Where in the World? 
Biomes of the Earth 

OBJECTIVES

• The student knows that life occurs on or near the surface of the Earth on land, in air, and in water.  

• The student understands that the amount of food, water, space and shelter needed is dependent on the size and kind of living things. 

• The student understands that there are many different kinds of living things that live in a variety of environments.

• The student knows that plants and animals have adapted to different ranges of temperature and moisture.

DURATION 

Four one-hour periods 

ADVANCE PREPARATION

Bookmark all websites students need to visit.  Prepare an Ecology bulletin board with a picture of a globe or world in the middle.  Then post different pictures of biomes around the world. Vocabulary words include: Food chain, Pollution, Endangered Species, and Recycling.

Prepare a word wall where students can refer to for vocabulary words.

MATERIALS FOR  Activity #1

bulletin board, picture of the world or globe, pictures of different biomes, word wall.

VOCABULARY 

biome, climate, ecology, environment, habitat, vegetation, 

 EPA Glossary  From A-Z about the Environment website.  It can be used for all lessons.    

PROCEDURE

1. To begin the unit conduct a class discussion about what students already know about ecology.  Ask  questions such as: 

    a. What is Ecology?

    b. What is a biome?

    c. What are some problems affecting the air, water and land?

    d. How are these problems affecting living things?

    e. What is being done to help solve these problems?

    f. What is recycling?  

2.  After the discussion, refer to the bulletin board with pictures to present an overview of what you will be studying in the unit. 

3.  Show the class pictures of the different biomes in the world.  Tell the students they are going to take a trip around the world using the World Wide Web to visit all these biomes.  You will assign them a biome. You want them to research the biome and find out the climate, animals, plants and other non living things that are found there.  They will hire a "photographer" to take a lot of pictures so they can share with the class later. The photographer can save pictures from the Internet, utilize clip art, or graphics from animal CD-ROMs.

Note: Please let your students know that they must make reference of websites for their graphics and pictures.  Some will need to get permission to copy.

4. Divide the class into groups of four or five.  Assign different biomes to each group to research: Grassland, Rainforest, Desert, Tundra, Marine, and Woodland Forest.

5. The students will use data collected to create a slide presentation  on their biome assigned. Their presentation will include five pages.  One page for each of the following: 

        a. Name of biome and geographical location

        b. Description of the climate 

        c. Name of animals found in the biome 

        d. Name of trees and plants native to the biome

        e. Name of nonliving things that make up the biome

           (Compile visual examples for each page if possible).

Tip: Since you have five students per group, each student will be responsible for one page. Each group will print their pages to be placed on the resource table along with other books for projects.

6.  The students will use the resource center and the following websites to get information on their biome. 

a. NASA's Classroom Of The Future will take you on a tour of the biomes. Read about different biomes, their vegetation, animals, temperature, etc. 

b. BrainPop Biome Movie View a movie about biomes.

c. Enchanted Learning  An awesome place to find all biomes. 

d. Factmonster  informs you of different biomes. Click on science, then environment, then Major Biomes of the World.  

e. Enchanted Learning Calendar  Print a biome calendar, color, hang it up, read it every day of the year.

7.  After students have presented their slide show, each individual will use these presentations, research done and other resources  to create a table on the computer to show six biomes and describe their characteristics.

8. The students will use the information on their table and describe how the geographical locations determines the diversity in the biome i.e. In the tundra biome there aren't many plants and animals because it is icy throughout the year much of the vegetation can't survive.  Because of the lack of vegetation there are not many animals because there is not enough food or shelter. etc.

EXTENSIONS

1. Activity #1  make a biome diorama.

2. The students will choose two biomes and write an expository essay comparing and contrasting both biomes.

HOME LEARNING

Choose a biome and write a narrative story about what it would be like to live in that environment.   

ASSESSMENT

1.  The students participate in a group presentation  (see the rubric) in which they identify and describe the various living things in a particular biome.  slide presentation

2.  The student uses the knowledge acquired to create a  table that shows the different biomes and their characteristics.  

3. The student writes an expository essay explaining how the geographical locations determines the diversity in the biome and comparing two different biomes.