3rd grade Makes ecosystems

 This is a project that we have done before and it works well. We used smaller groups this year and did more projects which seemed to work better. The project starts with naming the ecosystems and choosing the one they want to create. We used plastic vegetable containers about 4"x8" and around 4-5" tall. The students created all the elements of the system on the lid so when closed it was like a small diorama. They created animals and other elements using clay and construction paper. Each is labeled as to the system and what elements are comprised within it. Some are quite detailed, others take a bit of imagination to confirm the elements within. 

3rd grade completes ecosystems

 This is a creative project that uses recycled materials as the base to create an example of types of ecosystems. The 2 water based systems -fresh water on the left and salt water on the right have covers painted in blue with fish swimming on strings. the fresh water one has a cave and water plants on a sandy base while the  salt water one sports reefs and a variety of shells on its sandy base.

The three land based systems were desert, forest and grasslands. Everyone wanted to use all the materials but were able to limit themselves to only the items required. A lot of sand and clay went into some of the ecosystems. all the groups drew their own animals and plants then placed them into the plastic boxes. Sometimes the animals or plants were a bit out of proportion to each other but almost all were easily identified. It was a great group project and a good way to have them work with a variety of material. The groups had to submit supply lists the 1st week based on what system they were creating.