If you’ve been following the blog recently, you know we have been “traveling” through the regions of the United States this year, tying in all subjects and learning SO much about this diverse, incredible country has to offer. So far we’ve explored the Northeast and the Midwest, and we are currently learning about the Southeast. I knew when we made it to Florida we just had to tie in a marshes and swamps unit study, focusing in on the remarkable Everglades!
TIDES
Before beginning, I made sure to cover what tides are since coastal marshes are affected by them. We watched the following video first:
To illustrate this easily I decided to show a time-lapse video of Mont Saint Michel, which is such an incredibly cool place to visit if you never have! My son thought this was VERY cool!
MARSHES vs. SWAMPS
To introduce marshes and swamps we went to a tried and true staple in the world of informational books for children: Gail Gibbons! Her book, Marshes and Swamps, was a great way to compare and contrast marshes and swamps and dives into some specifics about mangroves, which we explored more in depth later.
As we read, my son filled out this chart I created to compare marshes and swamps:
We then did this picture sort to visually see the differences between swamps and marshes. I just printed off pictures of each from the internet for the sort. You can get the lettering for the poster from the link above.
I have made both the comparison chart and the lettering for the sort chart available for FREE in my TpT store. Click HERE or on the picture below to grab it!
THE EVERGLADES
After learning about marshes and swamps, we moved onto the Everglades! We began by watching this video first as an introduction and the one below as a virtual field trip:
We then read Getting to Know Our Planet: Florida Everglades, by Vicky Franchino, which I got from our local library. It was just the right amount of text to reinforce what we watched. As we read, we filled in this bubble map, which I got from White’s Workship on Teachers Pay Teachers.
MANGROVES
After seeing mangroves in the videos of the Everglades and reading briefly about them, we decided to dive even deeper into these incredible trees. I truly didn’t know a lot about them going into this, so I learned just as much as my son! Learning about these trees will make you remember how incredible this planet is and how important it is for us to take care of it. Mangroves are truly fascinating plants from the way they root above the waterline in order to get enough oxygen to how their seeds germinate while still attached to the tree, we were both left with a great appreciation for this beautiful plant.
We started off by watching this great video that explains more about how they form:
We then watched this one starting at 2:56 mainly for the demonstration in it that shows how the mangrove forests can protect the shores from ocean surges. The rest of the video was a little above my son’s level at times, but the demo was great!
We then finished our lesson by reading The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry (she also wrote The Great Kapok Tree), and I’m SO glad we did because it really reinforces just how important these trees are. It also mentions the effects of hurricanes on the mangroves, which we did a unit on a couple of weeks ago. Beautifully written and illustrated!
I always try to find local ways to reinforce what we are learning about, and I couldn’t believe that there is a marsh with a walkable boardwalk path over it very near us! I was hoping to get there with the kids before making this blog post go live, but it’s just been too chilly or rainy or we’ve had things going on. But, I have it on the list to visit in the (warmer) future!
Happy Teaching! Pin it to save!
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