Rings, Ripples, and Echoes UBD (Understanding By Design) Framework: Fifth Grade

Desired Results

Goals of the Program
Students will...
•	Enrich their understanding of a place through inquiry.
•	Experience National Parks as places for learning and recreation and develop a personal connection with their local National Parks.
•	Learn about the historical, cultural, and environmental forces that shape and influence Muir Woods.

Transfer
•	Recognize that there is a relationship between people, their culture, and the land.
•	Engage in scientific inquiry and plant identification.

Meaning
Essential Question:

How are our cultures influenced by where we live?

Enduring Understandings: Students will understand that... 

•	The intersection of people and land is a key element of culture.
•	An ecosystem has interdependent relationships.
•	Individuals and communities can help protect and preserve natural environments.

Acquisition
Students will know...

•	The interdependent relationships in an ecosystem.
•	How Native American values shape their relationship with Muir Woods.

Students will be able to...

•	Identify the Native American uses of plants found in Muir Woods.
•	Explain how plants and animals depend on each other to survive.

Evidence
Students will show their learning by…
•	Developing a drawing or diorama to illustrate interdependent relationships in a redwood forest.
Or
•	Writing a story about the natural objects they use throughout the day. 

CA Next Generation Science Standards
5-LS1-1: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

CA Common Core Standards
Speaking and Listening:
1.5: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led).

Writing:
3.5: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CA History-Social Science Standards
5.1.1: Describe how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that they built, and how they obtained food, clothing, tools, and utensils.
5.1.2: Describe their varied customs and folklore traditions.

Learning Plan
Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction
•	Pre-trip Preparation: Teacher facilitates lessons 1 - 4 to introduce students to vocabulary, environment, and the cultural history of Muir Woods. Lessons 1 - 5 are found in the teacher curriculum.
•	Muir Woods Field Trip: Students are invited to use their senses while investigating the Essential Question in the woods through applied inquiry methods. Students record and explore the characteristics of a healthy and unhealthy habitat. They are also encouraged to observe and identify plants used by native cultures.
•	Educators and adult chaperones accompany the students in the investigation of the redwood forest.
•	Post-trip: Students demonstrate what they have learned by completing the post-visit classroom lessons found in the curriculum.

All materials can be found at:
https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/education/elementary_04.htm

Other resources:
Save the Redwoods League
https://www.savetheredwoods.org/