|
5th Grade Program
5th grade students spend part of their day at the lake discovering the wonders of ecosystems and the creatures that live there. They’ll examine leaf packs from the lake and build an environmental barometer.
They’ll spend the other part of their day exploring landforms. We’ll create forces of nature like wind, rain, and even glaciers to see how they shape landforms and the important role that erosion plays. They’ll also learn how to measure and map slope of the land.
|
|
Program Activities
1. Wetland Metaphors (Learning Objective 1.03)
Students investigate a selection of "hands-on" objects as metaphors for natural functions of wetlands to discover how wetlands can support a wide variety of organisms.
2. The Edge of Home (Learning Objectives 1.01, 1.02)
Students explore the concept of “ecotones” (or overlapping ecosystems) and identify the organisms living in them by visiting places where habitats overlap.
3. Leaf Packs (Learning Objectives 1.05, 1.07)
Students collect leaf packs from a lake to discover macro-invertebrates living within, then sort and classify them based on their interaction within the ecosystem.
4. Environmental Barometer (Learning Objectives 1.06, 1.07)
Students observe and count or estimate wildlife in a wooded area and discuss how human intervention would impact the ecosystem.
5. Changing Earth (Learning Objective 2.01)
Students demonstrate how forces of nature cause changes in landforms over time.
6. Stream Tables (Learning Objectives 2.02, 2.03, 2.04)
Students experiment with erosion using models set at different degrees of slope to discover how water shapes different landforms.
7. Steep Slopes (Learning Objective 2.05)
Students calculate the percentage of slope in several areas of land, record their findings, and discuss the relationship between percentage of slope and flow of water.
8. Contour Mapping (Learning Objective 2.06)
Students create a contour map of Mt. Capulin while covering a model of the mountain with water.
|
Competency Goals Covered:
1. The learner will conduct investigations to build an understanding of the interdependence of plants and animals.
2. The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of landforms.
Learning Objectives Covered:
1.01 Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).
1.02 Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem: Producers, Consumers, Decomposers.
1.03 Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.
1.05 Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.
2.01 Identify and analyze forces that cause change in landforms over time including: Water and Ice, Wind, Gravity.
2.02 Investigate and discuss the role of the water cycle and how movement of water over and through the landscape helps shape landforms.
2.03 Discuss and consider the wearing away and movement of rock and soil in erosion.
2.04 Describe the deposition of eroded material and its importance in establishing landforms.
2.05 Discuss how the flow of water and the slope of the land affect erosion.
2.06 Identify and use models, maps, and aerial photographs as ways of representing landforms.
|
|
|
