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"Wading Through Our Wetlands"
HeiDee Bieber, Ka'elepulu  Elementary School
Geo-Plex Presentation
Summer, 1999





Purpose: What is a wetland habitat? The wetland habitat is home to a wide variety of plants, native and introduced, and animals, many of which are endangered. Many areas in the Kailua complex were once "wetland" habitats. The importance and value of Kailua's existing wetland habitats is especially relevant to explore at all age levels.

In this unit, the students will learn about the different types of wetland habitats found in Hawaii (e.g. bogs, swamps, saltwater and freshwater marshes, human-made taro patches, prawn ponds, and fish ponds.) They will be exposed to the plants and animals that thrive and survive in this habitat. They will look for evidence, via books, videos, and class discussion, that there are several types of wetland habitats and that these habitats are important to our ecosystem. They will also use the thinking skill of summarizing as they explore the wetland habitat and discover the value of preserving this habitat. Throughout this lesson they will use the thinking behaviors of attending and persistence as they become scientist and explorers in their classroom.

Focus/Guiding Questions:

  1. What is a wetland habitat? Is there a wetland habitat in my community?
  2. Is the wetland habitat important and worth preserving? How does this habitat affect me?
Unit Objectives - The student will be able to:
  1. Describe the five major types of wetland habitats in Hawaii - it's characteristics and where they exist.
  2. Explain the functions and importance of the wetland habitat.
  3. Find evidence to explain man's interaction with this natural habitat and the effects of human life on this environment.
  4. Discuss and summarize the importance of preserving wetland habitats.
 Geographic Themes Addressed: Place and Human Environment Interaction

Geographic Standards Addressed:

  1. Standard #1 - The geographically informed student understands how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
  2. Standard #2 - The geographically informed student analyzes the conditions of a given land area and it's interaction with man.
  3. Standard #3 - The geographically informed student is able to understand and explain the physical characteristics of a wetland habitat.
Hawaii Content and Performance Standards:
  1. Use geographic tools and resources to explain the relationship between the physical and human interactions.
  2. Demonstrate ones responsibility to the environment.
 Geographic Skills Addressed:
  1. Asking geographic questions
  2. Acquiring geographic information
  3. Organizing geographic information
  4. Analyzing geographic information
  5. Answering geographic information
 Materials:
Wetland Explorer's Guide and Discovery Log, Center Activities, Group Activities: Finding Evidence and Summarizing Graphic Organizer, Wetland's Who's Who? Game, Non-Fiction books, Kailua Map (past and present), O'hia Project Lessons.

Pre-Unit Lessons:

  1. Water Cycle - Let's Be Hydrologists!
  2. Food Chain
  3. Understanding maps - Global to Community (Pacific Rim Map, Hawaiian Islands Map, Kailua (Past) Map, Kailua (Current) Map.
Unit Plan:
1. Give Students a Wetlands Pre-Assessment.
2. Complete a KWL chart as a class.
3. Present class with a Vocabulary List
4. Do Wetland's Who's Who? Lesson and Game (Finding Evidence)
5. Read Wetlands, A True Book by Emilie U. Lepthien and Joan Kalbacken (Finding Evidence)
6. As a class, find evidence that our school is near a wetland habitat.
7. Students will read Hawaii's Freshwater Wildlife (pg. 34-35) to find evidence that waterbirds in Hawaii are living in danger.
8. Do "Wetland Models" science experiment.
9. Read aloud the book Squishy, Misty, Damp, and Muddy by Molly Cone.
10. Do Waders and Divers Lesson and Activity (O'hia Project)
11. Discover Hawaiian birds: Koloa, Ae'o, 'Alae'ula, 'Alae ke'o ke'o, Auku'u.  Read for information (1-2 paragraphs) and create a summary of 2-3 sentences to describe assigned bird. Cooperative Learning Groups.
12. Do "Wind, Waves, and Wings" Lesson and Activity (O'hia Project)
13. Have student brainstorm a list of wetland animals and plants. From the list, students choose a plant or animal to do research on. Pass out "Research" project forms.
14. Walk-About - Visit Local Wetland Habitat (Hamakua Wildlife Preserve on Hamakua Drive and/or Kiuke'e Wildlife Preserve on Kiuke'e Street) - Bring clipboards, copycat page, and a pencil.
15. Field Trip to Honouliuli Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge.
16. Present Wetland Projects.
17. Administer Post Assessment.
18. Provide a "Sharing Session" to look back at their KWL chart.
 
 

Copyright © Hawaii Geographic Alliance. July, 1999.