Stimulating Science Simulations

5.L.1.1  Explain why some organisms are capable of surviving as a single cell while others require many cells that are specialized to survive.  What will you find in some pond water?  Pond critters of course. We had already completed an initial lesson in the classroom.  I had scooped a bucket of pond water from my neighborhood and we examined the unicellular and multicellular life of the pond. In fact, this lesson was taught almost two months ago but then we had some signs of spring.  The rains came and with it, outdoor recess became a festival of science!  My kiddos found a puddle and were completely enthralled with the life of a puddle.  They begged me to bring out the microscopes and slides for RECESS!! Of course, being the teacher who wants to make the kids happy, I gave them exactly what they wanted.  Combined with a little mobile technology and we were identifying the organisms in the puddle in no time.  We found that one of the ...

5.L.2.2  Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors). Last year, I purchased the "Follow That Food Chain" series.  These non-fiction adventure books are set up like a game.  Students begin by reading the introduction and then choosing a tertiary consumer from the ecosystem featured in each book.  From there, they read about the animal and continue to make choices that result in either survival and continuation along the food chain (which really becomes more of a food web) or a "dead end". Although my students can learn plenty from reading and interacting with this book, I was looking for a way to document their learning.  I decided to create a guided reading focus sheet for this purpose.   You can get a copy of it here.   Basically, students record the tertiary animal they chose. Then they read and respond with 3 facts they learned about the animal.  N...