Introduction to ecosystems: interactions of living and non-living…
Introduction to ecosystems: interactions of living and non-living components (a lower-grade match for the sealed-jar world).
The New Brunswick Science curriculum outcome (Grade 3: Our local environment) for Grade 3 says: “Introduction to ecosystems: interactions of living and non-living components (a lower-grade match for the sealed-jar world).” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: New Brunswick Science curriculum.
Our Living Planet Grade 4
Air, water, land and living things, and how each one depends on the others. Students build a sealed jar ecosystem to keep for a month and catch the water cycle in a bag on the window.
- Can a jar keep itself alive? 50–60 min to build, then 5 min check-ins twice a week for 4 weeks, and a 30 min Reveal and Act
Each team builds a small world of soil, water, air and plants inside a clear jar, seals it, and keeps an observation log for four weeks beside an open jar built the same way. Students explain how water and air are used again and again inside the sealed jar, and why it still needs light from outside.
- Where does rain come from? 45–60 min, plus a 5 min look later the same day or the next morning
Students tape a zip-top bag of blue water to a sunny window and another to a shady wall, and catch a cold cup 'sweating' in the room. They follow the water from the bottom of the bag to the clear drops at the top, and explain how the Sun, air and clouds bring rain back down.
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