Habitats - Stonewalls [Not in Hands-On Nature]

Focus: Stonewalls offer a glimpse into our farming history and provide a varied and changing habitat for many plants and animals.

For Background and Activities, please see the Coordinator's binder.

Puppets(Young Rock, Mature Rock, Shield Lichen, Shrew, Spider, Chipmunk, Fox)

Materials Checklist
Slide Show (slide show, projector, screen, scripts)
Puppet Show (puppets, script)
Stonewall Scavenger Hunt (Stonewall Hunt cards, clipboards, pencils)
I Spy Lichens and Mosses (hand lenses, pencils, index cards)
Stonewall Guided Imagery (Guided Imagery story)
Make a Wall (small stones, buckets, assorted craft materials (cloth, paper, pipe cleaners, clay, yarn, glue))

Supplementary Reference Materials (Puppet show script, Slide show scripts: Grades K-2, Grades 3-6, Guided Imagery story, Stonewalls Hunt cards )

Additional Reading/Resources
Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls, by Robert Thorson, Walker & Co., 2002.
Stone Wall Secrets by K. Thorson and R. Thorson, illustrated by G. Moore, Tilbury House Publishers, 2003.

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

Learning Goals

Concepts/Ideas:

• Old New England stonewalls and the land that surrounds them tell a story of past land use.
• An old stonewall provides habitat for a variety of plants and animals.
• Lichens and mosses growing on the surfaces of rocks found in old stonewalls contribute to the process of breaking rock down into soil.
• Left undisturbed by human activity, the types of plants and animals that inhabit a stonewall will change over time with the progression of ecological succession.

Vocabulary:

habitat, stonewall, glacier, ecological succession, lichen, moss, erosion, wolf tree (definitions)

Skills:

• Active listening and discussion to learn about the cultural and natural history of stonewalls and some of the creatures that use them as habitat.
• Investigating and recording observations of the rocks and habitats in and around a stonewall.
• Using a hand lens to compare and contrast varieties of lichen and mosses growing on stonewall rocks.
• Creating a model, using pebbles and craft materials, of a stonewall and some plants and animals that may use it as habitat.

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

Grades 1-2 (S34, S47) A stonewall as habitat provides water, food, shelter and space for plants and animals that live there. A stonewall will change over time and will provide habitat for different organisms as changes occur.

Grades 3-4 (S34, S35, S47) Animals that live around stonewalls require food energy to stay alive and grow. A stonewall, subjected to human activity and natural forces, changes over time and serves as habitat for plants and animals whose needs are met at a particular time.

Grades 5-6 (S30, S34, S35, S36) A stonewall is habitat for plants and animals that are adapted to the conditions there. Changes in conditions directly affect the kinds of organisms that live there. Some organisms that use stonewalls as habitat contribute to the changes in the habitat over time. An organism that lives in, on or near stonewalls engage in interdependent relationships as they acquire their food to meet energy needs.

Return to May ELF.