Category: Ecosystems

Snags and Rotting Logs – Activities

FOCUS: From standing snags to lying logs, dead wood is essential in a forest, though its importance is often overlooked. As wood decays, a succession of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria come and go, each decomposing it further. At every stage, snags and rotting logs are hubs of activity, providing food, shelter, perches, travel corridors, and many other functions in the forest ecosystem.

INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about snags and rotting logs.

Give small groups of children a rotting log to investigate with their senses. Ask children to touch the log with their eyes closed, to tap on the log, to smell it, and then to look at it. What do they notice?

Materials: rotting logs (one per small group); plastic tarp or newspaper for each log.

ROTTING LOG INVESTIGATION and JOURNAL ACTIVITY
Objective: To examine a rotting log, looking for evidence of living things – plants, animals and fungi – that live on or in it, and to record observations about them.

Log Portrait
Work in small groups of three or four children with an adult. Provide each group with a rotting log to examine. The logs can be placed on tarps on the ground or examined in place in the woods. Ask the children to examine the outside of their log. How many different things do they notice growing on it?

Continue reading Snags and Rotting Logs – Activities

Snags and Rotting Logs – Puppet Show

Cleaning House

Characters: Benjy Bear, Sappy Sapsucker, Sammy Squirrel, Carpenter Ant Queen, Sally Salamander.

Props: dead snag, rotting log, spray bottle, cotton balls, loop on back of stage to hold up props.

(Dead snag prop on stage.)

Benjy Bear  Gee, look at all these rotten snags and logs. As manager of this forest, I need to do a little house cleaning. Better get rid of some of the dead wood, like this old, rotten maple tree here.

Sappy Sapsucker  Wait just a minute, Benjy Bear! I need that tree! Continue reading Snags and Rotting Logs – Puppet Show

Snags and Rotting Logs – Standards

SNAGS AND ROTTING LOGS ALIGNMENT WITH
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The activities in this unit help children understand the basic concepts in the Disciplinary Core Ideas listed here. You can use the following list as a guide for lesson planning. These Disciplinary Core Ideas are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. Continue reading Snags and Rotting Logs – Standards

Staying Warm – Background

A bushy-tailed fox patrols the edge of a snowy field; a blue jay’s call rings out in the frosty stillness; tiny mice prints, like stitching on a quilt, crisscross the snow. These sights and sounds tell of the many birds and mammals that stay active throughout the winter. Like us, these animals must find ways to stay warm in order to survive this season of cold, inhospitable weather.

It’s easy to show why warm-blooded animals face the problem of heat loss in winter. Continue reading Staying Warm – Background

Staying Warm – Activities

FOCUS: In northern climates, ecosystems are very different places in winter compared to summer, with shorter days, colder temperatures, and plants making little or no food. Even so, many warm-blooded animals stay active throughout this cold season, conserving body heat by seeking out shelter or putting on extra fur, feathers, or fat. For small animals, a layer of snow can offer some protection, and the energy stored in dormant plants and cached food provides the nutrition they need to get through the winter.

INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about animals staying warm.

Gathered in a circle, ask children what they notice about how the outdoors in northern climates is different in the winter than at other times of the year. Ask children what they can do to stay warm outside.

TEMPERATURE EQUALIZES
Objective: Use a model to see how a warm object loses heat to its environment.

Ask a child to feel the spot in the center of the circle and report how it feels to the group. (It usually feels cool.) Now set a pan of hot water in that spot. Continue reading Staying Warm – Activities

Staying Warm – Puppet Show

Mice-Capades

Characters: Matthew Mouse, Matilda Mouse, Dory Doe, Chelsey Chickadee, Rocky Raccoon

Props: small strip of fur, 6” piece of feather boa, bag labeled “Nuts” prop; special stage with tunnel and chamber under the snow.

(Puppets appear on top of the snow)

Matthew  Hey Matilda, let’s go out for a walk in the snow.

Matilda  Sorry, Matthew. I’ve decided to hibernate like Woody Woodchuck and sleep until spring. So, see you in May!

Matthew  Matilda, hibernating is much more than sleeping. Only a few animals can do it, and white-footed mice like us are not hibernators. Continue reading Staying Warm – Puppet Show

Staying Warm – Standards

STAYING WARM ALIGNMENT WITH
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The activities in this unit help children understand the basic concepts in the Disciplinary Core Ideas listed here. You can use the following list as a guide for lesson planning. These Disciplinary Core Ideas are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. Continue reading Staying Warm – Standards

Squirrel Tales – Background

Squirrels are a familiar sight whether we live in a city, suburb, or rural setting. It’s fun to watch squirrels’ antics at bird feeders, their acrobatics on branches and utility wires, their furtive foraging for nuts and seeds. Because we often see them near our homes, we may forget that squirrels are wild animals and that they play an important role in the forest ecosystem. Tree squirrels are gatherers of seeds, planters of trees, and prey for predators like hawks and owls.

The Northeast is home to four species of tree squirrels, those that make their homes in tree branches. Continue reading Squirrel Tales – Background