Lessons and Standards

1st Grade Summary

Students explore the kelp forest, learn about the anatomy, discover the animals that depend on this unique ecosystem, and create an understanding that it is worth protecting.

During the Exploration Day at the Living Lab, students experience being a marine biologist and investigate parts of the kelp forest. Students make observations of a kelp forest and collect data about the relationship between sea lions and fish. They dissect a holdfast to learn about the organisms that live there and considering how they can protect the kelp forest in the future as a science leader.  Students share their love of the kelp forest with their family and friends by creating a kelp model to communicate the importance of the ecosystem.

During the Make a Difference Day in the classroom, students build a classroom kelp forest and populate it with animals that live in and around the kelp forest. Collectively, these experiences build students’ belief that they are unique individuals who belong to the community of science by learning what science leaders do and that they can make a difference in the world.

NGSS Alignment

Performance Expectations K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive; 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

DCI LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans – There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water.

Crosscutting Concepts – Systems and systems models – students understand that a system is a group of related parts that make up a whole and can carry out functions its individual parts cannot. They can also describe a system in terns of its components and their interactions.

 

Classroom Media

Schedules

Additional Resources