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Characteristics of a piece of your
watershed
(outdoors – near any body of
water or wetland area)
Quiet observations
Students can find a spot to begin their
observation of the water. Students
should focus on one interesting thing that they notice. The class observes quietly for several
minutes and then students sketch and describe their particular
observation. When students have
completed their sketch they can pair up with someone else and each child should
share the sketches and descriptions with each other. This can be incorporated into other
classroom writing assignments (poetry, descriptive writing, etc.)
Living and nonliving
Depending on the age of your students, you may want to introduce living and nonliving items. Students list as many things as they can within a given area. Groups then classify the observations as living or nonliving. Circulate to ask key questions that enable the students to come to an agreement as a group. When groups are finished, they can take turns presenting their information and begin creating a large data table that lists all the items seen by the class and categorizes them as living or nonliving. Is there anything that is questionable? Students may need to create a third category entitled “once living”.
Make a guide
One way to gain expertise on a natural area
and increase student ownership to a particular place is to create a class
“field guide”. Take your class to an
outdoor location to make observations about nature. Explain to students that naturalists are people
who study and observe nature.
Naturalists use field guides to help with identification of plants
and/or animals. Show students some
examples of field guides, which are generally available in the library. There are both student and adult versions of
guides that can be compared.
Create a “class field guide” to one type
of plant or animal or one area. For
example, your class may decide to create an overall guide to the plants in a
wetland, or simply document the species of trees around the school. Incorporate student sketches, descriptions
and even poetry into this guide. Some
schools have PTOs or other funding that may be available to make copies of your
guide for student use. Older students
may be able to create a dichotomous key to a type of plant or animal. Dichotomous keys require students to make
specific observations and comparisons of a variety of species.
Tracking
If you visit a wet area in the morning,
you may be fortunate enough to find an animal track (the mark left by a set of
paws). If you are able to find a track
provide students with the opportunity to measure it, the space between any
tracks, and sketch and describe the shape.
There are many things your students can observe, in addition to later
researching the animal that may have made the track. Students can notice the distance between
prints, which indicate if the animals was going slow or fast; the position of
the toes, which can show the direction in which the animal was moving; and any
tail dragging marks, which will aid with identification. A simple cast can be made with plaster of
Paris and a long narrow piece of cardboard.
Place the cardboard around the track and pour mixed Plaster of Paris
into the track. It dries within minutes
and you will have a cast of the track for further observation.
Sound
mapping
In their initial observations of the
watershed, students will of course be using the sense of sight. The sense of sound, however, is equally
important in naturalist experiences, and sound mapping is an engaging way to focus
students on this sense. In order to do a
sound map, students will need a blank paper and pencil and will need to be very
quiet. (You may want to demonstrate an
example of a sound map by drawing the four walls of the room: begin by adding
some key features of the room, using only your sense of hearing to choose them.
Have the students listen quietly to the sounds of the room and then take turns
adding items to the sound map.) When
students understand the concept of sound mapping, go out to the natural place
you are studying and tell students to spread out and choose a quiet spot to do
their sound map. A time limit for the
sound recording will be set and students will work independently to create
their sound maps.
Trace the water
Choose a site with flowing water, such as a
local stream, that your students are familiar with and locate it on a map.
(example: The Map of Housatonic River
Basin) Trace the path of the water and
try to determine what the source of water might be. Can the students find out where the water
flows? Depending on the area that the
water is moving through, you can do this activity outside and attempt to trace
the water as a class by either following it in the direction that it flows or
against the flow. Your students can
predict in advance if they will be able to find its origin. This may not prove to be as easy to discover
as is initially thought.
Seasonal changes
Discuss with your class the ways in which
a natural area might change through the seasons. Students may know that the plants change as
the weather gets colder / warmer, but what are other changes? Does the wildlife in an area change? Do the sounds change? Choose a place that can be visited numerous
times during the year. You may decide
to have the whole class making observations in the same spot, or have students
choose own locations. Determine with the
students the best way to document changes, possibly a sketch and descriptive
writing, or a list of species observed, or a sensory experience. When students have visited the location once,
they can try to predict how their special place will be different when they
visit again.
A study of change can focus on documenting
color changes. Colors can be recorded in
numerous ways with children. One way is
to provide students with disposable cameras for students to use to discover the
variety of colors that are prevalent at different times of year. Another way to encourage students to focus on
color through the seasons is to give students paint cards in natural theme
colors. Which colors do they find in
nature? Students can also draw a picture
and insert animals that are camouflaged to focus on how the colors of camouflage
change during the year. If you are
mainly looking at plants, small pieces of the plant or bloom can be rubbed on
paper for a natural color palette.
Pollution
Identify pollution sources in your
school’s area of the watershed. What
choices do people make everyday that effect water quality? What do the terms “point” and “non-point”
source pollution mean? (Point-source
pollution refers to pollution that can be traced to a source; i.e. an
industrial pipe flowing out into a natural area. Non-point source pollution refers to
pollution whose source can not easily be traced and consequently is difficult
to control; i.e. storm drain runoff.)
How does human development near wetlands impact wildlife? How do the types of conditions that the river
flows through affect it?
Depending on the ability level of your students,
you may want to introduce a discussion of PCBs.
Many students in
Clean up
Look for potential sources of pollution
and man-made changes in an outdoor area.
(Before you conduct a clean-up with your students, check your school’s
policy regarding student safety requirements.)
Provide students with gloves and other appropriate materials for the
area you are cleaning up. Plastic
grocery bags work well as they are smaller than trash bags and easier for
students to carry. Investigate the area
before you take your class to check for any hazards. In particular, if you are focusing on a wet
area, be aware of any unusual smells or other obvious pollutants. If you notice pollutants or any sealed tanks,
do not take your students there and call in Hazmat.
When you have chosen an area to work on
with your class, stress in advance that students should never pick up anything
dangerous. Discuss items that might be
dangerous to students. You may want to
sort the garbage you collect into recyclable and non-recyclable. Weigh the bags so that the results can be
graphed. Take a group photo with the
students and all their trash to really emphasize the total amount
collected.
Wetland protection
Wetlands have historically not always been
seen as an area to protect; in fact in many places they still are not
protected. The Clean Water Act is the
primary federal law that protects this nation’s waters. Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. Before the Clean Water Act, many waterways
were extremely polluted. The Act
protects “Waters of the
“The objective of the Clean Water Act is to
restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the
nation’s water.”