause: Large fishing nets are used to catch many fish at once.

Effect: __________________________________________________________________.

(Possible answer: Many fish die fighting to escape from the nets or on the deck of a boat because they can’t breathe.)