Utilizing the Lake Superior watershed and the St. Louis River as a foundation for learning
A wonderfully crafted scavenger hunt for a no-fail outdoor experience with your students. The curriculum download is a PDF version of the scavenger hunt.
Students will investigate a variety of resources to formulate a hypothesis regarding how Rusty Crayfish arrived in the St. Louis River. The curriculum download is a ZIP file containing all the PDF documents needed to run this lesson with a learners of a variety of ages.
Students will learn about different types of pollution that can be present in water, ways those types of pollution can be handled, what Areas of Concerns are, and what can be done to clean up (and keep clean) Areas of Concerns in the St. Louis River Estuary. The curriculum download is a PDF lesson plan for this activity. The supporting file is a PowerPoint slideshow to support the lesson.
The emphasis on reading and understanding informational texts in classrooms mirrors our efforts in science at the Lake Superior NERR. These readings are based on real scientific efforts in the Lake Superior Watershed, and include questions to check for understanding. This text on geology includes a timeline of the formation of Lake Superior. The curriculum download is a PDF of this informational reader.
Students will learn what lichen, moss, and fungus are as well as how they are important to the ecosystem and to humans. The curriculum download is a PDF including the lesson plan and all student materials.
This lesson outline and PowerPoint guide you and your students through learning about watersheds by making your own! Students will make their own landscape and hypothesize where water and land are on their landscape. They can add places of human activity and predict what will happen to their watershed when it "rains"! This is a fun, short activity that can be extended to emphasize key ideas. The Enviroscape from the Great Lakes Aquarium is optional but very useful for this lesson! The curriculum download is a PDF lesson plan for this activity. The supporting file is a PowerPoint slideshow to support this lesson.
Students will construct a large map of a place of their choosing. This place will be divided into smaller sections using a string/flag grid system. Each student will take their time to create a map of one portion of the grid to be put together into a larger whole. The curriculum download is the plan for this lesson.
Get out in your own backyard and see what's going on! Open up the Nature Nibble curriculum to take a look at what might be going on outside your window. Use the Nature Nibble Links document to open up a YouTube video to watch and some animal sounds to listen to before you go outside. Be sure to look around for other things happening outside your window and either write them down or draw them in your journal. Get out there and have fun! --Curriculum file is an Early Spring Worksheet-- Supporting file is a sheet with links to early spring bird sounds and other early spring natural phenomena.
Get out in your own backyard and see what's going on! Open up the Nature Nibble document to take a look at what is going on outside your window. Use the Nature Nibble Links document to open up a YouTube video from Ms. Deanna to watch before you go outside. Be sure to look around for other things happening outside your window and either write them down or draw them in your journal. Get out there and have fun! --Curriculum file is a Buds Worksheet -- Supporting file is a sheet with a link to the video lesson
Get out in your own backyard and see what's going on! Open up the Nature Nibble document to take a look at what might be going on outside your window. Use the Nature Nibble Links document to open up a YouTube video from Alyssa to watch before you go outside. Be sure to look around for other things happening outside your window and either write them down or draw them in your journal. Get out there and have fun! --Curriculum file is an Insects Worksheet -- Supporting file is a sheet with a link to the video lesson