How Do Animals Survive the Winter?
Students will learn about the different ways animals survive in the winter through reading about animal adaptations and doing class presentations about some of the animals that live in or near aquatic environments. Students will also have the opportunity to create their own animals and come up with habitats and winter adaptations for those creations. The curriculum download is a PDF that includes the lesson plan, student sheets, and a student reading sheet. The supporting file is a PDF with images of common animals found in northern MN/WI and their winter adaptations.
Patterns In Nature
Students will learn the concept of a pattern. Students will be able to identify, continue and create patterns. Students will learn to recognize patterns in nature. The curriculum download is a PDF of the plan for this lesson. The supporting file download is a PDF showing a variety of images of patterns in nature.
Plants and their Seeds
In this lesson, students do a field study on the great variety of seeds on their school grounds. They use the "wool sock" collection method, hand lenses, and microscopes. The main line of inquiry is "How are seeds dispersed?", but opportunities abound for lesson extension. The curriculum download is a PDF that includes the lesson plan and student data collection sheet. The supporting file is a PDF document about seed dispersal from Cornell University.
Visual Aid: Trees that Keep their Leaves
This is a one-pager, student sheet with quality images of cedar, balsam fir, red pine, spruce, and white pine needles for field identification and extension activities. Have students make a display by gathering specimens, researching, or for smaller students, simply writing the names of the trees by the correct images. Regardless, GO OUTSIDE with your students and collect some samples of these trees for your classroom. Tell the Ojibwe oral story that explains this phenomenon. The curriculum download is a PDF version of the student sheet.
