Sounds of the Season
Winter is a wonderful time for students to sit quietly and use their sense of hearing to observe nature. Project Learning Tree’s Sounds Around takes a look at hearing as an adaptation and encourages students to sharpen their observations skills. To expand upon this activity, do it during different seasons, and use other senses (touch, sight, smell, etc) to detect changes that may have gone unnoticed. Keep the results of each activity for comparison.
Assign the classic Walden, by Henry David Thoreau as a reading extension for high school students. Have students note similarities and differences between what they observed, and what Thorough observed.
Check back next week to look at an adaptation animals use to survive the winter.
Book List
Grades PreK-2
Bunting, E. 1996. Secret Place. Clarion Books.
Carle, E. 1984. Mixed-up Chameleon. HarperCollins Children's Books.
Cole, H. 1998. I Took a Walk. Greenwillow Books.
Fleming, D. 1993. In the Small, Small Pond. Henry Holt and Company.
Fleming, D. 1991. In the Tall, Tall Grass. Henry Holt and Company.
Hiscock, B. 1995. When Will It Snow? Atheneum.
Jenkins, S. 2001. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? Houghton Mifflin Company.
Kalman, B. 2000. How Do Animals Adapt? Crabtree Publishing Company.
Minor, W. 1993. Red Fox Running. Houghton Mifflin Company
Morrison, G. 2004. Nature in the Neighborhood. Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton Mifflin Books.
Grades 3-5
Carroll, C. 1998. How Artists See Animals: Mammal, Bird, Fish, Reptile. Abbeyville Press.
Goodman, S.E. 2001. Seeds, Stems, And Stamens: The Ways Plants Fit into the World. Millbrook Press.
Goodman, S.E. 2001. Claws, Coats, And Camouflage: The Ways Animals Fit into the World. Millbrook Press.
Grades 6-8
Leslie, C. 1991. Nature All Year Long. HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Vaupel, R. 2003. My Contract with Henry. Holiday House.
High School
Anderson, P. 1996. Henry David Thoreau: American Naturalist. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Leslie, C. 2003. Keeping a Nature Journal. Storey Publishing.
Thoreau, H. 2004. Walden. Houghton Mifflin Books.
