Emily Donahue

Subject: Science
Grade: 2nd

Common Core Standard(s):

K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people
want to change

Objective(s): At the end of this lesson my students will be able to…

● Enjoy the natural world around them.

● Develop and practice observation skills.
● Develop and practice classifying and sorting skills.
● Express their creativity in an original piece of art.
● Practice the 21st century skills of collaboration,
communication and critical thinking.

Resources/Materials List:

● Assortment of dried leaves, twigs, acorns, small stones, seeds

● Pieces of lightweight cardboard, 8” x 12” or smaller (empty cereal boxes cut
apart or shirt cardboard work well)
● Elmer’s Glue All
● Brush for glue
● Plastic bags
● Pencils/markers
● Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
● Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
● Look What I Did With a Leaf by Morteza E. Sohi
● Nature Walk Checklist

Procedure:

● Explain what your expectations are for the nature walk. Expectations might include:
Students should stay on marked trails. Students should not pull anything off of a plant or
a tree. Students may only collect things from certain marked areas of the hike.
● Divide students into small groups and assign jobs. Jobs might include: one Recorder
(student responsible for marking off items found on list), two Observers (students
responsible for moving slowly and pointing out objects), and one or two Collectors
(students responsible for collecting items from the ground to bring back to the
classroom).
 ● Provide student groups with a clipboard, Nature Walk Checklist and a bag for collection.
Label bags with group members names. Paper bags with handles work well because they
are easy to grasp and hold.
● After the nature walk, meet during small group time to do a Paper Plate Sort with the bag
contents. Lay out about four paper plates to start and the contents of the bag. Students
work together to decide what the criteria will be for grouping and organizing the objects
onto the plates. Students can use more plates if needed. Teachers can guide students as
needed using modeling and questioning.
● Meet during large group time to talk about the Checklist results. How many people
found everything on the list? What items were missing? Why?
● Have students create original art pieces using the materials that they picked up during the
Nature Hike and Seek.
● Have students get inspired by looking at books like Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert,Red Leaf,
Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert and Look What I Did with a Leaf by Morteza E. Sohi.
● Have students decide if they are going to make a free-form collage or a picture of an
animal or some other scene with the nature items. If they are going to make a picture of
an animal or some other scene, have them draw it out in pencil on the cardboard using all
of the space available.
● Have students place leaves and other items on the cardboard and rearrange them until the
cardboard is completely covered and they have everything the way that they want it.
● Have students carefully glue the items down. Make sure to use enough glue to hold the
heavy items in place.
● Display students' collages on the bulletin board.

Plans for differentiation:

● The literature books can be read to the students on tape.
● Encourage students to create their own collages without assistance to the best of their
ability as long as the assignments contain required elements.
● Meet with small groups to re-teach the idea or skill for struggling learners, or to extend
the thinking or skills of advanced learners. Why did we do a nature walk? What did it
teach us?

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their ability to collect leaves, sticks, and other fall-like
materials outside. Also, on the creativity of their individual colleges.

Plans for accommodation/modification:

● Low leveled students will have help sorting their nature walk findings and organizing
their collage.
● Low leveled students can read the literature books with a reading buddy for guidance.
What’s next?

● Take a virtual walk through a Yellowstone National Park and use the same scientific
methods as the scientists with these interactives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=yN0xiSMnUww
● Do this activity two or three times in one year. Instead of using the Nature Hike
Checklist, have students make observations and record what they see on the hike. Take
digital photos. Save the information to compare the hikes. Use a Venn diagram to
organize your information.

Name(s): ________________________ Date: ________

Nature Walk Checklist

Try to find the items listed below. Mark off the ones that you see.
_______A bird _______Something made by humans

_______Something green _______Something that smells

_______An insect _______Something yellow

_______Fungi or moss _______Something brown

_______A tree that has lost its leaves _______Something red

_______An evergreen tree _______Something smooth

_______Seeds or seed pods _______Something shaped like a letter

_______A rock _______Something rough

_______A plant with berries _______Something sticky

_______Animal tracks _______Something chewed by an animal

_______A nest

_______Animal hole in the ground