- Welcome/Overview
- Content Notes
- Lesson and Activities
- Lesson 1-Living Systems-Where do we fit?
- Lesson 2- Explore Your "Wild" World!>
- Lesson 3- Building Food Chains and Food Webs>
- Lesson 4- Owls- A Mighty Predator
- Lesson 5- About Ecosystems>
- Lesson 6- We Are Explorers! (day1 of 2 lessons)>
- Lesson 7- We Are Explorers (day 2 of 2 lessons)
- Lesson 8-A Closer Look at Communities
- Lesson 9- What's in the Water?
- Lesson 10- Our Environment/Our World>
- Websites for Kids
- Books Used Throughout Lessons 1-10
- Assessment Page
Lesson 2- Explore Your "Wild" World
Objectives:
Materials:
Read-A -Loud Book-Who Eats What?Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber
Items to take on the Treasure Hunt:
Teacher: clear plastic containers to study creek water and other evidence collected, colored pencils to share, wipes,paper towels,class camera, and binoculars if available.
Students: Clipboards, pencils, Treasure Hunt Checklist, magnifying glasses, and Science Journals.
Lesson:
Students will -
While this activity can be done anywhere outdoors at a nearby park or on the playground, the more variety of habitats there are to explore the better the Treasure Hunt.To extend the lesson time and include more detailed observations you could integrate this lesson with a writing lesson and ask students to write a poem or essay about something they observe during this activity. Also Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 activities are all related to reinforcing the Food Chains, Food Web Concepts, so to avoid rain on the Treasure Hunt you could substitute any one of the 3 of the lessons in order to do the Treasure Hunt on the best weather day.
Students are given an opportunity during silent reading time or other reflective time to observe several containers of creek water or other evidence collected during our outdoor activity. Students will have the opportunity to use magnifying glasses to study creek water or other evidence more closely. Field guides, bird books, and plant and flower books that are part of the Classroom Library or Checked out from the school library will also be available for further reading. Students are encouraged to add reflections, thoughts, or diagrams to their Science Journals. Whatever will survive overnight will be left for additional reflection during morning centers.
References-
*Treasure Hunt Activity adapted from activities included in Project WILD Seminar attended on
March 1, 2013. Facilitated by Dr. Patricia Stohr-Hunt at the University of Richmond, Richmond, VA.
- Investigate wildlife around school including a park nearby with a creek
- Discover that humans and wildlife share environments and that wildlife is all around us
- Differentiate between predator and prey
- Continue study of Food Chains and Food Webs
Materials:
Read-A -Loud Book-Who Eats What?Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber
Items to take on the Treasure Hunt:
Teacher: clear plastic containers to study creek water and other evidence collected, colored pencils to share, wipes,paper towels,class camera, and binoculars if available.
Students: Clipboards, pencils, Treasure Hunt Checklist, magnifying glasses, and Science Journals.
Lesson:
- Begin lesson by reading the first 10 pages of Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber reviewing concepts learned on Day 1
- Take students outdoors for a "Wildlife Treasure Hunt"*
- Divide students into 4 or 5 groups of 4 to 5 students. Encourage Groups to stay together.
- Distribute Treasure Hunt List-
- Discuss the fact that wild animals are not pets and should be treated with respect. Reiterate that they are not to disturb any animals' nests. Remind everyone to follow our normal science class safety rules such as don't eat anything at all and do not touch anything unless you know for sure that it is safe. Remind everyone what poison ivy or oak looks like.
- Encourage students to use all of their senses to observe their surroundings. Remind them that many Hawks have been spotted nesting in the area so to keep a watchful eye out for them.
- Encourage students to use their best diagramming skills and to include phrases and sentences that describe what they see and hear. Be sure to label parts when possible.
- Our creek is a 5 minute walk away so we will make our observations and diagrams for about 20 minutes and return to class.
- Once we return to class finish reading the rest of Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber
- Compare the Insects and animals we saw on our hunt to the animals discussed in the book.
- Discuss Key Vocabulary Words- Predator and prey
- Add definitions to Living Systems Vocabulary Matchbook Foldables
- A Venn Diagram
- A T-Graph
- 3 to 5 descriptive sentences
Students will -
- Take detailed notes and make detailed drawings of the plants and animals they observe.
- Label parts of plants, flowers, and animals when possible
- Describe where they are in the food chain-
- Identify predators and/or prey
- Circulate among groups during Treasure Hunt to observe student journals
- Look for students to correctly identify predators, prey, parts of plants, flowers, and other content elements of the habitat and food chains or webs by observing groups activities, listening to responses during discussions, and evaluating entries made in Science Journals.
While this activity can be done anywhere outdoors at a nearby park or on the playground, the more variety of habitats there are to explore the better the Treasure Hunt.To extend the lesson time and include more detailed observations you could integrate this lesson with a writing lesson and ask students to write a poem or essay about something they observe during this activity. Also Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 activities are all related to reinforcing the Food Chains, Food Web Concepts, so to avoid rain on the Treasure Hunt you could substitute any one of the 3 of the lessons in order to do the Treasure Hunt on the best weather day.
Students are given an opportunity during silent reading time or other reflective time to observe several containers of creek water or other evidence collected during our outdoor activity. Students will have the opportunity to use magnifying glasses to study creek water or other evidence more closely. Field guides, bird books, and plant and flower books that are part of the Classroom Library or Checked out from the school library will also be available for further reading. Students are encouraged to add reflections, thoughts, or diagrams to their Science Journals. Whatever will survive overnight will be left for additional reflection during morning centers.
References-
*Treasure Hunt Activity adapted from activities included in Project WILD Seminar attended on
March 1, 2013. Facilitated by Dr. Patricia Stohr-Hunt at the University of Richmond, Richmond, VA.