Vernal Pools of New England (2 of 3)

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today, we are going to continue our learning series about vernal pools! In our last lesson, we were introduced to these amazing, tiny hubs of life in our forests, learning of their importance to the ecosystem and even doing some fun math. Today, we are going to be transformed into ecologists! You will be tasked with finding a vernal pool (or pond), observing it, and recording your data on an observation sheet. You will be observing living things, non-living things, sounds, and human impacts!

Grade Level: K-6

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What happens to the animals that live in vernal pools when the pools dry up?

• What are the different life stages of a frog?

Materials Needed:

• Printer

• paper

Standards:

Didn’t get to see the last lesson? Check it out below!

It is now time for us to become vernal pool explorers!

Now that we know all about vernal pools, its time to go out there and find some! Today’s activity is all about observing nature to get a full picture of its importance to the local ecosystem! We will be observing and recording data, sketching and finding human impacts!

The observation sheet is down below. Feel free to print it out and bring it with you to the body of water of your choice! It could be a vernal pool, pond, swamp or lake!

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org!