In this short unit of study, kindergarten students will learn about adaptations and behaviors that both domesticated and wild animals implement to protect themselves and their young.  This unit is a series of 3 video lessons and 2 field-based lessons.

This lesson introduces students to the concepts of climate change and how cars can contribute to climate change. Students learn the basics of the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. They also learn how transportation affects our atmosphere. Students work together to understand how various forms of transportation have costs and benefits, and which modes of transportation are better for the environment.

Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to define the terms watershed and water quality, as well as understand how human impacts affect watersheds and their associated wildlife.

Goals for the Lesson
Children will visit a sugar maple.
Children will identify a sugar maple.
Children will discover how maple syrup is processed.
Children will taste maple syrup/sugar products and graph the results.

Objective
The students will be able to:
Become a productive team member by following the directions to the activity.
Conceptualize how people’s impact on a forest (or cave) changes that environment.

Students will identify the relationship of tree resources in a word sort.

Students will prioritize information from the word sort and the book by making a hierarchical map.