Title of Lesson: Little Ecologists Grade: 3 STANDARDS Strand 4: Life Sciences, Concept 3: Organisms and Environments (PO 1.) Identif t!e "iving and non"iving components of an ecosstem (PO 3.) E#p"ain t!e interre"ations!ips among p"ants and anima"s in different environments (PO $.) %escri&e !o' environmenta" factors in t!e ecosstem ma affect a mem&er organism(s a&i"it to gro', reprod)ce, and t!rive. (*+.3.,.4) ,it! g)idance and s)pport from ad)"ts, prod)ce f)nctiona" 'riting (e.g., friend" and forma" "etters, recipes e#periments, notes-messages, "a&e"s, grap!s-ta&"es, proced)res, invitations, enve"opes) in '!ic! t!e deve"opment and organi.ation are appropriate to tas/ and p)rpose. LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW This lesson will begin by teaching the students about what an ecosystem is. Students will learn about how there are countless pieces and members of an ecosystem and each part of the ecosystem has an effect on how the rest of it functions. Once students have learned about an ecosystem an how its individual parts each contribute to the way the whole works, they will utilize futures thinking in order to predict how an ecosystem could change if one of the parts was wiped out. Students will brainstorm about whether or not an ecosystem would be able to survive without one of its key elements. Once students have thought about the effects of the destruction of a key part of an ecosystem, they will formulate a persuasive letter to those in charge of a deforestation effort explaining to them why their methods are so damaging and unsustainable. *This lesson will take up the portion of the day dedicated to science and language arts. OBJECTIVES Students will be able to: Describe what an ecosystem is Discus how individual parts of an ecosystem play a role in the overall function of the ecosystem Predict what would happen to an ecosystem if a key element was destroyed Craft a persuasive letter using information that they have learned ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION In addition to the cold calls through out the lesson that serve the purpose of making sure students are following along and paying attention, the students will submit their persuasive letter for grading. In the letter I will be looking for proof that they understood the ecosystem related information conveyed to them and the proper structuring and vocabulary of a persuasive letter. The persuasive letter needs to consist of at least 3 strong points that express the negative effects of deforestation on ecosystems. PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE Prior to this lesson, students will have learned about the proper structuring of a formal letter and the vocabulary used in a persuasive letter. Students will have also learned about the reasons for deforestation and the effects it has on things like climate from previous days in the unit. MATERIALS Pencil Paper Smartboard Doc Cam VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS Ecosystem: Everything living and non-living interacting as a system in an area. Deforestation: the removal of forest with the intention of using the land for non-forest use Extinct: having no living members Abiotic: non-living Biotic: Living Habitat: Place where an organism lives Niche: An organisms special role in the ecosystem Ecologist: Scientist who studies and monitors ecosystem health TEACHING PROCEDURES 1. Ask the students to think of the way all of the living and non-living things in a certain area all play a part in the way things work in that area. 1. Ask the students to share an examples they can think of living and non-living things working together. (Ex. Water keeping a tree alive and the tree serving as a home for squirrels.) 2. Once students have begun to understand that living and non-living things in an area all work together in one way or another, explain to the students that this is called an ecosystem (everything living and non-living interacting as a system in an area). 1. Define biotic 1. Living 2. Define Abiotic 1. non-living 3. Have the students watch and take notes on the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYmdrJWLQ4Y) in order to provide them with a visual description of what an ecosystem is. 1. Notes should include: 1. What a habitat is. 1. Place where a living organism lives 2. What a niche is. 1. An organisms special role in the ecosystems 4. Once the students have a strong grasp on what an ecosystem is and the parts that one consists of, tell them that they are now going to become ecologists! (A scientist who studies and monitors ecosystem health) 5. Have the students discuss with their shoulder buddy the consequences of an ecosystem losing a key element and have them record their thoughts in their science notes. 6. Gather the class' attention and have them share some of the consequences they thought of. These will be listed on the board for future reference. (Example response: If there is a drought and all the water in an ecosystem dries up, plants will die. If the plants die, the animals that eat the plants will die, and if the plant eating animals die the meat eating animals will too.) Teacher should keep a record of these responses for use in later assessments of growth in understanding. 7. Next, students will be asked to think back on what they learned about deforestation and once again brainstorm with their shoulder buddies how deforestation could be damaging to ecosystems. 8. Students will once again share what they came up with and these responses will also be recoded on the board. 9. Tell the students that by thinking about the long term effects of deforestation on an ecosystem they are utilizing futures thinking. Students will then be told that they are going to use the ideas that they came up with to help them write a letter to the head of company who is responsible for deforestation. Students will be told that they need to take the company owner's values into consideration when expressing their values in the letter; they will be told that this is using values thinking. 10. Students will then be asked to share examples of the vocab they would use in a persuasive letter in order to activate prior knowledge. 11. Using the doc cam, the students will give me ideas and help me write a persuasive letter of my own. This will be used as a reference point for things like proper vocab and tone in a persuasive letter. 12. Students will then write a rough draft of their letter 13. Switching papers with their shoulder buddy, students will proof read and peer review each other's papers 14. Students will use their peer reviewed letters to write a final draft of their letter for submission and grading. RESOURCES What Is An Ecosystem? Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYmdrJWLQ4Y WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION This lesson utilized both values and futures thinking. Futures thinking, giving thought to how the past and present effect the future, is used when the students think about how the effects of deforestation will impact the future of an ecosystem. Values thinking, being able to examine how our values effect our decisions and actions, is used when the students consider the values of those who are responsible for deforestation and compare them to their own.