First and foremost, if your school has access to a nature preserve, USE IT! This doesn't happen in every school so if you get the opportunity to use a nature preserve do not pass it up. From there you can do almost anything. Growing up, there was not a single class in elementary or middle school that did not use the preserve for one lesson or another throughout the year. Math lessons can be constructed around finding tree heights or making simple or not so simple measurements. I shouldn't even mention science because almost any science unit can be included; from finding bugs, looking at leaves to watching wildlife and studying fish. I did not like English class in grade school, but when we went to the nature preserve to work on details and write about what we saw, you better believe my papers were great! (Well at least better than normal.) Our nature preserve was unique in that we could also venture out there for Social Studies and look at the ways humans have impacted nature. We studied how our prairie (a former farm field that butts up to the preserve) was changed from that of a forest. We looked at how the very trails we were standing on impacted this little piece of land and so on. Even reading class was fun in the nature preserve. We would go into the prairie, which was almost as tall as us in early elementary, sit down in the middle and get lost in reading a book as a class or better yet, partner read where ever we wanted! Enough about what I did, here are some ideas for you!
Here are some ideas for early elementary teachers:
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1002.html
Actually I am surprised at how few nature preserve lesson plans I could find. The only website I found was the one listed above. I guess I would say the best thing to do is adapt lessons to fit what you need. Students are much more engaged when they are out of the classroom so if you have the time, go outside!
A great nature preserve in Iowa that is close to Des Moines is the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, IA (southeast of Des Moines). The location has great educational programs. More information about the wildlife refuge can be found at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fws.gov/midwest/nealsmith/
http://www.tallgrass.org/
I agree with Kelsey that the Neal Smith Refuge in Prairie City is great. Another great wildlife destination is the Saylorville Visitor Center. The have exhibits of the animals, fish, and reptiles that live around Saylorville Lake. They have speakers come in and present on different issues. It is located near the dam at Saylorville so it could be part of a field trip that involves several areas around Saylorville Lake.
ReplyDeleteI really liked all the different ideas you gave in this blog post. This would be a great opportunity to integrate many subjects by using nature as the main focus. You could do a whole unit that includes some aspect of the nature preserve in each and every subject (both the subjects you mentioned above and others such as art and music) so that they all have a central theme.
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you had to say in your post. I think it is so important to get out of the classroom and live science. I remember being bored in science growing up because we didn't leave the classroom to experience what we were teaching. The few times we actually left, I still remember to this day. I think that a nature preserve could be a great place for elementary students to learn about science in person. And I agree with Nicole in saying that you can use the preserve in so many different subjects as well.
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