Aqua Charades

Every molecule of water that was present when the Earth’s oceans were formed millions of years ago is still present today.  That means the water you drink is the same water dinosaurs drank!  All living things need water: plants, animals and people. Water is important to us for many purposes such as drinking, bathing and growing our food. 

Set up stations for children to explore water.  Supply scoops, cups and other tools for filling, dumping and exploring. Supply cold water, warm water and ice.  If possible, boil water to show children water in its gas form – steam. Ask children: Do you use water?  How do you use water?  Who else uses water?  Do animals use water? Plants? Where is there water?  At your home?  Outside? What do you like about water?  Invite children to think of different words that describe water such as wet, cool or splash. 

Collect items from outside on your playground such as rocks, sticks, leaves or seeds.  Which do they think will float?  Which do they think will sink? Allow children to experiment with each item in the water.

Create water collages.  Have children look through magazines for pictures of water or people and/or animals using water.  Let them cut out the pictures they want and glue them to a piece of paper.  You could also incorporate the letter W into the collages.

For these and other ideas use Project WILD’s Growing Up WILD “Aqua Charades.

Book List

Base, G. 2001. The Water Hole. Harry N Abrams, Inc.

Branley, F.M. 1997. Down Comes the Rain. HarperCollins Children's Books.

Brimner, L.D. 1999. Raindrops. Scholastic Library Publishing.

Cole, J. and B. Degen. 1988. The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks. Scholastic, Inc.

Curry, D.L. 1999. The Water Cycle. Capstone Press.

DK Publishing. 2007. Water Everywhere. DK Publishing, Inc.

Edom, H. 2007. Science with Water. EDC Publishing.

Falwell, C. 2001. Turtle Splash!: Countdown at the Pond. HarperCollins Publishers.

Fourment, T. 2004. My Water Comes from the Mountains. Roberts Rinehart Publishers.

Greenfield, E. and J.S. Gilchrist. 1999. Water, Water. HarperCollins Publishers.

Hooper, M. The Drop in My Drink: The Story of Water on Our Planet. Viking Press.

Jango-Cohen, J. 2005. Why Does It Rain? Lerner Publishing Group.

Jarnow, J. and E. Hathon. 2000. Splish! Splash! Penguin Group, Inc. (USA).

Kerley, B. 2006. A Cool Drink of Water. National Geographic Society.

Olien, R. 1999. Splish Splash Science, Grades 1-3: Learning about Water with Easy Fun-Filled Activities. Scholastic, Inc.

Pluckrose, H. 2001. Water. Gareth Stevens Audio.

Seuling, B. 2000. Drip! Drop!: How Water Gets to Your Tap. Holiday House, Inc.

Swanson, D. 2005. Wonder in Water. Annick Press, Limited.

Tresselt, A.R. 1990. Rain Drop Splash. HarperCollins Publishers.

Waldman, N. 2003. Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story. Millbrook Press.

Wells, R.E. 2006. Did a Dinosaur Drink This Water? Albert Whitman & Company.

Weininger, B. and A. Moller. 2003. Precious Water. North-South Books.

Yolen, J. 1995. Water Music: Poems for Children. Boyds Mills Press.

Place-Based Education Mini-Grant Opportunity 

The Aquatic Education Program is awarding five $500 mini-grants to schools to implement a place-based approach to learn about local aquatic resources/issues in coursework. The grant application is a SHORT, easy to follow 2-page form.   

Requirements are:

·         Have at least one staff member trained in Projects WILD, WILD Aquatic, and Learning Tree as a member of the integration team. (Other conservation/environment/nature resources may also be utilized.)

·         Implement a place-based approach for local aquatic resources/issues in coursework with a specific group of students using Projects WILD, WILD Aquatic, and Learning Tree during 2010-2011 and/or 2011-2012 school year. For example: 4th grade classes in fall of 2011; 7th grade students in spring of 2011, with follow-up as 8th graders fall 2012 **Note: Programs that are more fully integrated into curriculum over a longer period of time will score higher.

·         Evaluate participant achievement related to standards and benchmarks for content/skill areas of the selected subject area(s) and grade level.

·         Complete online surveys (teacher and student) before and after implementation of the place-based approach.

·         Complete progress and final reports outlining accomplishments of the grant, results of formal assessments, and an accounting of expenditures by June 15, 2011.

 

For more information and for grant application contact the Aquatic Education Department at: AquaticEd_Info @dnr.iowa.gov

Bird Beak Buffet

All birds have beaks that they use for grasping and eating their food.  Bird beaks are all shapes and sizes which enable them to eat certain kinds of foods.  Seed and nut eaters usually have short, thick beaks for cracking open seeds.  Nectar feeders have long slender beaks for reaching into flowers.  Other birds have beaks that are suited for meat eating, filtering, spooning, chiseling, or pinching.  Bird beaks are an example of an adaptation.  Adaptations are a special feature or behavior that allow an animal to survive in its environment.

For this activity gather a set of eating utensils (spoon, fork, chopsticks and toothpicks) for each child as well as a variety of shapes of cooked pasta (be sure to have round ones, as well as long thin ones), and sunflower or pumpkin seeds.  Begin by asking children what kinds of food they like to eat and how they eat these foods.  Why do they eat some foods with a fork and others with a spoon or even their hands?  Ask children what animals use to eat their food.  Have they ever seen a bird eat?  What does a bird use to eat its food?  Allow the children to use the different utensils to try and eat the various kinds of pasta and seeds.  Which utensils worked best for which food?  Have the children sort the foods by the utensil that worked to eat that food.

Next use various “tools” to imitate bird’s beaks, such a cup for a pelican’s pouch, a turkey baster for a hummingbird’s long slender beak, tongs for the long, thin beaks of shorebirds, and tweezers for the strong, pointed beaks of woodpeckers.  Allow each child to try out the different bird beaks at various stations that contain different bird “foods” such as bowl of water with plastic fish for the pelican, a tall vase of water for the hummingbird, plastic worms in sand or soil for the shorebirds, and rice tucked into the bark of a log for the woodpeckers. After each child has had a chance to explore the different stations ask them: Which bird beak worked best for each food?  Why?  What kind of food might each bird eat?  Why do they think so?  Can looking at a bird’s beak help us guess what it eats? 

For this and other great ideas use Growing Up WILD’s “Bird Beak Buffet” and the included supplemental materials.

Looking for an extension of this activity?  February 18-21 is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count and everyone can participate!  Visit their website at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ for more information.  Bird feeders are a wonderful place to observe and count birds.  If you are lucky enough to have a bird feeder outside your classroom window observing and counting birds there would be a wonderful way for children to participate in the GBBC.  If not, you can create bird feeders as a class using clean, used milk cartons or jugs or even pinecones.  The feeders can be hung outside where they are easily observable from the classroom.

Feeding and Observing Birds:
http://www.pbs.org/parents/catinthehat/activity_feeding_observing_birds.html

Milk carton bird feeder:

http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=667:activity-milk-carton-bird-feeder&catid=137:greenthumbactivities&Itemid=434

Pinecone bird feeder:

http://www.enviro-explorers.com/pinecone_web_page/pineconefeederindex.html

Feeding wild birds:

http://www.osweb.com/kidzkorner/feeder.htm

Edible ornaments for birds:

http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Be-Out-There/Activities/Cook-and-Craft/Make-Edible-Ornaments-for-Animals.aspx

Book List

Arnosky, J. 1997. Bird Watcher. Random House Children's Books.

Arnosky, J. 1993. Crinkleroot's 25 Birds Every Child Should Know. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Arnosky, J. 1992. Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Birds. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Bailey, D. 1992. Birds: How to Watch and Understand the Fascinating World of Birds. DK Publishing, Inc.

Bushnell, J. 1996. Sky Dancer. HarperCollins Publishers.

Collard, S.B. 2002. Beaks! Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

Garelick, M. 1995. What Makes a Bird a Bird? Mondo Publishing.

Herkert, B. 2001. Birds in Your Backyard. Dawn Publications.

Latimer, J. et al. 1999. Backyard Birds (Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Oppenheim, J.F. and B. Reid. 1987. Have You Seen Birds?. Scholastic, Inc.

Pascoe, E., et al. 2000. How and Why Birds Use Their Bills (How and Why Series). Creative Teching Press, Inc.

Rabe, T. and A. Ruiz. 1998. Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library). Random House Children's Books.

Rockwell, A.F. 1992. Our Yard Is Full of Birds. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Sill, C.P. 1997. About Birds: A Guide for Children. Peachtree Publishers.

Weidensaul, S. and T. Taylor. 1998. Birds (Audubon Society First Field Guide Series). Scholastic, Inc.
Yolen, J. 1999. Bird Watch: A Book of Poetry. Putnam Juvenile.  

Zim, H.S. 1989. Birds. St. Martin's Press.