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Topic: SoilDate: 12/11/08

NSES: Teaching and Assessment Standards A-EGrade level: 3rd

SOL 3.7-The student will investigate and understand the major components of soil, its origin, and importance to plants and animals including humans. Key concepts include...
a. soil provides the support and nutrients necessary for plant growth;
b. topsoil is a natural product of subsoil and bedrock;
c. rock, clay, silt, sand, and humus are components of soils; and;
d. soil is a natural resource and should be conserved.

Subject: Science

Daily Question: What is soil composed of?

Procedures for Learning Experience / Guiding Questions / Materials Needed / Evaluation (Assessment) / Approximate Time Needed
Engagement: At the beginning of class, the students will be given a “soil” word search and asked to complete it as quickly as possible. This should serve to get them thinking about these terms and ready for a fast paced class on soil. Set a time to pressure the students and make the crossword feel more like a competition. Allow the students to use highlighters to capture the words that they find. Inform the students that after this, they have a very important mission to complete. / -What do you think these words have to do with?
-Brainstorm definitions to a few of the words that you do not understand. / -Crossword puzzle
-Highlighters / -Student attentiveness and participation.
-Completion of the crossword puzzle / -ten minutes
Exploration: The students should turn their attention to the “Mission” wikispace projected on the board. All of the students will be given a cup of soil, a pair of tweezers, and a paper towel. The students will be given fifteen minutes to “dissect” their soil. They should use the tweezers (or fingers) to pull out particles from the soil and then record them on a separate sheet of paper. Have the students take note of what particles they find at the top of the soil and also what they find at the bottom layer of the soil. The students should pull out the particles they find instead of simply leaving them in their cups. If any creatures are found, they should be carefully removed from the soil, recorded, and released back into the wild. The students should perform this activity individually and their noise level should be monitored. The students should wash their hands and then put away everything on their desks. As a whole group, the class should briefly come together and make a list on the board of everything found in their soil. The class should come back to this list at the end of the explanation and see if their results coincide. / -What are three things you found in soil you were dissecting?
- Did you notice a difference in the contents of the soil from the top layer and the bottom layer?
-How do you think that soil is made?
-Why do you think soil is important for the earth and the people that live here? / -cup of soil
-tweezers
-paper towels / -Student attentiveness and participation.
-Quality of notes taken during the exploration. / -fifteen minutes
Explanation: The students will use a wikispace ( to evaluate and learn about soil. They should be in groups of four and navigate throughout the lesson to become a soil “expert”. The students will learn all five layers of the soil horizon and what they are composed of. They should follow along according to their worksheet and fill in the corresponding information. If the students finish navigating through the wikispace early, they should watch the two videos on soil and science and take notes. If the teacher feels that adequate notes have been taken on the videos, then the student should be issued extra credit on the assignment. After fifteen minutes, the class will come together and discuss briefly what they learned. The teacher should go through and explain each level of soil using the worksheet projected on the board. / -What are the five layers of soil that make up the soil horizon?
-Why do you think it is called the “soil horizon”?
- What is in each layer of the horizon? / -laptop for every group of four students / -Student activeness and participation
-Quality of the subsequent worksheet
-Quality of the notes taken on the supplemental video clips / -fifteen minutes
Extension: Once the discussion has ended, the students should each be given a new cup of soil and five sunflower seeds. They should plant the seeds in their cups and then bring them to the window. The teacher will sprinkle each cup with water and place them in the sunlight. The next day, and days thereafter when the plants begin to grow, the students should learn about the importance of soil to both plants and human life. The students will be able to see the importance of soil growing before their eyes. / -Why is it important to conserve soil?
-What do you imagine would happen if there was no more soil on the Earth? / -cup of soil labeled with the student’s name
-five sunflower seeds per child
-water
-sunlight / -Student activeness and participation / -ten minutes

Notes:

1)It is CRUCIAL that the students wash their hands before using the laptop and show the teacher that their entire desk area is cleaned off and ready for the laptop.

2)Monitor the student’s usage of the computer to make sure they are not venturing away from the soil wikispace.

3)The teacher should be preparing the cups of soil both while the students are doing their crossword and also while the students are using their wikispace to aid in the flow of the lesson.

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Name ______Date______

Soil

Y F MY B D T T L T F H E F R Y K X X L

D K S D MA O L U MI Y X Q Y Q F G R G

V V Q C L E K B B H Q P O MN G F H Y O

N J P U ML D N MS I K N C Z S U J P R

U A B C I X P WP J Q H Y S E Q C S A P

E C Y O K I E L S L Y G Z D X O J H V D

R Z S A V T B Q C H Q Y G H N I P K I H

B N Z V O R G G C A U T U A V V J I N G

U R H WF H O V H X Q K E K D C L G R N

O O E WQ B WG U I T WH Q O E X R U I

K C O R D E R E H T A E WT H T J I T P

V A Q U F T L Z H Y WT V A N Y X MT P

G N I WO L P R U O T N O C X N Y T F O

R O Q Q MO P F F U V U K C O R D E B R

A O Q F P V Q X D F U R U D K WWA Y C

S D O U L V Z C C H S I H V Q K U L A P

U L U O B L D X S U B S O I L Z D Q L I

ME WI N V D I N H R Z S G N L R K C R

U A N E E V G P H F MV S O K V J A N T

H L I N G S L I O S P O T K I A O J G S

SOIL HUMUS WEATHERED ROCK TOPSOIL SUBSOIL BEDROCK CLAY LOAM STRIP CROPPING CONTOUR PLOWING

Name:______

Fill in the spaces with the letter of the horizon and what would be found in that layer of soil based on what you read in the website!

Have fun