These wetland projects are great for the end of the year because they are motivating enough to keep even the most reluctant workers engaged up until the last day!
In third grade, plants and animals are both big units in science, so at the end of the year we learn how the two kingdoms interact by creating a wetland model out of a 2 Liter soda pop bottle. I had parents collect the pop bottles and send them in. However, another teacher called Pepsi and was able to get some donated for her class. I will have to try this next year...if only I can stay ahead of the game enough, as you have to request them a fair amount in advance and be able to pick them up yourself. (The nearest Pepsi plant is about an hour away from us.)
But on with how it's made. Simply cut the soda bottle about 3/4 of the way up. Line the two cut edges with masking tape to prevent kids from cutting themselves. Use a rubber band to tie a small piece of pantyhose around the nose of the bottle. Then, turn the top upside down and rest it in the bottom.
For the bottom part, I put in rocks that you buy in the pet department that would normally go in a fish tank. We used both fractions and division to figure out how many cups of rocks each student could get and there still be enough for everyone. Then we filled it up with water. For the top, about 2 cups of soil fit. Then came the grass. Make sure to buy the quick growing kind:
At first I was pretty frugal with the grass seed, wanting to make sure there was enough. However, when the grass grew it looked pretty sparse, so I ended up going back and adding more. Use about 1 to 1/5 tablespoons per project. We found out the hard way that grass seed doesn't keep from year to year, so you might as well use it all up anyways! As the roots grow students will be able to watch as the water level decreases as they suck it up to nourish the growing grass!
To incorporate the animal kingdom, a friend collected tadpoles from her pond. We researched online about what tadpoles needed, and discovered that any amount of chlorine could harm them, so we should let our water sit for about 5 days to let the chlorine evaporate. I don't know how valid that is, but we did it anyways. When we put them in, the tadpoles were super tiny, only a few millimeters in length. The students had to use magnifying glasses to see them!
Another teacher also introduced night crawlers into the soil at the top. She got them from Walmart. I think this is a fabulous idea--I just didn't get around to getting them, and we were so busy with other end of the year things that I'm not sure we could have done much discussion about them. Next year I definitely want to start this project earlier in the year. I gave only two weeks, when three would have been much better.
As you can see from the picture above the grass grew incredibly fast! So did the tadpoles (the one in the picture above is hiding in the rocks...) I made the students promise that as soon as the legs started to grow they had to release their frog into a pond. Because my students are who they are this year, they completely agreed and that was enough! If you aren't up for tadpoles though, fish are another great option! I just wanted something the students could release back into the wild should their parents not be too keen on a new pet. I aslo gave parents a heads up about the project and if any of them had an objection I released the tadpoles for them before sending the project home!
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