Biomes Curriculum

Week Four

Vegetation

During Week Four, children begin to understand how plant adaptations differ in each biomes as well as the types of plants that are unique to their biomes.

  • Social Studies

    Child making paper treesSchedule
    Three to four 45-minute periods for read aloud

    Goals
    Students continue to study how people live in and interact with their biome. Teachers continue reading aloud informational text picture books, exploring how where people live affects how they live. Students continue learning how indigenous people live or lived in a particular biome. Emphasis in this week’s books is placed on vegetation, as students will be making vegetation in Integrated Art.

    Materials
    Books

    • Tropical Rainforest: The Shaman’s Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest by Lynne Cherry & Mark Plotkin
    • Temperate Forest: When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger, Susan Katz
    • Wetlands: Meadowlands: A Wetland Survival Story by Thomas Yezerski
    • American Desert: Dreamplace by George Ella Lyon & Peter Catalanotto (also The Shepherd Boy by Kristine Franklin)
    • African Desert (Sahara): Sahara (Vanishing Cultures) by Jan Reyno

    Teacher-made packets of note taking sheets for each book

    Procedures
    In this second of two weeks of read alouds, teachers will schedule time to read aloud remaining books to the whole class. Students will use the same packet of note-taking sheets that contains one sheet for each book. While each sheet is customized to a particular book, students will be analyzing the people, clothing, shelter, food, water, plants, and animals in each of the biomes profiled in the books.

    Assessment
    Formal: Teacher review of note-taking sheets
    Informal: Asking children individually and in whole group about learnings, discoveries and questions about their biome.

    Suggestions for Teachers

    • Leave books out in the classroom and available for students to come back to on their own.
    • Record the information students are recording on the interactive whiteboard, allowing for a visual representation of their thinking. Open this document each time you read.
    • Continue ensuring that read alouds are interactive and that discussions encourage connections to students’ lives.
    • Encourage students to compare and contrast the cultures in each of the biomes.
    • Place particular emphasis on plants and vegetation in this books. Encourage conversations around how people use plants and vegetation in particular biomes, like for medicine, for example.
  • Integrated Arts

    Children building a biome in art classSchedule
    One hour with classroom, art and student teacher or volunteer teachers

    Goals
    While designing and building vegetation for their biome, students will be thinking and making associations about the various qualities of materials and relate them to vegetation in the real world. While working with a base and wire as foundation (“stamobile”), students will explore the concept of balance, weight, joinery, and scale.

    Materials
    Texture materials using earth tone colors such as: corrugated cardboard, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, wire, and yarn.

    • Sta-mobile materials: cardboard base and chopsticks
    • Attaching materials: tacky Glue, T pins, brushes, scissors,
    • Photographic slides from Botanical Garden

    Motivation Questions: (Full group 10 minutes)
    Lets go back in time and think about the trip to the Botanical Gardens (show some slides), What are some unique plants in the desert? What did they look like? What are some unique plants in the wetlands?

    I have one picture here of a plant from our field trip. This fern belongs to the rainforest; it grows under trees. Who can describe the texture of the leaves?

    Introduction of Materials (Full group 10 minutes)
    Lets look at these materials. Can someone help me select materials that look like or it can be changed to create the texture for this fern? (Allow students to demonstrate.) How big should the fern be next to this house? Which of these materials will you use for, let’s say, a cactus?

    Today you will be building the most important vegetation for your biome. We will be using tacky glue and a brush but also bases; you can add a stick to cardboard (demonstrate) and add three-dimensional materials to shape your plant. Before you begin, please take some time and talk to your group about vegetation and assign plants.

    Assessment
    Informal: Observing children’s conversations, choices and model-building decisions. Asking questions about their choice of shape and size.

    Suggestions for teachers

    • Allow each child to touch and explore with the materials.
    • Have students stand up while working and put the chairs away.
    • Assign an adult to each group. This adult will be the mediator and role model during the duration of the construction. We have found that it helps to manage conflicts and progress if an assigned teacher is dedicated to the group.
    • Cut all the textures in rectangles so that children can manipulate it easier.
    • Provide a brush and tacky glue to apply to the walls of the shelter.
    • Provide one place in the room for art materials to be displayed.
  • Handouts for Children

Week Four Snapshots

  • 3d art project on vegetation
  • Child holds pipe cleaners next to vegetation art project
  • Child cuts materials for vegetation art project
  • Child places fake tree on vegetation project