Objectives:
Students will:
-identify different ways that animals get water from the environment. -describe major aquatic ecosystems and give examples of plants and animals that live in each.
- explain how animals and plants use resources in their ecosystem.
-analyze models of aquatic eco-systems in order to describe the organisms and interpret their use of resources.
Materials:
Book, One Well
Book, Our Wet World: Exploring Earths Aquatic Ecosystems by Sneed B. Collard III
Science Journals
Materials for presentation
Books about aquatic ecosystems - lake, marshland, river, ocean, rain forest
Events of Instruction:
Procedure
Ideas for Differentiation:
Assessment:
1. Pretend you are an animal in an ecosystem. Write about a day in your life.
2. What happens when one plant or animal is taken out of an ecosystem or added to it?
Resources
Collard, Sneed B. III. Our Wet World. (1998). Charlesbridge Publishing.
Kurtz, Jane and Christopher. Water Hole Waiting. (2002). Greenwillow Books.
References:
VDOE's Enhanced Scope and Sequence- Grade 3, "Wet and Dry." Retrieved from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/lesson_plans/grade3/living_sys/sess_3-6ab.pdf
*Much of the lesson is directly quoted in this day as notated by italics.
Students will:
-identify different ways that animals get water from the environment. -describe major aquatic ecosystems and give examples of plants and animals that live in each.
- explain how animals and plants use resources in their ecosystem.
-analyze models of aquatic eco-systems in order to describe the organisms and interpret their use of resources.
Materials:
Book, One Well
Book, Our Wet World: Exploring Earths Aquatic Ecosystems by Sneed B. Collard III
Science Journals
Materials for presentation
Books about aquatic ecosystems - lake, marshland, river, ocean, rain forest
Events of Instruction:
- Discuss the ways that animals get water from their environment, review book that was read at an earlier time, Waterhole Waiting.
- Read, Our Wet World. As class do brainstorm to think of as many aquatic ecosystems as possible.
- Review with the students the three categories that all organisms in an ecosystem are in (producer, consumer, decomposer), the three types of consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores), and the two roles of a consumer (predator or prey). This material is not covered in this unit on Water and should be prior knowledge for students when they get to Water Unit.
Procedure
- Divide the students into 5 groups.
- Assign each group an aquatic ecosystem The ecosystems are: lake, marshland, river, ocean, rain forest.
- The task of each group is to research the ecosystem, its inhabitants and problems the ecosystem is facing because of people. Specific information that each team needs to gather about the particular ecosystem they have been assigned includes:
- Information about at least three plants found in the ecosystem (may include more).
- Information about at least three animals found in the ecosystem (may include more).
- Identify any specific plant or animal adaptations (e.g., webbed feet, the ability of a
cactus to store and conserve water, etc.). - A map that shows the approximate location of an example of their ecosystem. (The
map can be as small an area as the schoolyard to a full world map.) - Any problems or issues with their type of ecosystem discovered during their research.
- If problems or issues were found, information about how they are being addressed or
information about how they are not being addressed. - Research will be completed on research sheet.
- Display ecosystem books for students to use to research their group's ecosystem. Give students 30 minutes to do research.
- Have the student groups make a presentation with a visual. The visual can include a poster, a presentation using software, a billboard, or a musical piece to advertise the ecosystem, the animals that live there and what people should do or stop doing to help the survival of the ecosystem.
- Have the student groups present their projects to the class. At the completion of the presentations, display the projects where students can use the resources for comparing and contrasting aquatic ecosystems.
Ideas for Differentiation:
- Students may focus on select number of questions for research and project. Students may utilize resources of different reading comprehension levels for research.
Assessment:
- Group Presentation
- Give students a venn-diagram template. Have students compare and contrast ecosystems.
- Writing assignments for Science Journal:
1. Pretend you are an animal in an ecosystem. Write about a day in your life.
2. What happens when one plant or animal is taken out of an ecosystem or added to it?
Resources
Collard, Sneed B. III. Our Wet World. (1998). Charlesbridge Publishing.
Kurtz, Jane and Christopher. Water Hole Waiting. (2002). Greenwillow Books.
References:
VDOE's Enhanced Scope and Sequence- Grade 3, "Wet and Dry." Retrieved from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/2010/lesson_plans/grade3/living_sys/sess_3-6ab.pdf
*Much of the lesson is directly quoted in this day as notated by italics.