Ecosystems and Biomes with Upper Elementary
Over the last couple of weeks, Upper Elementary has been exploring ecosystems!
We defined an ecosystem as a community where living and non-living things interact and depend on one another to survive.
An ecosystem is a lot like a team...all of the pieces and players have an important role to play. If one piece is missing, it can affect the rest of the system.
We used the fraction materials from the classroom to help us visualize all of the different pieces that make up an ecosystem.
We then did a deep dive into the many ecosystems that are all around us. Since ecosystems can be very broad, we started with our school ecosystem and named some of the important features within it. We then looked at some more specific ecosystems, like our classrooms and our garden, with a closer look at our compost bins and chickens. These might be considered micro-ecosystems, but they play an important role in the larger ecosystem of our school!
Our ecosystem study launched us into a much bigger study this week: BIOMES!
Biomes are large geographic areas that experience similar climates and have specific characteristics that help define them.
We observed pictures from many different biomes and talked about how climate affects the living and non-living things found in each one.
In the coming weeks, students will get to do some deeper research on different biomes and present their findings to the class!
To wrap up our ecosystem unit and launch our biome study, we decided to make our own tiny ecosystems in jars. We took a hike down to the woods and found plants growing near the creek to add to our ecosystems. Since these plants already grow in a moist environment, they were a great fit for our little jars!
We then built our ecosystems using both living and non-living materials before closing them up and letting the ecosystems begin to work on their own.
I encourage you to observe these little systems with your children! It is pretty neat to watch the water cycle begin to happen right inside the jar.
Now each of your students has a tiny, self-sustaining ecosystem to observe and enjoy to serve as a little reminder that even the smallest pieces of an ecosystem are connected to something much bigger.
– Ms. Emily
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