This unit focuses on the diversity of life at Hartje School Forest and centers around NGSS Standards on Ecosystem Interactions, Energy and Dynamics. Field experiences in observing and recording the diversity of life, seed dispersal methods, plant pollination, and plant life cycles will support science disciplinary core ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and hands-on engineering practices.

Students first learn how the sound-symbol correspondence in letters and words work so that they better understand how text is used.

This activity is a field investigation where students gather leaves from various trees on school property, interpret findings, name tree and leaves, journal activity and develop a new "aha" for nature!

In this field investigation, students compare various soil samples taken from specific locations. Students compare samples, record data, create a chart or graph, and journal.

In this unit, students make regular journal entries about a plant/animal/insect community in the natural area around our school and use this to create a Non-fiction Class Book. They also interview family/resources to discover, record and present stories about human relationships with nature from their culture(s).

This lesson integrates science, math, communication skills, arts, and social studies through hands-on activities. Students are directly involved in hatching baby chicks.

This activity is a step by step lesson to introduce a nature journal to students. We will establish the routine we will use.

This activity is a field investigation where students will learn the importance of detail when nature journaling.

Students will act out open and closed circuits and is followed by individual journal writing and a class discussion.

The purpose of this lesson is to show learners how to keep a nature journal. How to reflect, respond, and question the observations they see in the world.

This is a two part journaling activity prior to an existing week long biology field lab. The journaling activities described here have been added to the beginning of the Pond Study Lab to enhance student learning of observation and quality journaling skills.

Students analyze the elements of a novel in many different genres and then hyperlink these pieces together on student-constructed Websites.

This activity is a daily lab where two students read a thermometer and identify the cloud type for a week. They record it on the board first and we all record it in our journals. A graph of the entire year is also completed and we can analyze the data as we go. We get two new "scientists" each week and we do it all year. I start the first week of school.