Cedars Park Science. This activity is going to introduce how to identify and sample plants in 2 habitats in Cedars Park; a grassland and woodland.

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1 Cedars Park Science This activity is going to introduce how to identify and sample plants in 2 habitats in Cedars Park; a grassland and woodland. National Curriculum Links Science Key Stage 1 - identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats Science Key Stage 2 - Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitats. - Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways. - Living things and their habitats - Recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs Equipment - Clipboards, pencils and paper - Cedars Park Education Pack map - Cameras (optional) - Grassland & woodland worksheets (see below) - 5m string and bamboo canes for creating transect - Grassland plant identification sheets and woodland plant identification sheets (see below) - Tape measure or string and bamboo poles for transect - Sticky palettes (see background information for how to make) Timing - 2 hours Environmental activity

2 Activity Start in either the woodland or grassland area on the map. This activity will focus on the way that different habitats support different plant communities. It will compare plants in a grassland and woodland habitat using a Transect to create a snapshot of these different plant communities. Children will start to learn that plants are adapted to suit the different conditions where they live. Split the children into groups of 4-5 children and if possible one adult per group. Explain that they are going to carry out some investigations into plants and where they live. They will be going to 2 different habitats at Cedars Park; grassland and woodland. How many different habitats can they think of? Can they think of different habitats in Cedars Park? Go to the grassland area marked on the map (the old pond near the main car park) Explain that this is a grassland habitat. Ask what is a grassland habitat? What might they expect to see in a grassland habitat? Explain that in this activity they will be identifying and recording the plants in a grassland habitat. Get them to think about how they could start to record all the plants in the grassland? Could they count them all? Tell them that it would be impossible to count all the plants in a habitat, so a sample is taken. A tool called a Transect is often used in sampling plants by ecologists. It marks off an exact area so that the plants in that area can be identified and counted. Hold up the Transect. (2 garden canes can be used with a 5 m length of string tied to each end). Demonstrate how to use the Transect. The aim Environmental activity

3 will be for the line to cut across a variety of plant communities. This can run across ground and shrub layers. They will look at plants touching the transect line on both sides but no further away. Hand out to the groups: - 1 transect - Pupil worksheet Cedars Park Grassland Transect - Cedars Park grassland plant identification sheets When they have created the Transect they will walk along the line and try to identify the plants from one end to the other using the grassland identification sheets. Tell them that they are going to try and draw each different plant along the line and write the name on the Grassland Transect worksheet. When pupils have recorded their plants from one end of the Transect to the other, walk to the woodland habitat marked on the map. Repeat the Transect in the woodland. Hand out to the same groups: - Pupil worksheet - Cedars Park Woodland Transect - Cedars Park woodland plant identification sheets Environmental activity

4 Additional activities which could take place when recording plants along the Transect: Plants recorded on a sticky palette Collect individual leaves/individual flowers from each plant. Place these on a sticky palette. This may be more suitable for key stg 1 rather than drawing the plants. Take leaf prints from larger plants. Photos of individual plants can also be taken to help with identification later. Extension Activity/Follow Up - Investigate the frequency of the plants found in both the grassland and woodland habitat. Mark the frequency of each different plant which they identify. They should decide if a type of plant is: - C = Common - O = Occasional - R = Rare - Draw a class frequency chart and tally the number of individual plants. This information can be turned into a bar chart to show how commonly each plant occurs on the site. - Plants can then be compared between the grassland and woodland habitat. A Venn diagram can be used to show those Environmental activity

5 plants which only occur in each habitat, and those which are found in both. - Look at plants which were in flower and those which are only showing stems and leaves. Investigate flowering times of plants. - This can be compared between the woodland and grassland. Are there any differences, find out why this is? Background information - Flowering times can be compared between the woodland and grassland. Woodland plants often finish flowering in spring, compared to grassland plants which flower in late spring through to the end of summer. This is because plants need light in order to flower. Once the leaves are fully out, there is less light hitting the woodland floor, hence woodland plants often flower before leaves come out. - To make the sticky pallets cut out long thin strips of card. Down the center of the card (lengthways) put a strip of double sided tape. Pupils will peel this off when they are ready to start placing leaves/flowers or other parts of a plant to help record and identify. - There are many great websites to help with the identification of native/non-native wild plants, shrubs and trees. Look at the links below: Environmental activity

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