Mathematics Grade Prototype Curriculum Guide

Sample assessment

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  Assess the maps of the schoolyard with their flow directions and details about surfaces, including how surfaces will affect the quality of the runoff.
  
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  Assess the written directions completed at the end of Session 4.
  

Follow-up/extension

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  Have students take pictures with a digital camera, or scan 35mm photos to make the school’s own version of Journey of a Raindrop to the Bay multimedia presentation or picture book. Photos of the larger rivers can usually be found on the Internet by doing a search or by using http://www.picsearch.com.
  
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  Have students look around their yard at home to see where runoff goes. Have them make a list to create a personal watershed address.
  
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  Have students use their rough sketch map of the schoolyard to create a more detailed topographic map of the same area.
  
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  Have students read more about rivers, lakes, and other water bodies through which water flows on its way to the Chesapeake Bay.
  
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  Have students undertake the project entitled “Building an Outdoor Classroom” on page 39 of the Project Action Guide from Lessons from the Bay (see Resources).
  

Resources

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  Chesapeake Bay Foundation. http://www.cbf.org.
  
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  Chesapeake Bay Program: America’s Premier Watershed Restoration Partnership. http://www.chesapeakebay.net/. Provides articles and other resources on the Chesapeake Bay’s natural resources.
  
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  ChesSIE (Chesapeake Science on the Internet for Educators). http://www.bayeducation.net/. Resource for educators about the Chesapeake Bay.
  
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  Lessons from the Bay. Virginia Department of Education. http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/LFB/. A resource for grades 3–6, including 16 lessons concerning watersheds and the negative human impact on the environment, specifically the Chesapeake Bay.
  
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  Love-a-Tree. http://www.vanaturally.com/lat.html. An environmental education activity book for teachers with lesson plans about streams.
  

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  On the Way to the Chesapeake Bay: The Journey of a Raindrop. http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/LFB/lessonplans/journeyraindrop/rain_book.pdf.
  

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  Project WET (Water Education for Teachers). Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. http://www.deq.virginia.gov/education/wet.html. Presents information about Project WET in Virginia.
  

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  Raindrop to the Bay PowerPoint presentation. http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/LFB/lessonplans/journeyraindrop/raindrop_to_bay.ppt.
  

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  Surf Your Watershed. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm.
  
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  Virginia Atlas and Gazetteer: topographic maps of the entire state, back roads and recreation areas. Delorme Mapping Company, 1995. http://www.delorme.com/atlasgaz/.
  
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  Virginia Institute of Marine Science. http://www.vims.edu/.
  
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  Virginia Naturally: Linking Virginians to the Environment. http://www.vanaturally.com/. Offers environmental resources for teachers.
  

Forests

Organizing Topic Investigating Natural Resources

Overview Students investigate the importance of natural and cultivated forests in Virginia, using a 4-H Virtual Forest Web site.

Related Standards of Learning 4.8d

Objectives

The students should be able to

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  appraise the importance of natural and cultivated forests in Virginia;
  
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  compare and contrast natural and man-made resources.
  

Materials needed

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  4-H Virtual Forest Web site: http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/virtualforest/
  
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  Computer access for each student
  

Instructional activity

Content/Teacher Notes

This student-directed lesson, in which students use a Web site to find out more about forests in Virginia, should follow an activity/lesson about forests in Virginia. User’s guides and activity sheets accompany each module on the Web site. It may be appropriate to pair your students based on their reading abilities, or to assign different modules to students based on their ability levels, as some modules are more reading intensive than others. This lesson may take several class periods, depending on how much you extend the discussion after each group’s presentation.

Introduction

1. Review information students have previously learned about forests.

Procedure

1. Instruct students to access the 4-H Virtual Forest Web site. There are three modules on this Web site that are most appropriate for this SOL — “Trees,” “Old Field Succession,” and “Timber.”

2. Assign students a particular module to work through.

3. After all students have completed their module and corresponding activity sheets, have all those who worked on a particular module meet in a group to prepare a presentation about the main points of the module. This can be done in a variety of ways. An effective way is to use a projector so that the whole class can see the Web site and to have a spokesperson summarize each frame for the rest of the class.

4. Lead a discussion after each group’s presentation to summarize the key points of the module again. Have students record this information in their science journal or in a graphic organizer. After the group’s presentation about trees and natural resources, lead a discussion about natural and man-made resources. Have students brainstorm as a class and prepare a chart listing natural and man-made resources.

Sample assessment

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  Have students describe why forests are cultivated in Virginia, including the ways natural forests are different from cultivated forests. Students may make a display with one side showing characteristics of a natural forest and the other side showing characteristics of a cultivated forest.
  
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  Have students distinguish between natural and man-made from a list of various object.