~ Spring Lessons ~
The Balance of Nature
To know that an animal can be predator or prey: How do predators and their prey contribute to a “balance in Nature?”
Third Grade Spring #1 The Balance of Nature PDF Lesson and Supporting Documentation
~ Video Coming Soon ~
Patterns in Nature
To look for patterns in the plants and animals using shape, number, color, movement, song, etc.: What geometric shapes can we find in nature?
Third Grade Spring #2 The Patterns and Shapes in Nature PDF Lesson and Supporting Documentation
~ Fall Lessons ~
Ecosystem Study The Complete Food Chain Producers, Consumers & Decomposers
The Primary purpose of this third-grade lesson about ecosystems is for the children to understand how energy from the sun is passed to producers (all the plants of the Earth) who then pass this energy on to the consumers (the ones that eat the plants) and from there on to the decomposer (the fungi, bacteria, and invertebrates, the FBI, that decompose matter and bring its nutrients back to the producers). We visualize this process by illustrating food chains. There can be many food chains in one ecosystem. The next purposes embedded in this lesson are for the children:
• to understand that the final participants in the food chain are the decomposers;
• to begin to understand that there is a life cycle in each ecosystem that keeps the ecosystem healthy; and
• to begin to understand their responsibility to our Earth’s ecosystems.
As a culmination of this lesson, the children will illustrate on an ecosystem circle all the components of a complete food chain that exists in one of the Living Classroom’s gardens.
Third Grade Observation Becoming a Nature Detective in the Living Classroom Learning Lab
Being able to sit quietly and observe everything around one’s self is an important skill in learning about nature. As the children progress through the activities in our Living Classroom Learning Lab, they will need to use their senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch to understand the plants and animals that make their home there. The purpose of this lesson is for the children to deepen their observation skills especially the sense of sight and the art of observation. They will be observing decomposers and trying to answer the question, “Now that you know the importance of decomposers in the ecosystem cycle, how can you impart your knowledge to others who seem to not want these creatures to be around?” We want the children to become explorers of their natural world. As they experience this world, they will come to know how intricate it is and how miraculous it is to see and understand the relationship between the plants and animals in their world. They need to ask themselves how they are connected to the plants and animals. They need to begin to know that they have a responsibility to help preserve this world because they are the ones that need to care for it now and in the future especially with the environmental challenges of habitat loss and climate change. We want them to know that theirs is a beautiful planet that needs their care.
Third Grade Harvesting the Vegetables and Collecting the Seeds of The Three Sisters
The purpose of the Living Classroom is “to help children connect with nature,” (reference: Champaign County Master Gardeners) and for the children to understand why their relationship to nature is necessary. The purpose of this lesson is three fold. The first is to show the children how the seeds they planted in the hexagonal raised bed in the center of the George Washington Vegetable Garden during the spring of second grade have grown. They will see the beginning of the life cycle of these plants. After they harvest the three crops and collect their seeds, the third graders will have experienced the complete life cycle of each plant. Second, the children will understand how each vegetable helped the other two vegetables to flourish. The Native Peoples found that each of the three crops benefitted from each other in different ways. The corn grows tall and strong so the beans have straight poles to grow up and onto and wind their tendrils around. The roots of the beans provide a form of nitrogen that the corn uses to grow a better yield. The pumpkin seeds grow sprawling hairy vines with huge, bushy, prickly leaves that shade the soil keeping the moisture in, weeds down, and animals out. Lastly, as a way to showcase the children’s achievements, baskets containing a sample of the corn, beans, and squash will be delivered to people and organizations that have helped the Living Classroom: the District’s Superintendent, the District’s Curriculum Director, school principle, the PTO, and Mrs. Kellie O’Brien. The baskets need to be accompanied by a note describing the theme of the Lesson – Stronger Together. The planting of these vegetables together shows that having a diverse number of plants in the garden bed increases the quantity and quality of vegetables produced. They are more successful because they helped one another. They are Stronger Together — the theme permeating this lesson.
Third Grade Harvesting the Vegetables and Collecting the Seeds of The Three Sisters
Third Grade Fall in the Prairie The Marvelous Adaptation of the Prairie Plants
Adaptation: according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is the adjustment to environmental conditions: such as:
a: adjustment of a sense organ to the intensity or quality of stimulation
b: modification of an organism or its parts that makes it more fit for existence under the conditions of its environment: a heritable physical or behavioral trait that serves a specific function and improves an organism’s fitness or survival.
Here in our Living Classroom Learning Lab there are many examples of how a plant cannot only survive but can adjust to its environmental conditions. There are the pollinators who pollinate certain plants due to their form; the plants and creatures in the pond with their unusual physical adaptations; the vegetables that will grow above or below the soil, etc. But, there are no better examples of adaptation that can be so readily seen and felt as the plants that make up our prairie! In the prairie, the children will be able to feel sandpapered and knifed-toothed leaves, calculate the total length of a grass from its tippy top to the end of its roots, and understand the brain-based solution many of the plants have for capturing water. There is even a prairie plant that could be a GPS! The main purpose of this lesson is for the children to deepen their observation skills by interacting with many of the incredible prairie plants that reside in our prairie. Somehow, these prairie plants made adaptations that enabled them to survive the frigid winters and the sweltering summers of very little rain. Therefore, the questions that need to be answered for this lesson are: What adaptations did prairie plants have to make in order to survive the harsh environment of the prairie ecosystem? How did the plants know what to do? In answering these questions, the children should also begin to wonder themselves as to how did this all come to be. Now, they will begin to understand the complexity of nature. Hopefully, they will want to know and understand more!