Ecosystems and Biomes

Lesson Plan: Biomes and Ecosystems
Three outcomes projected from lesson, and tactics used to achieve those outcomes:
1) Students to understand the concept of an ecosystems and biome and explain the difference between them.
I. A biome is made of many similar ecosystems. An ecosystem is often much smaller than a biome
2) Students to be able to describe different Biomes and ecosystems.
II. This will be achieved through the lesson and the content.
3) Students will be able to compare and contrast different biomes and ecosystems.
III. This will be displayed in the activity, in which students create and explain their own biome.
Goals as an Educator:
1) Be able to successfully teach students about different biomes and there importance.
2) Engage all students in discussion and activities.
3) Spark knowledge, and awareness in students on inner-connectedness of the planet and show the different ways the ecosystems works.
Materials:
- Information on biomes and ecosystems
- Powerpoint presentation with descriptions of 7 major biomes. + world biome map.
- Shoe box or mobile for a two person group of students
Safety Considerations:
Environmental Concerns:
Content and Flow:
*Discussion of Biomes and Ecosystems (powerpoint for visual guidance and world map)
- Biomes and Ecosystems, whats is the difference?
- Discussion of seven major biomes
+ Tundra
+ Taiga
+ Temperature Forest
+ Tropical Rainforests
+ Grasslands
+ Deserts
+ Ocean
*Create your own biome
Students will join with their birthday partners and create a biome in a shoe box or create a biome mobile. Each group of students will be given a sheet of paper with a description of a biome to display in their project. If time permits we will go around the class and show each other's biomes and discuss.

Example of sheet of paper with biome description:
Desert - Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year. Although most deserts, such as the Sahara of North Africa and the deserts of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes, another kind of desert, cold deserts, occur in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and in parts of western Asia.

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Most deserts have a considerable amount of specialized vegetation, as well as specialized vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little or no organic matter. Disturbances are common in the form of occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that cause flooding.
There are relatively few large mammals in deserts because most are not capable of storing sufficient water and withstanding the heat. Deserts often provide little shelter from the sun for large animals. The dominant animals of warm deserts are nonmammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles. Mammals are usually small, like the kangaroo mice of North American deserts (eoearth.org).

Four major types:
Hot and Dry, Semiarid, Coastal, Cold.


Debrief / Conclusion:
Conclusion of activities with each group discussing their created biome with the class.
This is a lesson that I am still planning and have yet to hold. Please let me know what you think or if you have taught biome and ecosystems another way. - Thanks