IOWA 4-9 SCIENCE PROJECT
TEACHER GUIDE for: Flowers Growing Gloria Baker
Edited by Reta Lemon
ECOLOGY.46L Grades 4-6
CONCEPT OBJECTIVES:
Through this activity students will be able to discover the habitat of and
identify ten Iowa wildflowers.
PROCESS OBJECTIVES:
Students will develop observing, predicting, recording, measuring and inferring
skills.
TEACHER NOTES:
This is the second in a series of four cycles, Ecology 46I Trees Changing,
Ecology 46L Flowers Growing, Ecology 46A Insects Around and Ecology 46B
Birds on Wing.
Before beginning this activity investigate the area around the neighborhood
of the school to find examples of wildflowers and the habitats in which
they live. If the school is not in an area where wildflowers grow plan to
visit a park or other woodland four times during the school year or change
the flowers you would have the students identify.
The Audubon Society Pocket Guide of Familiar Flowers of North America (Eastern
Region) by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Published by Chanticleer Press, Inc.,
is an excellent guide, beautiful photographs, short, easy to read descriptions.
Golden Press also has an excellent paper back and Peterson Guide to Wildflowers
is color keyed and very easy to use.
The State Nursery in Ames has a beautiful poster which can be obtained free
of common Iowa wildflowers.
Common wildflowers to include in the ten to identify might be the following:
1. May Apple 7. Wild Geranium
2. Blood Root 8. Rue Anemone
3. May Flower 9. Prairie Lily
4. Wild Ginger 10. Gill-over-the-ground
5. Wild Phlox 11. Solomon's Seal
6. Queen Anne's Lace 12. Jacob's Ladder
Be sure to caution the students not to pick wildflowers when they are in
a park and check with the woods owner about picking them if your field trip
takes you to a private woodland.
During each field trip take the students to four different habitats including
the woodland, the edge of the woodland, an unmowed sunny hillside, open
meadow and/or the creek bank. If time does not permit make four trips, one
to each habitat.
Schedule one field trip in the middle of September, one in late November,
one in late March and the last in early May.
MATERIALS:
For each 2 or 3 students:
1 flower field guide.
For each student:
1 clipboard, clip and pencil and hand lens.
1 foot measuring device.
1 sheet of typing paper folded in half to sketch the flower on one side
and describe the habitat on the other side.
1 recording sheet.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:
First establish the boundaries within which the students are to make their
observations and remind them not to pick the flowers.
Direct them to explore the area to determine if any wildflowers grow within
their boundaries. When they find a flower they need to, on the recording
sheet, identify and describe the habitat, including other vegetation, texture
of the soil, with or without trees, hillside, flat, hillside, under a tree,
etc. Measure and describe the flower and determine the population density
of that flower in that particular place.
Each student will sketch the flower with at least one leaf, record its color
and attempt to identify it on the folded typing paper. Then they are to
predict if they would find this flower in other habitats besides the one
where they are.
Repeat this procedure in each of the four habitats. Allow at least 30 minutes
in each. If your schedules allows spend more time in each habitat, or return
another day.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:
After investigations have been done in all four habitats discuss together
the flowers they found, which habitat they were found in, the population
density and their predictions.
The information from the students might include the following:
"The Wind Ginger is easy to identify because of its heart-shaped leaves
and the fact that it always grows in clumps. The hillside in the woods was
really covered with them. I thought I would find it in other places, but
I didn't."
"Queen Anne's Lace is really found all over except in the woods. It
really grows tall out in the open meadow, almost a foot over my head. It
was even taller beside the creek. I guess it needs a lot of sunlight and
heat which it wouldn't get in the woods."
"I predicted that I would find Gill-over-the-ground everywhere we went,
so I was surprised that there wasn't any in the woodland."
"I found the May Apple in big clumps in the woodland on the hillside,
under the maple trees and also at the edge of the woods on the hillside.
There always seems to be maples and oaks where it grows. It is also very
easy to recognize."
"I found Solomon's Seal and Blood Root in several places. I was surprised
to find some in the ditch, under the box alder tree, in our backyard at
home as well as on our trip. I really missed my prediction there."
"The only place I found the Prairie Lily was in the shady area at the
edge of the woods on the north side of the hill. The soil around it was
very loose and quite damp."
APPLICATION:
Divide the class into groups of three. Have boxes that are 3 x 16 x 24 for
each group. These are available from a greenhouse where they are used for
carrying out plants, or a grocery store for holding cans.
Have a variety of kinds, colors and textures of paper, along with scissors,
glue, etc. for everyone.
Challenge the groups to create a diagram with the flowers that would be
found there. They may choose one of the habitats already visited or a different
one. The diagram should include in addition to the flowers, other things
like soil, grasses, trees, rocks or whatever is part of that habitat.
When every diagram is complete each group can challenge another group to
identify the habitat and the flowers that are growing there.
EVALUATION:
Teacher observations, the recording sheets, class discussion and the product
of the application activity are acceptable ways of determining what the
student has learned.
RECORDING SHEET NAME ______________________________
Date _______________________
FLOWER DESCRIBE POPUL. HABITAT DESCRIBE PRED
1.________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________________
7. ________________________________________________________
8. ________________________________________________________
9. ________________________________________________________
10. ________________________________________________________