Habitats - Streams

Focus: A single stream can contain many different habitats that host a variety of plants and animals.

Puppets (Willy Water Bug, Gregory Grasshopper, Mabel Mayfly Nymph, Walt Water Penny)

Materials Checklist
Dream a Stream (pencils, crayons or markers, roll of newsprint or mural paper)
Puppet Show (puppets, script, coat hanger, sink plunger, pretend 10” magnifying glass)
Stream Sally and Sam (colored paper, scissors, tape, yarn or string, paper cups, plastic eating utensils, pipe cleaners, balloons, straws, crayons, egg cartons, cardboard tubes)
Study a Stream (Stream Study sheets, clipboards, pencils, white dishpans, 10' lengths of string, hand lenses, small plastic containers, nets, stream thermometers, Aquatic Invertebrates poster, field guides, microscope, if available, and oranges)
Sorting Stream Dwellers (5/6 ELF) (5 white dish basins with labels, soft nets, hand lenses, plastic spoons, Aquatic Invertebrates Field ID sheets)

Supplemental Reference Materials (Some Small Water Dwellers of New England, Quick Reference Guide to Aquatic Invertebrates, Excerpt: Field Manual for Water Quality Monitoring, Stream Cross-Section drawing, Stream Study sheet, Aquatic Insect Scavenger Hunt cards, 5/6 ELF Activity: Sorting Stream Dwellers)

Additional Reading/Resources
Pond & Stream Safari: A Guide to the Ecology of Aquatic Invertebrates, by Karen Edelstein, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ithaca, New York, 1993.
The Ecosystem of a Stream, by Elaine Pascoe, Powerkids Press, New York, 2003.
A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America, by J. Reese Voshell, McDonald and Woodward, Blacksburg, VA, 2002.

ELF Notes - Template for newsletter on Streams
* Word document * pdf file

Teaching Suggestions

Bring in a local map and highlight any nearby streams, noting what direction they flow and what larger bodies of water they might run into.

You might want to post the Stream Study Sheet on the school website or include it in the school newsletter as a way to encourage a stream visit by students and families.

Puppet Show
An embroidery hoop with a wood handle attached makes a good magnifying glass prop. Some folks just cut a big one out of posterboard.

Stream Sam and Sally
Use a collection of recycled materials. Talk about whether the creature is an adult or a larva.

Study a Stream
Attach a cork or other small float to a 10' string to measure stream flow. Are there any eddies? What causes them?

A turkey baster works well for picking up small critters out of the collection tub and transferring to a view box.

With older children discuss what kind of habitat the stream flowed through before getting to your study area? How does this affect the water temperature?

Stream Snack ideas
One group gave children gummy worms and had kids make protective caddisfly cases for them with pretzel sticks and peanut butter.

Learning Goals

Concepts/Ideas:

• A stream is a dynamic, ever-changing ecosystem in which the speed of the water current determines the texture of the streambed and in turn, the distribution of organisms.
• Different areas in a stream provide habitat for distinct groups of plants and animals.
• Animals living in a stream have specific adaptations that make it possible for them to survive in moving water.
• Stream organisms collected for study should be handled carefully and then gently returned to their habitat.

Vocabulary: habitat, stream, current, insect nymph, insect larva, adaptation (definitions)

Skills:

• Active listening to learn about the various habitats in a stream and creating a model using markers/crayons and paper to illustrate these habitats.
• Identifying adaptations needed to survive in a stream through active listening and observation of stream insects.
• Using tools to measure and compare water flow, temperature and bottom texture, and investigating how these factors affect stream habitat.
• Recording observations made while investigating a variety of stream habitats and the life each place supports.
• Collecting, observing, identifying and releasing creatures from a variety of stream habitats.

Grade Expectations:
Grades PK-K (S30, S38) A stream is “home” for a variety of plants and animals. Plants and animals that live in a stream need water, food and air to live.

Grades 1-2 (S30, S35, S38) A stream as habitat provides water, food, shelter and space for plants and animals that live there. Insects that live in a stream are made up of body parts that enable them to get the food water and air they need to live and make it possible for them to survive in a moving water environment.

Grades 3-4 (S30, S34, S36, S38) Organisms that live in a stream have physical and behavioral characteristics that help them to get what they need to survive in their environment. There are many different kinds of aquatic insects. A stream serves as habitat for plants and animals whose needs are met there. Plants and animals in a stream interact with one another in various ways including providing food.

Grades 5-6 (S30, S34, S35, S36) A stream is habitat for plants and animals that are adapted to the conditions there.
Aquatic invertebrates found in a stream can be sorted into basic groups according to the microhabitat they occupy in a stream.

Return to April or May ELF.