Students' Assessment and Preparation Students complete a written assessment of what they know regarding the needs of living things, the characteristics living things possess which allow them to survive in their habitats, and the actions people can take to enhance their environment. With the information gained from the assessments, the teacher can plan his or her approach to the curriculum. Students prepare for Unit 3 by forming cooperative groups and creating a unit journal. In an ecosystem, living things depend on each other and on nonliving things. They might also view a video on owls or dissect an owl pellet.
Students make suggestions concerning the development of an area where several owls and hawks live.
Students examine jars containing items representing the needs of living things. They identify what it is that living things need to survive and conclude that these needs are provided in a habitat. They locate examples of habitats on the school grounds and compare their own habitat to that of a plant or a wild animal. Students read or perform a play about the components of an ecosystem and identify them on a transparency of a grassland. Cooperative groups design a mural of their selected ecosystem and identify some of its components.