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Appreciating "The Best of Nature"
Overview
For twenty-five years Nature programs have enlightened, educated and delighted their viewers. In this lesson, students will celebrate the best moments of the programs as they create a "That's Incredible" list of their favorite Nature moments. They will also further investigate a topic that caught their interest and create a natural history museum exhibit. After examining the role that observation plays in learning about nature, students will have an opportunity to watch real animals and record their observations.
Grade Level: Grades 3-5
Subject Areas: Language Arts, Science
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to do the following:
- Synthesize information from a variety of sources
- Create an exhibit that summarizes information about a specific animal.
- Observe and record animals' traits and behaviors.
Materials:
Bookmark the following sites:
STANDARDS
www.mcrel.org
Language Arts
Writing
Standard 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process
Level I [Grade: 3-5]
7. Writes in a variety of forms or genres (e.g., picture books, friendly letters, stories, poems, information pieces, invitations, personal experience narratives, messages, responses to literature)
8. Writes for different purposes (e.g., to entertain, inform, learn, communicate ideas)
Level II [Grade: 3-5]
4. Evaluates own and others' writing (e.g., determines the best features of a piece of writing, determines how own writing achieves its purposes, asks for feedback, responds to classmates' writing)
5. Uses strategies (e.g., adapts focus, organization, point of view; determines knowledge and interests of audience) to write for different audiences (e.g., self, peers, teachers, adults)
6. Uses strategies (e.g., adapts focus, point of view, organization, form) to write for a variety of purposes (e.g., to inform, entertain, explain, describe, record ideas)
7. Writes expository compositions (e.g., identifies and stays on the topic; develops the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations; excludes extraneous and inappropriate information; uses structures such as cause-and-effect, chronology, similarities and differences; uses several sources of information; provides a concluding statement)
Life Sciences
Level II [Grade: 3-5]
Standard 5. Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms
2. Knows that living organisms have distinct structures and body systems that serve specific functions in growth, survival, and reproduction (e.g., various body structures for walking, flying, or swimming)
3. Knows that the behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues (e.g., hunger) and external cues (e.g., changes in the environment), and that humans and other organisms have senses that help them to detect these cues
Standard 6. Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment
3. Knows that an organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment (e.g., kinds and numbers of other organisms present, availability of food and resources, physical characteristics of the environment)
4. Knows that changes in the environment can have different effects on different organisms (e.g., some organisms move in, others move out; some organisms survive and reproduce, others die)
5. Knows that all organisms (including humans) cause changes in their environments, and these changes can be beneficial or detrimental
Standard 12. Understands the nature of scientific inquiry
3. Plans and conducts simple investigations (e.g., formulates a testable question, makes systematic observations, develops logical conclusions)
Procedures for Teachers
Introductory Activity
Time for Completion: One hour to watch the program and 30 minutes to complete the activity
The purpose of this activity is to pique students' interest and to activate background knowledge on nature and wildlife.
Pre-Viewing
- Pass out one or two copies of the "Best of Nature" viewing organizer to each student. Explain to students that they are going to view stories of beauty, wonder, violence and danger in the "Best of Nature" program that they are about to watch. Tell students to record information, thoughts, observations, and questions under the appropriate heading as they view the program.
Post-Viewing
- Tell students that they are going to work in teams to come up with a top five "That's Incredible" list for what they think are the five most remarkable things that they witnessed in the "Best of Nature" program.
- Pass out five small pieces of paper to each student. Tell students to refer to the notes that they recorded from the program and select what they think are the top five most incredible moments in the program. Ask students to write these top five "That's Incredible" moments on the slips of paper. Each slip of paper will contain one statement.
- Divide the class into small groups. Tell the groups that they are now going to create a group top five "That's Incredible" list based on the individual top five statements created by the individual members in the group. This means that the group as a whole will have to agree on what they think the top five moments are, based on the moments that each student recorded on his or her pieces of paper.
- Tell students to spend a few minutes before they begin the activity discussing the process they will use to make the selections.
- After the groups have finished, have each group share their top five "That's Incredible" moments with the class.
Steps
Activity One
Time for Completion: Two 50-minute class periods and a week on homework assignments
In this activity, students will work in pairs to conduct further research on a topic of their choice and create an exhibit for a natural history museum.
- Tell students to imagine that they have been asked to create an exhibit for their local natural history museum. Ask students to think about what segments of "The Best of Nature" program particularly caught their attention. Ask each student to pair up with another student who is interested in the same topic to create the exhibit.
- Pass out the "Natural History Exhibit" organizer. Review the requirements for the exhibit with the students.
- As a class, brainstorm a list of elements that are sometimes included in exhibits. This list might include, but is not limited to, images, narrated video, audio-tape that contains information on the topic, recording of animal or nature sounds, fact/fun fact handouts, etc.
- Send students to the PBS Nature website to begin research on their topic.
The following web sites contain information that may be helpful in the completion of this activity:
National Geographic Kids
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com
This site contains information and images of a variety of animals.
World Almanac For Kids
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/animals.html
This site contains facts on a variety of animals.
- Provide a space for students to set up their completed exhibits.
Activity Two
Time for Completion: Three 30-minute time periods for observation and one homework assignment to write the summary.
The purpose of this lesson is for students to explore the role that observation plays in collecting information about animals.
- Involve students in a discussion about the role that observation skills played in the filming of the various segments in the program. Mention how observation is one of the primary ways of collecting information. Discuss how and why it is important to use as many of the five senses as possible when observing something. Ask students to think of examples of where the filmmakers may have combined the use of their five senses with cameras, tools and other technologies in their work.
- Send students to the "Challenges of Filming" article on the Nature website. Ask students to collect three pieces of information from the web page. Provide time for students to share their information with the entire class. Lead students in a brief discussion about the challenges the filmmakers faced while creating the programs.
- Explain to students that they are going to practice observing animals. Pass out three copies of the "Wildlife Observation" chart to each student. Explain how they will record an observation in the first column, write a question about the observation in the second column, and record a hypothesis in the third column.
- Tell students that they will observe wildlife on three separate occasions. Discuss how it is important to remain quiet and still when observing animals in order to avoid startling them. As a class, brainstorm a list of questions that they might want to ask when observing wildlife.
- After students have observed wildlife on three separate occasions, ask them to write a brief summary of their observations.
Teacher Note: Depending on the area where you live, you may choose to bring students to an area outside to complete their observations or you may choose to use your own, or borrow, a classroom pet(s). Also, if you have access to a video camera, you may choose to have students try their hand at taping the animals.
Assessment Suggestions
The Natural History Exhibit rubric may be used as an assessment tool for Activity One. The Reflection & Assessment handout may be used as an overall lesson assessment tool.
Extension Activity
Share the Knowledge
Share the wildlife exhibits that the students created in Activity One with members of the community. Bring the students and their projects into a kindergarten class or a senior center.
About the Author
Laurel Blaine is founder of Digital Narratives LLC, a curriculum design company. In addition to content development, Digital Narratives also works with young people to enhance their literacy skills as they explore the power of digital storytelling. Over the past decade, Laurel has created educational materials for a diverse range of clients including The Kennedy Center, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Learning Matters/Listen Up! and Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Museum.
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