4-PS4-1. Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

4-PS4-2. Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

ELS.C1.C.i Students develop and connect with their sense of place and well-being through observation, exploration, and questioning.  Investigate and classify natural and designed objects, formulate questions about the relationship between physical and natural characteristics of the environment (e.g., soil/plants, water/animals), identify patterns, make predictions, and solve problems through sensory observations and active exploration outdoors.

ELS.EN7: Students engage in experiences to develop stewardship for the sustainability of natural and cultural systems.

ELS.EN7:Ai. Describe and analyze ways that youth, acting as individuals or members of a group, create beneficial change, meet individual needs, and promote the common good.

Essential Questions: 

How can the use of scientific tools and technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors? How can we use this evidence to make decisions to improve bird habitat?

Big Idea: Animals such as birds use sound, behaviors and colorations to communicate. Humans can observe bird physical features and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Learning Target

 I can create a map to represent bird sounds that I hear in nature.

Success Measures

Students will: participate observing and mapping bird sounds; make observations using the "I Notice, I Wonder It Reminds Me Of" protocol; students will participate in discussion using evidence.

Essential Question: 

How can the use of scientific tools and technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors? How can we use this evidence to make decisions to improve bird habitat?

Big Idea (I want my students to understand that…): 

We can observe bird physical features, sounds, and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Location: Outdoors, large open space

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Bird calls, binder and pencil (for each student), small white board and dry erase marker

Set up ahead of time:  None

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: Dressed for the weather, binders and writing tools

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Integrate mindfulness routine - be prepared, be present, get grounded

Teacher

Indoors

Share with students that during this unit they will have the opportunity learn how technology can help us to learn more about birds in the Wequiock school forest so that we can make decisions on ways to improve bird habitat. We will need to learn patterns of bird behavior (how they sing and call, their nest structures and materials, how they fly, etc.). We will also learn to identify birds by their plumage (or feather patterns), size and other features.

Forecast what time will look like.

Share learning target and what we’ll be looking at to assess learning.

Set behavior expectations.

Students prepare to go outside, bringing their binders and pencils.

Teacher to bring out bird calls.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

What inquiry will students be involved in to develop skills/understanding of the learning target?

All

Outdoors

Students form two lines for "Walk and Talk" discussion on the way to the meeting area in the woods--When students get outside, they will talk about the properties of the ball that they have selected using “I Notice..” as a sentence stem to make observations and to describe characteristics of their selected ball. Teacher models making observations with a ball that he/she has selected. to discuss how they will notice the birds, how they will behave so that birds come out.

Sit in the circle to create a sound map. 

The teacher will give instructions, using white board as an example. Model the set up of the page by labeling each page with the date, time, and a description of the location.

Place a dot (.) in the center of the page to represent the recorder. Listen for bird sound. Mark the bird sound in relation to where the sound is hear. Use a symbol to indicate different birds. One bird song might be marked with a star, another with a circle, another with a square. It is not necessary to know the bird names that we are hearing. Use the same symbol (even if it's in a different location) for the same call that is heard.

Tell students there will be a short time limit (3 minutes) and that beautiful renderings are not the goal. Students observe and map for a short period.

Discussion on patterns that they are and what they are wondering, connections made using "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of.." Teacher may prompt "Are you noticing patterns of what calls you hear?" "What do the calls remind you of?" "Are there patterns of where the calls are coming from" "What do you wonder?"

Discuss the different ways that students have represented what they heard. Students can decide to use some of the strategies that they learn from others in their next maps.

Move the group to 2 more areas on the school grounds repeating this process.  Have students turn to a new page for each map, clearly labeling each page with the date, time, and a description of the location. While students are mapping, quietly notice what the student is mapping, acknowledge his/her observations and offer tips on what he/she might also like to try. NEVER comment on the artistic quality of the map.

Formative Assessment

Student behavior and engagement, specifically listening their mapping and use of symbols.

Listen to discussion of patterns that they noticed in types of birds and places where they are heard.

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Formative Assessment: 

Observe students in discussion; Listen to students' analysis of their learning.

Review and Closure

The teacher will review the learning target-  I can create a map to represent bird sounds that I hear in nature.

Learning Targets: I can create a model of the repeating patterns from birds to describe to others what I heard.

Success Measures : 

Students listen and draw a spectrogram of what they hear; students share what they observe about the bird songs; students mimic the bird sounds with the bird call tools.

Essential Question: 

Big Idea (I want my students to understand that…): 

We can observe bird physical features, sounds, and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Location: Outdoors, paved area of playground

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Song Bird Hero Learning Game (free online), bird calls, binder and pencil (for each student), small white board and dry erase marker

Set up ahead of time:  Teacher should play Song Bird Hero and learn about spectrograms and how to draw them.

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: binders and writing tools

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Indoors

Begin with discussion of safety belts/harnesses in vehicles and why they are used. Has anyone ever had a seatbelt tighten while they were a passenger in a car? What was the car doing? What was your body doing? Review Newtons’ Law of Inertia: Objects in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by another force. Objects at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by another force. 

Forecast what we will be doing:

Hike outdoors until we see or hear birds

Sketch the songs and try to replicate them with bird calls.

Participate in  a class discussion on patterns we hear and ways to represent them.

Share the Learning Target-I can create a model of the repeating patterns from birds to describe to others what I heard.

Set behavior expectations.

Students prepare to go outside, bringing their binders and pencils.

Teacher to bring out bird calls.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

What inquiry will students be involved in to develop skills/understanding of the learning target?

All

Outdoors

Students form two lines for "Walk and Talk" discussion as they walk to the edge of the forest. Students should talk about where they have observed bird recently and well as any patterns they have noticed.

When the group arrives a location where birds are observed, stop. The teacher will relate bird calls to music.  Music has high notes and low notes. There are patterns in music that repeat.  Musicians have a way of writing musical notation to show these patterns. Everyone who learns to read and write music learns these same patterns. Bird scientists do something similar using spectrograms.  The spectrogram is a pattern of what the scientists think the sound ways would look like if they could be seen. The teacher can make up bird calls and draw spectrograms.  The high sounds should be up at the top and the low sounds at the bottom. If it sounds like a repeated pattern then we need to draw that. 

Next, tell the students that all should remain still and quiet and listen for bird song.  When we hear it, we will listen until the bird is quiet. While we are listening, we are going to try to memorize the sound in our heads, then we are going to sketch what we think the spectrogram would look like. 

Wait for a bird to call. Then have students sketch and turn and talk about why they sketched as they did.  Teach students about sound waves. The high sounds will have a high frequency, which means that the bird's vocal cords are vibrating very quickly.  The lower sounds have a lower frequency, which means that the bird's vocal cords are vibration more slowly to make these sounds.

Have students break into small groups to try drawing spectrograms of what they hear. They should also add notes  using the sentences stems of "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." Discuss the different ways that students have represented what they heard. Observe students as they sketch.

When it seems like students are ready for another challenge, bring out the bird calls and show students how to spin the wood bead on the peg.  Have students experiment with turning the beads to make sounds that are close to some of the calls sound like. Caution students from making too many calls; they should make a call and then wait and listen for a bird to respond.

Students should continue making their journal entries.

Formative Assessment

Student behavior and engagement, specifically listening for students using the sentences stems of "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of...," student observations in their science journals.

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

On the way into the building, ask students to think about what they learned and how they learned today.

Indoors

Ask how students to reflect and write in their journals by answering the Essential Question: How can the use of scientific tools and technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors? 

Formative Assessment: 

Observe students in discussion; 

Collect and read written responses.

Review and Closure

Review the learning target- I can create a model of the repeating patterns from birds to describe to others what I heard.

Learning Targets (As a result of this experience outdoors, the student will know and be able to do): 

I can describe the habitats where I find nests from last summer, so that I can determine the type of bird that we can attract to a nest box in that area.

Success Measures (The student will know they are successful if they can): 

Students will examine the content of the nest boxes and record their findings in their journals. 

Students will record the type of vegetation and activity in the area near the next box.

Students will compare the differences they find between the contents of nest boxes as well as the habitats found.

Essential Question: 

How can the use of technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors? How can we use this evidence to make decisions to improve bird habitat?

Big Idea (I want my students to understand that…): 

We can observe bird physical features, sounds, and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Location: Indoors and Outdoors

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Binder and pencil (for each student), small white board and dry erase marker

Set up ahead of time:  

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: Dressed for the weather

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Indoors

Open with a discussion of what the patterns of sound and behaviors that we have noticed with birds that we have observed both at school and during our time at home. Share that today we are going to be observing some of the nest building behaviors of birds. While it is too early in the season for many birds to be building new nests, the nests that are still visible in trees and in the nest boxes around our school will help us learn about their behaviors--the materials that they use, the size and shape of the nests, the location and habitat surrounding the nest.

Forecast what we will be doing:

We will go on a hike. We are going to visit each of the nest boxes that we find as well as nests that we see in trees. 

We are going to create a journal entry to record our observations.

We are going to have a discussion about patterns of the types of nests and the habitats in which we find them.

Share the Learning Target-I can conduct investigations in order to describe the relationship between mass, force, and acceleration.

Divide into groups of three

Set behavior expectations.

Go outdoors.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

What inquiry will students be involved in to develop skills/understanding of the learning target?

All

Outdoors 

Students form two lines for "Walk and Talk" discussion as they walk to the edge of the forest. Students should talk about where they have observed bird recently and well as any patterns they have noticed. Students should be on the look out for birds that are active at this moment. 

At the first nest box, ask students to observe the habitat--is it close to a paved parking lot? Is it at the edge of an open field? What plants are present or remains of plants are present? Is any nest material visible through the opening? How large is the opening? The nest box? What size bird would fit in this box? Remind students to use "I Noticed, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." out loud to observe, wonder, and make connections. 

Open the box to view the contents. What do they notice? How full is the box? What are the materials used? Are there more than one nest stacked up? If so, are they the same?

Tell students that they should use their note books to record finding on the nests, the locations, and habitat. Be sure to use "I Noticed, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." The ways of recording this can vary from drawing a map and writing data, to doing a labeled sketch, to recording mostly with words. Whatever works for the student, that's what they should do.  Remind students to be sure to use a combination numbers, words and sketches even if they prefer doing one more than the others. This information will tell us a lot about the species of birds that we may be able to attract.

Give students teams their boundaries of where they should explore and allow them to work together. Check in with each group during the next 20 minutes. Visit each of the groups. Listen to their discussions, nudge and encourage them in creating complete useful journal entries.

Gather students together.

Formative Assessment

Student behavior and engagement; listen to conversations,  specifically listening for students using  "I Noticed, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." to discuss forces, motion, friction.

 ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Call the class together. Ask students to share some of their findings.  What things did they find particularly interesting?  Where there any surprises in the nests? If so, what were they? Where there patterns of the type of nests that they found and the habitats or locations of the nests? What are some things that we know about the birds that use these nest boxes? 

Share with students that next time we will map and identify the species that used these boxes.

Formative Assessment: 

Collect and read written responses.

Review and Closure

Review the learning target- I can describe the habitats where I find nests from last summer, so that I can determine the type of bird that we can attract to a nest box in that area.

Learning Targets (As a result of this experience outdoors, the student will know and be able to do): 

I can create an annotated map of our school's nest box trail so that I can monitor the nests during the spring.

Success Measures (The student will know they are successful if they can): 

Students will learn how to:

 create and save a Google Map

drop a pin to mark and label a location, 

add notes, and 

link images to the notes.

Essential Question: 

How can the use of technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors?

Big Idea (I want my students to understand that…): 

We can observe bird physical features, sounds, and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Location: Indoors and Outdoors on snow-covered area

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Chromebook, permanent marker

Set up ahead of time:  Place equipment outdoors near the open area in which the sled trials will be conducted, post-it and pencil for each student

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: Dressed for the learning in a snow-covered area. 

Circle-Up/Opening

Indoors

Open with a discussion of what the patterns of sound and behaviors that we have noticed with birds that we have observed both at school and during our time at home. Share that today we are going to be mapping the precise location of the nest boxes so that we can be systematic in monitoring these boxes during the early nesting season.

Forecast what we will be doing:

We will go out to the trail and we will take a photo using our laptops.

We will  come back indoors and create a shared class map of the natural areas of the school grounds,

We will each open the map when we come in and then we will drop a pin to show the location, we add labels and notes.

Share the Learning Target-I can create an annotated map of our school's nest box trail so that I can monitor the nests during the spring.

Divide into groups of three

Set behavior expectations.

Go outdoors.

Set behavior expectations.

Go outdoors.

Inquiry

What inquiry will students be involved in to develop skills and understanding of the learning target?

Outdoors

Hike the trail stopping at every nest box. Mark each nest box with number on the bottom of the box with a permanent marker. 

The teacher will assign one nest box per student to be photographed using the camera feature of the Chromebook. After closing the Chromebook, students will jot a description of the next box's location to be used in the classroom.

The class will visit each nest box, repeating the process above until all boxes have been documented.

Discussion of observations on the hike should include what they are noticing in terms of seasonal change including the appearance of birds.

Indoors

Using a Smartboard, the teacher will create and share a collective Google Map with each of the students. Demonstrate to students how to drop and label a pin accurately, how to edit the location if the pin is not accurate, how to link the image to the pin.

Students will work with a partner to coach each other through the process of mapping the location of all maps.

Formative Assessment

Student behavior and engagement; listen to conversations,  specifically listening for students using  "I Noticed, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..."; observe students taking photos and jotting notes that will aid in dropping the pin on the map.

The teacher will put the Nest Box Trail map up on the Smartboard and the students will make observations on what they notice about the locations of the boxes. Discuss ways that students can use this map for monitoring the nest boxes (which nest boxes are being used by birds, which ones are not, which ones are damaged, which ones may need to be moved, etc.) this year and years to come.

Formative Assessment: 

Accuracy of where students place the pin on the class map, label with number, and linked image.

Learning Targets (As a result of this experience outdoors, the student will know and be able to do): 

I can use evidence to predict the birds/animals that may have used the nest boxes. I can improve habitat conditions for nesting birds.

Success Measures (The student will know they are successful if they can):

Identify the bird species that last nested in the box and justify the identification of the bird species using evidence with the field guide photos and descriptions.

Students will collect data to determine the condition of the box and entrance hole.

Students will add the notes to the shared Google Map.

Students will participate in a discussion of the unit's essential question.

Essential Question:

How can the use of technology provide us with information on bird patterns and behaviors? How can we use this evidence to make decisions to improve bird habitat?

Big Idea (I want my students to understand that…):

Animals such as birds use sound, behaviors and colorations to communicate. Humans can observe bird physical features and behaviors to identify species as a hobby and to improve bird habitat.

Location: Indoors and Outdoors on playground

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Nest Box Observations, pp 10-11 Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin Information Packet, V5 (one per pair of students), gather garden gloves (one pair per student), 4" plastic putty knives (one per pair), pencils and clipboards (each student)

Set up ahead of time: Print copies of  data sheet and pp. 10-11 nest field guide (one per pair of students), gather garden gloves (one pair per student), 

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: Dressed for the weather; clipboard and pencils and materials indicated above.

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Indoors

Discuss how cavity nesting birds have been losing habitat in our area due to the loss of standing dead trees. This may be due to expanded farming, home construction and a variety of other reasons. Talk about nest boxes, built, installed, and monitored by people as a way to created suitable habitat.

Give a preview of the experiences:

We will learn about the types of nests built by 5 main cavity nesting birds.

We will go outside to inspect the nests and clear them out.

We will return inside to add our notes to our Nest Box Trail Google Map

Using a document camera, use pp. 10-11 Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin Information Packet, V5 to show students the cavity nests of Eastern bluebirds, House Wrens, Tree Swallows, Chickadees, and House sparrows (invasive). As the images of the nests are shared, encourage students to observe using "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." aloud.

Preview Nest Box Observations (data sheet) so that students know what data they will be collecting.

Review behavior expectations.

Go outdoors to the nest boxes. Students will each bring Nest Box Observations sheet, a pencil, a clipboard and garden gloves. Pairs will share pp. 10-11 Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin Information Packet, v5 and a wide plastic putty knife.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

What inquiry will students be involved in to develop skills/understanding of the learning target?

All

Outdoors

Teacher will demonstrate the process of observing and taking notes, opening the nest box, using pp. 10-11 Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin Information Packet, v5, they will use evidence to identify the nest. Demonstrate how to properly remove old nests and scatter them on the ground.

Share that student pairs will visit their assigned nest boxes and will take notes on the condition of the nest boxes. Students will open the nest boxes and make observations (all senses except taste and touch) using "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of.." Students will clean out old nests and will scatter the contents on the ground for use by other animals or to be decomposed. Nest boxes should be closed up.

Formative Assessment

Observe students working at the nest boxes; review students' data sheets; listen to their conversations.

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Formative Assessment: 

View student notes on the map pins; Listen to student contributions to the conversation. 

Review and Closure

Review the learning target: I can use evidence to predict the birds/animals that may have used the nest boxes. I can improve habitat conditions for nesting birds.