Ideal for grade 5, Wetland Ecosystem Unit pack provides 20-25 instructional hours, each of the five unit sections has a suite of resources with common elements:
The unit begins with an introduction; the provided Discussion Cards are a good way to do this. Other unit resources that can be included in the introduction are Discovery Cards and Vocabulary Cards.
Section 1: "What's a Wetland?" is approximately 175 minutes long and includes:
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Introduction Video: Jonathan, our host, gives a quick introduction to wetland types.
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Lesson: What's a Wetland?: This lesson introduces the importance of water and wetlands, different types of wetlands, and how living and non-living things work together.
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Dead or Alive Activity: The outdoors is a great place to investigate living and non-living things and how they interact.
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Wetlands Suck it Up Activity: Students use the scientific method to explore how three wetland materials compare in their ability to hold water, absorb water and allow water to flow through them.
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Video: What's a Wetland?: Wetlands are important today just as they were in historical times. Explore some historical uses for wetlands.
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Do it Yourself Watershed Activity: How do watersheds and wetlands work together and what types of things affect them? Explore some basic functions of wetlands and their relationship to a watershed during a flood.
By the end of section 1 students should be able to:
- Recognize and describe one or more examples of wetland ecosystems found in the local area; e.g., pond, slough, marsh, bog, fen.
- Understand that a wetland ecosystem involves interactions between living and nonliving things, both in and around the water.
Section 2: "What Lives in a Wetland?" is approximately 135 minutes long and includes:
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Introduction Video: Jonathan lists some of the many plants and animals in a wetland, talks about metamorphosis and describes types of plants.
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Lesson: What Will You Find in a Wetland?: This lesson introduces how to identify plants and animals found in a wetland and the life cycles of those plants and animals.
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Drama in the Wetland Activity: This activity will bring out the creative side in students as they learn about and describe the life cycles of different wetland animals.
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Video: What Lives in a Wetland?: Jonathan meets Connie, a naturalist who loves teaching people about nature and teaches Jonathan a thing or two about wetland plants and their adaptations.
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A Key to Wetland Life Activity: This activity will allow students to sharpen their observation skills while exploring characteristics of plants and the smaller creatures of the wetlands.
By the end of section 2 students should be able to:
- Identify some plants and animals found at a wetland site, both in and around the water; and describe the life cycles of these plants and animals.
Section 3: "How Do Plants and Animals Live in a Wetland?" is approximately 135 minutes long and includes:
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Introduction Video: Adaptation! That’s the concept that Jonathan introduces this time.
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Lesson: How do Plants & Animals Live in a Wetland?: This lesson introduces the concept of adaptation, how wetland plants and animals have adapted to their environment, and how plants and animals get oxygen under water.
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Animal Insulation Activity: Students use what they have learned about adaptation to build an experiment that tests an animal’s ability to insulate itself.
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Interesting Invertebrates Activity: As they watch these elusive creatures on video, students see for themselves that wetland invertebrates have fascinating adaptations.
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Video: How do Plants and Animals Live in a Wetland?: Erick is a scientist who is up to his ears in a wetland when Jonathan spots him. Together they discover some interesting animal adaptations while Erick shares his passion for researching wetlands.
By the end of section 3 students should be able to:
- Identify and describe adaptations that make certain plants and animals suited for life in a wetland.
- Understand and appreciate that all animals and plants, not just the large ones, have an important role in a wetland community.
- Recognize that some aquatic animals use oxygen from air and others from water, and identify examples and adaptations of each.
Section 4: "How Do Living Things Interact in a Wetland?" is approximately 135 minutes long and includes:
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Introduction Video: Jonathan introduces students to food chains, food webs and what consumers, producers, and decomposers are.
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Lesson: How do Living Things Interact in a Wetland?: This lesson introduces the roles of different living things in the food chain of a wetland and how to draw and understand food chains and food webs.
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In Living Colour Activity: Students use diagrams to explore the interactions between plants and animals, and put them into food chains and webs.
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Video: What is Happening in the Wetlands?: Jonathan and his artist friend Lorne try to make sense of how the plants and animals in the wetland around them form a huge food web.
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Wild Wetlands Games: Give students a chance to let loose with games designed to reinforce concepts regarding habitat needs, food chains and food webs.
By the end of section 4 students should be able to:
- Identify the roles of different organisms in the food web of a pond:
- Producers: green plants that make their own food, using sunlight.
- Consumers: animals that eat living plants and/or animals.
- Decomposers: organisms, such as molds, fungi, insects and worms that reuse and recycle materials that were formerly living.
- Draw diagrams of food chains and food webs, and interpret such diagrams.
Section 5: "How Do Humans Affect Wetlands?"is approximately 190 minutes long and includes:
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Introduction Video: Jonathan explains how humans can damage as well as restore wetlands.
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Lesson: How Do Humans Affect Wetlands?: This lesson introduces how humans affect wetlands, how changes to one part of an environment can affect the whole environment, and how students can help wetlands grow and survive.
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Support Your Local Wetland Activity: Students consider how to get everyone in on the action as they plan ways to educate themselves and their classmates about threats to wetlands and how everyone can help.
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Video: How Do Humans Affect Wetlands?: Companies plan for restoring wetlands before they even start disturbing land. Jonathan interviews Carla, a land reclamation scientist who works with Syncrude, to find out how some fens are being restored in Alberta’s far north.
The unit ends with the Build-a-Wetland Project, which is divided into four parts taking a total of 140 minutes.
By the end of section 5 students should be able to:
- Identify human actions that can threaten the abundance or survival of living things in wetland ecosystems; e.g., adding pollutants, changing the flow of water, trapping or hunting pond wildlife.
- Identify individual and group actions that can be taken to preserve and enhance wetland habitats.
- Recognize that changes in part of an environment have effects on the whole environment.
