|
ParkWise
> Teachers >
Treasures
> National
Parks Treasure Hunt
> Unit Outline
Activity
4:
Our National Treasures
Students
will pick a national park to research. They will answer questions
about their park and create clues or a riddle for other students
to determine their park.
|
Unit:
National Parks Treasure
Hunt
Guiding Questions: What
is a National Park? Why do we have National Parks?
Critical Content: Concept
of valuing places, understanding why we have national parks.
What is heritage? What is preservation?
Grades: 3-6
Duration: Two 45
minute sessions
Group size: Whole
class; may be adapted to small group work
Setting: Classroom
Materials: Either
access to a computer, a computer lab or to your school library.
Alternative: You may want to download and print out information
on various national parks to use as research resources for
your students.
Copies of Our
National Treasures Activity Sheet for each student or
small group.
|
Procedures:
- Have students choose
a national park to research, see Our
National Treasures Activity Sheet.
- Optional: Once students
have collected information on their national park, they may want
to come up with clues or a riddle and have other students try
to figure out what national park they researched.
- Review your KWL chart
from Activity Two:
Something Special to Me.
- Discuss how you would
find this information. You may want to go to the computer lab
or to your school library and show students where they can get
this information. You may also want to download information on
various national parks and have students choose from printed information
you've already obtained.
- Have students search
for the terms "preservation" and "heritage" in doing their research.
From the context, can they determine the meaning of these words?
If they do not find these words in context, have students look
up the meanings and discuss how they may relate to national parks.
Discussion Questions:
- Have
students share their information in small groups. Discuss similarities
and differences among the answers to their activity sheet.
-
Why do we have National Parks? What do they protect? Whose treasure
is it that the parks protect?
- Why
is it important to you that this park is protected?
-
Return to the KWL chart and begin to fill in the 3rd column of
what did we learn. Are there questions in the second column that
haven't been answered? Divide these questions up among the students
and have them try to find the answers.
-
Have students work in small groups to come up with a working definition
of a national park.
Adaptations:
Have information on various
national parks readily available by downloading information from
the National Park Service http://www.nps.gov
website and by having library books available for students to use
as research resources.
Extensions: Have
students think about a special place they may treasure. Have students
create a national park out of their special place. Why is it special
to them? What are they protecting? They may want to draw a map or
picture, or create a collage of their Special Place National Park
and give a tour of their park.
|
