chemical fertilizers, jets, school, mosquitoes, boom boxes. Add to this list. Have


students explain their reasoning. Mathematics


Whale Milk Math


A newborn blue whale gains 200 lbs per day (9 lbs. per hour) by drinking up to 50 gallons of milk each day. In one day, a blue whale calf would drink the amount of milk in 800 school- sized milk cartons! Have students rinse and save milk cartons each day. Count the new ones daily and add the total to the previous day’s total until you reach 800.


How Big Is It?


To estimate the height of an animal at its shoulder, multiply the length of the foretrack by 8. To estimate the weight, multiply the width of the foretrack in inches by its length in inches. Multipy the product by 5 to get the approximate weight in pounds. These measurements can be checked by using people and pets (mammals).


Language Arts


What Do You See? Students view several pictures


of beach/ocean wildlife, then choose one to study. After examining closely, each student writes a description of his/her animal. Later, teacher reads written description and class guesses which animal picture it was based on.


Finding Adjectives


Give each child a small piece of paper with one or more adjectives that describe something in nature (e.g., smooth, slimy, triangular, expanded, cool, soft and green, round and gooey). Have students explore a natural area to find items that meet these descriptions. Let students take turns sharing what they found.


CLEARING Spring 2018


3-5 GRADES Science


Living in the Schoolyard Teacher begins activity


by drawing an outline of the classroom on the blackboard. Develop a key to one side of the outline to be used to represent the plants, animals and special features which exist in the classroom. “Let’s see if we can make a map of all the living things in our classroom. Does anyone see a plant? Skippy, will you come up and mark the plants on our map for us? Then provide a map of the


schoolyard for groups of students (or for individual students depending on skills at map making). Take children outside and let them map all the living things that they see. Remind them that they have to look hard to see some of the things that are there.


After students have completed their maps, gather them together for discussion about the roles of the living things they found.


Social Studies


Pick a Package, Any Package


Visit a supermarket and find


the following products: cereal, laundry soap, milk, fruit juice, vegetables, soup, cake mixes, spices, candy, and toothpaste. In what different kinds of packages can they be bought? Are they available in the bulk food section? Why are products available in so many different packages? Which packages have the least amount of throw-away packaging? Which packages cost the least for each product? Which one does your family usually


buy? Back in class, make a wall chart. Can some of the packages be reduced or avoided, reused or recycled? Circle in green all the reusable items, in yellow all the recyclable items, and in red all the disposables.


Mathematics


Milk Carton Madness In an attempt to determine


how much potential space milk cartons take up in a landfill, students measure and calculate the volume of one milk carton. Students also determine the volume of their classroom. Using the milk carton volume figures, have the students determine how many cartons it would take to fill up their classroom. Then determine how many milk cartons are generated by the entire school in one day. Determine how long it would take to fill up their classroom. Extend these computations to a volume the size of the school. Follow this by discussing the importance of diversion of materials from the landfill and by exploring the feasibility of milk carton recycling at your school.


Language Arts


Depend on Your Ears Take a let’s-depend-entirely-


on-our-ears field trip to the school grounds. How many things can the class identify? Why do they hear more things with their eyes closed than when they are open? Besides naming the sound makers, can they locate the direction of the sound? Is the sound maker moving? Is the sound pleasant or unpleasant?


Fine Arts


Wetlands Animal Masks Students can create paper


mache masks of their favorite wetlands creatures. Creative


www.clearingmagazine.org


dramatics can be developed by students using their masks to play a role in a wetlands drama. Students will need old newspapers, wallpaper paste or liquid starch, water, tempera or acrylic paint, round balloons, and scissors.


Choose a wetlands animal.


Tear the newspaper into narrow strips. Blow up the balloon. Mix the wallpaper paste. Use one part wallpaper paste and 10 parts water or straight liquid starch. Dip the strips of newspaper


into the wallpaper and water mixture. Lay the paper over the balloon. Apply two layers to what will be the front of your mask. Let it dry completely. Repeat procedure, building up the areas that will be noses, beaks, ears, etc. Let it dry completely.


Repeat the procedure, applying one last coat of paper over the entire mask. Let it dry completely.


Put the mask over your face.


Feel where your eyes are. Have a friend mark the eye gently with a crayon or marker. Remove the mask and cut eyeholes. Put the mask over your face and check the eyeholes; remove it and make any corrections.


Cut a mouth hole. Paint the mask and let it dry.


6-8 GRADES Science Birds of a Feather


Have students keep a record for one week of how many birds they see on the way to school. Numbers can be recorded: varieties can be noted and even an attempt to identify them. This will develop powers of observation and will stress the understanding that there is more wildlife around us than we realize.


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