Guess that Animal!
Students will work in teams to read about an animal that lives in the St. Louis River Estuary. They will then work together to draw and name the animal that they think the description describes. This allows students to become familiar with animals that could be present around their school or homes that live in the estuary while also learning valuable lessons in team work. The curriculum download is a PDF lesson plan for this activity. The supporting file is a PowerPoint slideshow to support the lesson.
Habitat Scavenger Hunt
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.
How Did They Get Here?
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.
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.
Macroinvertebrate Informational Text: Read and Understand!
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 short text includes pictures of commonly found aquatic macroinvertebrates. The curriculum download is a PDF of this informational reader.
Mapping Your Place
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.
Nature Nibble #1- First Week of April
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.
Nature Nibble #2 – Second Week of April
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
Nature Nibble #3 – Third Week of April
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
Nature Nibble #4 – Fourth Week of April
Get out in your own backyard and see what's going on! Open up the Nature Nibble curriculum document to take a look at what might be going on outside your window. Use the Nature Nibble Links supporting file to open up a YouTube video from Melissa and Ryan to watch before you go outside. There is also some links to fun bird sounds to check out too! Be sure to look around for other things happening outside your window and either write them down or draw them on your Nature Nibble sheet or in your journal. Get out there and have fun!
--Curriculum file is a Birds Worksheet --
Supporting file is a sheet with links to the video lesson, bird sounds, and information about birds
