Coral Reef Community Drama scene descriptions Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Kindergarten PRISM GK-12

Organize! Organize the students by their assigned puppets into groups according to what they eat (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, decomposers, producers). Have them sit in the audience in these groups.

Scene 1: Producers Sunrise: the sun hat comes out. Algae costumes move back and forth catching the rays, and make their own food from the energy.

Scene 2: Herbivores The herbivorous fishes (convict tang (manini) and the honu swim by and nip at the algae

Scene 3: Omnivores The humu’humu’nuku’nuku’apua‘a (reef triggerfish) and raccoon butterfly fish swim by and nip at algae and eat zooplankton (tiny larvae).

Scene 4: Decomposers The crabs walk across the floor and eat scraps of algae and dead animal material. Crabs stay on set for scenes 5 and 6 …

Scene 5: Daytime Carnivore The octopus moves quickly across the floor and eats the crabs. The octopus and another crab stays on stage during sunset interlude.

Sunset Interlude: The sun sets and the moon rises. Coral polyps grab at zooplankton (tiny floating animals like isopods) to eat.

Scene 6: Night-time Carnivores The eel lunges at the crab that is resting from behind the coral reef. A monk seal swims by and eats an octopus. The shark hunts the monk seal. The End. Huddle for a discussion about the food web and have students place puppets on the coral reef community posterboard.

Discussion We are learning that animals that live in the coral reef depend on each other. - Why do they depend on each other? We call this a food chain. (Show students color coded paper chain) - What would happen if we removed a link (e.g. carnivores) from the chain?

Stick puppets to the Reef Community Poster! Think about where are puppets would go in the reef community. The arrows connect who depends on who. Here are some plants or algae. Who has an animal that eats plants (herbivore)? Call herbivores up one at a time to stick their puppets to the poster. Here are some urchins. Who has an animal that eats urchins? Etc.