Class members discuss their thoughts about soil. Students' Preparation Students prepare for Unit 2 by forming cooperative groups, creating individual unit journal, and planting seeds in milk cartons. Students experiment with ways to separate particles of soil. They observe soil to conclude that soil is made up of living and nonliving things. They write haiku, as a class and in groups, describing soil.
Students simulate ways that water, wind, and ice help to form soil.
They begin making their own soil by rubbing rocks together and collecting the rock particles. Students identify the sections in The Sun, the Wind, and the Rain by Lisa Westberg Peters that describe the weathering process of a mountain. They simulate other soil components. They prepare a terrarium for earthworms and observe them to conclude that some animals enrich the soil through their droppings, by breaking down organic materials into smaller pieces, and by loosening soil particles to allow air and water to enter. Students look for evidence on their school grounds of plants and animals helping to form soil.