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Overview
An ecosystem is defined as a community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their environment. They are determined by environmental differences such as climate, elevation, and soil. They can occur at very large scales (like continents) and very small scales (like your backyard). The state of Arizona can be divided into relatively large ecosystems called biotic communities. In this unit, students will have the opportunity to explore these communities and the plants and animals that have adapted to each one.
Lesson Summaries
Although these lessons were designed as a unit, they can stand by themselves and be taught individually. However, some activities may require familiarity with concepts or skills that were taught in earlier lessons. Make sure to read through the lesson and determine what knowledge your students are expected to know before carrying it out with the students.
- Lesson 1 - Students
use graphic organizers to assist with
reading comprehension
- Lesson 2 - Focuses the students on the new
vocabulary introduced in the text
- Lesson 3 - Allows students to
use Internet resources to study a
new plant or animal and write a narrative
essay describing a typical day for
this organism
- Lesson 4 - The students add on to the information
they gained to design a trading card
for their animal or plant and then play a game in which they
try to determine which biotic communities
each belongs
- Lesson 5 - Groups of students must use all of
their knowledge to develop a visual
display about a particular biotic
community
Suggested Grade Levels
6–10
Time Frame
15–17 days (45 minutes each day)
Enduring Understandings
After completing the activities contained in this unit, the student should
understand these basic concepts:
- Ecosystems, which are based on differences in soil, climate, and human and natural disturbances, can be defines on local or global scales.
- Ecosystems change over time due to natural and human events.
- The tremendous diversity of Arizona is caused by the variety of ecosystems.
- Plants and animals are adapted to survive in the environment in which they live.
- Maps come in various types including thematic (rainfall, population, vegetation) and topographic.
- Non-fiction authors organize information to help the reader comprehend.
- Context clues in readings can often help when encountering unfamiliar words.
Arizona Department of Education Standards
The lessons in this unit were designed to present an integrated approach to learning. Not only will the students be introduced to science concepts dealing specifically with ecosystems, but they will also use cover topics in social studies and develop reading comprehension and writing skills. Through the course of this unit, they will read nonfiction text, write an essay, develop and interpret maps, use the Internet to perform research, and create a visual presentation. Although each lesson includes the specific performance objectives achieved for each grade level, the following general concepts are covered:
| Subject |
Strand |
Lessons |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| Reading |
1 |
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x |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
x |
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x |
x |
x |
| Writing |
1 |
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x |
x |
x |
| 2 |
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x |
x |
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| 3 |
x |
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x |
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| Social Studies |
1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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| 4 |
x |
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x |
| 5 |
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Download This Unit
The lessons in this unit are available in a standard PDF form:
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