Investigating Vermont Landscapes — What happens to the land over time and how does this affect Vermont animals?
Read Aloud: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Materials:
- Blank paper
- Pencil
- Markers or colored pencils (optional)
- Clipboard or something hard to write on outside
- Internet or other field guides
- An adult or someone in your family to help
- Create a map of a natural space outside, somewhere near where you live.
- Walk around the space outside and draw each thing you find along the way.
- Create blocks around areas such as grassy fields, forested areas, water and more natural spaces.
- Your map might look like this:
- Next, go back out to those spaces, and see if you can find any evidence that would show humans changed the environment.
- Add them to your map.
- Your map might look like this:
- Brainstorm what types of changes happened in the environment as it was changed.
- Create a chart like this to show what you think happened:
| What evidence was there that the land was changed?(CAUSE) | How did this changeaffect the environment?(EFFECT) |
| People cleared the trees and created a meadow (the land was forested) | Birds that use a meadow for their home now have a suitable habitat to live |
| People built a stone wall | The area probably used to be a farm for sheep or other animals; this could have made wild animals move away |
- Next, go back outside again and see if you can find any evidence of animals. Look for scat, tracks, eggs or the animals themselves! Add these to your map and label!
- Lastly, write a paragraph that explains what you have noticed on your explorations.
- How has the land changed over time?
- How have the changes affected the animals?
- Don’t forget to provide evidence in your statements!
- Post your maps on Facebook and tag us @VINS.VT!
Resource for parents:
Contact education@vinsweb.org with questions or comments.