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English variety

Field study: exploring a habitat and writing down what you find

Around age 7 · Usually taught in ⁨Year 2⁩ · Free

Aprende

  1. A field study is going out to a place in nature to see which living things are there. It can be the garden, a park or the bank of the canal. The place where a living thing lives is its habitat. There is a habitat under a stone too.

    Before you go out, get ready. Always go with an adult and say where you are going. Take a field notebook, a pencil and a magnifying glass. Choose a small patch of the place, so that you can look at it calmly.

    notebookpencilmagnifier
    What I take into the field

  2. Look carefully. Living things are not toys. Do not grab them, do not tread on them and do not take them away. If something stings or bites, look without touching. Do not taste mushrooms or fruits. If you lift a stone, put it back as it was afterwards.

    I liftthe stoneI lookand countI putit back
    I look under a stone and put it back as it was

  3. Write down what you find: which living things and how many of each. Make a tally mark for each one. If you see none, write 0: that is data too. Write down the place and the date. Write what you see, not what you imagine.

    antsearthwormssnails
    One tally mark for each living thing

  4. If you do not know what a minibeast is called, draw it and write “I do not know what it is”. Then look it up in a minibeast guide or ask an adult. Do not make up a name. When you have finished, wash your hands.

Worked examples

Ejemplo 1

Gus and Julie lift a stone in Ellie’s garden. Underneath there are 3 ants, 1 earthworm and 2 snails. How do they write it down?

  1. They count how many there are of each kind.
  2. They make a tally mark for each one in a table, with the place and the date.
  3. They put the stone back as it was.

They write down 3 ants, 1 earthworm and 2 snails, and put the stone back in its place.

¡Ojo! Many children count an ant that is moving twice.

Common mistake

Ejemplo 2

Tony sees a minibeast he does not know by the canal. It does not keep still. What does he do?

  1. He looks at it with the magnifying glass, without touching it.
  2. He draws it and writes “I do not know what it is”, with the date.
  3. Then he looks it up in a minibeast guide.

Tony draws the minibeast and writes “I do not know what it is”. He does not give it a made-up name.

¡Ojo! Many children make up a name to finish sooner.

Common mistake

Ejemplo 3

Julie finds a very pretty snail under a leaf. She wants to take it home. What does she do?

  1. She looks at it and draws it there, where it is.
  2. She counts how many there are and writes it down.
  3. She leaves the snail and the leaf as they were.

Julie leaves the snail where it is.

¡Ojo! Many children take the minibeast, but in its habitat it has everything it needs.

Common mistake

Un reto para pensar

With an adult, choose a small patch of a yard, a park or a garden. Look for ten minutes and write down which living things there are and how many of each. Draw one of them. Leave everything as it was and do not take anything away.

Practica

Rondas de 10 preguntas. Elige el nivel:

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