Component One) I applied for this institute knowing that I wanted to involve my ASPEN Club students. ASPEN stands for “aspiring science professionals in the environment and nature.” We meet each week to “study” and plan our monthly Saturday field experiences. We have adopted trails and waterways and donate to wildlife refuges and help the DOW. I wanted to expand our work to include fire ecology and forestry. I never expected to find so many activities and resources for us to use and tie into. I present options/topics to the students and they select what they want to work on. I will present the GreenSchools program to them and hopefully come up with a project to apply for a grant. We will now be able to add a second Saturday field experience focused specifically on fire ecology and forestry. The activities that we do in this group allow the students to practice and become the “experts” and leaders. They always do presentations on Mondays after our trips for their classmates, and I use these students as lab leaders. It is a “train the trainer” opportunity for them and they always do a great job.
Component Two) Each year I always have the students grow a plant of some kind usually beans or flowers. This year I will have them grow pine trees with the goal or replanting them in Waldo Canyon. Thanks for offering the seeds, and the suggestion of getting more grow lights from the sheriff’s office. During the first week of school we will use the “good fire/bad fire” topic to process what happened this summer in our community. I hope to see the perspective that fire just “is” develop in the students. I give homework every night and on the weekends and have 95% complete it. One of our first writing activities will be tied to the “good fire/bad fire” discussion. I plan on using this homework time to try some of the family activities that are among our resources. In September, we also do an annual team/interdisciplinary ride up the Pikes Peak Cog railway mainly as a social studies activity. This year I will be able to add in observations of the fire scar, and have the students look for different ages of tree stands that might indicate previous fires. There is a point in the return trip down the mountain when we have to get on a side track and wait for the uphill train to go by, so we get to get off the train and walk through the forest. While we are waiting, I will have the students participate in the regeneration activity that we used. The skills of thinking like a scientist are the objective for the first two weeks of school and I am going to use tree cookies to practice the skill of observing and for the skill of making models I will use the matchstick forest activity. The other significant benefit that I have already started on is the use of one of my walls as teaching space. I have been going through the posters and have a design idea for my green wall. I decorate my walls for content and learning. I am also going to change my “All Star” bulletin board. When students do quality work, get an A on a quiz or test, have no missing work, good lab write-ups, etc. they would get a star with their name and accomplishment on it to hang on the board. I haven’t come up with a catchy name for the bulletin board of honor but I am going to use trees instead of stars and we are going to repopulate the forest.
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Fire Ecology Lesson Plans-SH
Monday
Learning Objective: Learners will map the boundaries of the San Juan River watershed (Wolf Creek Pass to Navajo Lake) and determine the extent of its forest cover. Understand the relationship between forests, fire, and water.
Social Studies Standards: History 1.b, Geography 1.a & b, Economics 2.e
Learning Activity:
- 10 minute attention grabber. Define “watershed.” Ask where our water comes from. No wrong answers. Discuss briefly. Watch this short video (1.5 min) that defines “watershed” and reviews water cycle terms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptVasZziom8&feature=fvst
- 40 minute map activity, part 1. Students seated with partners. Begin “Your Watershed” activity in PLT’s Focus on Forests, p 109. Materials needed are appropriate copies of San Juan Forest / Archuleta County map (Southwest Colorado Recreation Topo Map), tracing paper, clear tape and colored pencils. Complete steps 1 through 5.
- 10 minute wrap up. Store materials/projects. Ask about relationship between forests and water. Watch short video (5 min) about the Cerro Grande Fire and the Los Alamos / Santa Fe reservoirs, raising lots of good questions for tomorrow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BWyj1lFojA
Tuesday
Learning Objective: Learners will map the boundaries of the San Juan River watershed (Wolf Creek Pass to Navajo Lake) and determine the extent of its forest cover. Understand relationship of forests, fire, and water.
Social Studies Standards: History 1.b, Geography 1.a & b, Economics 2.e
Learning Activity:
- 15 minute attention grabber. Ask about students’ memories of the summer of 2012 fires, including Pagosa’s Little Sand Fire. Where were you on July 26? View short video (4 min) about Waldo Canyon Fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9oTU4noWNU&feature=related
- 40 minute map activity, completion. Students seated with partners. Complete “Your Watershed” activity in PLT’s Focus on Forests, p 109. Materials needed are appropriate copies of San Juan Forest / Archuleta County map (Southwest Colorado Recreation Topo Map), tracing paper, clear tape and colored pencils. Complete steps 6 through 9.
- 5 minute wrap up / store projects. (Student maps will be eventually be displayed on wall. Colored pencil on tracing paper against white bulletin board paper.)
Wednesday
Learning Objective: Learners will demonstrate comprehension of the relationship between forests, fire, and water.
Social Studies Standards: History 1.b, Geography 1.a & b, Economics 2.e
Learning Activity:
- 10 minute attention grabber. What do forest fires do to streams and rivers, our water supplies? Define PAWS, Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edfpfPsGO94
- 45 minute. Distribute “Sebago Lake Watershed Case Study” student pages from PLT’s Focus on Forests, pp. 110-111. Preread discussion questions. Students popcorn read the case study. Take notes on discussion question side. Explore how many stakeholders, landowners, uses claim our San Juan River watershed that supplies our domestic water and whose responsibility it is to keep it safe. Refer to our completed mapping experience and what we learned.
- 5 minute wrap up. Collect papers. Distribute Friday’s field trip papers (reverse permission).
Thursday
Learning Objective: Students analyze the effects of wild land fires.
Social Studies Standards: History 1.b, Geography 1.a, Economics 2.e
Learning Activity:
- 15 minutes. Students in small groups of 4-6. Large paper and colored markers available on desks. Write WILD LAND FIRE in the center of the paper and create a web, concept map of consequences of fire.
- 20 minutes. View and discuss “Two Sides of Fire.”
- 20 minutes. Students add to concept web about consequences of fires. Hang and briefly describe.
- 5 minutes. Q and A about tomorrow’s field trip. Reverse permission papers available if needed. Parents are welcome.
Friday (early release at 1:30)
Learning Objective: Students experience the Little Sand Fire site with USFS guides and the PAWS water treatment and sewage treatment plant with PAWS guides.
Social Studies Standards: History 1.b, Geography 1.a, Economics 2.e, Civics 8.2.e & g
Learning Activity:
- Load school bus at 8. Arrive at Little Sand site about 8:45, guided by our local USFS professionals. Hike into fire site. Discuss the fire experience with maps. Ask relevant questions about the fire, and our water, the Piedra, Williams Lake. Ask about early decisions to “steer” the fire to the north and let it burn. Leave site about 10:30.
- Arrive PAWS about 11:15. Picnic lunch at Xeriscape Garden. Discussion of fire safety and creating safe neighborhoods, yards, homes. Q and A.
- Tour water treatment facility, waste water facility about 12:00. Q and A. Arrive back at school about 1:20 to catch buses home at 1:30.
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Curriculum Implementation, NB
Curriculum Implementation, NB
For the 2012-2013 school year Fire Ecology will be taught for the duration of the first quarter for students ninth through twelfth grade. This will be part of their Science credit using CDE state standards, in particular; Explain and illustrate with examples how living systems interact with the biotic and abiotic environment. Instruction will also be reiterated in math and English lessons. The unit will be taught in a day treatment setting with special education students with a wide range of disabilities and academic levels. The overarching theme that this unit will provide to the students is the basic understanding of fire ecology and its importance in our state’s ecosystem. Students will be able to identify and express the effects of fires, uses of mitigation, a healthy forest, and practical applications for our city and surrounding wildland-urban interface. Materials used to teach this unit include; Pre K-6 Environment Education Activity Guide, Global Connections: Forests of the World, and Exploring Environment Issues: Focus on Forests. These books will be used the most for lessons and activities but pamphlets, stories, movies, etc. provided during the FEI will also be utilized.
Since fire ecology has already been taught in this school many of the challenges that were faced have already been resolved. The new addition this year to the unit will be the high school students teaching the principles of fire ecology to an elementary class. There may be challenges in scheduling and implementation because the teacher for that classroom resigned and new bonds will need to be formed before the two classrooms can work together again. The overview of the activities, lessons, field trips, etc. is as follows. Alternate activities and supplementation will be decided throughout the course of the unit based on student assessment.
Section 1: Introduction- Students will receive an overview of the unit
· FEI Explanation and PowerPoint
· Fire Words and Clichés
· Native American “Origin of Fire” stories
· Fire Suppression Timeline
· Smokey the Bear story and suppression impact
· Movie: “Fire Wars”
Section 2: Fire Ecology Lessons: Students will learn about the basics of fire ecology
· The Fire Triangle and “Understanding Fire”
· “Living with Fire”
· “Fire Management”
· Movies: “2 Sides of Fire” and “Wildfire! Preventing Home Ignitions”
· “The Crisis in Our Forests”
· “Invasive Species”
· Mountain Pine Beetle
· “Tree Factory”
· “Tree Cookies”
· “Every Tree For Itself”
· “Trees in Trouble”
· “Old Growth Forests”
· “400-Acre Wood”
· “Mapping the World’s Forests”
Section 3: Experiments: Students will use experimentation as a follow-up to classroom lessons
· Matchstick Forest Experiment
· Wildland Home Fire Risk Meter
· Preparation to use the Colorado Native Tree Guide during field trips
Section 4: Real Life Applications
· Field Trip to Hayman burn area
o Waldo Canyon Wildfire observation and discussion
o Fire Ecology activities in a real life setting
o Wildland Home Fire Risk Meter
o Colorado Native Tree Guide
Section 5: Assessment and Peer Expansion: Students will take a unit test and teach lessons to an Elementary class
· Fire Ecology Unit Test
· “Understanding Fire”
· “Every Tree for Itself”
· Fire Bingo
Section 6: Environmental Education: Students will expand their learning to include all of our natural resources
· “Renewable or Not?”
· “Making Consumer Choices”
· “Viewpoints on the Line”
· “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”
· “Every Drop Counts”
· “A Peek at Packaging”
· Making “Green” houses with fire safe materials
By having the high school students teach the material to the elementary classroom, this will enable us to expand the use of this material to benefit multiple grade levels. This will hopefully incite other grade level teachers to adopt this material as a more in depth unit in following school years. Once the school begins to use the PLT fire ecology material as a whole, I would like to look into borrowing one of the fire trunks. In addition to using the curriculum across elementary and high school, Steve Jennings and I have spoken about providing training to teachers in our school and to our member districts. Pikes Peak BOCES provides special education services to all of the districts in the Pikes Peak region but our member districts, which are made up of the rural districts, receive additional support. Steve and I would like to bring mapping and GIS applications to these rural districts along with our alternatives schools.
Overall goals for the unit this school year are to continue to educate our students about the positive effects of wildland fire to our ecosystems, the need for mitigation in our community, and for the students to be able to communicate their understanding of fire ecology to a younger audience. Our more long term goals are to incorporate the use of mapping and GIS applications throughout the Pikes Peak BOCES and to have the PLT teaching materials used more on a school-wide level.
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Fire Ecology Lesson Plan and Curriculum Implementation By AB
Context Introduction:
The following lesson plan and curriculum implementation abstract will be used for a 6th grade science application. Although I will be teaching high school out of the country beginning this school year to develop a diverse educational portfolio, I plan on returning to Colorado Public Schools or Colorado Outdoor Education beginning August 2013. At that time, the information in this lesson plan will be used.
Themes:
1) Everything in an ecosystem has a unique role, or niche, and fire is a natural and important part of the Colorado ecosystem.
2) Humans play an important role, both beneficial and harmful, in Colorado’s ecosystem.
3) The relationship between wildfire, nature, and people throughout Colorado and the west is dynamic.
Materials:
· Project Learning Tree Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide
· PLT Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Forrests
· “Fire on the Mountain” by John N Maclean
· “Fire and Ashes” by John N Maclean
· “Firewars, Join the Front Lines of America’s War on Wildfire.” NOVA video
· ‘National Enquirer, Wildland Fire Edition’
· Various publications, news sources, and reports
· Fire blanket
· Retardant
· Paper and writing utensils
Sample Outdoor Education Lesson Plan
Sample Outdoor Education Lesson Plan
3-Day Residential Program
Grade 6
Concept Map
Students will construct a concept map on what they already know about fire, placing positive aspects of fire on one side and negative aspects of the other. This will be a great transition into the development and introduction of a theme.
Subjects: Science, Language Arts
Introduce Theme
“Fire: Friend or Foe?” This is a simple, easy to remember theme that can keep students guessing the entire week.
Introduce Fire Triangle
The instructor will remove a lighter from their pocket and ask students what three things in the lighter are responsible for making it light. Of course, lighter fluid is the fuel, flint is the heat source, and oxygen. Students will brainstorm similar examples for a wildfire situation and record them.
Subjects: Science, Language Arts
Examining Fuel Types, PLT Handbook Activity #61, The Closer You Look.
Students will understand more about the structure and function of trees, increasing their knowledge of the fuels portion of the fire triangle.
Subjects: Science, Visual Arts, Language Arts
Fire Tools Relay Race
Students will break into teams and perform a relay race station by station of various fuels. For example, one station might require a student to put on a fire shelter as quickly as possible, another to drop ‘fire retardant’ on a sand hill with a spoon gathered across the room, and a final station of matching tool types. Such as Pulaski, etc with their proper names.
Subjects: Science, Physical Fitness, Humanities
Themes met: 2) Humans play an important role, both beneficial and harmful, in Colorado’s ecosystem.
Involvement of Others Within School: If this activity were being performed in a more formal educational setting, such as a public school, than perhaps the gym teacher could be involved, meeting standards for physical fitness.
Experimentation with Fire
Fireboards
Students will examine how particular factors, including slope and presence of ladder fuels affect wildfire spread and probability. Students will construct fire boards as identical as possible while leaving only one variable different at a time, such as slope or quantity of ladder fuels.
Subjects: Science, Humanities
Safety considerations: When using fire, a fireman should be present. Also, hair should be tied back, safety goggles, gloves, and proper safety equipment should be used. Only one fire should be lit at a time.
Challenges: When working with fire and students, the behavioral and maturity level of students must be addressed first. If students are not mature enough, this activity should not be performed.
Conclusion: Concept Re-Mapping
Students will re-visit the concept maps they constructed at the beginning of the lesson and add things they learned after the curriculum was delivered.
Subject: Science, Language Arts
Standards Met: Colorado State Science Standard 3, Sixth Grade: Complex interrelationships exist between Earth’s structure and natural processes that over time are both destructive and constructive
Additional Resources, Materials, and People
The Keystone Science School contains a wide variety of existing resources. Also, local fire officials will make excellent guest speakers.
Mapping and GIS Applications
I look forward to partnering with technology officials to develop mapping and GIS applications in conjunction with existing curriculum.
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FEI Implementation Ideas by KD
FEI Implementation Ideas by KD
I am so excited, but man, there is so much good stuff to go thru to accurately create lessons to supplement or supercede my district unit plans. The papers are done, but the work continues. Thanks again for all you do!
Overarching Theme: Fire is a natural process that shapes many forest ecosystems.
Resources/Materials: Various maps, Environmental Education Activity Guide, PLT Focus on Risk, PLT Focus on Forests,
Subject: 6th grade Social Studies
Standards: 2, Geography
-Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
-Examine places and regions and connections among them
Guiding Question: How is fire positive?
Projects/Activities/Lessons: PLT Focus on Forests Activity 5.
Guest Speakers/Field Trips: Lisa Mason
Community Involvement: N/A, but would like to do some work in the new park being built across the street from school. Will look into that.
Mapping/GIS: I still need help on how/when/where to include GPS use. Could we create a map of this new park? Have a scavenger hunt in that park? I’ll get in touch with Steve J.
I will be teaching 6th grade Social Studies in Longmont, Colorado. I have never taught this grade or content before. In the sixth grade curriculum, a full-length fire ecology unit would go best in the first of the St. Vrain Valley School District’s unit plans. This unit plan is called Geographic Concepts and lasts 9 weeks, from August to October. It is centered around students being able to understand maps, perspectives and making connections. Students are to master the use of geographic tools to solve problems and the way human and physical systems vary and interact. I would like to revisit fire ecology in unit two, as well. This is when SVVSD students learn about the physical geography of the United States and Canada, current issues and challenges. Then again in the last unit, Russia, we can once again revisit fire ecology. Russia struggles with peat bog fires.
There are so many resources from our recent Fire Ecology Institute to go through and still much for me to learn. I will start with a comprehensive lesson from Project Learning Tree’s Focus on Forests: Activity 5. We will do all the activities in a a two week period. Hopefully between now and then, I will have expanded this lesson to include maps, mapping and GPS. Yet so far, this is how it begins: Students will read pages 91-94 for homework, and then participate in a discussion using the questions given. Then students will pair/share read the Yellowstone Case Study and complete a double bubble (better than a Venn diagram) noticing similarities and differences between 1988 and 2009. Students will share out. Next we will discuss prescribed burns and hopefully have Lisa M speak to us about the Upper North Fork Fire. After our guest speaker, students will participate in activity 7 of PLT’s Focus on Risk (with a brief intro to risk and risk assessment).
This lesson is heavy on analysis, problem-solving and risk taking. I don’t quite understand the Decision Matrix yet, but will spend more time on it and discuss it with Janet. I am toying with a research project on Natural Hazards in the Urban/Wildland Interface using the ESRI layered mapping, which I will need help with also.
I have ordered several books recommended by you and our speakers. Currently, I am reading Wild Fire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. I have also emailed Thomas in the hope that he and I can get together before school starts; we teach the same content, grade level and standards. There is much more planning to be done in order to incorporate all I can on fire ecology and the health of our forests into my curriculum. I am looking forward to this immensely. What a gift FEI gave me. Thank you for the opportunity!
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Lesson Plan by SP
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Lesson Plan by SP
As a specialist at Rio Grande School my job is to enrich the curriculum already in place. For this year I plan to add at least one PLT activity into each grade level I work with during one of the units they already study. Along with that I will add something about fire into each grade. I know this does not look like and traditional lesson plans with standards and all that jazz. This format is more useful for me. I am printing this and putting it in the front of my plan book to make sure they happen. I will be working closely with our science teacher and classroom teachers to integrate experiential-environmental lessons into what is already being taught.
Early Childhood: Adopt a Tree #21
With the help of our fifth and sixth grade mentors, we will adopt trees on our campus. Throughout the year we will do different activities with the trees such as: drawing the trees in each season, writing about the trees, naming the tree (type of tree and a made up name), measure trees (with help of mentor), tree bark rubbings, draw a map of how to get to the tree… (not sure about the fire part right now – maybe use the tree cookie with the fire scar and the plastic bag demo to show how trees heal from fires.)
Kindergarten: Tree Cookies activity #76
Goal – learn about tree rings and practice counting.
Using the awesome box of tree cookies given to me by Shawna, I will introduce how trees grow and make a record of it. Each group of 2 or 3 will get a cookie and count the rings. After they will be given a round piece of paper and make their own tree cookie. On the back of the paper I will have written “This tree is__ years old.
First: Peppermint Beetle #3 using the ips or mountain Pine beetle as one of the examples.
Goal- Students will learn some facts about ips and mountain pine beetle and practice working together as scent driven beings finding a home and a mate (friends) through smells.
The first graders do a unit on arthropods so this activity will fit into the end of the unit. Before the activity we will read some of the Mountain Pine beetle book and look at the specimen of the beetle. I will use Lisa Mason’s powerpoint of Buford the Beetle as part of the lesson. We will be given a scent in a jar (orange extract or clove – something that smells good – pheromones (not farts)). Tags will be set up throughout the playground acting as the scent trail to the tree where the female beetle is living. During the debrief we will talk about some of the dangers of beetle damaged trees and the potential of fire in these regions.
Second: Aspen hike with fire safety lunch. This field trip has been a tradition for 2nd graders for several years. We go up to the aspens when they are changing colors in the fall. Before the trip I will brief them on 4 main trees (aspen, spruce, fir, and pine – using the square spiny spruce – friendly flat fir – pointy packages pine) they will find there and how to identify them. At the end of the hike we will use the fire rings at the campground to build a fire, learn about fire safety, learn the 3 elements of fire, and cook hot dogs over the coals. If we find any serotinous cones we will try to open them in the campfire.
Before the trip we will use some of the resources from activity #80 Nothing succeeds like succession.
I have been wanting to adapt this trip for several years and now, with all the information I gathered at the FEI, I feel much more knowledgeable and prepared for this.
Third: Trees of New Mexico and
Third: Trees of New Mexico and
Goal – Students will be able to identify the major trees in our region (Aspen, Cottonwood, Pinon Pine, and Rocky Mountain Juniper).
During the study of NM History in 3rd grade we will take a day to use the GPS units to do some dendrology of the native trees on our campus. I will set waypoints at several trees for students to find. When the waypoint is found the students will have a guide to help them identify the trees.
Lesson #2 for Third grade
People of the Forest #17
Using these activity students will learn how people and forests have learned to live together. We will then discuss our forests in New Mexico, where are our forests, what problems they are facing, fires role in the forest, and how we can help make sure we have forests.
Fourth: Fire and the Forest overnight at Valles Caldera Science Center.
Fourth: Fire and the Forest overnight at Valles Caldera Science Center.
This will be our second year doing this trip. We visit an old growth forest, play games to learn about succession, and learn about the cycle of the forest. This year I will adapt the forest health monitoring activity #1 in the PLT focus on Forests book, or use an adaptation of Field, Forest and Stream #48. Students will be divided into 4 groups – each with an adult as part of the group, to look at: forest health, forest diversity, soil quality, and regeneration. With the help of adults and proper briefing I think the 10 year olds will be able to enjoy and learn a lot about the forest through this activity.
Last year we used the Matchstick Forest activity during this trip and it was amazing. I will be sure to do it again.
Fifth: By the Rivers Of Babylon #94
Goal – students will link social studies and science curriculums and learn about resources role in civilizations rise and decline.
The fifth grade studies the 5 themes of geography in social studies and water in science during the first trimester. I will use this activity to end the unit using what they have learned about human geography and resources. Issues such as drought, natural disaster (fire), conservation, forest use, and general environment will be discussed. To debrief the activity we will use Viewpoints on the Line #19.
Sixth: Invasive Species #12
Goal – Students will learn about native, non-native, and invasive species. They will learn about invasive characteristics, how to prevent them, and then use our learning during our “adopt a river” service project.
The sixth grade is our river stewards’ class. They take monthly walks to the Santa Fe River to check the health and to clean it up. Along with the book resources where we will learn about Gypsy Moths, Tamarisk, and Zebra Mussels, we will also use the director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association to teach us about the invasives along our stretch of the river and spend some time dealing with the weeds.
The sixth grade class does a 4 day trip at the end of the year and we have campfires each night. During this time I will spend more time talking about the fire triangle and basic fire safety.
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Content Area: Social Studies
Content Area: Science
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Curriculum Implementation Ideas by BR
Last spring my district, MCVSD #51, moved to implement Career and Technical Education and had all of the district’s Technology & Engineering teachers complete the needed coursework to apply for CTE credentials. The application process was completed during the last week of the school year and I received my credential over the summer. I am sure that this means that changes are in store for what and how we Technology & Engineering teachers teach. We do not know if standards will change or what else may change. Because of this period of flux I am choosing to go with the curriculum implementation idea route rather than create actual lesson plans, which may or may not be in a useable form.
My plans for implementing what I experienced during the Fire Ecology Institute can be placed into three basic categories: Exploration of careers related to wildfire, wildlife management (specifically the fish hatchery) and forest management, Exploration of the technology related to wildfire, wildlife management (specifically the fish hatchery) and forest management, the use of GPS and GIS technologies would fit in here, and finally, and this one might seem a little strange, brain storming designs for future technology for any of the above. Following are some ideas for how I might accomplish these goals.
The introduction to this unit will be in the form of a discussion of the fires that the state experienced this summer including the Waldo Canyon Fire, High Park Fire and the Pine Ridge Fire, many of my students probably saw the huge smoke plume from this one. From this introduction I’ll lead into the fact that Mr. Baskin, Mr. Whalin and I were able to attend the Fire Ecology Institute over the summer and we would like to share what we learned. In Technology & Engineering we will be focusing on the careers and technology that we learned about.
At this point the class, in small groups, will complete some form of pre-assessment such as a KWL or concept map on which they can list what they know about the topic. These small group reports will then be shared with the class.
In order to expand the students’ knowledge base they will watch a slideshow that I am creating with photos from the FEI, magazine and newspaper articles, internet resources and video resources including Fire Wars.
Students, working in pairs (I only have 15 computers) will use Inspiration software to create a new concept map in which they concentrate only on the various jobs that they have learned about and/or the technology that they have seen used, everything from the Pulaski to the helicopter. I think that I might have one half of the groups focus on jobs and the other half focus on the tools or technologies that they have seen. Again teams will present their concept maps to the class via the digital projector. After the presentations we will create a master concept map. Student teams will then chose topics from the master concept map to complete further research on, either jobs or technology.
After further research students will create an informative PowerPoint presentation on their topic to share with the class. I will develop some sort of summative assessment based on these student presentations.
The information gathered during our visit to the fish hatchery will most likely have to be presented in a much shorter format yet to be determined.
One of the things we do quite frequently in my class is brainstorm inventions, or future technology. Along these lines we will come up with several scenarios based on what we have learned and students will brainstorm inventions that could be used in some way related to the topic. This activity gives students freedom to use their imagination to solve problems. These inventions could be something to help predict or prevent fires, how to carry out prescribed burns, fight fires, make fighting fires safer, reclaim land after a fire(I would introduce BAER reports at this point), the numbers of things that are possible are almost unlimited. Students will design some kind of presentation to share their ideas/inventions with the rest of the class.
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Lesson plan by CB
Audience: 7th – 12th grade Mathematics
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Goal: Use maps of fires to estimate area and discuss error.
Message: Mathematics is used to calculate the size of fires
CO State Standards:
Standard: 4. Shape, Dimension, and Geometric Relationships
Materials:
Rulers
Maps of fires with scale and known area
· Maps can be obtained by web search
· Maps can be printed from inciweb.org
· Maps can be created using GIS or other software
Lesson Prep:
1. Print maps of a fire. Make sure you know the actual area and have the scale for the picture.
2. Have rulers available for student use.
3. Divide the class into small groups so each has a fire map and at least one ruler.
Day of Lesson:
1. Give the students an overview of the activity.
2. Hand out a map to each group.
3. Have each group estimate the area of the fire.
4. Each group reports back to the class, the area and how they obtained it.
5. Discuss why the numbers might be different.
6. Give the students the official area and have them calculate their group’s error.
7. Discuss why their number may not match the official area.
Extensions:
1. Average the groups’ areas and compare to official area.
2. Use different techniques to calculate the area.
3. Have some groups find the area with polygons which are completely outside of the burn and others find the area using polygons which are completely inside of the burn. Then average the two. This leads eventually to the concept of finding the area under a curve with rectangles.
4. Use GIS to create maps.
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Lesson Plan by JB
Tree Identification and the use of GPS units
Standards: Physical Education Standards:
1. Students demonstrate competent skills in a variety of physical activities and sports.
2. Students demonstrate competency in physical fitness.
3. Students demonstrate the knowledge of factors important to participation in physical activity.
Grade level: 6th – 8th
What I want them to know: Students will be able to navigate school grounds using a GPS.
While navigating students will identify Colorado native species trees on campus.
How will I know they know it: I will know students have gained the knowledge via multiple avenues.
1. Question and Answer conversations
2. Written assessment
3. Quizzes
4. Homework / classwork
What will I do if they already know it: After clarifying knowledge I will allow students to create
a scavenger hunt for Colorado tree species with the use of GPS units.
What will I do if they do not know it: If students are struggling with gaining knowledge I will
work with them in small groups or one on one to develop skills in either Colorado tree
identification or how to use of GPS.
Materials needed: GPS units (30) on loan from Division of Parks and Wildlife, Colorado Native
Tree Guide and Dichotomous key (Colorado State Forest Service), and Trees of Colorado
Field Guide (Stan Tekiela).
This unit / lesson plan will integrate multiple subject areas. 1st I will integrate science via the
Colorado Tree identification. I can also introduce the idea of dendrochronology. 2nd I will work
with my Computers teacher and develop some GIS applications. The overarching theme is I
want students to realize that we as a race are responsible not only for ourselves but more
importantly we are part of a much larger picture, nature. If we do not begin to pay attention to
our surroundings and take responsibility for our own actions we as a whole could face dire
straits. I am not interested in scaring them I just want them to think about their actions and what
they can do to make this world that much better.
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Lesson Plans/Curriculum Implementation Ideas by CB
Theme: My overall theme is to get my students outside and to have them become more aware of the forest and their surroundings.
Standard: 4th Grade, Science Standard #2
Sc.4.2.3.d Create and evaluate models of the flow of living and non-living components and resources throughout the ecosystem.
District Goal: 80% of 5th grade students will be proficient on the Colorado Transitional Assessment Program (TCAP). 4th grade is a critical year to help students with scientific vocabulary and thinking skills.
Activities: My lesson plan and curriculum implementation ideas involve the “Forest Health Summary” that we had the opportunity to experience in our field trip to the forest near Sunlight. I am planning to take my students on a monthly exploration of the wooded areas near our school. We will check one forest health indicator each month. Prior to the field trip, my students will need a lot of vocabulary and background knowledge. (I anticipate 85-90% of my 4th grade student population to be ESL.) To develop vocabulary, I will assign words to partners and have them responsible for teaching the word to the rest of the class. They may use pictures, gestures, and descriptions to help clarify the meaning. All students will be required to take 3 column notes-
1) Word, pronunciation and part of speech
2) Picture
3) Definition and 4th grade sentence.
We will thoroughly review the Forest Health Indicator prior to the field trip.
Shawna, as you mentioned, students will need a lot of structure and guidance to ensure success in this activity.
Along with the science standards, I will be teaching new vocabulary, how to make sense of the student pages, and numerous math skills. Students will be using tape measures to measure the radius of their plot. They will also need to decide on their data collection method and how to calculate their results. Students will also have the opportunity to do some journaling about their discoveries. In addition, Cooperation among group members will be a key to success.
Materials: Science journals including vocabulary
Student page for Forest Health Indicator
Writing utensils
Tape measure
Calculator
Good cooperative attitude
Water Bottle
Challenges: I will need to be very clear about behavior and student expectations. It is my responsibility to set my students up for success-academically and behaviorally. My plan includes being in contact with the local Forest Service to provide expertise and assist with supervision.
I am relying on my students to be able to hike to our forest location on a regular basis. Weather may prove to be a challenge and school bus service is cost prohibitive. I will have to promote fitness with my students and look for alternatives if necessary.
Additional Support: Within my school community, I work closely with my team teacher. In addition, I have a mentor and master teacher that may be able to accompany us on trips. I plan to see what resources are available through the Forest Service, BLM, Division of Wildlife and the local CSU Extension Office.
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Lesson Plans by RG
Geographic Forests
Grade Level –5th
Subject(s) –
Geography & Science
Big Understanding –
This lesson is designed to teach students about forests as a renewable resource.
Materials Needed –
· Tree cookies (cross sections) or tree core samples
· Computer lab with the ArcGIS/ESRI mapping software
· Google maps virtual tour of forests in the United States
· GoogleTrek worksheet
· BOOKS....
· Fire Wars the documentary
· Poster paper
· Colored markers
· Our Changing Forests PowerPoint
· Student science notebooks
Colorado State Standards –
Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level Expectations: Fifth Grade
Standard: 2. Geography
Concepts and skills students master:
1. Use various geographic tools and sources to answer questions about the geography of the United States
Evidence Outcomes
Students Can:
a) Answer questions about regions of the United States using various types of maps (DOK 1-2)
b) Use geographic tools to identify, locate, and describe places and regions in the United States and suggest reasons for their location (DOK 1-3)
c) Locate resources in the United States and describe the influence of access on the development of local and regional communities (DOK 1-3)
Content Area: Science
Grade Level Expectations: Fifth Grade
Standard: 3. Earth Systems Science
Concepts and skills students master:
1. Earth and Sun provide a diversity of renewable and nonrenewable resources
Evidence Outcomes
Students Can:
a) Develop and communicate a scientific explanation addressing a question of local relevance about resources generated by the sun or Earth (DOK 1-3)
b) Analyze and interpret a variety of data to understand the origin, utilization, and concerns associated with natural resources (DOK 1-3)
Lesson Objectives –
Students will gain a basic understanding of fire and the role it plays in our forests.
Students will use ArcGIS to locate and map forests in Colorado and the United States.
Students will learn about forests as a renewable and manageable resource.
Students will learn various ways in which we manage our forests.
Engagement –
Students will be put into groups in the classroom and then asked to create a concept map using the words “FOREST” and “FIRE” as starting points. They will be asked to write anything and everything that comes to their minds when thinking about forests, fire, or a combination of the two. This will act as a pre-assessment of sorts to gauge the students background and knowledge in these two areas. Teacher and students will lead a Socratic seminar/class discussion regarding the concept maps that they created. Towards the end, teacher will guide discussion towards renewable resources and how we manage forests to sustain these renewable resources. Students will watch segments from the documentary Fire Wars by NOVA.
Investigation –
Students will be taught from a short PowerPoint that is about how our forests have changed over time and what causes them to continue to change in today's world. Student discussion will follow about the impacts of today on the forests and trees. Students will be given tree cookies or tree core samples and will learn how to determine age and history of the tree. They will record their findings in their science notebooks. Students will then go to the computer lab and take a virtual tour or GoogleTrek on forests in Colorado and the United States. The GoogleTrek will take thru to logging sites, the USFS, the Colorado State Forest Service, fire websites, and etc. Students will complete the GoogleTrek worksheet as they progress through the assignment.
Lesson Closure –
Students will use ArcGIS/ESRI mapping software to look at how forests have changed over time. Teacher will have prepared relevant .shp files for the students to load onto their maps. After the investigation, teacher will lead a wrap-up unit discussion on forests as renewable resources and the different impacts on the forests today.
One of the materials that I will need to procure for this lesson will be the tree cross sections. I think I am going to cut down some Russian Olive trees that will provide me with some basic tree cookies but I will also try to get my hands on some cross sections that show.
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Lesson Plans by CG
Art Project Connections with PYP/IB Planners Units of Inquiry from what I learned at the FEI Teacher Workshop for the grade levels of kindergarten, 3rd grade, and 4th grade
Kindergarten- TREES (under How the World Works Planner) (What they are learning about in the classroom) Theme
4 ½ hour art class periods
Materials- white copy paper, crayons, sticks, multi-colored scratch paper,
2 children’s stories, tree cards, Blue Spruce Poster, Trees of Colorado Field Guide, PLT Activity Guide.
*Children’s literature – read and discuss- A Tree is Nice by Janice Udry
-The Color Tree by D. B. Minnerly
*Tree Cards – Use Lodgepole Pine, Quaking Aspen, Colorado Blue Spruce , show, discuss, compare shapes. * Use Blue Spruce Poster, show discuss display for reference. * Trees of Colorado Field Guide by Stan Tekiela use for pictures to display, compare, and discuss.
**PLT Activity #21 Adopt a Tree – Getting Ready – My Tree Smells Like, My Tree Feels Like, My Tree Looks Like… shape, color, line, texture.
Identify their adopted tree. Do this activity on playground looking at the 3 tree types on playground, Blue Spruce, Quaking Aspen, and Lodgepole Pines.
*Art Projects-Kindergarteners will then create:
*Tree Rubbings of Bark of their adopted tree.
*A sketch of their adopted tree using multi-color scratch paper and a stick.
Colorado Visual Art Standard - #3, Concepts and skills students master-
Create 2 and 3 dimensional works of art based on personal relevance.
Summit School District Curriculum concepts- Line, Shape, Colors, Textures.
3rd Grade Life Cycles – INSECTS – Planner (What they are learning about in their classroom) (Mountain Pine Beetle) Theme
3 – 1 hour classes
Materials:
Children’s Story – Read and discuss -A Year in the Life of Buford the Mountain Pine Beetle by Buford the Mountain Pine Beetle.
Egg Bark Galleries, beetle in bottle, Insect & Shrubs Mountain Pine Beetle Sheet from CSU Extension that was in our folder, paper, pencils, black Sharpie markers, watercolor paints, brushes. Blue stain tree cookies of lodgepole pine. Tree cookies from Courtney for Capitol Christmas Tree.
Colorado Reader – Tree Rings page – back page
Take 3rd graders outside to look at Lodgepole Pine Trees on playground and look at pitch tubes, signs of infestation of mountain pine beetle, and degrees of dying trees. Up close and in the distance.
*PLT Activity #76 Tree Cookies
Colorado Reader back page – Tree Ring read and do activity Message in the Tree Rings
** Art Project- Have 3rd graders draw a tree cookie that will have blue stain and larvae still feeding on the inner bark. Use page 15 from A Year in the Life of a Mountain Pine Beetle as a guide.
*PLT Activity #63 Tree Factory – Have students being the layers and wrapping around outside so they can understand where the larvae live under the bark.
**Art Project – Have 3rd grade students decorate the tree cookies for the Capitol Christmas Tree with various tints and tones of blue to look like blue stain and also paint the larvae under the bark.
Colorado Visual Art Standard #3 –Demonstrate the ability to experiment with traditional and contemporary media and technologies.
Summit School District Curriculum Concepts- Cool Colors, drawing, painting, line, pattern, texture (on the back of the mountain pine beetle).
Discuss the role of wildfire with the mountain pine beetle epidemic as on page 16 of A Year in the Life of a Mountain Pine Beetle.
4th Grade- Colorado Studies, Natural Disasters PYP Planner (What they are learning about in their classroom)
4 – 1 hour classes
Theme
Wildfire
Natural and man caused wildfires
Good/bad fires
Effects of fire
Materials: Colorado State Map, The Book of Fire 2nd Edition by William Cottrell Jr.
Pgs. 33 Part 3 Fire in Forests, Part 4 Aftermath and Campfire Story – pg 64
The Charcoal Forest – How Fire Helps Animals and Plants by Beth Peluso
The Poster Fire’s Role in Nature – Rocky Mountain Aspen-Conifer
Fire and the Changing Land Brochure from US Forest Service
Colorado Fires Paper from the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture
Colorado Reader from the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture
Articles – Coming Through Fire and Water, and The Dirty Work Rehabilitation after Fire
Activity – Word Search finding and circling the 13 words
*PLT Activity #81 Living with Fire
*Fire Connection Activity – The word Fire in the center- connections unexpected impacts in least expected ways
Good/Bad Fire Venn Diagram group activity
Read, discuss, look at illustrations, compare, contrast, do activities
Art Project – 4th grade students will draw with pencil, color with markers, and outline with sharpie the 3 types of wildland fire behavior - ground fire with ground fuels, surface fire with surface fuel, and crown fire with crown fuels. Students will label each illustration.
Art Project- Students will draw with pencil and then color with marker a low-severity fire, a mixed severity fire, and a high severity fire
Colorado Visual Arts Standards - #3 Use media to express and communicate ideas about an issue of personal interest.
Summit School District Curriculum Concepts, drawing, proportion, transparent vs. opaque, analogous colors
A school hallway display will be created with the art project from the kindergartners tree drawings, bark rubbings and the 3rd graders tree cookie drawings with mountain pine beetle larvae, and the decorated tree cookies for the capitol Christmas tree before they are sent, the 4th graders drawings of wildland fires of low severity fire, mixed severity fire, and high severity fire, and also their drawings of wildland fire behavior – ground fires, surface fires, and crown fires.
It would be great if a locally based wildland fire fighting crew and truck could come to the school to talk to the kids about what they do and show them the gear and truck.
Personal Goal in the Piney Acres Subdivision in Dillon where I have a home in the Red Zone – WUI, is to work with landowners and homeowners to reduce fuels along with state and local agencies to create a defensible space, an escape plan, and continual work on fire mitigation on homeowners properties.
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Fire Ecology Unit by DK
Grade Level: 4/5
Duration: 2-3 weeks
Big Questions: Are all fires bad? How does fire affect our environment?
“The two sides of fire”
Standards addressed in this unit:
#1 – Students apply the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (measurements, graphs, charts, diagrams)
#2 – Students know and understand common properties, forms, and changes in matter and energy. (comparing physical properties, physical states, and sources of heat energy)
#3 – Students know and understand how the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment. (Interaction and interdependence between and among components of ecosystems).
#4 – Students understand the dynamics of Earth. (Natural processes change Earth’s surface)
#5 – Nature of science involves a particular way of building knowledge to make meaning of natural world. (Create and compare maps and models).
ACTIVITIES:
#1 Are fires good or bad?
Have table groups create Venn Diagram “good”/ “bad” to share out with other tables on good or bad characteristics of fire. After discussion, bring to point that fire “just is” and we need to learn to adapt/deal with it.
#2 K –W – L
In Science notebooks, create page for “What we Know,” “What we Want to Know,” and leave a blank page for “What we Learned” about fire, to be re-addressed at the end of our unit.
#3 Affects of Fire – web diagram
Again in groups, with fire in the middle, create a growing web of the MANY affects of fire. Share out with other groups and save these pages to come back to after our unit to see what we might add.
#4 Media /Visual
Share photos of Fire Ecology Institute and clips from “Wildfire!” and “Fire Wars”.
Take notes in science notebooks followed by discussion of questions and wonderings.
#5 What’s in our Forests? What “zone” is St. Mary’s Academy in? What zone is your house in? Discover fire zones.
Technology Application – Use ESRI to discover fire zone and draw conclusions of fire risk for various locations.
Discover what plants grow in each area and learn to identify various trees in our Colorado region.
Firs – fat, friendly
Pine – pointy, packages
Spruce – square, sharp
(Take walk around SMA) *PLT “How Big is Your Tree?”
#6Life Cycle of a Forest – tree rings, natural burns, forest thinning?
Learn about the story of the tree rings and the history it tells. (Create our own tree rings).
Group activity – movement to demonstrate thinning/ healthy forest – plants need air, soil, sunlight, water.
*PLT “Loving it too Much”
#7 Forest Life
Pine beetles (share book) and other wildlife(share book) – Do some plants/animals NEED fire for survival?
#8 What Fuels a Fire?
Discover the FIRE triangle and how each part is necessary. Experiment with “missing” components. *Check school safety rules for fire labs.
Types of Fire: ground fire, surface fire, crown fire
#9 Home Assessment
*Show pictures of mountain homes and fire mitigation.
Create Dial graph and carry out individual home assessments with recommendations needed for fire safety.
*PLT “Every Drop of Water Counts”
#10 Unit Assessment
1) Essay – Are fires good or bad?
2) Design Community Wildfire Protection Plan – Do we already have one? If so, what is involved? If not, what steps do we need to take?
#11 Research
Find information on one Historical fire to present to class. Oral presentation.
Use internet and primary sources. List to choose from provided by teacher.
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Fire in Literature by SM
Overview:
Fire is an integral piece of the human and natural history of Colorado and the West in general. Students can explore this history and its implications through regional fiction and non-fiction, helping to enhance their sense of place.
Background:
Fire is a complex and widespread theme in the literature of the West. The diverse body of literature includes folktales and Native American stories, stories from the frontier, non-fiction accounts, and regional fiction. A survey of this body of literature covers ecological, social, and historical implication of fire in the West, all important components of fire ecology education. An in-depth study of this component of Western ecological and social history will allow students to enhance their sense of place as Colorado citizens, and will help bridge the gap between field-based and classroom-based environmental/experiential education.
Level: Grades 6-8 (per common core standards)
Subjects: English Language Arts
Concepts: 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of text.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Objectives: Students will be able to… 1. Outline the historical progression of human perspectives on fire. 2. Compare and contrast native uses and perspectives on fire with modern uses and perspectives. 3. Argue for and against different fire management strategies from different perspectives. 4. Articulate their own perspective and feelings about fire.
Texts:
Little House on the Prairie*
Young Men and Fire *
Fire on the Mountain*
Primary sources from 1910 fire
Native stories/folktales
Smokey the Bear comic book
*excerpts
Time Considerations: This unit could span two weeks to one month.
Pre-activities:
“Good fire/bad fire” Venn diagrams
Brainstorm fire language
** Add to these throughout unit.
Assessment:
- Make a timeline with key dates and events in human fire use
- Short reflection papers: i.e. What are the implications of fire suppression? What has changed about firefighting since the 1940s? What is the same? Compare and contrast Native American perspectives and use of fire with modern day perspectives. How did the introduction of Smokey the Bear change perspectives on fire? Do we still see those effects today?
- Assign each student a historical or modern stakeholder in the fire management issue. Hold a mock town hall meeting where stakeholders (including the forests themselves) can look for mutually beneficial solutions.
- Final assignment: What is your perspective on fire? How would you like to see humans and fire interact over the next 100 years?
I am very interested in continuing to look at ways I can bridge the gap between field-based environmental/experiential education and more traditional classroom education in a way that is relevant and seems legitimate to my peers. John Dewey himself spoke to the value of reading and writing as important pieces of experiential education, and I think there is great potential, as I hope I demonstrated in this lesson plan, to use reading and writing to enhance environmental awareness and sense of place for my students. It inspired me to meet long-time classroom teachers who also make closing this gap a priority.
Although I may not use some of the physical materials we received in my graduate program, I made a gift of many of them to the Keystone Science School, where I know they will be well-used and appreciated. The fire ecology program there is pretty good, but certainly needs some refreshing. I know the staff this year will be very excited to have some new activities and materials, especially a fire shelter! Thank you!
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Curriculum Map by JM
Curriculum Plan
I will be including fire activities into the 6th grade science curriculum at Aspen Middle School. We will do this integration by combining it with our tree/forest study. In fact, it is a part of the study that we have neglected in the past because fire is an integral part of forest health. By including the fire activities, students will understand how fire can be both beneficial or harmful depending on the circumstances in which it occurs. This unit begins the school year, so we will be able to use the activities from the Fire Ecology Institute while they are still fresh from the class. I will be using the Project Learning Tree website throughout the unit for PowerPoint, additional readings, and resources. I expect the unit to be six to eight weeks long. We have science three times a week and that will spread the unit to all most two months.
Tree, Forest, and Fire Study
The introductory activity for this unit will be a KWL on trees and how they affect our everyday lives. The class will brainstorm on how we use trees and why they are so important. We will look around the classroom to discover what products come from trees.
In order to orient my students on the area we will be studying, I will begin the unit with activity #6 Forest to Faucets from the Focus on the Forest PLT book. I will have the students work with maps of Pitkin County to indentify the watershed of the Roaring Fork Valley. The students will work in small groups to map out the watershed using the student page Your Watershed. I will show the PowerPoint Clean Water—One of Many Forest Products. This presentation is a great overview to the water cycle and the important role that forests play. We will use the reading Protecting Denver’s Drinking Water: Treatments to Reduce Erosion and Sedimentation and to Help Protect Water Quality after Wildfires to look at how the watershed is affected by devastating fire.
The unit will take a smaller focus and continue with parts of the tree and photosynthesis. The following lessons are from the PLT book, Environmental Education. We will do activity #63 Tree Factory on page p 269. We will then move to parts of the leaf activity # 64 Looking at Leaves on p 273. Photosynthesis activities #41 How Plants Grow on p 179 and #42 Sunlight and Shades of Green on p182 will continue our tree study.
I will continue the unit with the tree ring activity #76 Tree Cookies p327. I won an entire set of tree cookies at the Fire Ecology Institute, so I have all the materials I need for the class. Mark Munger and I have already signed up to decorate tree cookies for the White House Christmas tree. The cookies will be coming in September and the kids will sand them to get them ready to decorate. Each student will decorate one side of the cookie and on the other they will put a haiku they have written about something special about the forest that they have learned from the unit.
Next we will do the tree identification activity #68 Name That Tree on p 268. We will use the tree identification guide from the class for this activity. This activity will be coordinated with a fieldtrip to Aspen Center for Environmental Studies for tree ID and keying activities. A study on riparian zones will also be a part of the trip, as ACES is situated on the Roaring Fork River. There is also a wetlands area on the property that was put in to clean the water from Aspen’s runoff. Observing this area will be a good tie in to the Forests to Faucets activity we did at the beginning of the unit.
A fieldtrip to study vegetative zones will continue the tree identification. Some of the zones can be found on our school campus, but we will also travel to the Maroon Bells to study alpine/ spruce/fir, Douglas fir areas. There are areas near the school that the class can walk to see oak brush. The ponderosa pine and pinon/juniper forest is not on campus, but I will have a display of the zones in my classroom on posters. I will have the students do the Healthy Forests Activity #27 Every Tree for Itself from p117, which we did in the class. This activity really demonstrates how trees compete in a forest. Out of the Focus on Forests book for secondary students will be using the following the activities #1 Monitoring Forest Health p 33, #2 Story of Succession p55, #7 Forest Invaders p115, and #9 Words to Live By p143. I will be working on the placement of these activities depending on
The fire portion of the unit will continue with showing the movie The Two Sides of Fire to give the students more background on the history and ecology of fire. The class will continue with the brainstorming activity on fire. Next will be activity#5 The Nature of Fire p87 (Focus on Forests) about the wildland/urban interface will be introduced by making the “Wheel of Fire Risk” the activity that we did in class. The students will then be asked to go home and assess the fire risk of their homes with their parents.
Cumulating Activity
Fire Activity Day: The culminating activity for the unit will be guest speaker Willard Clapper, former middle school teacher and now the Aspen Fire Chief. He will talk about fire and then help with the activities that require real fire: the forest fire behavior matchstick activity from the fire boxes. We will do all the activities on the playground with fire suppression. This activity is contingent of all the fire restrictions being lifted in the area.
Assessment: I will be using the assessments from the activities as well as writing a comprehensive evaluation.
Integration:
Our social studies curriculum for 6th grade is ancient civilizations and to integrate it with science we will be doing activity #94 By the Rivers of Babylon on p411 of the Environmental Education Activity Guide. The reading and activity highlights that the need to take care of the land is not new. In ancient times, people abused the land and it no longer was fertile. The extension of the activity is to discuss the people of Mesa Verde and the conditions that led to them leaving the area.
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Lesson Plans for Implementing the Fire Ecology Institute materials and information into
a pre-existing “Colorado Ecosystems” unit by MM
6th grade
Our “Colorado Ecosystems” unit, for many years, has been primarily focused on botany and indigenous trees of the Aspen area. Recently we have moved to a more ecological study, investigating the ecosystems from Glenwood Springs to the top of Independence Pass. The materials from Project Learning Tree and the Fire Ecology Institute will enhance and broaden our study of these complex ecosystems. I will spend approximately 9 weeks on this study.
Week 1: Themes/Concepts—Student introductions, icebreakers. Each year is a layer of growth in a tree’s life. We can investigate a tree and learn from its past record. Environmental conditions can affect a tree’s growth. Every tree has a structure and the different parts contribute to its growth.
1. As a way to introduce students to one another during the first few days of school and to expose them to tree rings, we will do the “My Life as a Tree” section from Project Learning Tree (PLT) activity 76—Tree Cookies. Students will use paper plates to create a tree cookie of their life, thus far. Students will then pair up, and use the tree cookie to introduce their partner to the rest of the class.
2. To help students understand the parts of a tree, I will introduce and have them work through PLT activity 63—Tree Factory. Emphasis will be on learning structure and proper vocabulary.
3. We will return to Tree Cookies, activity 76. We will use the tree cookies from the Fire Ecology Institute to count rings, estimate ages, and make deductions about the environment.
Week 2: Themes/Concepts—Contributing to a greater good for others (Capital Christmas Tree), setting up and running an experiment, experimental control, experiment variables, structure of leaves, photosynthesis, the function of chlorophyll, and deciduous leaf changes in autumn.
1. Each student will receive a Christmas “cookie” to sand and decorate as an ornament for the Capital Christmas Tree. Emphasis will still be on investigating tree rings and creating an ornament that students can be proud of. We will have a showing of ornaments before they are sent off to Washington.
2. We will start our plant experiment with PLT activity 41—How Plants Grow. This will focus on setting up an experiment, controls, and variables. Measurement and observation will be skills that are called upon in this experiment over the next 2-3 weeks.
3. PLT activity 42—Sunlight and Shades of Green will kick off our investigation of photosynthesis and leaf structure.
Week 3: Themes/Concepts—Continuation of Week 2
1. Check on plant growth experiment.
2. “Losing The Green” article and assignment. This article deals with leaf structure and the changes that deciduous leaves go through in autumn.
3. Structure of a leaf assignment. This assignment asks students to construct, draw, or otherwise represent a model of leaf. Emphasis is on the structure and function of leaf parts.
Weeks 4, 5, and 6: Themes/Concepts—Colorado ecosystems, primarily pinyon/juniper up to alpine. Riparian systems will be included. Classification, using dichotomous keys to identify indigenous trees. GIS mapping is a possibility. Want to look into the possibility of students creating a map of the Roaring Fork Valley’s ecosystems-- at the very least using maps of the valley.
1. As an introduction to dichotomous keys, I use a key to identify candy. From there we will move to PLT activity 64—Looking at Leaves and activity 68—Name That Tree. We will then use our dichotomous keys to identify trees close to school.
2. Each student will choose or be assigned two Colorado ecosystems to study in-depth. We will cover: pinyon/juniper, shrub lands, Montane aspen, Montane Douglas fir, sub-alpine, alpine, and riparian zones. We will take a field trip to Rock Bottom Ranch which is part of the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. There is good pinyon/juniper and riparian habitat there. The second day we will take a trip up Independence Pass stopping at all of the above-mentioned ecosystems. There is an excellent self-guided tour at the Braille Trial, approximately one-half the way up the pass.
3. Keying, note-taking, observation, and identification are all skills that will be worked on during these 3 weeks. A presentation will be made by each student on their ecosystems. The mapping component will be included, however, I do not know yet what form that will take.
4. Tree planting on Independence Pass. This is an annual service project that we do with the Independence Pass Foundation. It is a one day field trip to the pass to re-vegetate disturbed areas on the pass. This day will also feature a hike to the Weller Lake burn area. This was a fire, started by a campfire, in 1980.
5. Check on plant growth experiment.
Week 7 : Themes/Concepts—Competition in an ecosystem, the forms of symbiosis, natural cycles in ecosystems, succession, man-made cycles in ecosystems, and dramatic changes to ecosystems.
1. We will begin with PLT activity 26—Dynamic Duos. This will investigate how different species have symbiotic relationships. To then investigate trees needs and how they compete we will complete PLT activity 27—Every Tree for Itself.
Weeks 8 and 9: Themes/Concepts—Same as Week 7. In addition, Forest Health will be addressed.
1. We will investigate forest health by looking at the impacts that drought, insects, invasive species, and fire have upon the forest.
2. To do the above we will use the State Forest Service trunks. Having not seen all that is in them, I will wait until we have them to see how they can best be utilized. I do know that I am interested in conducting the forest fire activities.
3. Other PLT activities that we will work through will be from the Secondary Environmental Module: 1—Monitoring Forest Health, 2—Story of Succession, 5—The Nature of Fire, 7—Forest Invaders, and 9—Words to Live By. I am very interested in this last one as I can utilize it in Reading and/or Language Arts classes.
Colorado Content Standards that will be covered in this unit of study:
Sixth Grade--Science
Standard 2-- Life Science
Expectations:
1. Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms, populations, and entire species
2. Organisms interact with each other and their environment in various ways that create a flow of energy and cycling of matter in an ecosystem
Standard 3-- Earth Systems
Expectations:
2. Water on Earth is distributed and circulated through oceans, glaciers, rivers, ground water, and the atmosphere
3. Earth’s natural resources provide the foundation for human society’s physical needs. Many natural resources are nonrenewable
Sixth Grade--Math
Standard 3—Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability
Expectations:
1. Visual displays and summary statistics of one-variable data-condense the information in data sets into usable knowledge
Sixth Grade—Reading, Writing, and Communicating
Standard 1-- Oral Expression and Listening
Expectations:
1. Successful group discussions require planning and participation by all
Standard 2-- Reading for All Purposes
Expectations:
2. Organizing structure to understand and analyze factual information
3. Word meanings are determined by how they are designed and how they are used in context
Standard 3-- Writing and Composition
Expectations:
2. Writing informational and persuasive genres for intended audiences and purposes require ideas, organization, and voice development
3. Specific editing for grammar, usage, mechanics, and clarity gives writing its precision and legitimacy
Standard 4-- Research and Reasoning
Expectations:
1. Individual and group research projects require obtaining information on a topic from a variety of sources and organizing it for presentation
2. Assumptions can be concealed, and require identification and evaluation
3. Monitoring the thinking of self and others is a disciplined way to maintain awareness
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LESSON PLAN IDEAS by MP
Over Aching Theme will be the health in the forests of western Colorado and specifically tie into the 8th grade Social Studies standards regarding Westward Movement.
The Fire Ecology Institute is never boring. I am very grateful to be able to have taken the class for a second time. There is just too much information to cover in one week. Although there were MANY presentations and activities that were meaningful, there are three specific class activities I plan to incorporate into my lessons. The first activity I will use is the paper plate tree ring of life activity. Second, is the video, “ Fire Wars”. The last activity I have already planned on using is talking to students about MY personal experience with fire. I think these three activities will for CERTAIN be a part of my classroom this year. I am confident I will add other activities as well.
I will begin the year by modeling for the students my, “Rings of Life”. The shop teacher cut a tree down and made a tree cookie for me to use to model for students. I will model what my life looks like. I think this activity is a GREAT beginning of the year activity and will be used throughout the year as different writing assignments. When I get into the Westward Movement section of the curriculum, I plan to have students create a Ring of Life, as if they were a teenager on a wagon train moving westward. The students will then be able to do a writing assignment comparing their life and the health of the forest here in western Colorado compared to what life AND THE FOREST might have looked like during westward movement.
I will begin the Westward Movement unit [usually around October] by showing parts of the Fire Wars VCR. Luckily, I still have a VCR in my classroom. I do have a friend who said he thinks he can make a DVD copy. It would be so much easier to have the information I want to use on a DVD. A VCR is just not as easy to negotiate when one is trying to just show section of the movie. I will specifically show several sections. First, I plan to show the section of the movie that talks about how the Native Americans used the forest and how they kept it healthy.
Below is the way I plan to set this section of the lesson up:
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Before Watching
- Ask students what kind of fires they have seen or heard about. Have students brainstorm the similarities and differences between a structural fire and a wildland fire. What skills are necessary for firefighters in each setting? What equipment is necessary?
- Discuss with students why and when wildland fires might be beneficial or detrimental. What are some reasons for letting a wildfire burn uncontrolled? Why would firefighters want to stop it? What reasons might there be to burn areas in a controlled manner? What are the disadvantages of setting controlled fires?
The Fire Triangle
A fire cannot exist without heat, fuel, and oxygen. Managing one or more of those elements helps firefighters contain an unwanted fire or guide a prescribed fire.
After Watching
- Have students consider what they think about prescribed burning. Who or what is affected by it? Do students agree or disagree with the use of prescribed burning? Under what conditions would students propose a prescribed burn? What factors would be important to consider?
- Tragic events such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the World Trade Center attacks have highlighted the heroic roles of urban firefighters. Do students consider wildland firefighters heroes? Why or why not?
The last section I plan to focus on is my connection to the Battlement Creek fire in Garfield County. Having spent such quality time with the amazing wildland firefighters in Rifle, I would very much like to have one of the men from there come and talk to the class about fire in Garfield and Mesa county. In addition, I have already had a meeting with one of the men I know that was on that fire. There are several areas he and I spoke about with regard to what went right and wrong on that fire and how we have learned from those successes and failures.
My post assessment will have students use their ABC note catcher and information from the movie to write a Well-Constructed Paragraph about what they have learned.
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Unit Name: Fire’s Role in Nature by PS
Grade/Subject: 6th, 7th and 8th grade SSN class
Unit Big Ideas/Standards/Goals:
Big Ideas: Are forest fires natural?
How are forest fires started?
Who do forest fires affect?
Can forest fires be stopped?
Are forest fires good, bad or just natural?
Can forest fires be controlled?
Are there things people can do to protect their property form fires?
Does a forest fire kill everything?
Does the forest come back after the fire?
Goals: That the student (depending on their ability or level) will be able to give a specific number of facts about the Fire’s Role in Nature.
That the students know:
1. That forest fires are started by people and naturally.
2. That the student knows that forest fires affect people, animals, rivers, mudslides, regrowth and so much more.
3. That the student knows that forest fires are natural and cannot be stopped.
4. That forest fires are not good or bad but natural.
5. Some small fires can be controlled but not all can be controlled.
6. That not everything dies in a fire, depending on the size of the fire.
7. That the forest will grow back after a fire and it is a natural process.
Lesson Learning Goals: What do you want students to Know, Understand, Do as a result of today’s lesson?
Skills and Knowledge:
That fires are natural. They are not good or bad.
That people can do things to protect their property.
Fires affect many other things, people, animals, mudslides andmore.
That the forest will grow back.
Learning Sequence: What will happen during the lesson? Include differentiation strategies, materials needed, and 21st Century Skills that may be included.
Into (Launch or Background Info): I will introduce the lesson by reading a book that we have read before in the class titled “Natural Disasters: “Disasters or Blessings”.
The book talks about the great Montana Fire.
We begin each lesson by making a list of previous knowledge of forest fires on a large paper tablet.
I will ask the question “Are forest fires good, bad” and we will record the answers on the tablet. Then I will ask “Are forest fires good, bad or just Natural.”
I will also go to the school library and get books on forest fires and place in are
Current topic basket for the students to view in their reading time or study Hall.
Through (Explore and Summary):
1. I will make a copy of a Colorado Reader that has the cycle of the forest fire for each student and a copy of the attached article “The Big Burn Montana Fire”
2. We will read the book “The Big Burn Montana Fire” as a class and answer the questions.
3. At the end of each day I have the kids tell me three things we learned that day. The on the beginning of the next day we start by going over the list and discussing each thought. This is a great help in the students recall
because they then hear things many times by the end of the unit.
4. After reading we will watch a movie that covers that fire.
5. Then as a class we will work through the “Colorado Reader that has the fire cycle on it.
6. The Ag Dept at a high school in our district has a great movie about the cycle of the forest fire and although there are parts that are above what my students can understand we will watch it for a visual of the forest fire cycle.
7. We will work as a class to look two parts of the book: “The Book of Fire” parts three ‘Fire in Forest’ and part four ‘Aftermath and Campfire Story’. Part three will be tough for my students to understand so I will be selective as to what is shared with them.
8. We will also read the two articles attached at the bottom of this report titled Helicopters and Smoke Jumpers. These are not part of the forest fire cycle but these will be of high interest to my students.
9. For a great visual I will have each student make a forest fire cycle on a large rectangular sheet of paper. After each on is done we will attach then all end to end to make on very large circle that will have a cycle for each student so that they are able to see it will happen over and over.
10. I will explain that when they take the large circle apart and make their own individual circles will be the same just on a smaller scale.
11. The last thing we do is compare our preknowledge list to the list we have made as we go through the unit. This allows the students to see how much they have learned during the unit.
12. My students are difficult to test so within a few days will have each student go down the list of what we have learned and tell me as much as they know.
10. I will explain that when they take the large circle apart and make their own individual circles will be the same just on a smaller scale.
11. The last thing we do is compare our preknowledge list to the list we have made as we go through the unit. This allows the students to see how much they have learned during the unit.
12. My students are difficult to test so within a few days will have each student go down the list of what we have learned and tell me as much as they know.
Beyond (Independent project/practice):
1. I will explain to the students that when we take the large circle apart they each will have their own circle. That the circle will repeat itself over and over.
2. Depending on the students individual level I will have them go through the list of what we had learned and tell me as much as they can recall or what they have learned.
Assessment:
For the lower students I will have then tell me the story of the forest fire cycle.
For the higher performing students I will have them talk to me about each of the words or thoughts that we put on the board each day that we learned.
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Curriculum Implementation Ideas by CU
Component One) I applied for this institute knowing that I wanted to involve my ASPEN Club students. ASPEN stands for “aspiring science professionals in the environment and nature.” We meet each week to “study” and plan our monthly Saturday field experiences. We have adopted trails and waterways and donate to wildlife refuges and help the DOW. I wanted to expand our work to include fire ecology and forestry. I never expected to find so many activities and resources for us to use and tie into. I present options/topics to the students and they select what they want to work on. I will present the GreenSchools program to them and hopefully come up with a project to apply for a grant. We will now be able to add a second Saturday field experience focused specifically on fire ecology and forestry. The activities that we do in this group allow the students to practice and become the “experts” and leaders. They always do presentations on Mondays after our trips for their classmates, and I use these students as lab leaders. It is a “train the trainer” opportunity for them and they always do a great job.
Component Two) Each year I always have the students grow a plant of some kind usually beans or flowers. This year I will have them grow pine trees with the goal or replanting them in Waldo Canyon. Thanks for offering the seeds, and the suggestion of getting more grow lights from the sheriff’s office. During the first week of school we will use the “good fire/bad fire” topic to process what happened this summer in our community. I hope to see the perspective that fire just “is” develop in the students. I give homework every night and on the weekends and have 95% complete it. One of our first writing activities will be tied to the “good fire/bad fire” discussion. I plan on using this homework time to try some of the family activities that are among our resources. In September, we also do an annual team/interdisciplinary ride up the Pikes Peak Cog railway mainly as a social studies activity. This year I will be able to add in observations of the fire scar, and have the students look for different ages of tree stands that might indicate previous fires. There is a point in the return trip down the mountain when we have to get on a side track and wait for the uphill train to go by, so we get to get off the train and walk through the forest. While we are waiting, I will have the students participate in the regeneration activity that we used. The skills of thinking like a scientist are the objective for the first two weeks of school and I am going to use tree cookies to practice the skill of observing and for the skill of making models I will use the matchstick forest activity. The other significant benefit that I have already started on is the use of one of my walls as teaching space. I have been going through the posters and have a design idea for my green wall. I decorate my walls for content and learning. I am also going to change my “All Star” bulletin board. When students do quality work, get an A on a quiz or test, have no missing work, good lab write-ups, etc. they would get a star with their name and accomplishment on it to hang on the board. I haven’t come up with a catchy name for the bulletin board of honor but I am going to use trees instead of stars and we are going to repopulate the forest.
The place where I am still challenged is how to integrate the “emotional “piece of my learning experience about the history and impact of the Storm King Mountain fire into my classroom. I know I will use the CD’s but it is the when and how that I haven’t developed yet. I know it will hit me some morning in the shower when I will have one of those epiphany moments.
These were the ideas that I have started with for just the first few weeks of school. As I continue to look through the resources and my ASPEN club students select different activities/projects, I will be able to plan other ways of integrating fire ecology and forestry into my regular classroom curriculum. Thank you again for all the materials and resources and organizing such an outstanding opportunity for teachers!
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LESSONS TO USE FOR 7TH GRADE MATHEMATICS by JW
OBJECTIVES: To enhance student’s problem solving, computation, graphing and measurement skills; group cooperation, and use of self-discovery.
STANDARDS: Geometry, computation, analyzing, problem solving, graphing, measurement
ACTIVITIES USED: 12, 35, 38, 67, and 50
Activity 12:
Objective: The students will research invasive species and report to class why the species is invasive and what damage is done using mathematics. (damage in area, number of plants etc.)
Method: Use the background information in the PLT book and the Doing the Activity section. Have kids use computers to further research their invasive species and develop a poster to show and discuss with the class.
Enrichment: We take several field trips to do community service for the Colorado Parks service. Have the kids ask the park service personnel what invasive species they have trouble with and what they are doing to combat the problem.
Activity 35:
Objective: The students will analyze data and represent the data in a graph. The students will interpret the data formulate solutions to land use problems.
Method: Discuss the background information for activity 35. Discuss how the Colorado National Monument is discussing issues to become a National Park and what that would do to the Monument. Have the kids complete the student pages. When completed have the groups discuss with the class the answers they found.
Enrichment: Try to get a representative from the National Monument to come and explain what would happen and what problems there are for the monument to change to a National Park.
Activity 38:
Objective: The students will use problem solving strategies: prediction, estimation, organizing data to analyze how much water they use during a normal day.
Method: Use the background information given in the PLT book to discuss with the kids how much water is used daily and how much water is available. Follow the Doing the Activity section and have the students complete the student page. Have the kids work in groups of 3-4 and combine their data. Have groups present their result to the class and discuss how much water was wasted and if anything could be done to reduce this waste.
Enrichment: Encourage students to estimate their household water use and compare their estimate to their home water bill.
Activity 67:
Objective: The students will develop methods to make indirect and direct measurements of trees height, circumference, leaves, and crown.
Method: The students will use the ruler method or set up a proportion to find the heights of trees, estimate the circumference by using their hands or arms, and developing a method to estimate the crown of a tree. They then will take actual measurements using string and tape measures of the circumference and leaves.
Enrichment: Have students research “Champion Trees” and report to the class what they discovered.
Activity 50:
Objective: To wrap up the unit the students will see how many decisions must be made in managing forest land. They will find what the decisions will cost and what the consequences will be to the land.
Method: Brainstorm with the kids on what they would want in a public forest and what factors could limit some of these wanted items. Discuss with the students numbers 1 and 2 from the Doing the Activity section. Put the students into groups of 4 and have them read and complete the student pages. Have them construct a map of their 400 acre woods to illustrate how they managed it and present it to the class. Have other class members question the decisions made to help illustrate the difficulties in making these decisions.
Enrichment:
Have a representative from the Forest Service come in and discuss some of the methods they use to make decisions on how they manage their land.
I would like to work on this unit with my science and social studies teachers to try and make this a cross-curriculum unit. One of the main challenges that I will have in implementing activities from the PLT book and other resources is the fact that our school district has us on a pacing guide and we are to have taught a certain unit by a certain date. I will probably have more success using one activity here and there as an extension rather than trying to insert a whole unit somewhere. Many of these activities fit great into our area and measurement units and I will definitely utilize them there. Again, thanks for all your time and effort into putting on this class.
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FEI 2012, Curriculum Implementation, BC
Background: Colorado Academic Standards (CAS) for Science include three main areas at each grade level: physical, earth, and life science. At my school, a science teacher teaches physical and earth science as a special; I teach only life science to my fifth graders. Life science includes both plant and animal systems. I also teach American history from early explorers through the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The CAS for Social Studies include four main areas at each grade level: history, geography, economics, and civics.
Incorporating the learning from the 2012 Fire Ecology Institute encompasses both science and social studies fifth-grade standards. For easy reference, I’ve included the Fifth Grade CAS, highlighting applicable outcomes for FEI learning.
Each school year I come up with an overriding theme. Previous years’ themes have included Community, Citizenship, Heroes, and even Sports. This year’s theme is Trees. Everything we do in fifth grade during 2012-2013 will tie back to our theme. Our guide is Ilan Shamir’s Advice From a Tree.
Taking into account the CAS learning outcomes, and using the PLT Environmental Education Activity Guide and Focus on Forests, I plan to incorporate ecosystem and forest health into my already-packed science and social studies instructional plan and materials as follows. The scheduling and the detailed lesson plans will be developed throughout the year, but these are just some ideas where I can include FEI learnings into existing curriculum.
Plant systems:
· Structure of a plant (trees)
· How do plants (trees) grow?
· Why do we need plants (trees)?
· Ecosystems (forests)
Animal systems:
· Life cycles (insects’ and other animals’ interaction with trees)
American History:
· Colonial America’s reliance on forests
· Interaction between European colonists and native Americans (fire)
· Early history of wildland fire in America
Geography:
· Migration and movement of colonists as it relates to forests
· Why did colonists settle where they did? How did the access to forests impact their decisions?
· States and regions unit, incorporating the importance of renewable and nonrenewable resources
· How does fire affect the geography of a region?
· I hope to use GIS with students to map regions of the country comparing before and after major fires.
Economics:
· Why are trees a renewable resource?
· Why are healthy forests an integral part of our nation’s economy?
· Marry the economics and history of the logging industry
· Investigate the “green” impact of smart forest management
· What are the economic impacts of wildland fires, particularly in WUI areas
Civics:
· The rights of one versus the rights of many regarding forest use and fire suppression
· Who manages the forests?
· Do the governmental agencies responsible for forest management work together?
· What is my personal responsibility when it comes to healthy forests?
Content Area: Science
Standard: 2. Life Science
Prepared Graduates:
Analyze how various organisms grow, develop, and differentiate during their lifetimes based on interplay between genetics and their environment.
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
1. All organisms have structures and systems with separate functions
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Develop and communicate an evidence-based scientific explanation of the role of different organs or
structures that are important for an organism’s survival – in both plants and animals
b. Analyze and interpret data to generate evidence that all organisms have structures that are required for
survival in both plants and animals
c. Create and evaluate models of plant and/or animal systems or parts
Content Area: Social Studies
Standard: 1. History
Prepared Graduates:
Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
1. Analyze historical sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of historical context
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Identify different ways of dating historical sources to understand historical context
b. Examine significant historical documents. Topics to include but not limited to the Stamp Act, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution
c. Create timelines of eras and themes in North America from 1491 through the American Revolution
d. Analyze cartoons, artifacts, artwork, charts, and graphs related to eras and themes in North America from 1491
through the American Revolution
2. The historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas, and themes in North America from 1491 through the founding of the United States government
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Identify and explain cultural interactions between 1491 and the American Revolution. Topics to include but not limited to the Columbian Exchange, the interactions between Europeans and native Americans in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the developing relationship between Europeans and enslaved Africans
b. Identify and describe the significant individuals and groups of Native Americans and European colonists before the American Revolution
c. Explain the development of political, social and economic institutions in the British American colonies
d. Explain important political, social, economic, and military developments leading to and during the American
Revolution
Standard: 2. Geography
Prepared Graduates:
Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
1. Use various geographic tools and sources to answer questions about the geography of the United States
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Answer questions about regions of the United States using various types of maps
b. Use geographic tools to identify, locate, and describe places and regions in the United States and suggest reasons for their location
c. Locate resources in the United States and describe the influence of access on the development of local and
regional communities
Standard: 2. Geography
Prepared Graduates:
Examine places and regions and the connections among them
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
2. Causes and consequences of movement
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Identify variables associated with discovery, exploration, and migration
b. Explain migration, trade, and cultural patterns that result from interactions
c. Describe and analyze how specific physical and political features influenced historical events, movements, and adaptation to the environment
d. Analyze how cooperation and conflict among people contribute to political, economic, and social divisions in the United States
e. Give examples of the influence of geography on the history of the United States
Standard: 3. Economics
Prepared Graduates:
Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
1. Government and market structures influence financial institutions
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Define a capitalist market economy
b. Identify governmental activities that affect financial institutions and the economy at the local, state, and
national levels
Standard: 4. Civics
Prepared Graduates:
Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
1. The foundations of citizenship in the United States
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Describe and provide sources and examples of individual rights
b. Give examples of group and individual actions that illustrate civic ideals in the founding of the United States. Ideals to include but not limited to freedom, rules of law, equality, civility, cooperation, respect, responsibility, and civic participation
c. Explain the reasons for the settlement of the American colonies
d. Define the criteria and process for becoming a citizen
Standard: 4. Civics
Prepared Graduates:
Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens
Grade Level Expectation: Fifth Grade
Concepts and skills students master:
2. The origins, structure, and functions of the United States government
Evidence Outcomes 21st Century Skills and Readiness Competencies
Students can:
a. Identify political principles of American democracy and how the Constitution and Bill of Rights reflect and preserve these principles
b. Explain the historical foundation and the events that led to the formation of the United States constitutional
government. Topics to include but not limited to the colonial experience, the Declaration of Independence, and the
Articles of Confederation
c. Explain the origins, structure, and functions of the three branches of the United States government and the
relationships among them
d. Describe how the decisions of the national government affect local and state government
