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COEJL PROGRAM BANK
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Discover Spring
Barbara Lerman-Golomb
BabsInk@aol.com
Source: Stonybrook Millstone Watershed Assoc., NJ, Education Dept. School Lesson Plan
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Discover Spring At-a-Glance
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A nature walk to learn all aspects of spring including early wildflowers, foliage, increased bird activity and emerging insects.
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| Audience:
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Early Childhood
Ages 5-7
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| Facility:
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Outdoors (Camp)
Outdoors (Park/Wilderness)
Other
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| Program Type:
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Educational Program
Game/Hike/Outdoor Activity
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| Issues:
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Air/Water/Trees
Baal Tashchit/Waste/Recycling
Tzaar Baalei Chayim/Biodiversity/Endangered Species
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| Holiday:
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Passover
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Description
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Once the group is assembled, ask them: What season is it? How do we know? Explain the rules and what?s going to happen on the walk, hand out bags and explain that along the way, each child will collect 1 or 2 things that are signs of spring. We will bring these back to put on the mural that will hang in their classroom. If someone does not get something in his/her bag then he/she gets to draw something we saw but could not bring (like a live animal).
Spring is a time of rebirth. Many animals and birds are having families and trees are flowering and growing.
What are the birds doing in the spring? They are singing to attract a mate and then they make a nest. After the nest is built they lay eggs and take care of the young. Mention that when the young are ready to fly they are not orphaned and the parents continue to take care of them. Identify bird songs if you can. Identify some birds flying overhead like the Red-wing Blackbird, Chickadees, Cardinals, etc...
Animals: Animals are mating and making homes for their young. Groundhog mothers raise their young alone. They feed on green plants and flowers. Early spring (Feb-March) groundhogs chew on the bark of maples to get at the sweet sap. Foxes mark dens and begin to dig them out for their young. Others animals like deer mated in the fall but have their young in June. Their young are born without a scent and they have spots to blend in with the ground. The fawn is isually lying in the grass while its mother is off feeding some distance away. The mother comes comes back to allow the fawn to feed too. If you ever come across a fawn leave it alone becuse the mother is close by watching you. It will come back for its young even it you touch it. Bats have babies in May-June too. Look for signs of activity everywhere from holes in the ground to chewed plants and trails.
Flowers: You will see a variety of spring flowers such as crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, spring beauty, may apples, jack-n-pulpit, onion, wild garlic, garlic mustard, dandelions, violets, etc... These flowers are up before the trees have leaves fully out. They grow quicky inviting insects that are out such as flies nad honey bees. Many trees are blooming too.
Show wild rose bushes. In early spring (even winter) these bushes have sprouted leaves to get an early start on the season. Some may have berries left over from the winter, if so, show what is inside a berry. How do these seeds travel? What creature would like to eat these berries? Birds would. After they eat one they fly away and what happens to the seeds inside the bird? They have to come out. How? The birds go to the bathroom. That?s how the seeds get planted somewhere else. What creature would hide in these bushes? Rabbits. Show nests in the bushes too. Is this a good place to have a home? These roses have pink or white blossoms and smell pretty. Have the children smell the flowers. What creatures would visit the flowers? Bees. Listen to the low hum of the bees. Flies, beetles, butterflies will also visit. What creatures would visit the bush to eat the insects? Ambush bugs, crab spiders.
Trees: Trees have a sap run in Feb-March. This sap was stored in the roots all winter until the longer days and warmer days triggered the sap to flow up. The energy in the sap opens the buds until the leaves are big enough to start making their own food from the sun?s light. The leaves are little food factories converting the sun?s light into sugur for themselves. In Feb and March the sugar maple trees can be tapped for their sap. The sap is sweet and tastes like sugar water. During a good sap run the sap could contain 3-10% sugar. Later in March and the rest of the season, maples cannot be tapped because the sap has minerals that the trees takes up from the soil and it no longer is sweet. During the rest of the spring the trees are growing their leaves rapidly. The buds held the leaves all winter. The buds open and the tiny leaves uncurl and begin making food
Insects: Insects will be in all stages of growth for the spring. Ladybugs stay adults throughout the winter under leaves and logs. In the spring they emerge from their hibernation. Ladybugs lay on plants that are infested with aphids because the larvae eat the aphids. Queen hornets hibernate under logs and ground but the rest of the hive dies. In the spring the queen emerges and begins her new hive by making the comb then surrounding it with the "paper? she makes. She lays her eggs which hatch quickly and the new hive begins. Many eggs hatch into larvae but some caterpillars were in cocoons in the winter. They emerge as butterflies or moths in the spring. Mayfly larvae can be found in streams in the fall and winter and early spring. The Mayfly adults emerge in May and live one day. They do not have mouthparts because all they do is mate, lay eggs, and die. Many other stream adults emerge in the spring like the Dobson fly, crane fly, late spring and early summer dragonflies and damselflies. Honeybees cluster in the hive and remain active feeding off of stored honey. In the spring, they go and find nectar in the spring flowers.
Dead Log: Under the log you can find centipedes, earthworms, millipedes, slugs, salamanders, beetles, grubs, etc. Late spring one can find toads in the forest too. You can mention that the log eventually breaks down in the soil. Many of the creatures that live under and around logs help to break down the log into soil particularly carpenter ants and termites.
Holes in trees. Homes to squirrels, woodpeckers, little birds, chickadees and titmice, mice, etc.. Squirrels are preparing for a family in early spring and caring for their young in April. The birds are nesting as well.
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Materials Needed
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Materials:
1 paper bag/child, crayons, markers, tape, mural paper taped down on a table or floor. Write "Discover Spring" at the top of the paper.
Educator may also want to have: bird calls, tracks bandana, bug boxes, bug jar.
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Benchmarks
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record observations, compare and contrast living things, understanding of life cycle including metamorphosis, diversity, interdependence of living things in their environment: food, water, shelter and space provided by their habitat
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Resources
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Hands-on-Nature by Jenepher Lingelbach
Field Guide to the Familiar by Gale Lawrence
Guides to Insects, Birds, Flowers, Trees
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Preparation Time
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Activity Time
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Attached Files
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Comments
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This program added on 2002-10-24.
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Programs placed on the Jewish Environmental Educator's Program Bank are
solely the property of the program submitter. COEJL has no right or
interest in the posted programs and is making no representations or
warranties concerning same. All inquiries concerning programs should be
forwarded directly to the program submitter.
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