K-3, Unit Three, Activity 3: "Changes at Log City"

Students will be able to reproduce images of the happenings in a rotting log, and show how it will change over time.

Grades: 2-3
Time: about 1/2 hour
Subjects: Visual arts, life science

Materials:

• Butcher paper
• Crayons and markers
• Lifetimes, by Bryan Mellonie and Robert R. Ingpen
• Overhead of log changes example.

Procedure:

1. Have students draw a large mural of the rotting log they studied in the previous lesson. Include the different organisms they found.
2. Have them draw a second mural of what the decomposers will leave behind when they are done. Use the example drawing of how a rotting log might change to give them some ideas.
3. Draw a third mural showing what the area of the log will look like in a few years. Do you think that dying things help other living things? Why?
4. Read them the story Lifetimes, and discuss how the "endings" of some things may help the living things.

Assessment:
Self-contained in activity.