Fifth Grade Programs
Fifth Grade Programs
The Lilly Center’s K-12 programs aspire to a high goal: develop water literacy in the children who will eventually lead our community. Students who engage with one or several of our programs leave with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for local water resources, as well as practical ways to care for them on their own.
Outdoor Field Trip Programs
Join us for a hike! Outdoor programs start at the Lilly Center and include hikes to the outdoor classroom and along the wetland trails. Students will experience nature up close as they learn about caring for our local water resources. Outdoor programs are offered in September, October, April and May. Students should dress for the weather and wear closed-toed shoes.
Essential Questions: What is a wetland? What are the basic functions of a wetland?
Description: This lesson is all about wetlands and the basic functions they have. The students will focus on the three S’s of a wetland: Soak, Strain, Sustain. Students will hike to a wetland on Grace College campus and learn about these different functions using tools to visually explain how a wetland soaks, strains, and sustains. Students will also have time at the end to talk about why we need wetlands and ways we can protect them from pollution.
Standards: SEPS.2 “Creating models that cause curiosity, predictions, noticing problems, and reveal the answer; diagrams, drawings, analogies, etc.; using tools to take in the data to determine a solution.”
Indoor Field Trips Programs
Our most popular learning experience! Students rotate through all of the following stations during their 2-hour visit to the Lilly Center. They will interact with live animals, the Virtual Aquarium and the Augmented Reality Sand Tables while learning about local water quality impacts.
Essential Question: What are plankton? How do organisms interact with one another in an aquatic ecosystem?
Description: Students will begin by observing a jar with lake water. They are pushed to make observations on what they see in the water. They will learn about phytoplankton and zooplankton that live in the water along with the terms consumer and producer. The students are going to watch a video over phytoplankton and zooplankton to go over what they have already learned. Lastly they are going to each get a microscope to look at different types of phytoplanktons and zooplanktons. They will have a sheet that they record their observations with and will be able to share what they observed.
Standards: 5.LS.2 Observe and classify common Indiana organisms as producers, consumers, decomposers, or predator and prey based on their relationships and interactions with other organisms in their ecosystem. SEPS.2, SEPS.4, SEPS.8
Essential Question: What is topography? How do you read a topographic map?
Description: Students will go over what topography means and what a topographical map is. They will have a basic understanding of how to read a topographic map and know what it is used for. Students will be split in half for their activity so everyone can have a clear view. Half the students will use the AR Sandbox to see a topographic map in action. They will move the sand to make different landforms and see how the map changes as well as seeing the higher and lower elevations. The other half of the students will be playing a topographical game testing their map reading skills. This will give the students a chance to work together to understand how to read different types of maps. The students will switch locations and work with either the map game or the Sandtable. At the end of the lesson the students should be able to read a topographical map as well as understand why we use them.
Standards: 7.ESS.4 Construct an explanation, based on evidence found in and around Indiana, for how large-scale physical processes, such as Karst topography and glaciation, have shaped the land.
Essential Question: How are lakes formed? How do the geological forces impact the lakes and topography in an area?
Description: Students are introduced to the geological forces of weathering and erosion through a video. They will then review the video they watched by brainstorming how chemical and mechanical weathering are different. The students will then demonstrate chemical and mechanical weathering through an activity. Their activity will consist of mechanically and chemically weathering a sugar cube so the students can see what this process entails. From this activity students will brainstorm where they see these types of weathering and any ways they could prevent it from happening.
Standards: 5.ESS.4 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Ready to book a field trip?
Reach out to Sarah, our education program specialist: baiersr@grace.edu.