Utilizing the Lake Superior watershed and the St. Louis River as a foundation for learning
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.
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!
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.
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 our SPECIAL GUEST HOSTS 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 on your Nature Nibble sheet or in your journal. Get out there and have fun! --Curriculum file is a Rocks Worksheet -- Supporting file is a sheet with links to the video lesson and fun rock facts
Attached is a short lesson with data and graphs (for students to compare since the X axis aligns). This is data from the Nemadji River for river flow as well as corresponding rainfall. This will compare baseline data with the flood data from 2012. Includes worksheet to guide students through the analysis.
Attached is a slideshow that compares the Faxon Creek Watershed with the St. Louis River Watershed as well as activities: make a snowflake and draw a watershed! The second part of this curricula includes two Google Earth Tours: one of Faxon Creek and another of the St. Louis River. The lesson plan includes the recipe and materials needed for the lesson.
The curriculum attached is actually a list of websites you can find useful for you and your students. Some of the websites will give you access to data that you can give to your students, other websites (like the WI DNR EEK!! website) provides information that your students can use (and is age appropriate for elementary/middle school). Other websites provide great kits or other resources.
The curriculum contains great outdoor activities for students of all ages.
Students will understand that the shore line of Lake Superior used to be longer in the past. Students will understand the geology changes the lay out of the land over time.
Students will participate in a hike around their local nature space/place and make observations about what is happening in that natural place. They will try to answer questions like, ‘What is new?’ ‘What is different?’ ‘What has changed?’