South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Ecosystems and Habitats (Grade 4)

Master Teacher

Anne Knopf

Time Allotment

180 minutes

Overview

Ecosystems can be as large as the earth itself or as small as a drop of water on a leaf. Within each ecosystem there are habitats where populations of living organisms form communities. The habitat must supply the needs of the organisms; such as food, water, temperature, oxygen, and minerals. Using the Internet and LCD projector, the students will go on a virtual field trip to five ecosystems. The students will then step outside into their own ecosystem and investigate and videotape a temperate forest in the school’s backyard.

Subject Matter

Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Identify and describe six of the earth’s ecosystems.
Determine the factors living organisms need for habitat survival.
Use prior knowledge to distinguish between living and nonliving things in an ecosystem
Investigate their habitat.

South Carolina Standards

(These standards are available online at: http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso/)

Fourth Grade

I. Inquiry

A. Process Skills

5. Infer

a. explain or interpret an observation based on data and prior knowledge

B. Inquiry

1. Plan and conduct a simple investigation

a. ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment

d. use data to construct a reasonable explanation

e. communicate investigations and explanations

II. Life Science

Characteristics of Organisms

1a. Identify characteristics of different environments, such as forests, wetlands,
grasslands, deserts, and in polar, temperate, and tropical regions.

1c. Investigate the relationships between the basic needs of different organisms and
whether or not a particular environment meets those needs.

Media Components

Video

Biomes: Our Earth’s Major Life Zones describes and defines distinctive communities of life that inhabit the unique regions of the earth. This lesson uses five video clips from this series.

To access these video segments, log on to your account at ETV’s StreamlineSC Web page (http://etv.streamlinesc.org). In the search by keyword box, type Biomes: Our Earth’s Major Life Zones and hit go. Click the program title and that will take you to a list of video clips. Download the following five video segments to your computer’s desktop and preview them.

“Tropical Rain Forest” runs one minute and 51 seconds; “Desert” runs two minutes and seven seconds; “Aquatic: Fresh Water Biomes” runs one minute and 54 seconds; “Grassland” runs two minutes and 17 seconds; and “Tundra” runs two minutes and seven seconds. The students will create their own video clip for a temperate deciduous forest.

(Note to Teacher: If you don’t have an account with ETV’s StreamlineSC, check with your media specialist or Instructional Technologist about signing up for your own account.)

Web Sites

The Layers of Rainforesthttp://www.edhelper.com/AnimalReadingComprehension_27_1.html

This site defines the “layers” of a rainforest—Forest Floor, Under story, Canopy and Emergent.

The Tide Pools

http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/eviau/edit557/oceans/norma/otdpls.htm

This Web site examines the role of tide pools.

ESPECIES Fact Sheets

http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html

This site is a gateway to electronic fact sheets on over 50 species.

Wildlives: African Animals

http://www.awf.org/wildlives/

This site is an overview of Africa’s wildlife and their habitats.

Deserts

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/desert.html

This site is a gateway to a host of Web sites on deserts and the wildlife they support.

Materials

"The Earth’s Diversity: Focus for Media" Activity Sheet
Pencils
Journals

Equipment

Screen
Computer
LCD projector
Video Camera

Prep for Teachers

Send home a permission slip for the walking field trip.

Collect and display posters of different ecosystems.

Prior to this lesson, preview and bookmark all of the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in the classroom. Load the Shockwave plug-in, available at http://www.macromedia.com, onto each computer. And load Windows Media Player, available at the Microsoft.com Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0175119-9a5b-44c3-b1de-9b2a9aa6cff6&DisplayLang=en)

Prior to lesson, check all equipment.

When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements. Make a copy of the “The Earth’s Diversity: Focus for Media” Activity Sheet for each student.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Tell your students that today they will be learning about the earth’s ecosystems and habitats. Point to the posters on the wall and identify the vocabulary that will be used in the lesson.

ecosystem
habitat
adaptation
producers
consumers
scavengers
decomposers
food web

Step 2: The students will take notes during the discussion and record the vocabulary in their Science Journals.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Explain to the students that they will be watching five short videos of each habitat we are going to study: wetlands, desert, polar, grasslands, tropical forest.

Step 2: Distribute the “The Earth’s Diversity: Focus for Media” Activity Sheet to the class and explain what they should be looking for in the videos. Each of the short video clips corresponds to the ecosystems listed on the handout. Tell the students they need to record the bulleted information below on their handouts after viewing each clip. (Note to Teacher: Give the students enough time to record their information before going on to the next clip.)

A physical description of each habitat
Examples of animals and plants from each habitat

Step 3: Take the students through each video clip and allow for discussion and note taking between the clips of each ecosystem.

Step 4: The students will form groups to research different habitats of the world. Each group will be given a specific assignment that will require the group to show how animals and plants have adapted for their life there.

Wetlands: Explain what a tidal pool is and how it is formed. What changes occur in this type of habitat that forces the animals and plants to learn to adapt. Describe several animals found there.

Polar: Research polar bears and penguins and locate the geographical regions in which they exist. Name three characteristics of each animal that allows it to adapt to the climate in this type of habitat.

Desert: Choose one desert animal and one desert plant and give two or three explanations of how it is particularly well adapted to a place with little water.

Grasslands: Research the speeds of animals in the African Grasslands. Give an explanation of the need for speed. Make a chart comparing the speeds of at least five fast African Grasslands animals.

Tropical Forest: Describe the three main levels of the rainforest. Name an animal from each level and explain how it has adapted for survival on that level.

Step 5: Each group will research their assignment during their computer lab class, by visiting pre-selected Internet Web sites.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: The whole class will go on a walking field trip to a temperate forest and will make a short video of the characteristics, plant life and animals.

Step 2: The students will take notes for their journals.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Language Arts: The students will conduct independent research accessed through the use of technology with pre-determined Internet sites. They will create a short video to demonstrate their ability to use visual aids to enhance an oral presentation.

Community Connections

Invite the local Natural Resource Officer from your area on your walking field trip to explore a temperate forest.

Student Materials

"The Earth’s Diversity: Focus for Media" Activity Sheet