K/1 Curriculum Contents
Ecology Explorer Curriculum The Olbrich Explorer K/1 Ecology Explorer curriculum provides hands-on learning focused on ecosystems. Each activity includes detailed information sheets that will appear on the table with activity materials. Read the curriculum and share the Copy Pages with all chaperones prior to your field trip. Olbrich staff provides a program introduction, guided tours of the Gardens, and support for adult chaperones as they guide small groups through the hands-on activities. Enjoy!
Garden Walk Olbrich’s educators lead students on a trek through the outdoor gardens, searching for the habitats of some of the plants and animals that live in Olbrich Gardens.
Explorer Activities Bottle Gardens Use your HANDS! Make a tiny ecosystem in a bottle Observe your bottle garden back at school! Water Cycle Use your SENSES! Investigate water samples and discover the water cycle. Nature’s Recycling Use your EYES! Discover decomposition and what garbage has to do with it. Habitat Use your IMAGINATION! Design your own garden and match living things with their proper habitat
Supplemental activities are included in the curriculum for use in your classroom before and after your visit to Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
Olbrich Ecology Explorer Program 2006-K/1
Garden Walk
Objective: Students experience the sights, sounds, feelings, and smells of a garden. Students learn to identify what living things need to survive by investigating different habitats in the garden. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to develop strategies for finding answers through observation and experiment.
Method: Olbrich educators take students on a tour through Olbrich Gardens. Students are encouraged to use their senses to make observations about the environment and plants they see and to identify different habitats as they go.
Background for Teachers: Olbrich’s outdoor gardens are an exciting place to explore, especially because many of the plants and animals are familiar to us in Wisconsin but are presented in different garden styles. Children will get the opportunity to spot plants and animals that they may have in their backyards while touring different specialty gardens. While in each of the specialty garden the children will identify the habitat of a plant or animal that lives there.
The guided tour of the outdoor gardens will take the students into 4 of our specialty gardens including a pond dipping activity at the Discovery Dock. The tour will include stops in the formal Sunken Garden, the Discovery Dock, the scented Herb Garden, and the beautiful new Rose Garden.
Back on the Bus: After your trip to Olbrich, ask students what they thought was most interesting about Olbrich Botanical Gardens. What was their favorite plant? What was the most surprising thing they learned? What colors do they remember seeing in the Garden? What kinds of smells? What lives in the garden?
Olbrich Ecology Explorer Program 2006-K/1
What’s in the Water? Chaperones & Teachers: This sheet contains Use Your NOSE & EYES to detailed instructions for your activity. investigate each water sample. Take the time to read through the directions before Have the students study each water sample. you begin guiding students through the activity. Feel free to Take each bottle, one at a time, shake it up, ask Olbrich and investigate it as a group. Educators any questions! First, LOOK at each bottle.
Does the water LOOK clean? o Discuss as a group which samples LOOK clean.