Lesson Title : Water Habitats (The Salt Marsh)

1. STEM32 Lesson Plan#3Teacher’s Name: Shelly J. ThomasSchool: Public School 273 (The Wortman School) 923 Jerome Street, Brooklyn, NY 11207STEM32 PD Attended: April 16, 2011 to May 21, 2011 Lesson Title: Water Habitats (The Salt Marsh)

2. First Grade Common Core Standards: R.I.T. 2-Gr1; W2-Gr1

3. Objective: Students will be able to understand that both land and aquatic animals have habitats in the salt marshes.

4. Materials and Websites: You will need: Chart paper, markers, Science notebook journals, Water habitat student worksheets and a downloaded picture of a salt marsh. Book References: >Duck in the pond by Michelle Cartlidge >In the small, small pond by Denise Fleming >Good morning, pond by Alyssa Satin Capucilli >Ducklings and pollywogs by Anne F. Rockwell

5. Smart Start: What is a salt marsh? Vocabulary word: Salt Marsh: is a fertile, nutrient rich wetland where fresh and saltwater mix.

6. Mini-Lesson >You can introduce the lesson with one of the book references above. • Ask the class if they know what a “salt marsh” is? You can give them a hint and say that it can remind you of a pond.>Tell the student what a salt marsh is. Also explain that this habitat provides a warm and protected environment for spawning and for young animals to hide, eat and grow. About 70% of our commercially valuable fish and invertebrates begin their lives in a salt marsh. ( Then when they become adults, they swim to larger beaches and oceans). • Animals on land and in the water are able to lay their eggs in a salt marsh because it is a calm and quiet environment. Also, it is not easy for a predator to attack them, because the animals can hide within the plants that grow in the waters. • Some animals you may see in a salt marsh are various fish, ducks, birds (swans sea gulls or mallards), rabbits, etc. • You can do a brief demonstration of a salt marsh environment: • Take 5 to six students and have them stand in front of the class pretending to be the tall reeds in the water that are swaying in the wind. (students are swaying in one place from side to side). Then pick another student to pretend to be a small fish swimming in between the swaying reeds in the water. Then, pick another student to be a large predator fish that chases the small fish in between the reeds. This is a brief depiction of the protection some animals have, because they are able to hide from their predators and oftentimes escape from them as well. • Ask the students, what do they think the “aim” or the smart start of this lesson is: They should say: “What is a salt marsh”? Or We are learning about salt marshes. • Before they go back to their seats and work independently or in groups, have a student tell what a salt marsh is. Then ask another student why are salt marshes so important to the land and aquatic animals that live there.

7. Application (Group Work) >Have student work on the Water Habitat student pages either individually, with a partner or as a group. >Have the students record in their Science notebook journals what they learned about salt marshes. Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions: • What do you think would happen if the local salt marshes in our area were destroyed? (possible answers: some animals may become extinct and the food chains may be affected if the salt marshes were destroyed) • Why are the salt marshes important for us to have? (possible answers: certain fish we eat start out in the sea marshes and it also allows certain food chains to keep going.)

8. Conclusion: > Have two to three students “share-out” what they wrote in their journals about what they learned about the salt marsh.

9. Extensions: • Take a field trip to the local Salt Marsh at : The Nature Center, 602 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224-3452 to observe the various animals on land and in the water. • Have students create a collage of some land and aquatic animals found in a salt marsh.