Independent
Site Visits Elementary
Grades:
The Making of a Landscape
Rocky
Mountain National Park
The Trees of Rocky Mountain National Park
Large Mammals of Rocky Mountain National Park
Grade level: Elementary
Learning Standard:
The student asks questions about natural phenomena, objects and organisms,
and events and discoveries.
The student acquires information from multiple sources, such as experimentation
and print and non-print sources.
Time Requirements:
Preparation Time: Several hours (including a pre visit)
Class Time: Semester Study
Topics Covered: tree products, parts of trees, tree growth/rings, conservation, organisms, geologic
processes, glaciation,
weather, climate, ecosystems, and human impact.
Pre-Visit:
Purpose: Preparation of students
for their visit.
Objective: Introduce the
students to the topics.
Materials Required:
map, posters, pictures, books, magazines, various items (antlers, skins, cones,
tree products), various examples of growth stages of a tree (seed, sapling…),
Internet, Field Journals
Students Learning
Prerequisites: Through in class
discussions, activities, lessons, and experiments students will be able to
identify parts of a tree, name at least three trees that grow in the Rocky
Mountains, and know basic
features which distinguish the Montane forest ecosystem, the Sub-alpine forest,
and the Riparian ecosystems. In their field journals students will have drawn
a tree and labeled its parts and defined various terms. The students will
have also completed preliminary research on the moose, big horn sheep, and
elk. Prior to the visit the students will also able to define, what is a National
Park? The purpose of the visit will then be reviewed and the assignment to
be completed at the National Park explained. Also before the trip a Park Ranger
will visit the classroom.
Visit:
As a group the class will visit the Moraine Park Museum. From the museum,
the class will go to a few study sites and trails. The students are responsible
for recording their observations in their Field Journal. Each student will
record the temperature, weather conditions, elevation, siting of animals (name,
descriptions…), and identification of trees. Students can also draw
sketches and make rubbings of trees / leaves. Activities and experiments will
also be conducted at the study sites and trails.
Post Visit:
Assessment: Have students share
what they learned and observed
at the Rocky Mountain National Park. Review with the class their observations
that they recorded in their Field Journal. And review the answers to a few
questions they were given to answer on the various exhibits at the museum.
Extension: In class a discussion will be held on recycling,
conservation and pollution. And why it is important to take care of our National
Parks. Each student will then write a short report on an ecosystem or animal
found in the park. The next assignment will be to create a poster about Rocky
Mountain National Park. (In class activity: make paper) Possibly create a
small model of the park.
Possible Questions
- What special adaptations
do the animals have?
- What does it eat, and what eats it?
- Is it endangered or threatened? If so, why?
- Where does it live?
- What are the differences between evergreen and deciduous trees?
- What does a Park Ranger do?
- How are mountains created?
- How old are the trees?