Sustainability and neighborhood trees unit (6th grade):

Enduring Understandings:

NY State Science Standards (taken from the 6th grade section of the NYC K-8 Science Scope and Sequence)

Living Environment 1.1 h: Biological Classification Systems

Living Environment 3.2a; 7.1c, d; 7.2 c: Relationships among organisms beneficial and harmful.

Living Environment 5.1 a-f: Thermoregulation in plants and animals

Living Environment 5.1 c-e; 5.2 a; 6.1 a-c; 6.2 a-c:

Flow of energy and matter through food chains and food webs, Methods for obtaining nutrients, Role of Producers

Living Environment 7.1 a, b; 7.2 a, b: Communities and Ecosystems including basic abiotic factors such as Water, Nitrogen, CO2 and Oxygen.

Living Environment 7.2 a-d: Effects of environmental changes on humans and other populations

Physical Setting 2.2j, 1.1i, 2.1b: Climatic Regions, Seasonal Variations, Effects of Elevation

Interconnectedness 1.2, 1.4, 4.1: Biomes

NYS Core Curriculum Skills:

Develop and use a dichotomous key, Sequences Events, Identify cause-and-effect relationships, Manipulate a compound microscope to view microscopic objects, Classify living things according to a student-generated scheme and an established scheme, Interpret and/or illustrate the energy flow in a food chain, energy pyramid, or food web, Identify structure and function relationships in organisms.

Education for Sustainability (EfS)Standards:

F. Natural Laws and Ecological Principles:

  1. Describe the role and interconnection of sub components (terrestrial, aquatic, marine, and atmospheric) of our environmental system that support life on earth. This includes the relation of high quality and abundant water, soil and air essential to support all life.
  2. Explain the nature of ecosystems and biomes, their health and their interdependence within the biosphere.
  3. Provide examples of the dependence of humans on our shared natural resource base for life, sustenance and a suitable quality life (food, shelter, health, aesthetics).
  4. Clarify the importance of a great diversity of life (biodiversity) to the long term sustainability of humankind and other living species on Earth.
  5. Demonstrate their understanding that there are limits to the growth on the planet based on the limits of biological capacity and replenishment rates of sources and sinks, and that these limits affect our social and economic systems and can be tapped through innovation.
  6. Articulate the implications of the distribution, acquisition, depletion and renewal of resources in determining the nature of societies and the rate and character of economic and social development.

I. Sense of Place

Performance Indicator: The Bio-Region

1) Draw the parameters of their bio-region (watershed) and/or community, identify and list the characteristics of that bio-region, and make a case for why it is important to be able to do so.

2) Transfer their knowledge and skills of this bio-region to their study of other bio-regions.

3) Identify flora, fauna and geologic formations in the bio-region, describe their interdependencies and the benefits and threats to them and us associated with our human behavior.

What will students know and what will they be able to do?

Students will learn how to observe, identify and classify local trees based on their observations. Students will learn to consider how form follows function in the anatomy of a tree. Students will consider a tree’s adaptations to its environment. Students will understand the inter-relationships between a tree and other living things. Students will understand the roles of different trees in the food chain and in their ecosystems. Students will research how humans use trees for different purposes and how this impacts our world. Students will consider ways that these uses of trees are/are not sustainable. Students will make a plan to make our school’s use of trees more sustainable.

Essential Question:

How can we understand and sustain the presence of trees in our local ecosystem?

Guiding Questions:

1) What are the qualities of the trees that we observe around our school?

2) Can we identify the parts of the trees that we see?

3) Can we classify and identify trees based on our observations?

4) How does a tree obtain nutrients?

5) How does form follow function when we consider the anatomy of a tree?

6) What adaptations help a tree function in its environment?

7) How do local trees change seasonally?

8) What relationships do local trees have to the living things around them?

9) What role do trees play in the food chain and in our local ecosystem?

10) How do humans use trees and how does this impact our world?

11) How can we make the way we use trees more sustainable?

12) What can we do as a school to make our use of trees more sustainable?

Diagnostic Assessment: Tree Walk.

Students will go on a neighborhood tree walk. Prior to the walk the teacher will introduce some basic vocabulary to help describe the tree. Students will have to make observations about local trees and draw what they see. They will be asked to choose a single tree and consider: What are the parts of this tree? How do they help the tree in its environment? How does this tree get nutrients? What types of relationships does this tree have with other living things? Is the tree healthy? How could a human use this tree?

Summative Assessment:

Students will research the way our school uses trees for different purposes, and create a plan to make our usage less wasteful and more sustainable! Alternately, they can make a neighborhood plan detailing where additional trees could be planted in the neighborhood and which types of trees could be planted.

Formative Assessments:

1) Students will make observations about the different parts of the trees that they observe around the neighborhood.

2) Students will classify trees based on their observations

3) Students will identify trees using guides to local plants.

4) Students will create a profile of a particular tree. The profile will include a drawing/photo of the tree and seasonal observations. It will explain how their tree obtains nutrients, how their tree changes seasonally, what adaptations it has to its environment, what role it plays in the local food chain, what types of relationships it has to the other living things around it, and how humans use it.

5) Students will research the ways that humans use trees and debate whether these uses are justified/sustainable.

6) Students will create a plan to better manage the uses of trees in our school or a plan to better locate trees in the neighborhood.

Learning Opportunities, Activities and Procedures:

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