When the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) approved the 2018 science SOLs, one of the goals was to have the science SOLs be more cross-curricular with what students are learning in the other content areas for their grade level. So, the Virginia’s natural resources science SOL was incorporated with fourth grade to be cross-curricular with what students are also learning in Virginia Studies.
Some of Virginia’s natural resources covered in this SOL include:
- watersheds and water
- plants and animals
- minerals, rocks, and ores
- forests, soil, and land
In this blog post, you’ll discover engaging ideas for teaching Virginia’s natural resources!
**All of the activities (and many more) can be found in my Virginia’s Natural Resources Unit Plans!**
Getting Started: Natural Resources vs. Man-Made Resources
Begin your Virginia’s Natural Resources unit by ensuring that students know the difference between natural resources and man-made resources.
To do this, have students go on a scavenger hunt around the classroom, school, playground, etc. Students should document examples of each while on their scavenger hunt.
Watershed STEM Challenge
While students have learned about natural resources such as water and soil in other grade levels, watersheds are new to most students in fourth grade.
To illustrate how watersheds work, have students construct a watershed as part of a STEM challenge. This can be done by using simple materials such as aluminum foil and a spray bottle of water.
Plants and Animals Nature Walk
Virginia is home to many species of plants and animals. Take a nature walk around your school to find a few that are local to your community.
Students can record or draw what they see on the nature walk. Then, they can research some of their findings using one of the following websites:
Rocks and Minerals Research
Learning more about Virginia’s plants and animals is not the only time that research can be incorporated into this unit. Teaching Virginia’s natural resources allows for lots of opportunities to incorporate research, which is an ELA SOL.
The Virginia Department of Energy website has lots of resources to help students research and learn about rocks and minerals that are native to Virginia.
As students research Virginia’s natural resources, they should create a presentation with their findings. Some examples of presentations they can create include a poster, slideshow presentation, or brochure.
Solve a Local Conservation Problem
One of the requirements for the Virginia’s natural resources SOL is for students to identify a problem impacting natural resources in Virginia and develop a solution.
For this activity, assign students to groups. Each group should identify a problem related to natural resources in their community. For example, soil erosion or a polluted river. Then, the groups should develop a solution to the problem they have identified.
Virginia’s Natural Resources Review Games
Every science unit should end with fun review games to help students practice what they have learned. I have listed the review activities I use with my Virginia’s natural resources lessons below.
Jeopardy Game
A Jeopardy game is always a fun way for students to review information, whether at the end of a unit or before science SOL testing at the end of the school year. Students can play a digital, self-checking Jeopardy game independently, against a partner, or as teams.
My Virginia’s Natural Resources Jeopardy game features five categories, totaling 25 questions. The presentation is coded so that students can easily navigate between the category board, questions, and answers. They can also type points into a scoreboard, even when in presentation mode. The resource comes with two versions—one for PowerPoint and one for Google Slides.
The following video is a short tutorial that shows how my science Jeopardy games work.
Escape Room
I’ve shared a lot about classroom escape rooms here on this blog. Classroom escape rooms get students up and moving, incorporate critical thinking skills, and always get students excited about learning.
In my Virginia’s Natural Resources Escape Room, students find themselves trapped! The only way to escape is for students to successfully complete six challenges that require them to use critical thinking skills as they review science concepts.
Some of the activities included involve:
- matching science terms to their correct definitions
- reading information about watersheds and answering questions to create a code
- decoding information about watersheds and water resources
- identifying true statements about Virginia’s natural resources
- solving math problems to create a code
- sorting natural resources and man-made resources
Virginia’s Natural Resources Test Prep
After you have taught all your Virginia’s Natural Resources lessons and played review games, it’s time to take a summative test.
Remember to send home a study guide so that students can continue reviewing on their own before testing. My Virginia’s Natural Resources Study Guide defines terms, provides visual aids, and explains important concepts related to the science SOL. It also comes with two pages of review questions.
Often, I hear parents don’t help their students study at home because they don’t understand the science concepts. My study guide breaks the SOL down into small, easy-to-understand pieces and provides a list of comprehension questions with answers that parents can ask.
Conclusion
The Virginia’s natural resources science SOL helps students apply what they have already learned about natural resources to their community and state. As you can see from the activities suggested in this blog, this is a fun unit for getting outside and exploring nature!
If you’re looking to save time with low-prep, pre-made lessons and activities that are aligned to the SOL, you can find the following resources in my store:
- Virginia’s Natural Resources Unit Plans
- Virginia’s Natural Resources Jeopardy Game
- Virginia’s Natural Resources Escape Room
- Virginia’s Natural Resources Study Guide
Have you heard of the Virginia Teacher Club®? The Virginia Teacher Club® is a one-of-a-kind program for upper elementary teachers in Virginia. Members receive instant access to a curriculum library of SOL-aligned math, science, social studies, and ELA resources. There are lesson plans, games, assessments, passages, digital activities, and more for EVERY SOL. By using the Virginia Teacher Club®, our members save hours of planning time every month and have access to high-quality, SOL-aligned resources that students love.
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