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Ecosystems
Sixth grade Science - Ecosystems
Standard: 6.L.2.3 – summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, desert, tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
Theme: Ecosystems in North America. Students will be exploring 6 ecosystems in North America and what makes them a biome.
Biomes of North America - Picture Books
These six picture books are an excellent source for students to use when learning about ecosystems. They are full of vibrant and real-life pictures that will draw students into the text. For any English language learners in the classroom or lower level reading students, these books are full of rich text that may seem overwhelming, but the pictures will provide support for these students to help them understand the text better. Some of the text might seem too easy for a sixth grader, however, the content in the books is quite in-depth and provides ample amount of detail about each ecosystem.
DOGOnews - Informational Text
This website has a ton of articles that are relevant and informative for students to use to gain knowledge about ecosystems. Some of the articles are about ecosystems found in North America while there are also articles from around the world. Nonetheless, all articles can be compared to the biomes of North America and directly connected to the standard. The articles are interesting and intriguing, and written in a way students will be able to comprehend the text. There are also pictures that assist the text with getting the point across and that will draw students in.
Brain POP - Web Based Resource
This Brain POP video, Ecosystems, gives a brief overview of what classifies an area as an ecosystem, and why ecosystems differ from each other such as a desert compared to a forest. It uses key vocabulary words like community, population, habitat, and living and non-living things.
Biomes of North America Map
This map breaks down the North American continent into different biomes that coincide with the biomes addressed in the standard for this lesson. This map is bright, colorful, and neat, which makes it easy to read and understand. Learners at all levels in the class would be able to use this map to help figure out what parts of the continent are classified as which biomes.