On The Trip Entry #2: Wetland Plants and Animals

Wetlands are made up of low-lying land, water, and lots of plants and animals.  There are places where there is shallow water, or at least soggy soil.  Plants that grow here thrive living in the wet environment.  Not all wetlands are the same however.  Some of the different types of wetlands are marshes, bogs, and swamps.  Wetlands are very important because without the wetlands there would not be place for thousand of animals and plant species to live.  Another reason that the wetlands are important is because without the wetlands there would be much more flooding and also polluted waterways.  Unfortunately, people do not realize the value of the wetlands and many of them have been drained and used as building sites.  Some types of wetland animals are: salamanders, blue herons, water snakes, turtles, dragonflies, bass, minnows, muskrats, minks, and white-tailed deer, just to name a few.  Some types of wetland plants are cattails, water lilies, duckweed, red and silver maples, winterberry holly, sweet gale, ferns, mosses, and cotton grass, just to names a few.  (Content)

In this lesson students will describe the the types of plants and animals that have their habitat in the wetlands. In second grade we study both plants, and animals.  My students love to watch Magic School Bus episodes and The Magic School Bus: Gets Swamped is perfect to help teach this lesson.  Before showing the video  make a list on the board with what students think wetlands are.  After a small discussion explain to students that a wetland is a place where you can walk at any time of the day and your feet would get wet. CC.8.5.6-8.D  Then ask students to think about this scenario and explain to them that we will be discussing this after the video. " What would you do if you heard that a developer wanted to build a shopping center right where the local wetlands were?  Would you try to save the wetlands? Today we are going to find out what a wetland is, and the plants and animals that are found in the wetlands. " After this, show students the Magic School Bus episode, which is a great intro to the wetland animals and plant life.  CC.8.5.6-8.G After watching the video have students classify plants you would find in the wetlands vs. plants you would find in the dessert, and animals you would find in the wetlands vs. animals you wouldn't find there. (DOK 2) The second activity they would do with this lesson would be similar to what happened in the video clip.  Students must develop a logical argument they could present to the class on why to protect the wetlands from being taken over by a shopping center. (DOK 3)  To go along with their argument on why to keep the wetlands they will create a poster with animals and plants that live and grow in the wetlands.  Students can use their list previously created to help determine what they will draw on the poster.  CC.8.5.6-8.G (DOK 4) After groups of students present their posters and arguments to the class discuss with the whole group important points that they made and the value of the wetlands in our world today. (DOK 1) CC.1.5.2.B  CC.1.5.2.A (Creative Idea)

Domains: 1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 1.d, 1.e, 1.f, 2.a, 2.b, 2.c, 2.d, 2.e, 3.a, 3.b, 3.c, 3.d, 3.e, 4.c, 4.d, 4.e

Sources: www.nwf.org/kids, united streaming, and www.hamiltonnature.org