My process in selecting a topic was to think of something that I don’t know much about or something that I really enjoyed doing/seeing or something that was memorable. So I chose to do my topic on the box fish, because when I was in Hawaii and I went snorkeling I was HORRIBLE at it. So I practiced in the swimming pool until I was perfect at it! And when I went snorkeling for the first time I saw the box fish and from that day on it became my favorite animal. Since my favorite animal has such a back story to it I decided to do it also, I don’t know much about it. I ended up settling on that topic because I wanted to know more about the fish because it is such an interesting animal. For example the size and shape of it I find so strange, so I want to learn more about that and other facts too.

My proposal letter:
Dear Mr. D,
For my 2020 passion project, I will be learning about the box fish. I’ve always been interested in the box fish because they are such cute and majestic animals of the sea. I started getting interested in the animal when I went snorkeling in Hawaii and I saw one of them. They’re so cute and little. They are one of my favorite animals. A feature that I think is super interesting about them is that it always looks like they are blowing a kiss, but they are actually just eating! After I went snorkeling I looked at a book all about fish in Hawaii and found the box fish page. There were so many interesting facts about them. They are such interesting and fun animals. After seeing one, I wondered why they’re so little? Why do they have spots and why are they shaped like a box?

I will be learning about them by reading books. I’ll call my aunt because she knows a lot about fish, because she lives in Hawaii a lot of the year.

I will research them on Google and read websites about them. I’m going to make a poster all about boxfish. I’m going to give all the types of species and information about them. I will have pictures and drawings/paintings.

Main inquiry question:
How do box fish survive?

Sub questions:
Where does the box fish live?
What does the box fish eat?
How many kinds of Species are there?
What eats the box fish?
What does the box fish look like?
Does the box fish travel and socialize with other box fish?
How does the box fish travel?

The sources that I will be using

Articles:
https://www.britannica.com/animal/boxfish
https://science.jrank.org/pages/1006/Boxfish.html
https://www.thesprucepets.com/boxfish-and-cowfish-photos-4082927
https://www.fishlaboratory.com/fish/yellow-boxfish
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/boxfishintro/

Videos:

Since I will be interviewing my aunt, I’m also going to ask her to send the page from the book that I read about all the fish in Hawaii . I’ll make sure to get all the information that I need to know about the box fish .
I am very excited to start this project and share it with you!

Thanks,
Samantha