My Watershed Habitats

Question(s)

• What is a habitat?
• What habitats are within my local watershed?

Overview

This activity has students diving deeper into and identifying the different types of habitats (and microhabitats) that are within their own local watershed. Students were briefly introduced to habitats as they explored and defined watersheds in Be a Watershed or Get to Know your Watershed.

Working together as a class and using published definitions, students will develop their own definition and understanding of the term “habitat.” Once students have established what a habitat is, they will explore their study site and list all of the habitats (and microhabitats) that they observe. These explorations may happen in person by going outside, or virtually through the power of imagination.

Students’ experience(s) will result in a class list of all the different habitats (and microhabitats) that exist within their study site. This will help to guide students (and teachers) in choosing habitats to study further in What Lives Here and We’re Going on an Species Hunt.

Standards (MLR)

Learning Objectives

• Students will be able to create a working definition of a term that may be unfamiliar to them.
• Students will be able to make detailed observations of an environment beyond what they first observe.
• Students will have an understanding of the term “habitat.”

Materials

• Notepaper and pen/pencil for each student
• An imagination!

Time Needed

One class period (40-50 minutes)

Activity Procedure

Define Habitat

1.  Define as a class: “What is a habitat?” To help students form their thinking around this, ask students to individually answer the following questions:

• Do I live in a habitat?
• What is my habitat?
• Do all living things have a habitat?

And then have students write a 1-2 sentence definition of a habitat.

2.  Ask students to share with the class their definitions of habitat. Write these for everyone to see. Work as a class to combine, edit, re-word and create a definition of habitat that the whole class is happy with.

3.  Compare the class definition of habitat with these definitions from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat):

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.

A microhabitat is a smaller habitat within a larger one, for example, a fallen log inside the woods. Beetles and insects tend to live in/on microhabitats, but a log pile in a forest is also a microhabitat as snakes and badgers may live in them.

A human habitat is the environment in which human beings exist and interact. For example, a house is a human habitat, where human beings sleep and eat.

4.  Allow the class time to revise their definition of habitat if they wish. Keep it simple!

Identify Habitats within Your Watershed

This activity is a good opportunity to explore (in person or through imagination) your investigation study site for We’re Going on a Species Hunt. If your study site is easily accessible, get outside! If not, then explore your study site through the power of imagination. This activity will give you directions for both methods.

Get Outside

Note: For ideas and tips about how to create a successful outdoor learning experience for your students, visit VitalVenture’s Taking Students Outside page.

1. Prepare students for going outside and looking beyond what they usually see. Encourage them to think in 4 dimensions. Look up, look down, look over, look under, look inside…
2. Guide students on a walk through the area that that they will be studying. Walk slowly and silently, allowing them opportunity to really think about the environment that they see.
3. Once you have spent time walking through your study area, have students pick a place to sit and journal. Give students 5 minutes to list all of the habitats (and microhabitats) that they observed on their walk.
4. One at a time, ask students to share one habitat that they observed. Continue sharing until you have a list of all the different habitats that the class observed. If you think they’re missing something, then give them a clue(s) of what to look for and guide them through the walk again.
5. Repeat until you are happy that students have observed or thought of all of the habitats within their study area. Create and save this final list of habitats to refer to again during What Lives Here.

Use your Imagination

1. Prep your students for going on an imaginary field exploration of their local watershed habitats. Turn off the classroom lights, ask students to close their eyes, and encourage them to relax and visualize what you describe to them. For some students, they may visualize best by sketching what you describe, or writing thoughts down on paper. Encourage students to do what works best for them. If you have visited your study site prior to this activity, take some photos and share them with the class, this will help them picture what you are describing.
2. Describe (in narrative) to students their experience as they “walk” through their study site. You may want to write out a story in advance to help with this. Here is an example:

“Ah, the sun feels warm on your skin, and the grass dewy beneath your bare feet. The air smells of fresh earth, and you can hear birds in the distance. The grass is getting longer as you near the forest; it is tickling your legs. The brush at the edge of the forest is thick, you push it aside and step into the cool shade of the trees. Now leaves and branches are crunching under your feet. You can hear the trickle of water running in the river, just beyond the downed tree ahead. Once you reach the edge of the river you decide to follow it. Up and over some rocks you climb, until the river widens and the ground beside it gets mushy, muddy, and smelly. The forest is behind you and you can feel the cool breeze blowing off of the open water of the lake in front of you. Ah, this is the perfect place to spend the afternoon.”

3.  After telling the story, give students 5 minutes to write down all of the habitats (and microhabitats) that they thought about as they listened to your story. Encourage them to consider the different habitats that existed around, above, and under the different places they envisioned during your story.

Habitat list for sample story: sky, grass/lawn, underground, field, shrubs, forest, full sun, shade, forest canopy, leaf/debris ground cover, river, rotting log, under rocks, mud, swamp, lake’s edge, lake.

4.  One at a time, ask students to share one habitat that they though of. Continue sharing until you have a list of all the different habitats that the class imagined. If you think they’re missing something, then give them a clue(s) of what to look for and read the story to them again.

5.  Repeat until you are happy that students have imagined or thought of all of the habitats within their study area. Create and save this final list of habitats to refer to again during What Lives Here.

Reflection/Formative Assessment Ideas

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Extension Ideas

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Resources

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References

Wikipedia Habitat Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat