Summary
In this 2-3 day activity, students choose an organism and research its life cycle, food chain, and habitat. The student research is assembled in 2 ways. First, the classroom is cleared of tables and chairs while students use their organisms to create a food web stretching the length and width of the classroom. Second, the pages are assembled to create a field guide for your local area or for a field trip into a state or national park nearby. I found this to be an extremely effective way to get students interested and excited about an upcoming field trip. I choose insects, birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles commonly sighted at Point Reyes National Seashore for students to research a week before the scheduled field trip. On the field trip itself, students were very excited to spot their animals and the student who did the research would usually come forward to tell his or her classmates all about their organism.
Objectives
Can conduct independent research.
Can use a field guide to research an organism’s habitat, diet and life cycle.
Can identify insect, animal and plant species in the field.
Can define habitat.
Can identify the parts of a habitat and give examples.
Can predict how habitat change might affect the organisms living within it.
Vocabulary
Habitat
Food web
Endangered species
Threatened species
