The Staten Island Greenbelt is our classroom backyard. The trails, the ponds and swamps along side our school keep calling to us, making us come back for more. This project will focus on citizen science in conjunction with FrogWatch USA.
Our school is located on the south shore of Staten Island on a parcel of land known as Mount Loretto.
Mount Loretto has the last undeveloped shoreline in the state, encompassing one mile of seashore. Facing Raritan Bay, the 194 acres include five ecosystems of grasslands, forests, costal marine habitats, tidal and freshwater wetlands. The lands have been acquired by the NYS Dept. Env. Conservation to preserve the wilderness character, geologic, and ecological significance of the area.
We are a K-12 school serving approximately 550 students with mental and physical disabilities. The school population comprises 36% Black, 20% Hispanic, 41% White, and 2% Asian students. The school offers educational opportunities for students with learning disabilities.
My goal as the science teacher is to create learning opportunities that are fun and engaging while giving my students the opportunity to participate in citizen science. My students need the opportunity to participate as citizen scientists as they research the declining numbers of frogs and the problems frogs currently face, habitat loss, pollution and fungus in the ecosystem waters.
My Project
The project idea generated In November, Mr. Martin our park ranger explored Wolfe’s Pond Park with us identifying frogs, tadpoles and other species. My students will begin this project by identifying/researching local species of frog (NYParkDept). Then we will join Frogwatch USA. Students will practice listening to frog calls over the Internet. Then we will visit our park and will listen for authentic frog sounds. Students will research the importance of frogs: how they indicate the health of an ecosystem, control the bug population and provide food for other animals. Students and I will read "Sleigh Bells in Springtime" and create an art poster for our project based on the book, our observations of frogs, and the sounds we heard. Students will research the declining numbers of frogs and the problems frogs currently face, habitat loss, pollution and fungus in the ecosystem waters. Students will continue to use Water monitoring supplies to monitor the water in the pond ecosystem.
This project was created around "Sleigh Bells in Springtime" Frogs Calling.
It is the story of a young girl who searches for the source of a sound and finds the love of frogs, a sense of place, quality time with her family and the opportunity to participate in citizen science. I hope to inspire my students to connect with spring peepers (frogs) and a chorus of other calls, which, without the concerted effort of all of us, may be silenced forever.
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