Teachers Page

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Teachers Page Learning About Leaves
Web Quest for 2nd Grade Science Designed by
Ann Marie Torres Based on a template from San
Diego State Universitys The WebQuest Page
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Introduction This lesson was designed as a
requirement for the Fall 2005 semester of Science
and Technology in the Elementary Schools class in
the graduate program at Roger Williams
University, in Bristol, Rhode Island. This
lesson is geared for 2nd grade students that are
studying plants, more specifically- the various
shapes, sizes, and characteristics of leaves from
various trees and why leaves change color. Begin
by reading Sky Tree Seeing Science through Art,
by Thomas Locker and Tell Me, Tree-All Trees for
Kids by Gail Gibbins. Students will have
the opportunity to become scientists and go
outside on a nature walk to collect assorted
leaves from various kinds of tress. They will
then go back to their classroom and work with a
partner to search internet websites that are
provided by the teacher to find out why leaves
change colors. The students will then complete a
leaf rubbing in conjunction with a writing
assignment. The writing assignment will consist
of five complete sentences that give facts as to
why leaves change colors.
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Learners This lesson was designed for 2nd
grade science students who are studying plants
and trees. This lesson is specifically geared for
low level elementary school students but could be
easily adapted to accommodate students in the
higher elementary level. The learners will
need to know a little about the life cycle of a
tree and how the leaves fall off in the autumn
season and then they grow back as buds and then
leaves in the spring/summer. They need to have a
simple understanding about the various kinds of
trees and leaves as well as some knowledge of how
the computer works for Internet
research. Benchmarks for Science Literacy
Classification of organisms Some research
indicates that in 2nd grade there is a shift in
children's understanding of organisms from
representations based on perceptual and
behavioral features to representations in which
central principles of biological theory are most
important. Meaning of the words "animal" and
"plant" Elementary- and middle-school students
also hold a much more restricted meaning than
biologists do for the word "plant." Students
often do not recognize that trees, vegetables,
and grass are all plants.
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• Curriculum Standards
• National Science Education Standards
• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD CAs a result of activities in
  grades K-4, all students should develop
  understanding of
• The characteristics of organisms
• Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals
  need air, water, and food plants require air,
  water, nutrients, and light. Organisms can
  survive only in environments in which their needs
  can be met. The world has many different
  environments, and distinct environments support
  the life of different types of organisms.
• Each plant or animal has different structures
  that serve different functions in growth,
  survival, and reproduction. For example, humans
  have distinct body structures for walking,
  holding, seeing, and talking.
• The behavior of individual organisms is
  influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and
  by external cues (such as a change in the
  environment). Humans and other organisms have
  senses that help them detect internal and
  external cues.
• Life cycles of organisms
• Benchmarks for Science Literacy
• The Living Environment
• Diversity of Life
• By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know
  that
• Some animals and plants are alike in the way they
  look and in the things they do, and others are
  very different from one another.
• Plants and animals have features that help them
  live in different environments.
• Stories sometimes give plants and animals
  attributes they really do not have.

more
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Curriculum Standards (continued) English Language
Arts Standards Standard 4-Gathers and uses
information for research purposes  Level I
(Grades K-2)     1. Generates questions about
topics of personal interest   2. Uses a variety
of sources to gather information (e.g.,
informational books, pictures, charts, indexes,
videos, television programs, guest speakers,
Internet, own observation) Standard 7-Uses
reading skills and strategies to understand and
interpret a variety of informational
texts    Level I (Grades K-2)     1. Uses reading
skills and strategies to understand a variety of
informational texts (e.g., written directions,
signs, captions, warning labels, informational
books)    2. Understands the main idea and
supporting details of simple expository
information    3. Summarizes information found in
texts (e.g., retells in own words)    4. Relates
new information to prior knowledge and
experience Standard 8-Uses listening and speaking
strategies for different purposes  Level I
(Grades K-2)     1. Makes contributions in class
and group discussions (e.g., reports on ideas and
personal knowledge about a topic, initiates
conversations, connects ideas and experiences
with those of others)    2. Asks and responds to
questions (e.g., about the meaning of a story,
about the meaning of words or ideas)    3. Follows
rules of conversation and group discussion
(e.g., takes turns, raises hand to speak, stays
on topic, focuses attention on speaker)    4. Uses
different voice level, phrasing, and intonation
for different situations (e.g., small group
settings, informal discussions, reports to the
class)   5. Uses level-appropriate vocabulary in
speech (e.g., number words words that describe
people, places, things, events, location,
actions synonyms, antonyms homonyms, word
analogies, common figures of speech)    6. Gives
and responds to oral directions    7. Recites and
responds to familiar stories, poems, and rhymes
with patterns (e.g., relates information to own
life describes character, setting,
plot)    8. Knows differences between language
used at home and language used in school
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Process Step One You will begin by taking a
nature walk, led by your teacher around the
grounds of your school to collect leaves. Step
Two You and a partner will then set out on a
mission to discover five facts as to why leaves
change colors. Click the sites listed below to
collect your facts. Why Leaves Change Colors The
Colors of Leaves Simple Science Trees and Colors
Autumn Leaves Movie (teacher will log you in)
Leaves Leaves and Colors Step Three You and a
partner will write five complete sentences that
include the facts as to why leaves change
colors. This lesson will take place within a
unit on Autumn. The disciplines in this lesson
will include science, art, technology and social
studies. This particular lesson would take place
over the period of a week. You would have to
break down the steps. For example, the first day
the students and I would talk about leaves and
then we would go for a nature walk to collect
the leaves. Then we would come back to the
classroom or the computer lab and conduct
research as to why leaves change colors. I would
provide them a good number of websites to collect
their information. I would then assign partners
to work together to write down five facts that
explain why leaves will turn colors.
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Evaluation- The students will be required to
write five complete sentences on the facts that
they have discovered through their research on
why leaves change color. You may use the
following rubric.
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Conclusion When your students finish
this web quest, they will have learned many
valuable skills. They will have learned to work
with partners and how to access the internet to
gather the facts necessary to complete the
writing assignment that is part of their project.
Your students will learn how to conduct a leaf
rubbing as well as being able to present the
facts that they have gathered in the form of five
complete sentences.    The teacher will have
covered many areas in the curriculum, core
content standards, and technical skills with
their students. You may want to review the ISTE
standards again.
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Credits The following books and websites were
used in creating the web quest Learning About
Leaves -Sky Tree Seeing Science through Art.
By Thomas Locker. 1995 Harper Collins Publisher,
32 pp. ISBN 0-06-024883-1 -Tell Me, Tree- All
Trees for Kids. By Gail Gibbins. 2002 Time
Warner Book Group. ISBN 0-316-30903-6 -Microsoft
Office Clip Art and Sound Online Benchmarks for
Science Literacy National Science Education
Standards The ISTE Website Tooter 4Kids Fact
Monster Science Made Simple Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources Brain Pop (membership name
password needed) Kid Zone USDA Forest
Service The Web Quest Page at San Diego
University-for updated materials on web quests.