Sixth Grade Programs

Description: Teachers may choose hikes with either a woodland, wetland or bird watching theme. These hikes which take place at the Lilly Center, will differ in specific content based on the season and will feature the plants and animals that are present at that time of year. The learning will point to preservation of  water quality. These open-ended hikes are designed to include input from teachers so they can be tied to current classroom learning – if desired. 

Standards: 6.LS.1 Investigate and describe how homeostasis is maintained as living things seek out their basic needs of food, water, shelter, space, and air

Essential Question: What natural conditions impact the lakes in Kosciusko County? How does precision affect the scientific process?

Description: Students will learn about the organisms that live in our lakes that we can’t see with our naked eye. Students will become familiar with Zooplankton, Phytoplankton, and Algae by knowing what they are and how they exist in our local lakes. For their activity students will learn how to use a microscope and its different parts before observing algae under the microscope. Students will create their own slides using lake water and observing what they see on a worksheet.

Standards: 6.LS.2 Describe the role of photosynthesis in the flow of energy in food chains, energy pyramids, and food webs. Create diagrams to show how the energy in animals’ food used for bodily processes was once energy from the sun. SEPS.2, SEPS.3

Essential Question: What is point-source pollution? What is non point-source pollution? How does land use affect water quality? What are some common sources of pollution?

Description: Students will start their lesson by brainstorming on what they think are the top 5 pollutants we have in Kosciusko county. With these pollutants in mind, they will name places these pollutants might come from and whether they would be considered point or nonpoint source pollution. Using the Augmented Reality Sandbox the students will use a map to create a topographic map of Warsaw. Students will then build a community and  discuss what types of pollution would come from certain parts of the community. Finally, students will brainstorm ways to keep these pollutants from getting into Winona Lake and how to prevent them in the future.

Standard: SEPS.8 Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Essential Questions: What is stratification? How is stratification related to our lakes? What natural conditions impact lakes in Kosciusko county? 

Description: Students will start their lesson learning what stratification and density mean and how they both affect the water in our lakes. For their activity, students will use their new knowledge of stratification and density to conduct a scientific experience. Students will begin their experiment by creating a hypothesis by determining which water temperature they think will be the most dense. Students will then test water density and stratification using four different temperatures of water. In the end, students will be able to visibly see stratification and density and be able to connect their experiment to our local lakes. 

Standard: 6-8.E.4 Develop a prototype to generate data for repeated investigations and modify a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Essential Questions: How are land use and water use related? How is a watershed impacted by land use?

Description: This lesson will utilize Nearpod which will allow the students to all interact online and have discussions. Students will be learning about watersheds and pollutants that can be found in a watershed. Each student will be assigned the part of a specific person or group in a community that has an impact on the pollution in the watershed. Students will be discussing and graphing the amounts of pollution that is going into waterways. At the end they will discuss how much pollution they recorded and different ways that it could be prevented. 

Standards: 6.LS.4 Investigate and use data to explain how changes in biotic and abiotic components in a given habitat can be beneficial or detrimental to native plants and animals. 6-8.LST.4.2 Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text. SEPS.4, SEPS.7