Your goal: make interesting place to explore

• Something they can eat or smell• Something that will attract interesting wildlife• Something that will bloom and produce seeds• Something they can grow and measure• Something for context, so they’ll remember

– Habitat– Farm

Do we all know the habitat song?

Food, water, shelter, space (shelter, space)Food, water, shelter, space (shelter, space)A habitat’s a very special placeWith food, water, shelter, space (shelter, space)

They will be observing habitats and creatures They will be observing growth activityThey will be observing patterns, tastes and smells

What will this look like at your school?

• Vegetable garden– Cylinder/large pot gardening– Starbucks cup/tray gardening– Raised timber/concrete block beds– GroPODS– Stock water troughs with irrigation

Do you have a spot to make dirt?

• Composting– Pit– Log– NOT tumbler

Wiggly friends who make dirt

• Worms make unexpectedly nice class pets• They will move on command• They will eat lunch scraps and turn them (and

shredded paper) into dirt• There are picture books about them

Can you find a spot for wild things?

• Native habitats– Small butterfly host station– Wildflower bed– Fenced “wildscape”

What do you want them to look for?

• Shapes (leaf shapes) – Collect by shape– Connect shape to tree name

• Colors (flowers)– Small Wonders from Vermont Inst. Of Natural

Science ($16 or less through Amazon)– Census of flower colors

• Patterns (ladybugs)

Safe critter viewing

Starbucks caterpillar habitat for upclose, safe viewing– Count features on the caterpillar: stripes, toes,

eyes, horns– Draw picture of caterpillar– See what and how caterpillar eats– Follow up with garden scavenger hunt for more

caterpillars– Best resource: Butterflies of Houston by Tvetens

Birds

• Bird calls – easy to tape off or play from website

• Local birds – captured on birdcam• Bird walks – can they do the robin, the

sparrow, the dove, the grackle?• Bird coloring books – • Birding guidebooks – excellent picture books

What can they look with

• bug boxes – eNasco.com catalog item SB10304J ($1.10)

• Starbucks cups & lids

Handing around anything

• Pond critters and plants• Cicada exoskeletons• Worms (you’ll want a sleeve to keep dark until

the moment for viewing)• Feathers (might have mites)• Sprouting seeds• Other creepy crawlies

How do they document observations?

• Drawing shapes, choosing colors• Coloring drawings• Drawing from life• Naming and describing personality• Telling a story about what they saw

Pond creature worksheet by ___________________What kind of creature are you? _________________What color are you? __________________________Do you have a name?_________________________How big are you?____________________________What do you like to eat?_______________________What do you worry about?_____________________What do you do in the morning? ________________

The three youngest classes each wrote a play in which they chose one of the pond creatures we’ve met this semester, and “became” that character. Their stories follow!PreK: Kendall and McKenna were baby gambusia fish; Faisan was a grandmother gambusia fish; Zachary was a water-walking spider; Ryan was a diving beetle; Megan was an orange and Lisette a pink-and-red butterfly; Paul was a frog. One fine November morning in the Branch School pond, our fish were eating mosquito larvae! Gulp! Smack! Lick! They swam and caught the larvae one by one. Froggy stuck out his long arm tongue and caught a mosquito. Then he went brrmp! The diving beetle tried to catch a larva, but the fish got there first. Finally the beetle got one! The orange butterfly found a flower, but other creatures crowded ahead of her…then she found more. The spider walked across the water to catch his mosquito. The pink-and-red butterfly found a waterlily to drink. They had all finished breakfast, so then they all went to school. The fish all swam together. The diving beetle dove into his lesson. The grandmother fish swam far down deep. The butterflies flew to trees and vines and laid eggs. Froggy hop, hop, hopped onto a lilypad. The spider crawled under a rock and took a nap.Kindergarten: Daniella and Emily were girl diving beetles, who love to dive the most. Dustin was a turtle who also likes to dive in the water. Tristan was a turtle who loves to rest on rocks; Izecke was a turtle who loves to eat bugs and is afraid of lightning. Abel was a frog who loves to eat insects. Noah was a dragonfly who loves to eat cantaloupe. Helen was a gambusia who loves to eat mosquito larvae. One fine November morning in the Branch School pond, our swimmers (the gambusia, diving beetles, frog and turtle) were all swimming happily around the pond. The frog saw a dragonfly while he was sitting on a rock. The swimmers saw a lot of mosquito larvae in the water and were busy catching them. The turtle was looking for worms to eat. The diving beetles and the gambusia all ate some larvae and found them delicious. The turtle was upset at first because he couldn’t find any worms in the pond. Then he found some on a leaf! The frog finally caught the dragonfly, who had been chasing mosquitoes. Most of the creatures were full after their meal, so they took a nap. After they woke up, they were hungry again! They swam around the pond and ate more larvae. One gambusia was u0pset because she didn’t find any larvae to eat, but her friends shared some with her. She was happy. Then it started to rain! Everyone but the fish went under rocks so they didn’t get rained on.First grade: Nate was Carpenter the water snake who doesn’t like big fish because they eat him. Jacqueline was a tadpole who doesn’t like big fish for the same reason. Katie was a Monarch butterfly who loves to drink nectar. Natalie was a dragonfly nymph who doesn’t like owls; Camille was a dragonfly nymph who likes to play with her friends. Helen was Sticky the plecostomus who sleeps all day. Robert was a turtle who likes to swim. One fine November morning in the Branch School pond, the swimmers were busy in the pond. They thought it was interesting that some lived in the pond all their lives (plecostomus) while others only lived there while they were babies (tadpole and the nymphs). The tadpole and plecostomus like to eat the same thing—algae. The nymphs enjoyed eating mosquito larvae. The turtle ate pond weeds. The water snake, being the top predator in this pond community, swam into the scene. Everybody else hides! The nymphs hide behind the rocks. Everyone else hides under rocks except the butterfly. The water snake tried to eat the pleco, but she puffed up her fin to make herself look bigger and very spiny. The pleco eats the algae to keep the pond clean. The nymphs eat mosquito larvae so we humans won’t have too many mosquitoes. The snake is very good at eating beetles and other little pests that eat our crops. The butterfly helps plants make seeds. The turtle keeps plants pruned and eats a lot of snails so the snails won’t eat up our flowers and crops. Everyone in the pond community felt very useful and happy!

Useful websites

• http://www.wormwoman.com• http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/ • http://citybugs.tamu.edu/ • http://www.wildflower.org/ • http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.aspx• http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=

buyonline.htm

• http://www.allaboutbirds.org