Joanna Yuhas Catherine Mitchko Mrs.

Meyer 1st Grade Habitats Unit: Day 8 Wetlands Title or Topic of Lesson and Grade Level Introduction to Wetlands Grade 1 Lesson Essential Questions Where are wetlands located? What kind of terrain do the wetlands have? What kinds of animals live in the wetlands? What kinds of plants grow in the wetlands? What is the climate like in the wetlands? Standards NJCCS 5.3.2.A.1 NJCCS 5.3.2.C.1 NJCCS 5.3.2.C.2 Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share. Describe the ways in which organisms interact with each other and their habitats in order to meet basic needs. Identify the characteristics of a habitat that enable the habitat to support the growth of many different plants and animals.

Lesson Objectives and Assessments Lesson Objectives Students will be able to identify living (plants and animals) and nonliving (soil, water) that make up the wetland habitat. Assessments Students will be assessed based on their responses during the discussion as well as whether or not they correctly fill in their student journal for the day.

Materials Student Journals Letter from Russell Squish by Nancy Luenn Pictures of plants and animals that exist in the wetlands Plant and animal cutouts Cattails Moss Dragonflies Water striders

 Frogs Newts Crocodile Garter Snakes Beavers Duck Clear plastic bowl Cups Food coloring Water Celery Pre-Lesson Assignements and/or Prior Knowledge Students will have been learning about habitats for a few days and will know the difference between living and nonliving parts of a habitat. They might have experience with what the ground feels like when it is wet but they might not know what the wetlands are. Lesson Beginning Letter from Russell (5 minutes) Tell students that you have received another lesson from Russell. The letter should congratulate students on collecting their three wilderness badges and tell them that they have one more to collect before they become expert wilderness explorers. Remind students that their dioramas are due the next day! Tell students that they are going to be learning about wetlands today. Have Russell introduce the read aloud for the day. Instructional Plan Read Aloud (15 minutes) Read the book Squish by Nancy Luenn to the students and tell them to pay close attention to what the book describes. Tell them to be thinking about the living and nonliving aspects of the wetlands that are in the book. Introduce important vocabulary as you are reading. After reading the book, ask students what they noticed about the wetlands in the story. Ask them to describe what wetlands are. Plants and Animals in the Wetlands (10 15 minutes) Tell students that wetlands are places where there is standing water for at least part of the year and that some places stay wet all year long. Tell students that wetlands can be found all over the world, even near where we live. Tell students that the plants and animals that live in the wetlands have special characteristics that make it so they can live in the wet environment. Then show students the plant and animal cutouts that you brought to class. Pull popsicle sticks to call up students to hold the animal as you describe what the animal or plant is and why it lives in the

wetlands. If there is still time before special, allow students to go back to their seat and give them a worksheet with various labeled wetland plants and animals on it that they can color. (BREAK FOR SPECIAL) Water Quality Activity (15 minutes) Tell students that we are going to talk about what happens when pollution affects water in the wetlands. Pour a cup of drinking water into the bowl and ask students what they can see. Tell them that this water is the water that we drink and that scientists have tested it to make sure it is safe. Then tell the kids that you are adding pollution to the water. Ask students if they know what pollution is and give a definition for pollution. Add a few drops of food coloring and mix it into the water. Ask the students what they notice about the water in the bowl now. Then start to add more cups of drinking water until you cannot see the food coloring anymore. Ask students what they notice. Then ask them if we took the pollution out of the water. They should say no and then ask them if it is still there. Explain that sometimes there is pollution that we cannot see. Go on to ask students what happens to plants and animals that have to live with this pollution. Celery Experiment (15 minutes) Prepare a cup in advance with water, celery, and food coloring. Show the students the cup. Tell the students that they are going to be part of an experiment. They are going to help with an experiment. The water in the cup has pollution in it and we talked about how pollution can affect plants and animals in a habitat. Have students draw the picture of the cup with the celery in it in their science journals. Then have them all write one sentence in their journal about what they think will happen to the celery that is in the pollution. Differentiation: Allow all students to have a chance to answer questions. If students cannot answer the question, give someone else a chance to help that student. Help students to write their predictions. Put the sentences on the board so that they do not have to worry about spelling when they are working on it in their seats. Questions: What were the wetlands like in this book? (water, moss, squishy) What kinds of animals do you think live in wetlands? (ducks, fish, frogs) Why do these animals live in wetlands? (they need water) What is pollution? (bad things that harm the environment) What do you notice? (it is clear, you can see the colors, it is clear again) Did we take the pollution out of the water? (no) So is the pollution still there? (yes) Do you think there is pollution in a habitat that you cannot see? (yes) What happens to plants and animals when they are affected by this pollution? (they get sick and die) Classroom Management: Have students on the rug during the letter and the read aloud. Use popsicle sticks to call students to help hold animal cutouts.

Transtions: Have students at the rug the whole time before special. Have them go directly to their seats after special and tell them that it is very important that they are watching and listening because you will be doing some experiments with them. Closure Clean Up Have students fill out their notebook for the end of the day. Use smiley faces to describe how well they understood the material for that day. Then have students put their science journals in the bin and get ready to go home for the end of the day.