Balanced Biomes
Spring, 2024
Our project goal: Why care for biomes?
Project Overview
A biome is an area classified according to the species that live in that location. Temperature range, soil type, and the amount of light and water are unique to a particular place and form the niches for specific species allowing scientists to define the biome. - National Geographic
However, a warmer climate could radically change biome landscapes and what species are able to live in them. Different biomes are facing different threats, for example:
aquatic - pollution, the introduction of invasive species, floods and droughts
desert - pollution damage, wildfires, excessive evaporation
forest biomes - deforestation, logging, growing cities, expansion of farming
grassland - shifting weather patterns, pesticides
tundra - increasing temperatures, invasive species, pollution
By learning about the different points of view about how to care for biomes, we are better equipped to make lasting changes. By hearing about 'the other point of view,' such as why the logging and fishing industry do what they do, we can help create solutions that actually have a real impact.
The theme for Spring term's project across the school is Environmentalism. To help form a direction for our learning, Ravens brainstormed facts and questions about biomes. We have already dived deep into the research and videos about them, so we know more about what they are. We have made a distinction between a habitat, ecosystem and biome. We've discovered there are six major types of biome: savannah, rainforest, desert, grassland, woodland and tundra. We've also made links with our Literacy lessons about species adapting to their environment. We have some ideas about how our project will take shape and we can't wait to showcase our learning at the Save Our Futures event (20th April.)
The Key Areas of Competence (KAoC)
This term's cross-curricular project will develop the children's skills in the following curriculum areas:
ROOTS: Personal, Social and Emotional Development
TRUNK: Communication and Language, Critical Thinking, Environmentalism and Sustainability, Creative Technology and Digital Communication, Maths
CROWN: Understanding the World (Science, Geography)
Steps to Success
What is a biome?
Where in the world are biomes?
How do plants and animals adapt to the biomes they live in?
What are the different perspectives about caring for Earth's biomes?
Update #1: 9.2.24
First, we defined what a biome is, revising the difference betweeen an ecosystem, biome and habitat. Every project lesson, we watch a short video about each major type of biome. So far, we have learnt about taigas, savannahs and rainforests. We love watching these videos, especially the animals!
Then, we split into small groups or worked independently and focussed on one of the major biomes.
We have been working hard to create a Google Slide for our chosen biome, showing what our biome is, what plants and animals live there, how they adapt to their environment, what the climate is like and where the biome is in the world. We are whizzes at Google Slides and are loving this technology and research-based work.
We have started locating the major biomes on a world map and are having some discussions about how latitude has a major influence on a biome. For example, deserts, savannahs and rainforests are mostly found around the belt of the Equator. Next, we will locate some of the lesser known biomes for our class, such as tundras and taigas.
(Image: Twinkl, n.d., https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-g-325-world-biomes-map)
Questions to Discuss:
In your own words, how do you define a biome?
What is the difference between a tundra and a taiga/boreal biome? A savannah and a desert?
Why are most savannahs and deserts located around the belt of the Equator?
Update #2: 1.3.24
After our last update, we continued refining our Google Slides for our chosen biome. This involved some editing and further research.
After this, we moved our focus to some specific examples of animals who have adapted to their environment. Through our Literacy unit, we already knew about moths that adapted to the pollution of the Industrial Revolution. They evolved into a darker, black colour to match the colour of the pollution of the time, then evolved back into a speckled whiter colour as policies for cleaner air were promoted.
In the last two weeks, we looked at the tawny owl that has evolved from a grey colour to reddish-brown in southern Finland. Warmer climates resulted in their snowy environment melting and starting to fade. The grey tawny owl no longer blended well with its surrounds and adapted to a browner colour in order to camouflage better in its forest habitat.
Ravens have begun to compose their own poems about this tawny owl, incorporating precise verbs, colons, similes, verb pairs and time adverbials. I love their poems! And they have begged for time at lunch time to work on them.
Questions to Discuss:
Are humans adapting to their environment? In what ways?
Why did the tawny owl change from a greyish colour to a browny red? What caused the change?
What would happen if animals and plants didn't adapt?
Update #3: 22.3.24
We finished composing and editing our tawny owl poems. We're proud of our creative word choices, punctuation, paragraphing and overall structure. Some of us have even presented our poems in our Whole School Morning Meetings. We have handwritten a verse of our poem on re-used card ready to present at the the upcoming Save Our Futures event.
Next, we used National Geographic's digital Map Maker to learn more about the location of biomes. The map maker showed us many different types of biome. We researched which countries existed within the major biomes. We familiarised ourselves with some of the countries of the world, such as Russia, USA, Canada, Brazil and parts of Africa and Europe, extending our locational knowledge.
(Image: National Geographic, 1996-2024, https://www.arcgis.com/apps/instant/atlas/index.html?appid=0cd1cdee853c413a84bfe4b9a6931f0d)
Using Map Maker to learn more about biome locations
Next, we described the climate of the major biomes, noting whether they had a dry/rainy or winter/spring/summer/autumn seasonal calendar.
We used Biome Fact Files from the Twinkl website to research other information about biome climate, such as whether there is snow cover, level of rainfall, average temperatures and the impacts on plants and animals within that biome.
(Images: Twinkl, n.d. https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/biome-fact-files-pack-au-sc-1675416172)
We also planned our biome gallery: small groups will take a biome each and present it through art. We sketched out a plan for the artwork's backgrounds, colour-scheme, foregrounds and major features. We have started painting our artwork draft and have left them to dry. Next week, we will paint the foregrounds over the background layer. We can't wait to show you the finished products at the Save Our Futures event.
After that, we looked at the impact of climate change on biomes. We talked about how climate is always changing and can change day-to-day, season-to-season, year-to-year, decade-to-decade and so on. We discussed how scientists have learnt that a small but detectable change in global warming began during the Ice Age. Next, we will talk about the more dramatic changes since the Industrial Revolution.
(Image: BBC Bitesize Climate Change EdExcel, 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z87s4j6/revision/1)
Questions to Discuss:
What are some of the countries that have a savannah biome within their borders?
What are the major biomes that exist within Russia? Can you describe the climate there?
What was the climate like in the UK's temperate forest biome during the Ice Age?
Save Our Futures
It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Save our Futures event! It brought our topic of Balanced Biomes to its conclusion. We enjoyed showing our parents, relatives and wider community our adaptation poems, biome artwork, mystery and myth narratives in biome settings, graph about climate change and google slides about different biomes.
Over the term we have gone on an interesting learning journey. It has enabled us to practice our research skills and synthesise knowledge into a presentation format. We have made connections across subjects, linking poetry in Literacy to adaptations of plants and animals in Science. We improved our global map reading skills and expanded our locational knowledge of the world. We used technology to read maps with overlays.
We gained a lot of subject knowledge about the 6 major biomes, and the interaction of species within them. We recognised the consequences of climate change on biomes whilst reading and interpreting graphs. We considered change over time since the Ice Age and our current point in history.
We practiced and refined our artistic and fine-motor skills through our biome art gallery. We improved our critical thinking through debating about how to care for rainforest biomes in the Amazon. We looked at issues from different points of view and formulated arguments.
It has been wonderful watching the students expand their knowledge, improve their skills, refine and practice and explore their thinking. We will now focus on our Summer term project: the historical period of the 1940s.