Gr8 Urban Garden - Teacher Page

Everything in our environment affects us.  Whether it’s a small insect or a large flower, everything has a place in society.  Urbanization has destroyed many indigenous species of plants and insects.  As part of Mayor Daley’s Urban Garden Project and the Illinois State Prairie Project, students will recreate a prairie on school property, in order to maintain an awareness of how important our surroundings are to human survival.   

Project Goals

• How do we protect and preserve our environment?

Specific Questions:

• How do we restore small areas of land to natural biomes?

• How do we introduce native species to the natural biomes?

• How do we impact the community in order to gain resources and      support?

• How does the individual’s involvement affect the environment?

• How does an individual maintain the restored areas?

Illinois and CPS Learning Standards

Unit Prerequisites

·        Basic Internet Skills

·        5th grade Reading Skills 

·        Knowledge of the life cycle for plants and insects

Performance Tasks

Access:

• Research the various plants and insects in an Illinois prairie.

• Investigate the life cycles, nutrition, and shelters of the native butterfly.

Interpret:

• Determine the most appropriate plants for the created prairie based on three factors: space, care and cost.

• Determine the most appropriate insects for the created prairie based on three factors: space, care and cost  

 Produce:

• Plant the seedlings in the designated places.

• Build the butterfly shelters and place them in the prairie.

• Design a booklet charting the changes you implemented. (using drawings, charts, graphs and written notes)  

Communicate:

• Distribute the brochure regarding the native prairie

• Debate the pros and cons of introducing insects into the prairie

Evaluate:

• Plan an individual or a container garden in your home

• Gauge the success of the insect introduction by the amount of living insect population.

• Gauge the success of the insect introduction by the count of visiting native birds.

Performance Assessment Plan

• Students will complete the lab report for soil testing and determine the types of prairie possible.

• Students’ garden stakes will be evaluated by a rubric.

• Students will complete the plastic bag terrariums.

• Students will complete the posters for the community to be evaluated by a rubric.

• Students will complete the container garden and the insect shelter to be evaluated by rubrics.

• Students will complete a lab report including the charts and graphs assigned.

Teacher Resources

Forests and Grasslands in IL

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/manbook/manbook.html 

Prairie Restoration in Illinois

http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/prairie/htmls/pr.html

Fermilab

http://www.ncrel.org/mands/FERMI/prairie/Prairie_Res/

Prairie Links

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~kenr/prairielinks.html

Illinois Prairie Page

http://www.prairiepages.com/

Indian Boundary Prairie

http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/illinois/preserves/art1119.html

Illinois Native Plants

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/inps/

Grand Prairie Friends

http://www.prairienet.org/gpf/ 

Native Illinois Plants

http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/ilpin/ilpin.html

North Park Village Nature Center

http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Environment/NaturalResources/NorthParkVillage.html

Scaffolding Lessons

• Students will identify the types of prairies and determine the type of prairie Logandale has, through the soil testing.

• Students will identify all plants already placed in the prairie and mark them with a garden stake and laminated information markers.

• Students will begin actual seed development of plants needed in the prairie through creating plastic bag terrariums.

• Students will research the various roles of insects and birds in a thriving prairie. They will determine the food web of the prairie creating posters to inform the community.

• Students will begin the process of introducing various insects into the prairie area, providing shelter, food source, and water source.

• Students, in conjunction with Mayor Daley’s Urban Garden Project, will create a Container Garden and place it in their home.

• Students will graph the frequency and duration of sightings.

• Summaries will be incorporated into the Webquest site.