Introduction
Have you ever wondered about why you live where you live? Have you ever thought about what your environment is actually made up of? Do you know what your environment is called? Well don't worry, because you'll soon find out! Plants, animals, and humans all live in what are known as biomes, which are basically the different environments that you see across the globe. According to the ALCOS standard for 6th grade science, students must "describe Earth's biomes," and that's exactly what you're going to do! It is your mission to research and become biome experts, and you will learn everything you can about them. Get ready to have some fun, because this is going to be great!!
Task
Each student will be assigned one of the different biomes: Tundra, Taiga, Grasslands, Deciduous Forests, Chapparal, Deserts, Desert-scrub, Savanna, Rainforest, or Alpine. Your task is then to research your biome and find everything you can about it. Then, you will make a foldable that goes into detail about each fact. The facts and items you will need for your foldable are:
1. Location (what parts of the world is it located in?)
2. Climate (weather, precipitation, humidity, seasons, etc.)
3. Flora (plant life-what kind of plants are there? Be specific!!)
4. Fauna (animal life-what kind of animals are there? Be specific!!)
5. Elevation and geographic features (how high above sea level is it, is it mountainous, low, full of hills, valleys, rivers, ocean, etc.)
Once you have researched and taken notes on all of this information, you will write it in your foldable. To make your foldable, you will take a piece of legal paper and fold it into 5 even rows. Then you will write your facts in each of these rows, one for each topic. Then, it's time to get creative! Think like an artist and put detailed drawings in each row for each topic! Make sure your drawings and facts are very detailed and give lots of information!!
Process
Here are some websites you can use for your research and illustration inspiration!
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm
https://online.kidsdiscover.com/unit/biomes
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/
http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/
http://www.softschools.com/facts/biomes/
You may also Google your biome for pictures to help you draw!
Evaluation
For the evaluation, students will be graded on their Biome foldable, which they will complete and turn in for a grade. They will be graded based on this rubric:
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Location information | Does not put any information about location. | Puts some information about location, but is still vague. | Puts sufficient information and details about location. | Exceeds expectation with information and detail about location. |
| Climate Information | Does not put any information about climate. | Puts some information about climate, but is still lacking. | Puts sufficient information and details about climate. | Exceeds expectation with information and detail about climate. |
| Plant Information | Does not put any information about plants. | Puts some information about plants, but is still vague. | Puts sufficient information and details about plants. | Exceeds expectation with information and detail about plants. |
| Animal Information | Does not put any information about animals. | Puts some information about animals, but is still lacking facts. | Puts sufficient information and details about animals. | Exceeds expectation with information and detail about animals. |
| Elevation and Geograpic features Information | Does not put any information about elevation and geographic features. | Puts some information about elevation and geographic features, but still vague. | Puts sufficient information and details about elevation and geographic features. | Exceeds expectation with information and details about elevation and geographic features. |
| Neatness/Organization and Creativity | Disorganized, messy, and lacking creativity. | Some neatness and evidence of organization, attempt at detail and creativity. | Foldable is neat and organized; shows creativity and effort. | Foldable is extremely neat and organized; easy to read and comprehend; very creative with details and drawings. |
| Grammar and Spelling | Makes mulitple grammar and spelling errors in their paragraphs. | Makes some grammar and spelling errors; attempt at strong sentences. | There are few grammar and spelling errors; strong sentence structure. | There are no grammar or spelling errors; strong sentence structure throughout. |
Conclusion
Congratulations- you did it!! You learned all about your biome, and you became quite the scientist. Now that you know a little bit more about the world around, it can help you with understanding your environment, or biome. Why is it important that we understand biomes? How do you think this affects our daily lives in our world? Think about it- biomes are everywhere!!