Plant Unit

This unit begins with information that you have learned in previous school years which is great because it allows me an opportunity to teach you lab skills and procedures that you will need in the Middle School. We begin the year by collecting data and graphing our findings with a family friendly scavenger hunt for leaves. We also look up close at the parts of a leaf in a lab situation where you learn to work with chemicals and microscopes. Continued study of the seeds of monocots and dicots allow us time to learn how to complete a lab and diagram and label our findings. We wrap up the life cycle of a plant by completing an extensive lab on flower dissection and learning how to prep slides as we look at pollen.

This unit continues with a study of forest and pond succession.

Pond Succession open link on left side

Forest Succession in Yellowstone National Park

Pond Critters
To get to this site you will need to open up the Pond and Lake Animals tab at the left and then open the Aquatic Critter Slide Show
 

We review the basic information of ecosystems and the cycles that they go through, called succession. Then we delve back into school history as we look at the fires of 1988. These devastating fires of 1988 that burned through Yellowstone Park and into the Shoshone National Forest allowed the Park County School Districts an opportunity for a 99 year study of forest recovery. The schools have been given a plot of land located west of K-Z Guest Ranch to study this ecosystem's recovery. Each fall I take students to this area and record and review yearly growth in the area. In 6th grade you will return for a 3 day study of the area.

Flower Lab is the last part of this unit.  We dissect a flower and look for all of the parts of a flower - interactive lab