My students need science materials like nets and specimen cups so we can conduct a year long field study of our local forest-ocean ecosystem.
FULLY FUNDED! Mrs. Dye's classroom raised $476
This project is fully funded
My Students
The best place to teach science is outside. My school is located minutes away from an incredible forest-ocean habitat. I would like my students to spend the year studying the changes in this ecosystem through observation, systematic documentation and research.
I teach science and math to two classes of highly capable elementary students.
Unfortunately, few of my students are excited about science. This greatly concerns me because it's something I'm very passionate about. It's my hope to change their attitude towards nature and science through a series of walking field trips where students explore, question, investigate and discover their local ecosystem.
My Project
I plan to take my students to their outdoor classroom every six weeks. Each visit will focus on students actually being scientists which includes careful observation and detailed recording.
A regular activity will be to record the weather using the portable weather station (hygrometer, barometer, compass & thermometer). In the fall students will focus on collecting both insects and spiders using the sweep nets and specimen jars. With the magnifiers they will make detailed technical drawings of their discoveries in their science notebooks and identify their insects using the field guides.
During both the fall and spring, we will collect and document the diversity of plants and animals that live in this ecosystem. In they winter, the focus will be winter birds and animal tracks. During low tides in the spring, students will study the marine life. At the end of the year, each student will research and make their own field guide.
In the 1800s, naturalist Louis Agassiz's motto was "Study nature--not books." With this project I intend to follow his motto and take my two classes of students outside and engage them firsthand with nature.
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