Water, Woods and Wildlife - Elementary

How does this program fit in with the MEAP?

This program provides many different experiences, hands-on approaches and review for students studying the natural history of the Straits and Michigan. A variety of activities can prepare students for the visit by our historic interpreters, as well as review concepts and content after the visit. Many activities and information can be found in our curriculum offerings including MSHP?s Artifact Box, Slide Show, Video, Education Packet, publications as well as visits to our sites in the Straits of Mackinac area.

On the back of this sheet is a list of Michigan Science Standards that are obtainable through the program. This program touches on and reinforces these benchmark strands and standards. However, it is the teacher who guides and reinforces the content presented to help reach, meet and obtain these strands and standards. Use our resources stated above to help you in this endeavor.

MICHIGAN SCIENCE STANDARDS -Elementary

REFLECT ON THE NATURE, ADEQUACY AND CONNECTIONS ACROSS
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
Standard II.1: Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge
II.1.E.4 Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the natural world. (Key concepts: Appreciation of the balance of nature and the effects organisms have on each other, including the effects humans have on the natural world).

Standard II.2: Organization of Living Things
II.2.E.4 Compare and contrast food, energy, and environmental needs of selected organisms. (Key concepts: Life requirements - food, air, water, minerals, sunlight, space, habitat. Real world context: Germinating seeds, such as beans, corn; aquarium or terrarium life, such as guppy, goldfish, snail).

Standard II.4: Evolution
II.4.E.2 Explain how physical and/or behavioral characteristics of organisms help them to survive in their environments. (Key concepts: Characteristics - adaptation, fitness, instinct, learning, habit. Traits and their adaptive values - sharp teeth or claws for catching and killing prey, color for camouflage. Real world context: Common vertebrate adaptations, such as white polar bears, sharp claws and sharp canines for predators, changing colors of chameleon; behaviors, such as migration, communication of danger, adaptation to changes in the environment.)

USE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE FROM THE LIFE SCIENCES IN REAL-WORLD CONTEXTS
Standard III.5 Ecosystems
III.5.E.1 Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web and describe their feeding relationships within the web. (Key concepts: Producer, consumer, predator, prey, decomposer, habitat. Real-world context: Food chains and food webs involving organisms, such as rabbits, birds, snakes, grasshoppers, plants.)
III.5.E.2 Explain common patterns of interdependence and interrelationships of living things. (Key concepts: Producer, consumer, predator, prey, decomposer, habitat. Real-world context: Relationships among plants and animals in an ecosystem-symbiotic relationships, such as insects and flowering plants, birds eating fruit and spreading seeds; parasitic relationships, such as human and mosquitoes, trees and mistletoe.)
III.5.E.3 Describe the basic requirements for all living things to maintain their existence. (Key concepts: Needs of life-food, habitat, water, shelter, air, light, minerals. Real-world contexts: Selected ecosystems, such as an aquarium, rotting log, terrarium, backyard, local pond or wetland, wood lot.)
III.5.E.5 Describe positive and negative effects of humans on the environment. (Key concepts: Human effects on the environment-garbage, habitat destruction, land management, resource management. Real-world contexts: Household wastes, school wastes, waste water treatment, habitat destruction due to community growth, reforestation projects, establishing parks or other green places.)

USE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE FROM THE EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES IN REAL-WORLD CONTEXTS
Standard V.1: Geosphere
V.1.E.6 Demonstrate means to recycle manufactured materials and a disposition toward recycling. (Key concepts: Recyclable materials - paper, metal, glass, plastic. Anti-pollution activities - reduce, reuse, recycle. Real-world contexts: Collections of recyclable materials, plans for recycling at home and school.

Standard V.2: Hydrosphere
V.2.E.2 Trace the path that rain water follows after it falls. (Key concepts: Precipitation-rain, clouds, fog, run-off. Flow-downhill, to ocean, underground. Bodies of water-streams, rivers, lakes, oceans. Real-world contexts: Examples of water flowing locally, including gutters, drains, steams, wetlands.
V.2.E.3 Identify sources of drinking water. (Key concepts: Water sources-wells, springs, Great Lakes, rivers. Real-world contexts: Examples of local sources of drinking water, including wells, rivers, lakes.)
V.2.E.4 Describe uses of water. (Key concepts: Domestic uses-drinking, cleaning, food preparation. Public uses-generate electricity, recreation, irrigation, transportation. Real-world contexts: Examples of local occasions when water is used, including car wash, swimming pools, fire hydrants, drinking, food preparation, cleaning.)

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