For 9 weeks we will be doing a unit on biomes. The first week was an introduction to habitat & biomes & a review of the continents. The next seven weeks we will be visiting (in our imaginations) each of the 7 continents & stopping in 7 different biomes. The last week we will use to tie up any loose ends.
Geography Center
The materials on the cork board are staying for the entire unit. The books, videos, and plastic animals placed in front will change weekly based on which biome and continent we’re studying. To see how we made the map check out this post.
Since we’re traveling the world we must have a passport. There’s an envelope on the board to hold it.
We’ll be sending a postcard from each continent. Those are on the board as well.
I also added a miles traveled sign so we can easily keep track of how far we’ve traveled.
Our continent boxes are placed in front.
Every time we visit a new continent Farm Kid1 will get a stamp in his passport. I downloaded the passport cover from Guest Hollow.com.
Every Thursday Farm Kid1 will get a blank postcard. He will decorate the front, design a stamp and write a short letter home to his dad.
Each week we will add a push pin to our next destination. We will also show how many miles we traveled from our last stop.
Biome Chart
The top two rows are dictionary definitions. Most of my definitions came from Merriam-webster. I also added pronunciation, syllables and part of speech. The word biome will stay the entire unit. The specific biome will change weekly.
Next we have 3 graphs: average annual rainfall, average high temp & average low temp. Farm Kid1 will add the new information each week.
The bottom row shows basic information about the biome. Usually the left side will show a food web or forest layers & where the biome is located throughout the world. The right worksheet shows the producers, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores & decomposers of the biome. I print a blank worksheet & the various plants & animals. Farm Kid1 decides where they fit in the food web & glues them down. I’m so proud of him. When he doesn’t know for sure if something is an omnivore, carnivore or herbivore he grabs one of his animal books & looks it right up.
More Activities
I would like Farm Kid1 to do one art project based on a biome each week.
Farm Kid1 will pick an animal from the biome we are studying & do a short report on it. He’s done similar reports various times through the year. He loves doing them. As well as learning a little more about a particular animal, I’m also using these reports as a way to simply get him to write. He’s also learning how to do research. When he can’t find the information he’s looking for in one of his books, he has learned how to use google to find it. He’s also learned how to find a picture online & print it. This is laid back & quick. He loves it. He’s so proud of himself when he’s finished his report.
We will be examining the appropriate continent box each week.
Any time we can take a field trip we will.
It’s been time consuming getting this all together, but Farm Kid1 really enjoys all of it. Well, except for the dictionary definitions. I think he’s bored by those. But, he loves finding & adding the information to the graphs, figuring out the food web & doing animal reports. So far, this seems to be a fun way for him to learn about both continents & biomes.
Links to our Continents & Biomes:
North America – Temperate Rainforest
South America – Tropical Rainforest
Antarctica – Ice Cap
Africa – Sahara Desert
Australia – Coral Reef
Asia – Tundra
Europe – Deciduous Forest
