Outside! Integrated Lessons

Let’s Get Outside:  Lessons from the first few months of a Toyota Tapestry Grant
  MEES Conference-generated lessons below, Blank Template at the bottom of the page





Title: ____100-inch Hike________
Goal or Understanding


Give students experience interpreting an ecosystem through science, ELA, Math and Social Studies
Description


Survey organisms in a quadrant (or 100-inch transect)
Grade, season, length


·         Grades 6-8
·         All seasons in same location
·         20 minutes
Science goals



·         Life Science Standards Grades 3-8 
·         SLS.35.1                Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that they share
·         SLS.68.14             Explain the roles and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web
·         Metric System
ELA goals



Journaling, Poetry, Figurative language, Fiction writing, Oral presentation, Create your own Field Guides (Art connection)
Math goals



Convert inches and feet, Ratios (types of organisms – classified into groups), Graphs and tables, Area and perimeter
Social Studies goals


Land use/History, Use of organisms (plants, etc), Make a map, Geography terms (identify), Climate change impact, Compass skills
Introduction activity


·         Introduce ecosystem concept
·         Writing prompt – observation (could include interactions, organisms, etc)
Debriefing activity

Presentation of findings to class





Title: _____Match-a-Leaf______
Goal or Understanding


·         Different types of trees have different types of leaves and they all go through yearly cycles
·         Function of leaves
Description


Use a classic leaf-shapes handout, students match up fallen leaves.  Also use bark to identify tree from which it came
Grade, season, length


·          K-5
·         Spring and Fall
·         10 minutes
Science goals



·         preK-2…  Plants as living things and Plants go through changes seasonally
·         grades 3-5…  Classify plants, Plant adaptation, decomposing leaves and the food web
·         HS Ecology…  decomposing leaves are examples of plant/animal interaction.  Maybe differences over time in species composition after the October storm.
ELA goals



Vocabulary:  cycles, maple, oak, acorn, fruit, bark, lobe, type/species
Math goals



·         K-1 … Count lobes of leaves
·         Count leaves and measure to compare
·         1.MD.1
·         2MD.1
Social Studies goals


·         Features and places in the immediate neighborhood
·         Phrases to link to chronology and time
Introduction activity


·         Prepare a Venn diagram … Oak, Maple, Not either
·         Students collect 6 leaves on partner walk and match to the Venn diagram
Debriefing activity


·         Trace your hand to show the veins, trace the oak and maple leaves to show the veins
·         Functions of leaf veins, compare to human veins



Title: _______Schoolyard Rainbow________
Goal or Understanding


·         Understand color diversity in nature
·         Introduce students to a new field site
·         Other themes:   Fall foliage or Spring flowering
Description



·         Have students collect items to match/paste to a prepared rainbow
·         We want to introduce a new study area to students.  Allow them to build connection to the natural life in that area and develop questions for further investigation; generate enthusiasm.
Grade, season, length


·         K-1 with an HS class
·         Fall
·         20 minutes in the field, 20 minutes classroom follow-up
Science goals



·         Observation
·         Classification
·         SLS.pK2.7:  Recognize changes in appearance that animals and plants go through as the seasons change.
·         SLS.35.1:  Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that they share
ELA goals


ELA. RI.1.1:  Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Math goals



·         Count how many colors
·         Classify by color
·         1.MD. 4.   Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
Social Studies goals

HSS.pK.G4: Describe the location and features of places in the immediate neighborhood of the student’s home or school. (G)
Introduction activity


Go out and collect as many colorful natural objects as you can find with a partner – one K and one HS student  (no duplicates in each partner group)
Debriefing activity


·         What colors did we find?
·         Identify objects
·         Put objects in piles … leaf, flower, other
·         Put natural items on rainbow sheet



Title: ____Soil Sampling (Organisms in Soil)___
Goal or Understanding


Introduce students to the unseen and irreplaceable members of the soil ecosystem
Description


Have students dig small holes and place a small plastic cup with 1 inch of soapy water.  Examine the next day
Grade, season, length


·         Grade 3-5;
·         September, December and May 
·         10 minutes to get to the site and dig hole.  30-40 minutes to count and draw organisms
Science goals


SLS35.1: Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics they share
ELA goals



ELA.R1.5.1:  Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text
Math goals



·         K.MD.3:  Classify objects into given categories; count number of objects in each category and sort category by count. 
·         Bar graph.
Social Studies goals


HSS.pK.G4:  Describe the location and features of places in the immediate neighborhood of the student’s home or school. (G)

Introduction activity


·         Possibly a food web activity. 
·         Vocabulary work (word match or crossword).  Ask what students think might find in the soil
Debriefing activity


·         Graphing data
·         Food chain activity








Lesson Title:                                                                    

Goal or Understanding



Description




Grade, season, length



Science goals




ELA goals




Math goals




Social Studies goals



Introduction activity



Debriefing activity



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