IOWA A4-9 SCIENCE PROJECT

TEACHERS GUIDE for: Sun, Air, Water, Soil Grades 4-6
ECOLOGY.461 Reta Lemon

CONCEPT OBJECTIVES:
Through this activity students will observe the importance of the sun, air, water, and soil to all living organisms.

SKILL OBJECTIVES:
Students will develop observing, predicting and recording skills.

TEACHER NOTES:
This is the first in a series of four cycles, Ecology.461 Sun, Air, Water, and Soil (S.A.W.S.), Ecology.462 Food Webs, Ecology.463 Food Chains and Ecology.464 Habitats.
This activity can be done individually but works well in groups of four for the inside activity.
The outside activity can be individual observations with group discussion.
Before taking the students outside, check out a nearby natural area for the following:
1. Evidence of decaying plants because they received no air, under a plank, tire, or rock.
2. Evidence of a plant that received no sunlight, the plant may be not dead, but would be very leggy, very pale, and twisted.
3. Very hard packed ground that has no vegetation, edge of the road, driveway, or blacktop, all weather track, etc.
4. An area that in the normal course of events does not get any water, under the eaves of a building, bleachers etc.

MATERIAL:
For each group of four
1 Clip and clipboard or hard surface to write on.
1 set of "What If" questions.
1 pencil
4 plastic sandwich bags
4 plants, soil and water

EXPLORATION:
ACTIVITY I.
Take the students on a "What if?" walk.
Direct the students to predict and then find evidence of the effect of the following What Ifs:
1. What if the sun no longer would shine!
2. What if there was no more air on earth!
3. What if there was no soil!
4. What if there was no rain!
5. What if you have only one of the above!, or two, or three!

ACTIVITY II.
Divide the class into groups of four, one represents the Sun, one the Air, one the Water, and one the Soil.
Give to each student a plastic sandwich bag and a plant.
Each student is to prepare a two day experiment showing the effect that they as either sun, air, water, or soil have on this living organism if they were withheld.

(Example: Tom chooses to be the Air. He puts his plant in some soil in the bottom of the plastic bag, adds a little water, then removes as much air as he possibly can from the bag. He may choose to do this by setting a heavy book on the bag, then quickly tying the top shut. Set this aside for two days then observe the plant.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:
Write the "What If" questions on the board or overhead, leaving room for the predictions and evidence under each.
Record the predictions from each group and the evidence they found of the lack of these elements for each question.
Discuss how the loss of one element or two would effect their lives, animal lives, plant lives.
Discuss how their world would be effected if this were to happen on a state wide, country wide scale.
Continue discussing the inter dependency of living organisms on these elements and each other.
Introduce these four elements as the beginning of all food chains.

APPLICATION:
The students will construct a S.A.W.S. (Sun, Air, Water, Soil) mobile with information they have collected written in Haiku, or Cinquain verse.
Before starting the application activity the following materials should be on hand for the students to use.
Sun, gold and yellow construction paper.
Air, dark and light gray construction paper.
Water, dark and light blue construction paper.
Soil, dark and light brown construction paper.
Bright colored thin yarn, scissors, stapler and staples.
1 pound butter tub lid for every four students.
1/2 pound butter tub lid for every two people.

Each student will trace around the large circle on the darker of the colored paper, and around the smaller circle on the lighter paper because they will write on this paper.
The finished product will have a large orange circle with a small yellow circle on each side for the sun, a large dark purple circle with a small light purple circle on each side for the air, and so on for the water and soil.
The circles will be stapled at the top, a hole punched, then tied together so that the sun is at the top, then the air, then water, then soil.
The class could be divided into groups of two or four with each making one or two parts of the mobile. The same materials would be used but in different amounts.
Cut the paper in squares slightly larger then the circles to eliminate paper waste.(before starting the Application.)
Students may use other shapes, also.
If students are not familiar with Haiku or Cinquain poetry spend some time writing some together before doing the APPLICATION activity.

EVALUATION:
Teacher observations, prediction and recording sheets and the finished product of the application activity are all valid ways of evaluating the student.