Lesson Plan #2: Nature Journal

Subject Area: English-Language Arts & Life Science

Grade Level: 7^th Grade

Unit Title: Birds

Lesson Title: Nature Journal

Teaching Standards: 

• National Language Arts Standards, Grades 5 to 12
• Standard 6 -Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
• Standard 7 - Students gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources.
• Standard 8 -Students use a variety of technological and information resources to create and communicate knowledge.
• National Science Education Standards, Grades 5 to 12
• Content Standard A - As a result of activities, students develop an understanding of scientific inquiry and abilities necessary for scientific inquiry.
• Content Standard C - As a result of activities, students develop an understanding of life science.
• California Education Standards, Grade 7
• Structure and Function in Living Systems #5 - The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function.

Performance Objectives: 

Upon completion of this lesson, the student will be able to...

• Use scientifically descriptive words when observing animals and plants in nature
• Use a journal format to gather data from real life observation as well as from observation through digital media
• Identify how the certain structures of a bird’s anatomy are linked to a particular function (i.e.: shape of the beak allows for the consumption of certain foodstuffs).

Materials: 

• Books:
• Davies, J. (2004). The boy who drew birds: a story of John James Audubon. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN: 0-618-24343-7
• Photocopy or overhead print of one of Audubon’s journal entries
• Overhead projector
• Pictures of 4 different birds

References: 

This lesson plan is modeled after the “Introduction to the Nature Journal” lesson plan #1 provided by the Smithsonian Institute (Retrieved July 26, 2011):

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/journals/smithsonian_siyc_fall06.pdf

Preparation

• Share with students the picture book The boy who drew birds in order to introduce who John James Audubon was.
• Explain how Audubon wrote in his journal everything he observed about birds and nature, as well as his questions about them.

Presentation

• Together, on the overhead, read an excerpt of one of Audubon’s journal entries and discuss how Audubon describes his surroundings, his use of wordage, and his use of sketches and samples.

Application:

• Four different birds will be presented on the overhead projector
• Students will be given 5 minutes.  They each will choose one bird to describe in two or three sentences using descriptive words.
• The goal is to provide enough details so that another student will be able to identify which bird was being described.
• Afterwards the descriptions will be collected and redistributed to another student at random.
• That student will try to guess which bird is being described and circle those descriptive words that were most helpful.
• As a class, students will list on the board the descriptive words that were most helpful in describing each bird. 

Evaluation:

• Evaluate how well each student was able to describe and identify the different birds.

Closure & Assigned Student Work:            

• Nature Journal
• Students will keep a nature journal for one week.  Providing at least one entry per day that is one paragraph in length.
• In their journal, students will provide a description of a nature related subject that they have observed in person during their daily activities.  Some examples can include animals they’ve observed (wild or pets) or plants (such as trees, grass, or flowers) or landscapes (sky, sun, moon)