6th-8th Grade

You can use either string (6-10 feet) or a hula hoop for this activity. Find an interesting spot in your backyard to create your seasonal study plot. Use skills of sketching, writing, measurement and counting to make observations on as many things within your loop boundary as possible. Continue this exploration once or twice a week throughout the spring. Create a list of items you notice changing.

As the seasons change, different animals start to appear or disappear. Explore your backyard for the emergence of animals like snakes. What birds are you starting to see more of? Are there birds that you are starting to see less of? What insects are you starting to see? Another idea to explore is the behavior of certain animals. Can you observe change in behavior?

Find a “woody” plant or tree in your backyard in which you can easily observe a branch. Find a twig or “end” portion of the tree branch to observe. The challenge here is to observe the bud development and transformation through the season. While making an observation each day early on might not be needed, at some point it will. When you make an observation, use your sketching, writing and measurement skills.

One sure sign of spring and the changing of seasons is the sound of frogs! Develop your own study of frogs or take on the challenge of diving into a larger citizen science opportunity. Here are two resources to get you started:

• • • Learning to Listen To Frogs Student Activity

    • FrogWatch USA Website

As the seasons change, it becomes more comfortable to watch the sky above us. The sky has a story to tell in the clouds. The challenge is to learn to identify clouds and begin to notice connections between change of weather and type of clouds seen.

• • • Cloud ID Chart from NASA

    • More Complex Cloud Chart From NOAA

Expand on your backyard plot observations! If you want to take it the next step you can do one of three things: Develop an investigation, develop a systems model or create a story.

• • • Develop an Investigation: Based on your initial observations, begin to make predictions on what you think will happen and when. Collect your data and check the accuracy of your predictions. Or, think about adding something or taking something away to your plot and design an investigation on what might happen.

    • Develop a Systems Model: Using your drawing skills, begin to sketch out a larger concept drawing that shows items that come from outside your plot impacting items inside. Over the spring, build your drawing to include more connections and changes that result from outside the plot interactions.

    • Create A Story: From the perspective of either a predator or prey in your plot, develop a creative story that captures both imagination and your observations.