Open Wide, Look Inside

This blog post is a combination of different resources regarding the VA Science SOL 3.6 and 4.5 on ecosystems, specifically ponds and wetlands (marshes). The lesson(s) regarding this material should cover the following: what is an ecosystem? what kind of plants and animals live in ponds and marshes? how would you describe a pond? a marsh (wetland)? how do these plants and animals rely on each other for survival? how do these two ecosystems compare to other ecosystems? These are just some questions that should be covered when teaching this topic.

Below I have included some books, kid-friendly websites, and helpful resources for teachers that are all about pond and marsh ecosystems!

BOOKS

Look Closer: Pond Life by Barbara Taylor

This book has wonderful, huge photographs and the text is broken up into sections; perfect for 3rd and 4th graders. It discusses all of the different pond wildlife. It also describes what ponds are, but the book definitely focuses on the animals who call a pond their home.

Around the Pond: The Wild Wonder Series by Ann Cooper
Illustrated by Dorothy Emerling

This book is definitely a good book to use when introducing ponds as one of the many ecosystems. “Around the Pond” features beautiful pictures of the different animals that inhabit ponds and Cooper holds the attention of the reader through the use of not only great artwork, but also a treasure map! Very well written and easy to understand. Great for 3rd and 4th graders.

Ponds: Biomes and Ecosystems (Science Readers) by Yvonne Franklin

This book discusses the importance of ponds and the difference between ponds and other bodies of water. Franklin talks about the different plant and animal life that can be found in ponds and different cycles that occur in this ecosystem. A great book for younger readers- grades K-3.

Marvels in the Muck: Life in Salt Marshes by Doug Wechsler

This book discusses marshes and the different plants and animals who live there. The photographs are amazing and the text is very easy to understand. Wechsler talks about how important this ecosystem is and how many plants and animals depend on it for survival. It definitely a more challenging book and is targeted for grades 4th-6th.

Marshes and Swamps by Gail Gibbons

This book is a very easy read and targeted for ages 4-8. “Marshes and Swamps” would be a good book to use as an introduction to the lesson. Gibbons discusses the relationships between the plants and animals that call marshes and swamps home and discusses different ways that these “wetlands” can be protected and preserved. The pictures are done in watercolor.

WEBSITES FOR KIDS

Science Up Close: Pond Ecosystem Podcast
This short podcast provides an overview for students about ponds and how the animals and plants that live there rely on each other for survival. This is definitely a good site to use when introducing the material.

Pond Explorer
This is a great interactive website that provides the student with a few activities and information about each of the animals that inhabit ponds. For teachers,  there is a very cool hands-on experiment that is provided on the website and teachers’ notes are provided on each page of the site.

Salt Marsh Life
This website is great for students and provides them with a bunch of information about the pond as a habitat for many plants and animals. There are great photographs and the text is very easy to read/understand. You can even find where to visit a salt marsh by looking up where they are around the country.

American Field Guide
This website consists of a bunch of video clips of marshes, ponds, and other ecosystems all around the country. Students can watch these clips to learn more about the plants and animals in each of these environments.

Wet and Wild Wetlands Webquest
This is a great webquest for grade 3 and up! The students will learn all about the four types of wetlands: bogs, marshes, prairie potholes, and swamps. Groups of four take on different roles for the task: zoologist, botanist, land surveyor, and animal activist. These teams investigate physical characteristics of the ecosystems, plants and animals who live in these ecosystems, etc. Each of the different specialists have different roles and try and answer the questions that are provided.

ADDITIONAL TEACHER RESOURCES

Young Scientist’s Introduction to Wetlands
This is a 15-page print-out “book” about wetlands. Very helpful for both students and teachers when learning about ecosystems. Answers the important questions of: what is a wetland? what are the different types of wetlands? why are wetlands important? who and what lives in a wetland?

A Busy Pond Mini Book
Teachers print out this activity and students color and cut to make a mini book all about ponds and the plants and animals that live there.

A Pond Ecosystem: An Activity of Exploration
This is a lesson plan created by a teacher regarding the pond ecosystem. Within the lesson plan are six different “sessions” which include a bunch of different interactive games and fun activities. There is so much to choose from and great ideas!

Creating a Pond Habitat
This website offers a great idea: building your own pond inside or outside! Students will definitely like it if they are able to see a pond for themselves, especially if it belongs to the class. The website provides great ideas for creating your own pond. If your school does not have the resources to install a small outdoor “pond,”you can always just set one up in the classroom.

Introduction
This topic introduces second graders to the exciting changes that can occur in a butterfly and frog’s life cycles. Through numerous activities children are guided through the process known as Metamorphosis and given the opportunity to become engaged with the material. They are able to learn about and physically see how frogs and butterflies undergo these transformations as they mature and grow in their environments (VA Science SOL 2.4). The material encourages them to interact with the content and in doing so provides them with a better understanding of the content knowledge.

Text Annotations

1. Butterflies and Moths by Nic Bishop Nic Bishop’s non-fiction narrative provides readers with a realistic visual aide into the stages of butterfly metamorphosis. He helps children understand the transformations a caterpillar undergoes to becoming a butterfly. It is an interactive, hands on book that parents can use to explore the realms of animal life cycles.
2. From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman This book dives into the stages of butterfly metamorphosis from a child’s perspective by asking the question, ” Where did the caterpillar go?” Heiligman creatively takes her readers through the transformation processes by asking and answering commonly asked children’s questions.
3. From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer This book uses attractive artwork to describe the two-year life cycle of the American Bullfrog. As a Stage One book “From Tadpole to Frog”  it uses simple sentences and concepts that are appropriate for toddlers, preschoolers, and young children up to about 8 or 9 years of age.
4. Frogs by Nic BishopBishop uses captivating close up photographs of his characters to entice children into the wonders of a frog’s life cycle. But his book takes children beyond the visual perspective of metamorphosis as he provides his readers with a detailed description about how he went about capturing the photographs. This book leaves children longing for more.
5. My, Oh My– A Butterfly! All about Butterflies by Tish RabeYou can not go wrong with any Cat in the Hat book, but this Butterfly book is excellent. It keeps kids engaged and excited about the life cycle of a butterfly. It is a great read for young children. Who wouldn’t want to learn about the butterfly life cycle after reading this book.

Web Annotations

1. The life cycle of a frog– This website presents children with a guided tutorial through a frog’s life cycle. It encompasses an auditory step by step explanation of each stage in the cycle along with a visual representation of each stage, and so entices children to want learn the content. Children can learn this exciting content and have fun doing it.
2. Animal life-cycles- This interactive game asks children to organize the pictures on the screen by dragging and dropping them into the correct order sequence for each animallife cycle. Once a child has dragged a picture into the box a detailed description of the stage appears to help them understand what is happening. If they correctly place the butterfly pictures in order they move onto a frog, a flower and then a tree’s cycle. They are rewarded for learning the life cycle sequences with more exciting information.
3. Butterfly crossword- When a child clicks on a cross word box a question appears. The child has to type in the correct answer that fits into the box. This activity allows a child to apply all the information they have learnt about a butterfly into a fun and interactive activity.
4. Fantastic Frog- This game asks children 10 general knowledge multiple choice questions about frogs. By asking questions like,  “What is the name of the biggest frog,” this website teaches children that learning can be both fun and rewarding. It changes the way the children perceive having knowledge as they can now pass on the fun facts they have learnt about frogs.
5. Incomplete and complete metamorphosis- By clicking on the butterfly icon on the screen children can watch a movie describing a butterfly’s life-cycle. The movie goes through a step by step process of the different stages in the life-cycle providing it viewers with real life pictures of each process.

Additional Resources for Teachers

1. Life processes and living things– This website provides teachers with a wealth of material on life processes. From worksheets to powerpoints this website has it all. It doesn’t matter what type of learners your children are because after being involved with the resources that this website has to offer they will know and love the content.
2. Butterfly life cycle activity in the classroom–  This website provides teachers with three step by step craft instructions. It provides teachers with fun and interactive activities and crafts that will allow their children to grasp the content of a butterfly life cycle but explore their creative sides as they do it.
3. Exploring Butterflies– This website provides teachers with butterfly lesson plans, print outs on the life cycle of the butterfly for children to fill in and writing activities that will allow the children to have fun as they learn the process of metamorphosis. The range of activities offered encourage all children, regardless of their learning styles to jump in and have fun with the material.
4. Animal Lifecycle lesson plan– This lesson plan helps children compare and contrast the life cycles on different animals ( one being a frog). Groups of children are asked to analyze and observe the animals stages of development by watching them grow in an aquarium.
5. Life cycles of frogs, dragon flies and dragon flies– This lesson plan allows children to become fully integrated in the stages of metamorphosis. Children are exposed to the differences and similarities of various animal life cycles as they observe the development and maturation processes of insects and frogs. Students are engage in reading, video and hands on activities that allows them to grasp the content on animal life cycles.

Students in the 3rd grade use the food chain model to understand the relationships of living things and their dependence on each other for survival (VA Science SOL 3.5).  While the food chain provides links to a basic flow of relationships, the food web, a more complex structure is used in the 4th grade to further explore this web of interdependence among living things (VA Science SOL 4.5).  Below you will find resources, including lesson plan ideas, activities, literature, and interactive games that can be used to help motivate students and reinforce content.

BOOKS

Trout Are Made of Trees, written by April Pulley Sayre is geared for ages 4-8.  This fun book introduces the food chain by using the river   ecosystem to show how leaves are eaten by critters which in turn are eaten by the trout.

Vulture View, another book written by April Pulley Sayre for grades K-5 shows the important role of scavengers and decomposers in the ecosystem through the eyes and life of a vulture.  It shows how the vulture breaks down dead organisms to provide nutrient for the soil.

The Story Goes On, a book written by Aileen Fisher for ages 4-8 shares the ongoing cycle of life.  It begins with a seed that gets eaten by a bug which then gets eaten by a frog.  The story goes on to show the links from a frog, a snake, a hawk, a hunter, and then back to a seed.

What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You, written by Steve Jenkins is geared for ages 4-8.  This vibrant book can be used to discuss some of the unique and interesting ways animals are able to defend themselves from their predators.

Pass The Energy, Please! by Barbara Shaw Mckinney is written for grades 1-5.  This book uses rhyme and teaches children about both the food chain and food web in a simple and entertaining way.

ONLINE GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

Kid’s Corner– This is an activity that allows children to build food chains by dragging parts into their appropriate place.  When the chain is complete, it comes to life and students are able to see the food chain in action.

Woodland Life– This activity allows students to locate living things in the woodland, learn a few fun facts about each including its predator and diet, as well as build a food web using the things found.

Sunny Meadows   This site provides an overview of the food chain and then allows you to play a game to simulate what would happen in the meadow depending on how many predators, prey, and plants that are added.  The animals will increase, decrease, or even disappear through the years depending on its food supply.

Gould League Food Web  This site allows you to choose from four different food webs.  Students categorize living things that are displayed as producer, omnivore, etc. based on their diet.  When the chart has been completed, the food web will be displayed.

Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection– This online activity allows students to dissect an animal pellet.  Students use the bones that are found to recreate the animal that has been eaten.

TEACHER RESOURCES

Decomposers and Scavengers -This site includes facts, pictures, a quiz, and a lesson plan on decomposers and scavengers.

Worksheets -This site includes free downloadable worksheets and activities for helping students with vocabulary, classification, etc.

Class Activities/Handouts– Here you can find interactive games, activities, as well as handouts for practicing food webs.

Activities/Lesson Plans -This site provides a number of activities and lesson plans on the food chain/web theme.

Lesson Plans-This site includes background information as well as a number of lesson plan ideas for teaching food chain and food web.

In third grade, students begin their investigation of the habitats of the world, which are divided into water-related environments and dry-land environments (VA Science SOL 3.6). One of the prominent habitats that is covered is the rainforest. The resources provided below cover everything ranging from the climate of the rainforest, to the plants and animals, to what medicines are derived from the rainforest. Another important aspect that is talked about in several of the resources is that of conservation and endangered animals. Several books and websites help students understand why the rainforest is important, what is happening to it, and what we can do to help.

Childrens Literature

A is For Anaconda By Anthony D. Fredericks; Illustrated by Laura Regan

This book is a great way to introduce students to importance of the rainforest and the different types of life that exist there. Each page is a different letter of the alphabet, which corresponds to a part of the rainforest, ranging from animals and plants to medicines derived from the area. The illustrations, done by Laura Regan, are stunning and give the students a clear picture of scenes in the rainforest. It is also a great resource for talking about endangered animals because biologist Fredericks features several different endangered animals in the book.

The Great Kapok Tree By Lynne Cherry

This is another great book to help students appreciate the significance of the rainforest and recognize why conservation is so important. The story begins with a man who is trying to chop down a huge kapok tree in the rainforest. He falls asleep while he is working, and throughout the course of the day, many different animals, and in the end, a child, visit him and describe to him the consequences of destroying the rainforest habitat. When he awakens and sees all of the animals around him, he puts down his ax and leaves the tree standing. Much like the previous book, this is a great resource for teaching about endangered animals.

Rain, Rain, Rainforest By Brenda Z. Guiberson; Illustrated by Steve Jenkins

In this book, Guiberson takes the students on a journey following different animals through their typical days in the rainforest. The use of onomatopeia and animal sounds characterize the story, along with Jenkins unique collage style of illustration.

The Rainforest Grew All Around By Susan K. Mitchell; Illustrated by Connie McLennan

For teachers who like interactive books and activities, this would be a great choice because it can be used as a sing-along. This song "The Green Grass Grew All Around" is adapted to the rainforest setting and can be read poetically or sung out loud. While the song itself uses very simple terms, there are sidebars on each page that describe in more detail certain animals or plants that are talked about in the song.

Jaguar in the Rainforest by Joanne Ryder; Illustrated by Michael Rothman

Well written and beautifully illustrated, this book takes students into the life of a jaguar, one of the most feared predators in the rainforest. As the jaguar travels around the rain forest, the students learn about the climate, animals and plants that surround him in his habitat.

Websites

This website is a great resource for habitats in general (links can be found at the top of the page), but especially for studying the rainforest. Unlike other sites that I have seen, this one introduces the idea of temperate versus tropical rainforests and gives plenty of information on the climate, plants, animals, and life of each.

Although it would take some scaffolding and direction on the teachers part because it is a dense website, this site is a great resource. It is put out by National Geographic and is chock full of beautiful pictures and great information.

Run by a former teacher, this site answers lots of questions about what a rainforest is, why they are disappearing, and why they are an important part of our world. There is also a cute section of the website called "Mongy's Adventures" that follows a little tree frog through the rainforest.

This website is a great resource for very specific information about aspects of the rainforest. It is split into three sections: geosystem, ecosystem, and researchers. Each category is broken down into lots of smaller topics and the information presented is very detailed and complete.

This site is one of few interactive websites that I could find about the rainforest. It is run by PBS and is based on the Amazon. Students can click on different parts of the Amazon to learn about them or can play a game based on a journey into the Amazon.

Teacher Resources

This list of student activities was put out by the Rainforest Action Network and has some really neat ideas. The ones that caught my eye were the rainforest pen pals and the create your own rainforest in your classroom!

Thinking Fountain created this cute activity to help students learn about the layers of the rainforest and the animals that live there.

Webquests are always a hit with students, and this one is great. It is specifically aimed at third grade and sends them on a journey to broadcast a TV show on the "Rainforest Explorer Network".

If your students need a great visual of the rainforest, this site provides different video clips of animals in the rainforest. They are quick to load and don't require downloading!