Living things & the processes of life - Interaction of living things with their environment - Introducing living things - G2
This is the Teacher's Guide for this targetThis is the Teacher's Guide for this targetTeacher's Guide

LT-A3.3
 
1. Worksheets A19a (G) and A19b (G) make a tree diary. This can be used to record the changes in a tree over the school year and so needs to be started in the Autumn. Choose a tree which is preferably in sight of the classroom or in the school grounds. Take the class out to visit the tree and fill in the details about the size of the trunk and make a guess at its height. Collect some leaves so that it can be identified back in the classroom. A bark rubbing could be made and included in the diary.

Look at the trunk to see if there are any tiny plants called lichens growing on it - these look like grey-green powdery patches and areas. These are a good indicator of the cleanliness of the air. In rural areas away from pollution the trunk will have a large population of these tiny plants but in inner cities there will probably be none. The children can draw their tree.

Return to the tree 3 or 4 times in the year and examine the leaves or notice the lack of them and use copies of worksheet A19b (G) to draw the tree and write anything which they have noticed. At the end of the school year the sheets can be stapled together to make a booklet.
2. Many children in rural areas or on the outskirts of cities may be familiar with geese and swans flying overhead in the Autumn on their annual migration. Geese from Greenland fly south to Scotland to over winter and some geese from Scotland fly further south to over winter!

Many children will have noticed swallows and swifts darting to and fro in the Summer but may not have noticed their departure in September - point out that the birds line up on the telephone wires before they set off - just as though they are waiting for a train!

Frogs and toads overwinter by burrowing onto the mud in ponds and the edges of streams and bees and wasps hide in the bark of trees for the Winter. Snakes, such as the Adder, dig themselves into the soil and hibernate. Hedgehogs are the most obvious, feeding themselves up in the Autumn before finding a cozy place in a pile of leaves or under a shed to hibernate until Spring.

Squirrels don’t hibernate but find a comfy nook in a tree and are sleepy for most of the Winter getting up whenever they are hungry, to go and find some of their stored nuts.

In Spring there are obvious signs of birds nesting and in the fields sheep are having lambs and calves and piglets are born. By early summer, ducklings and cygnets can be seen. Look out for baby birds newly out of the nest following their parents about demanding to be fed.

If you have a school pond look out for frog spawn and toad spawn. Frog spawn appears as a large clump of small transparent spheres each with a tiny black dot in the centre. Toad spawn looks the same except that the eggs are in long strings rather than a clump.

The tadpoles hatch out after a few weeks (depending on the temperature) and for a day they stay close to their egg cases feeding off the remains. After that they spread out in the pond and can be seen feeding off algae in the pond and later off tiny insects and larvae as they become carnivorous.

By early summer the tadpoles will have legs and by the end of July will be leaving the pond as tiny frogs and toads to begin their adult life.

Frogs and toads do not live in ponds most of the time. They forage for food in damp undergrowth and only return to the pond if the weather is hot and dry.