Unit Plan: Field Study – Forest
Science / Grade 4
Big Ideas
Science
- All living things sense and respond to their environment.
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
- How do living things sense, respond, and adapt to stimuli in their environment?
- How do I observe nature? What does using my senses in nature look, sound, feel, taste and smell like?
- How do my senses compare to the senses of other plants & animals?
- How is sensing and responding related to interdependence within ecosystems?
Evaluative Criteria
Assessing prior knowledge:
Share “What is a rainforest?”
Students will demonstrate their knowledge, skills & understanding by:
- describing the temperate rainforest ecosystem using sensory details
- pair-sharing observations & questions
- sharing in small groups or large group examples of how they can be stewards of the forest and nearby nature
- personal reflection on the importance of forests
- making a personal connection to nature (solo sit, mindfulness walk)
Monitoring Progress
Teacher will monitor progress:
Teachers can monitor progress through ongoing formative assessment including but not limited to:
- Class discussion
- Group and pair discussions
Resources
AUDIO
TEXTS
Grade 4 Backpack (Get Outdoors!): Sensory Warm-up, Rainbow chips, Sound Mapping, Instant Cameras, Forest Cologne)
ABC’s we see
I notice, I wonder, It Reminds me
Walk and Talk
Tiny Treasures
Storytelling: The Great Blanket of Moss, Legend of the Cedar Tree
Ethnic Plant Guide
Walk of Wonder
Reflection
How will teachers and their students reflect on and evaluate the completed project?
Teacher Reflection
- What aspects of the field study went well?
- What did students struggle with?
- What did you struggle with?
- What would you add/revise the next time you taught this field study?
- What connections can I make back to my school learning community?
- Challenge your class or school to get involved in a meaningful action project that encourages forest stewardship.
- My Special Place (Get Outdoors p. 59) Students choose and explore a special natural place in their schoolyard, park or other area. They describe the local environment using sensory details; they reflect on its importance, and they discover their own connections to it. Suggested Reading List about Special Places and Connections (p. 63).
Downloads
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
EXECUTE THE LEARNING PLAN
LEARNING EVENTS:
- These learning events/activities are suggested activities only.
- In some cases the plans are not fully completed lesson plans.
- The teacher may choose some lessons/activities to span over several lessons.
- Teachers may add, revise and adapt these lessons based on the needs of their students, their personal preferences for resources, and the use of a variety of instructional techniques.
Learning events are enriched for students when teachers consider the “WHERE TO” acronym and guiding organizer by Wiggins and McTighe.
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions.
Acquisition-Meaning-Transfer
Facilitation tips
Safety for students: stay with group. Have a counsellor or responsible student pair remain at the back of the group while hiking.
Safety for organisms: remain on trail. Do not pick or remove live organisms. Model leave no trace ethic.
Exploration techniques: Slow down, get down & look around. Use Hand lenses: The best and simplest tool to engage students directly with nature. It inspires students to look closely, provides an immediate different perspective, and lets students see things they can’t see otherwise.
Use Walk & Talk as a transition between activities.
Warm-up
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How do living things sense, respond, and adapt to stimuli in their environment?
- How do I observe nature? What does using my senses in nature look, sound, feel, taste and smell like?
- How do my senses compare to the senses of other plants & animals?
- How is sensing and responding related to interdependence within ecosystems?
Warm up
Sensory Wake-up Circle (Get Outdoors!) Walk and Talk Question: Which sense could you give up? Which sense could you not live without?
Solo Sensory hike: Space the students out 10-20 seconds apart on the Moss Trail. Walk for 2-3 minutes. Circle up at the end of trail in a clearing. Ask students to share an ‘I notice’.
Main activity
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How do living things sense, respond, and adapt to stimuli in their environment?
- How do I observe nature? What does using my senses in nature look, sound, feel, taste and smell like?
- How do my senses compare to the senses of other plants & animals?
- How is sensing and responding related to interdependence within ecosystems?
Main Activity
Tiny Treasures
Opportunity: Collect & Share some of the tiny treasures that inhabit this place…in a very sensory way!
Gear up! Hand lens, clipboard, pencils, egg carton (1 per pair), camera (optional)
Explore & Discover: What tiny objects can you discover if you look very closely in every nook and cranny of this place?
Make it happen: Collect 12 little objects to fill each hole in your egg carton. Try to find a diverse and varied sampling of many tiny treasures that people seldom notice unless they look very carefully.
For the record: Photograph or draw, (optional: colour), & label your Tiny Treasures on the record sheet
Share your work: Invite others to experience your Tiny Treasures by asking them to close their eyes and use their other senses to guess each item you put in the palm of their hand.
Reflection
- How successful were you as a Tiny Treasure Collector? Why?
- What were the three best things about this experience? Why?
- What can you say you learned during this activity? Explain.
- What were your favourite three treasures? Why?
Optional activities
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- How do living things sense, respond, and adapt to stimuli in their environment?
- How do I observe nature? What does using my senses in nature look, sound, feel, taste and smell like?
- How do my senses compare to the senses of other plants & animals?
- How is sensing and responding related to interdependence within ecosystems?
Other sensory activities
Sight
Rainbow Chips (Get Outdoors!) Hand each participant a rainbow chip, telling them that every colour of the rainbow exists in nature all around us, and send them off to match their colour chip as closely as possible with something natural. Ask them not to pick their matched items if it is alive, but to show it to someone close by. Once they have found a match, give them another chip to match. Q: What surprised you the most about this activity? What colours were hardest to find?
ABCs We See: Pair students up and send them outside with an alphabet checklist. Their challenge is to find and list (or draw) something in nature for each letter on the list. Could use digital cameras, and create a digital slideshow.
Digital Photo Sensory Shoots Students work in groups of 2-3. Ensure each group has a camera. Give each group a sensory theme (colour, texture, smells, sounds, etc.) and have them take photos to put together a slideshow.
Alternative: Instant Cameras (Get Outdoors!)
Back and Belly Observations: I notice, I wonder, It reminds me.
Hearing
- Sound Mapping (Get Outdoors!)
- Mindfulness Walk
- Solo sit
Touch
- Blind walk (Hug a Tree)
Smell
- Forest Cologne (Get Outdoors!)
Closing
Storytelling Circle
The following resources are made available through the British Columbia Ministry of Education. For more information, please visit BC’s New Curriculum.
Big Ideas
The Big Ideas consist of generalizations and principles and the key concepts important in an area of learning. The Big Ideas represent what students will understand at the completion of the curriculum for their grade. They are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to future understanding.
Core Competencies
Communications Competency
The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media
Thinking Competency
The knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development
Social Competency
The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society
Curricular Competencies & Content
Curricular Competencies are the skills, strategies, and processes that students develop over time. They reflect the “Do” in the Know-Do-Understand model of curriculum. The Curricular Competencies are built on the thinking, communicating, and personal and social competencies relevant to disciplines that make up an area of learning.
Additional Resources
First People's Principles of Learning
To read more about First People’s Principles of Learning, please click here.
For classroom resources, please visit the First Nations Education Steering Committee.
