NGSS Standards addressed:

SCI.PS1 Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of matter and its interactions to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.  

Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG):

TSG 24 Connect new observations to what he/she already knows.  

TSG 25 Show a growing ability to classify living and nonliving things.  Examples:  appearance, behavior, plants, animals

Identify the needs of living things. Examples:  food, water, habitat

Demonstrate awareness that living things go through a growth cycle. Observe the life cycle of living things.

TSG 26 Demonstrate understanding that objects are made of one or more materials.  Use the five senses to explore

ELS.C1: Students develop and connect with their sense of place and well-being through observation, exploration, and questioning. 

ELS.C1.C.e Explore outdoors, observing changes over time; describe and ask questions about patterns in natural and built environments.

Essential Question: 

 How do living things sense and respond to change?

Big Idea: I want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) are interconnected with exploring the world around us.

Learning Target

 I can observe, ask questions, and make connections with what I see in nature.

Success Measures

Students will: participate in the activities in which they will try to move objects; make observations using the "I Notice, I Wonder It Reminds Me Of" protocol; students will participate in discussion using evidence.

Essential Question:  How do living things sense and respond to change? 

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

II want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) help us to explore the world around us.

Location: Outdoors, in school forest

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: None

Set up ahead of time:  Nothing

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

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Outdoors

Meet students outdoors at the start of the school day so that they are dressed for the outdoors. Tell the students that over the next few weeks, we are going to learn together in the woods to be great 

Greet the students and forecast the lesson:

We will practice noticing and wondering about living and non-living things in nature,

We will split into groups with the grown-ups with us today,

We will hike, and

We will gather to share what we learned.

Share the learning target: I can observe, ask questions, and make connections with what I see in nature.

Set behavior expectations.

Teacher will find a leaf from the ground, and state that it's non-living.  Ask students how I know that it's non (or not) living? (It is dead, it's not growing, it doesn't take use water anymore--it used to be alive or living). Talk about what you observe using my senses.  Put the leaf up to your ear and rub your fingers across it. Say, " I notice that it makes a crinkling sound when I listen to my fingers move across it. Smell the leaf. Say, "I notice that the leaf smells nice, sort of like the spices in my kitchen drawer." I Notice, I Wonder, and It Reminds Me Of with found natural objects. I notice that the leaf feels dry and is more rough on the bottom side than the top. 

Ask students to find a leaf and have them practice saying "I notice" and remind them to listen, touch, smell, and look at the leaves.  Prompt them to say "I notice..." to start off all of their observations. 

Share with students that great observers also ask a lot of questions, then wonder about what they observe. Demonstrate with your leaf, "I wonder what tree this leaf came from?" "I wonder if the leaf smelled like this when it was attached to the tree?" 

Have students state their "I wonder.." statements aloud, prompting them about what they observe and follow with "What does that make you wonder?"

Demonstrate how observations can remind us of other things. "This leaf reminds me of all of the leaves that I raked from my lawn this fall. We made a leaf pile to jump in!" "The curves on the edge of this leave remind me of the winding, curvy river that I paddled this summer!"

Have students examine their leaves, thinking about what parts remind them of other things from nature or their lives. We will practice this while we are on a hike in the woods.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

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

All

Split student groups equally among adults. Walk the school nature trail to observe things that are living and non-living, using the "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of.." strategy. 

Reconvene as a whole group to share.

Formative Assessment

Note students who are using the sentence stems; are able to notice a number of characteristics when observing; are able to form questions based on what they are noticing; and can make connections to prior learning, personal experiences or other things.

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

The teacher will ask students to think about our experience observing living and non-living things in nature. Lead a full group discussion of what they noticed, wondered, and were reminded of as they observed things in nature.

Formative Assessment: 

Take note of which students shared their process of observing living and non-living things.

Review and Closure

The teacher will review the learning target- I can observe, ask questions, and make connections with what I see in nature.

Learning Target:  I can use my senses to observe and ask questions about ways that animals adapt to cold weather.

Success Measures : 

Students will be able to discuss ways that animals move, stay warm, find food, water, and shelter during the winter.

Essential Question:  How do living things sense and respond to change? 

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

I want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) help us to explore the world around us.

Location: Outdoors, school forest and nature trail

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: None

Set up ahead of time:  None

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

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Outdoors

Review of last time; using senses of sound, smell, touch, and sight, we noticed tracks, holes in trees.

Just like us, animals change what they do and how they do it when it’s really cold outside like today. How connect to kids have adapted to cold weather; connect personally. Examples might be that students get a ride to school, or wait indoors until just the last moment before getting on the bus. The bus windows stay closed. The school windows and doors are closed.  We wear boots, mittens and hats. We stop eating popsicles. We don’t go swimming but we do build snow forts.

 Forecast what we will be doing:

We are going to use our senses to find evidence or clues on how animals are changing what they do to find food, shelter, water, and to stay warm in cold weather

We are going to hike and we will stop every so often on our hike to make observations. We will use our strategy of "I Notice, I Wonder, and It Reminds Me Of" to help us really be great observers of the evidence of how animals are changing their behaviors.

Today we are going to use our senses to find evidence or clues on how animals are changing what they do to find food, shelter, water, and to stay warm in cold weather.

State learning target-  I can use my senses to observe and ask questions about ways that animals adapt to cold weather.

Review behavior expectations.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

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

All

Split students up evenly in small groups of 3 with adults to walk the trail noticing clues left by animals. Look for tracks and trails to notice where animals are traveling and where they may stand to rest or sleep. Look for signs of browse or feeding.

Adults will ask students to observe closely using the “I Notice, I Wonder, and It Reminds Me Of” sentence stems.

Adults will prompt the students to use senses other than sight. They will ask students to notice and describe size, shape, patterns.

Adults will engage students in considering ideas of the others and to look at the clues as well as make connections to what they know from personal experiences.

Formative Assessment

Listen to student conversations and observe how they take in surroundings.

Note students who are using the sentence stems; are able to notice evidence that animals are, or had been present, what they might have been doing; are able to form questions based on what they are noticing; and can make connections to prior learning, personal experiences  or other things.

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Reconvene as a whole to share.

Talk about what we did.

Ask students the Essential Question: How do living things sense and respond to change? 

Formative Assessment: 

Note students who are using the sentence stems; are able to notice the evidence of how animals are finding food, shelter, and warmth; are able to form questions based on what they are noticing; and can make connections to prior learning, personal experiences or other things.

Review and Closure

Review the learning target- I can use my senses to observe and ask questions about ways that animals adapt to cold weather.

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

I can identify and use resources to create a shelter for birds in the woods.

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

Observe areas of the woods where birds have been sighted or heard.

Describe what these areas have in common.

Gather materials to build a habitat for the birds.

Build a brush pile habitat.

Essential Question:  How do living things sense and respond to change? 

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

I want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) help us to explore the world around us.

Location: Outdoors, school forest and trail

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Loppers (one per adult)

Set up ahead of time:  None

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

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Outdoors

Greet students and remind them of the ways that they noticed that birds were finding food and shelter.  We found evidence that birds and small animals were eating berries. We found tracks that showed where animals were moving and hiding. 

Forecast what we will be doing:

We will visit two sites where we saw evidence of birds and small animals getting food and shelter.

We are going to talk about what these places have in common.

We are going work together to create a habitat to help birds in our forest to have a place to be protected.

Share the Learning Target-I can identify and use resources to create a shelter for birds in the woods.

Set behavior expectations.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

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

All

Outdoors

Group stays together and teacher stops them to observe in two areas.  Through "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of...," the teacher can get students to notice that there are lots of branches criss-crossing each other low to the ground, with small spaces for birds and small animals to get into, but not large enough for a predator to easily get into.

Share with students that people sometimes help animals by creating brush pile habitats.  People can use the ideas found in nature and copy them.  We can make shelters in places where there aren't many places to take cover.

Lead students to an area that has a lot of down sticks and branches. Show students how they can pile thicker branches across a log, and fill in with smaller branches.  Ask students to observe spaces that are big enough for birds and small animals like mice to get into, but too small to allow foxes or hawks to grab birds and rodents.

The teachers can use the loppers to cut branches into manageable pieces for students to carry.

Formative Assessment

Student behavior and engagement; listen to observations of areas where evidence of birds feeding and resting have been found, listening for students using  the stems "I Noticed, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." 

 ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Gather the students together and to talk about what they did today as well as their reasons for creating the shelter. Talk about how they feel about doing this work today. Ask students how they will know if animals have used the shelter.  What would be the evidence (tracks leading in and out of shelter, scats in and around the shelter, traces of food, seeing the animal itself).

Review the learning target- I can identify and use resources to create a shelter for birds in the woods.

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

I can describe ways that animals adapt their eating habits with changing seasons 

I can improve the habitat for animals in my school community.

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

Students will be able to discuss ways that animals change what they eat by what’s available.

Essential Question:  How do living things sense and respond to change? 

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

I want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) help us to explore the world around us.

Location: Indoors and Outdoors on snow-covered area

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: Feeder One- paper bathroom cups (one per student), 9" jute twine (each student) bird seed, cut up apples, oranges, raisins, blueberries, plastic knives (one per student); Feeder Two- stale bagels (1/2 per student), with 9" jute twine (each student), shortening (not peanut butter due to food allergies),  bird seed, cut up apples, oranges, raisins, blueberries, plastic knives (one per student), marking pen

Set up ahead of time:  Cut twine and knot ends for Feeder One; cut apples and oranges into slices, cut, thread, and knot twine through bagel halves; make sample feeders; cover tables in classroom to contain any messes made. Distribute materials across all tables for easy access

Children are prepared and will bring outdoors: None--this is indoors due to subzero temperatures

Circle-Up/Opening

Indoors

The teacher will lead students in conversation of how students’ eating habits might change from summer to winter. For example, students might eat fresh vegetable and fruits from gardens or farmers markets in the summer; they might eat popsicles to cool off; In the winter, they might eat more foods that were frozen or purchased at the store; and might eat soup and drink cocoa to keep warm; Talk about why we adapt our eating by what’s available in our community, or habitat.

Animals do this too.

Talk about deer in that might visit your backyard or the school forest. Teacher will display a picture of a deer in the summer alongside a picture of a deer in the winter. Use "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of..." strategy to observe and compare the habitats. Talk about what is available for deer to eat during summer and in winter. Even the deer scat in summer and winter is different because of what they eat.  In winter, deer are eating nuts and the buds at the ends of trees, for example. Birds and other animals change what they eat during the winter just like deer and people do.

Share the learning target: he learning target- I can describe ways that animals adapt their eating habits with changing seasons 

I can improve the habitat for animals in my school community..

Forecast what we will be doing:

We will be making two types of bird feeders that we can put outside to improve the habitat and to attract birds so that we can observe them from our classroom.

Inquiry

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

Indoors

Students will assemble two bird feeders. Show students the sample feeders that you made.

Feeder One

A clean disposable bathroom cup is needed for each student. Label the bottom of the cup with the students' initials. 

Cut a strand of jute twine to about 9" in length. Bring the ends of the twine together and make an overhand knot near the ends. Place the knot in the cup. 

Show students how to select fruit fruits, and seeds and place them in the cup.

While students are selecting and cutting fruit pieces into smaller, bits, encourage students to use their senses to make observations about the smells, the feeling of, and appearance of the fruits and seeds.

Students should add water to the cups and place them on a tray for the teacher to put in a freezer (or outdoors)  for several hours. 

The next day, students should tear the paper cut away from the ice block that forms inside. Encourage the students to make observations about the smells, the feeling of, and appearance of the fruits and seeds. How have these materials changed?

Using the twine loop, students may hand the feeder from a tree outdoors to watch as melting occurs and fruits and seeds are exposed for birds to eat.

Feeder Two

Distribute on bagel half (with the twine hangar attached), one per student.

Demonstrate how to spread shortening on the bagel. Discuss how this fat helps provide birds with energy for staying warm and active. Show students how to add small bits of fruit and seeds to the shortening, pressing them into the shortening so that they stick. Talk about seeds and fruits that birds might find in nature. How are they alike or different than the ones we are using?

Have students hang the finished feeders on a tree outside the classroom on a day when the temperatures are in a safe range.

Formative Assessment

Listen to student conversations, talking about what they smell and feel; discuss why the animals might like the ingredients that they are choosing.

Reconvene as a whole to talk about the stewardship activity in which they engaged. Talk about how the students feel about doing this work. Ask students to make predictions on how the birds might respond to having the feeders available.

Formative Assessment: 

Listen for student engagement and sense of agency in being involved in this stewardship activity.

Review the learning target- I can describe ways that animals adapt their eating habits with changing seasons 

I can improve the habitat for animals in my school community..

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

I can notice and describe the changes in the forest.

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

Students will use "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of" to describe changes in the school forest.

Students will compare what they are observing now to what the forest looked like the last time they visited.

Essential Question: How do living things sense and respond to change? 

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

I want my students to understand that our five senses (taste, touch, hear, smell, see) help us to explore the world around us.

Location: Indoors and Outdoors on playground

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Materials Needed: None

Set up ahead of time: None

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

CONNECT

Circle-Up/Opening

Teacher

Outdoors

It's now the beginning of March, a month that can be wintery on some days and very springlike on others. Lead students in a discussion about changes that are happening outside as winter is changing to spring (maybe they have noticed more daylight after school lets out, or warmer temperatures).  Discuss animals that they are hearing and seeing that they may not have noticed during the winter (red-wing blackbirds, cardinals singing, chipmunks emerging from burrow, buds on trees getting fatter, people hanging buckets on maple trees to collect sap, etc.),

Forecast the lesson:

We are going to take a hike in the woods, and we are going to make observation. We are going to pay attention to the things that are changing.

We are also going to check our brush pile habitat to see if any animals have been using it.

State the learning target: I can notice and describe the changes in the forest.

Set behavior expectations.

EXPLORE

Inquiry

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

All

Outdoors

Divide students into groups according to the number of adults. These groups will discuss observations while on the trail.

The teacher will stop the group a few times along the trail. One of the sites will be the brush pile habitat. Students will look for evidence as to whether and how the shelter was used by animals. Adults will ask students to observe closely using the “I Notice, I Wonder, and It Reminds Me Of” sentence stems. How are things different in the forest? What is causing these differences? Help students to think about changes that are caused by other animals, changes that are caused by humans, and changes that are caused by weather and/or seasonal change.

Adults will prompt the students to use senses other than sight. They will ask students to notice and describe size, shape, patterns.

Adults will engage students in considering ideas of the others and to look at the clues as well as make connections to what they know from personal experiences.

Formative Assessment

Are students able to use "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of.." to describe their observations? Are they able to compare what they see now to what was present during past visits to the forest? Are students able to talk about the changes as a response to changes in weather and seasons?

ENGAGE

Reflection/Synthesis

Formative Assessment: 

Listen to student contributions to the conversation.  Is each student able to discuss ways that plants or animals are responding to change in weather and seasons?

Review and Closure

Review the learning target- I can notice and describe the changes in the forest.