Sonoran Desert Unit Part 1

We are currently doing a Sonoran Desert Unit for our a home school science and social studies project.  I chose to introduce this to her because she is becoming aware of habitats through a great educational show on PBS called Wild Kratts.  I figured we would start with where we live.  Here's what we have been up to...

1. Introduced her to the Sonoran Desert

We read a book called Dr. Bird to the Rescue by DJ Smith.  This book is great because it not only introduces one of the most iconic plants and many animals of the Sonoran Desert, but also because it addresses helping out others even if they are different.

We talked about plants that are in our neighborhood that occur naturally in the Sonoran Desert and spot them around town.

We watched a video from the Desert Botanical Gardens called What is a Desert.  You can sign up to access their teacher materials as a homeschooler. Once you are signed up you can access this link http://www.dbg.org/education-programs/digital-learning/for-teachers/digital-learning-kindergarten
The video shows where the desert is located, shows pictures, identifies three main characteristics of the desert as dry, less than ten inches of rain a year, and hot.

2.  We took field trips

First we went to the Verde River with friends to hang out for a few hours.  We actually saw wild horses and even a bald eagle!  That day we talked about what we observed around us: what do you hear, what do you see, what animals and plants are here?  The night before I found informative coloring pages about plants and animals from Pima County at http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/kids/color/sdkColor.html
They have a fun Sonoran Desert Kids section.   We looked at the coloring pages to see if we could identify any plants and animals at the river. We also collected rocks, sticks, ect. to use for classification and sorting later in our unit.

Next we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens.  At this point she can identify cactus and plants like saguaro, barrel, prickly pear, mesquite trees, and agave.  The Spring Butterfly Exhibit in Marshall garden Pavilion was open so we could also discuss the life phases of the butterfly.  We learned about more plants and their uses.  They had education stations set up around the gardens.  We also did the field trip unit for kindergarten available on their website Inquiry in the Garden Stage 1 http://www.dbg.org/system/files/137/original/kinder-teacher-guide-inquiry1.pdf?1285197551
This unit introduces the three parts of plants and their purposes.  It focuses on comparing the saguaro, agave, and mesquite tree.  It was cool to do this before going because one station had dried saguaro wood and another had different items made from agave fibers.  We brought home to seed pods from two different trees we found on the ground to compare for later in our unit.

I also plan on taking:
Boyce Thompson Arboretum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyce_Thompson_Arboretum_State_Park
To ride the Dolly Steamboat at  Canyon Lake http://www.dollysteamboat.com/

3. Products of the desert

First we are going to explore foods.  You can buy prickly pear strawberry lemonade at our local Fresh N Easy grocery store.  I also bought prickly pear jelly, licorice, chocolate cordials at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  There are also other products like honeys, breads, flours, teas, salsa, sauces, and more. As well as some edible cactus.  We might get really adventurous and try rattlesnake!

We are also going to look at other products that can be made from the desert plants like furniture and walking sticks.

4.  We are going to organize and review data we've collected, our observations, sort and graph our nature walk collectibles.  We are going to make a poster with pictures of plants in our neighborhood that are naturally occurring in the Sonoran Desert.  We are going to make graphs from our collected items and compare and discuss what we have collected.  For example, we have one seed pod that is larger and darker in color than the other. I will ask her what makes these two items similar and different.  Are they from the same tree?

Concluding Part 1
We are also going to visit the local interest shelf in the kids section at Barnes and Noble which carries gems like The Three Little Javalinas.  We are also doing art projects which I will share at the end of our unit. We will share the knowledge we've learned in a presentation to friends and family.

After completing part 1 we will do part 2 of our unit which is about weather and geological features of the desert and part 3 which is about the people of the desert which will include Native tribes, farmers/ranchers, and cowboys/caballeros.