Flooding

What is a “flood”?

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is normally dry.  Floods occur when there is more water in a river, lake, or stream than the body of water can hold. The excess water floods onto land. Floods occur frequently when there is excess rain and when the ground is saturated and cannot hold more water. Flooding is the most common natural disaster worldwide. Flooding occurs in rural and urban areas. We are currently experiencing flooding across much of Iowa. Heavy rainfall has contributed to saturated soils and high water levels in streams, rivers, and lakes.

Make a Rain Gauge

Materials:

Clear Jar

Ruler

Paint

Process:

Place jars outside in an open area before it rains. After it has rained measure the amount of rain in each jar. Alternatively you can paint a ruler on the side of each jar and have children decorate their jars.

Create a chart for your class to track the amount of rain you receive at your school. Compare your amounts to your local news station.

Make a Rain Stick Materials:

Paper Towel Roll

Tape that can be painted

Paint

Glue

Uncooked Rice

Toothpicks

Process:
Pre-poke holes into the side of the paper towel rolls. Have children poke toothpicks through the holes and glue each end of the tooth pick. Next- tape one end of the roll closed. Add rice and tape the other end. Then let the children paint their sticks as they choose. Last, cut off the toothpicks that stick out from the tube.

Rain Songs

“It is Raining” (Sung to "Frere Jacques")

It is raining, It is raining,
On my head, on my head.
Pitter, patter raindrops,
Pitter, patter raindrops,
I'm all wet, I'm all wet!

“Rain Song” (Sung to: "If you're happy and you know it")

First a little drop of rain hit the ground, (Tap, Tap)
Then another drop of rain hit the ground, (Tap, Tap)
Then another and another and another and another,
And pretty soon we heard a different sound. (Splash! Splash!)

“Fun in the Rain” (Sung to: "Deck the Halls")
Do you hear the pitter patter? Hear the little raindrops falling down.
Can you see the splashing water? All the little raindrops on the ground.
Time to get our big umbrellas We don't want to get our hair all wet.
If you wear your boots and raincoat, We will go outside and splash a bit!

Book List

Bauer, M. D., and J. Wallace. 2008. Flood! Simon Spotlight.

Berger, M., R. Sullivan, and G. Berger. 1999. Can It Rain Cats and Dogs?: Questions & Answers about Weather. Scholastic, Inc.

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

Capeci, A., and S. Haefele. 2003. Flash Flood (Magic School Bus Series – To The Rescue. Scholastic, Inc.

Cosgrove, B. 2004. Weather (DK Eyewitness Book Series). DK Publishing, Inc.

Evans, L., and C. Jabar. 1997. Rain Song. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

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

Gibbons, G. 1992. Weather Words and What They Mean. Holiday House, Inc.

Hopping, L. J., and J. Wheeler. 2000. Floods! Scholastic, Inc.

Johnson, J., and B. Johnson. 2011. The Little Toad And The Big Flood. Two Peas Publishing.

Locker, T. 2003. Cloud Dance. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

McGuire, B. and  D. Quake. 2007. Natural Disaster. Kingfisher.

Pearce, J., and L. Franson. 2012. Flood Warning. Orca Book Publishers.

Simon, S. 2006. Weather. HarperCollins Publishers.

Links

Weather WizKids: Rain and Floods

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-rain.htm

Weather WizKids: Flood Safety

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-safety-flood.htm

Sesame Street: Let’s Get Ready! Planning Together for Emergencies

http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/ready

Helping Your Child Cope After a Natural Disaster

http://www.ndguard.ngb.army.mil/family/support/youth/floodinformation/Documents/childrencope.pdf

IDNR Place-Based Mini-Grants Inspire Change

“It’s a little flippy thing, look, it looks like that, it’s a crawdad, see it tries to pinch.”

“I think you’re right, yes, you got a crawdad!”

“Alright!”

Excitement pours through a junior high school boy as he and his teacher, Merle Unkrich, examine a crawdad they caught from a Mississippi inlet tube. For this junior high school boy from a poverty level school district, where apathy and drugs have a strong hold, this is huge. 

Merle Unkrich, the seventh and eighth science teacher for the Wapello Community School District has received three IDNR Aquatic Education Program Place-Based Mini-Grants. The mini-grants help pay for the transportation costs to the Mississippi inlet tubes and the purchase of thermometers, stereo microscopes, field guides, and critter nets. The students participate in a variety of activities planned and taught by the Louisa County Conservation Board - water testing, catching critters in the marshland with dip nets, fishing, hiking, and observing local wildlife.

Before the field experience Merle teaches her seventh and eighth grades classes a unit on Iowa and the Mississippi River.  Students study biodiversity, ecosystems, animal species, interdependence, genetic diversity, ground water, the water cycle, groundwater quality, water quality, changing environmental conditions, and implications of environmental issues. Merle also talks about Iowa’s changing landscape and the land use. The Mississippi inlet field trip is the culmination to the unit.

Merle sees a huge transformation in these students when they get out of the classroom and engaged in real science. “This is good for them because, to me, what it does, if they didn’t have any experience and they didn’t have anybody down here showing them, they would sit here and not entertain themselves at all. What it does is, if they ever get outside they will be able to entertain themselves. And a lot of these kids, not ever being outside, they would just sit and say ‘I don’t have anything to do’ but now they can get in and at least be curious.”

“To me this all (the field experience), it just brings everything I’ve taught all together. Otherwise it’s just this disjointed lesson plan out of a book and it’s a book that they didn’t want to read because it’s boring.”

Merle believes that teaching children to care for their local resources and allowing them to explore locally is the first step to caring about our environment for the rest of their lives. The IDNR Aquatic Education Program Place-based Mini-grants have allowed Merle to take her students out locally and foster caring about the environment.

However, there is more at work here than a science class exploring. Merle is also fostering interest, excitement, and learning from students that may have discipline issues, be exposed to drugs, and are growing up in a world dominated by computer games and television screens. 

“I actually have kids come up at the beginning of the day and instead of messing around in the halls they are playing Fish Iowa (IDNR card game)!”

Listen to Merle talk about the place based approach at:

IDNR YouTube: Merle Unkrich from Wapellp Middle School

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXVwQY61fFk&list=UU7mUVEonnSIp8RB31_DxXzA&index=4

For more information about IDNR Education Place-Based Mini-Grants and other IDNR Education Grants visit:

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Education/ForTeachers/EducationalGrants.aspx

Leap Into Spring!

Frogs & Toads

Every year during the early spring (as the air and water temperatures start to rise) frogs and toads, roused from their winter slumber, start a harmonious call that echoes through the valleys and fields of Iowa. Western chorus frogs are usually the first of the pint-sized amphibians to start their spring time refrain but they are soon followed by spring peepers, leopard frogs and many more!

Male frogs and toads call during the spring to attract mates. By listening and recording the species heard and the location biologists can gain important information about the health of a population and about the water quality. Amphibians have thin permeable skin and so are sensitive to pollutants in the water. There is concern for amphibian species worldwide as they have declined globally due to pollution.

Journals

Create field journals with your students. There are several ways to make journals. Scrap paper stapled together. Small binders with paper. Cardboard covers and rubber banded sticks as binding. Whatever method you choose will work wonderfully the important thing is to involve the children in the creation of their field journal.

Field Study

Visit a local pond to look for frogs and toads. Before going discuss observation skills and what the children think they will see. While there note observations and what they are seeing. Allow time for children to explore. Let children lead the study by what they find that interests them.

Extension

Obtain frog eggs or tadpoles to watch grow in the classroom.

Frog Song

Sing "Little Tadpole" to the tune of "Frere Jacques"

Little tadpole, Little tadpole

Lost his tail, Lost his tail

Now he has two feet

Now he has four feet

Look a frog! Look a frog!

Listen to recordings of frog calls. Try The Calls of Frogs and Toads: Breeding Calls and Sounds of 42 Different Species.

Resources

Metamorphosis – The Life Cycle of a Frog

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/frogs/facts3.htm

Teacher Tube – Frog Life Cycle

http://www.teachertube.com/video/frog-life-cycle-169622
 

Iowa HerpNet

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/

ISU Extension Publications: Iowa Reptiles and Amphibians

https://store.extension.iastate.edu/ItemDetail.aspx?ProductID=2142

Books

Arnosky, J. 2002. All About Frogs. Scholastic, Inc.

Beltz, E. 2009. Frogs: Inside Their Remarkable World. Firefly Books, Limited.

Bogart, C. M. 1998. Sounds of North American Frogs. Smithsonian Folkways

Carney, E. 2009. National Geographic Kids: Frogs! National Geographic Society.

Elliot, L. 2002. The Calls of Frogs and Toads: Breeding Calls and Sounds of 42 Different Species. Stackpole Books.

Jordan, S. 2002. Frog Hunt. Roaring Book Press.

Marent, T., and T. Jackson. 2010. Frog: A Photographic Portrait. DK Publishing, Inc.

Moignot, D. 1998. Frogs: A First Discovery Book. Moonlight Publishing.

Naden, C.J. 1972. Let's Find Out About Frogs. Scholastic Library Publishing.

Pfeffer, W., and H. Keller. 1994. From Tadpole to Frog. HarperCollins Publishers.

Porte, B. 1999. Tale of a Tadpole. Scholastic.

Schaefer, L.M. 2001. What is an Amphibian?. Coughlan Publishing.

Animal Mothers and Babies

Mother’s Day is this weekend and spring is a wonderful time of year to celebrate mothers! During spring nature is bursting with new life. Animal mothers and babies can be found in field, forest, and stream. Let’s explore animal mothers and babies in celebration of mothers this week!

Classroom: Ask children if they have ever seen a mother and baby together? What about an animal mother and baby? Play a match game. Gather pictures of animal babies and mothers. Match animal babies to their mothers (such as the cards that go with the “Grow As We Go” Growing Up WILD activity).

Have children bring in a picture of themselves and their mother. Have children match mothers to children. 

Do you want to explore further? Check nature supply store for animal life cycle cards, models and stuffed animals (such as Acorn Naturalists). Follow a web cam, such as the Decorah Eagles, and watch them raise their young.

Outside: Take a walk around the schoolyard or to your local park. Look for animal mothers and babies. There should be bird nests, tadpoles, and insects, among others, this time of year. When you spot an animal see if you can tell if it is a baby or a mother.

Craft: When you are outside on your nature walk around the schoolyard have children collect objects to make a card for their mothers for Mother’s Day. Flower petals, leaves, pretty small pebbles etc all can be glued to cards. Or have the children collect things to makes nature necklaces for their mothers.

Book List

Arnosky, J. 1993. Crinkleroot’s Guide to Walking in Wild Places. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Bauer, M.D., and P. Elwell. 2004. My Mother Is Mine. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Bellows, M.G. 2012. Mother’s Love: Inspiring True Stories From the Animal Kingdom. National Geographic Society.

Bredeson, C. 2011. Baby Animals of the Lakes and Ponds. Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Bredeson, C. 2012. Baby Animals of the Woodland Forest. Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Cannon, J. 1993. Stellaluna. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Carle, E. 2002. Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? HarperCollins Publishers.

Cole, H. 1998. I Took A Walk. HarperCollins Publishers.

Fisher, A. 2001. You Don’t Look Like Your Mother. Economics Pr.

Giogas, V. 2007. In My Backyard. Sylvan Dell Publishing.

Hodgkins, F., and L.J. Bryant. 2005. If You Were My Baby: A Wildlife Lullaby. Dawn Publications.

Kalman, B. 2011. Animal Mothers. Crabtree Publishing Company.

Morrison, G. 2004. Nature in the Neighborhood. Houghton Mifflin Books.

Wallace, K. 2000. DK Readers: Wild Baby Animals (Level 1: Beginning to Read). DK Publishing, Inc.

Links

Ranger Rick: Thanks, Mom! (If animals could talk, here’s what the kids might say to their wonderful mothers.)

http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick/Animals/Mixture-of-Species/Animal-Mothers.aspx

Inside Outside Nature: Moms and Babies

http://www.insideoutsidenature.com/?p=2012

National Geographic: Mother’s Love Photo Gallery

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/photos/mothers-love-gallery

Next Generation Science Standards or NGSS were recently released. The new K-12 science standards are rich in content and practice. They approach science education in a manner that challenges students to truly grasp subject matter and apply what they are learning. The NGSS focus on preparing K-12 students to go to college or to enter the workforce. The standards were released in April and are now available for states to adopt voluntarily. Iowa educators, school administrators, science consultants, and higher education faculty, among others, recently met for a NGSS awareness session.

For more information on the NGSS visit the following websites:

Next Generation Science Standards

http://www.nextgenscience.org/

Next Generation Science Standards – Iowa

http://www.nextgenscience.org/Iowa

Iowa will convene task force to review science standards

http://www.educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2860%3Aiowa-will-convene-task-force-to-review-science-standards&catid=242%3Anews-releases