1. A Sense of Place on your school site! Garden Earth Naturalists Moving Toward Action!

2. Every creature, whether it is a tiny bacteria that lives in the soil or an elephant that lives in the grasslands of Africa, has a place that is just right – that is its home and it’s also a place where the creature receives just what it needs to survive. Scientists call this place it’s niche.

3. And when a creature is in its niche, it is somehow connected to everything else.

4. Let’s think about some creatures who live on our school site. Penny Plant is one of those creatures!

5. Let’s draw a story about Penny Plant’s home. Get out some paper and a pencil or crayons! Every time you see a * you should draw something in Penny Plant’s Place.

6. Penny Plant wanted to have her very own Place in the world. She liked being by herself. But she was smart enough to know that she needed some things if she was to grow. So, into her Place, Penny Plant brought some sun*, and a small raincloud*. Draw a sun and small raincloud.

7. And she brought air, and water She also needed minerals. “Oops!” she said. “Where will I get them? I think I need some soil!” She needed soil, too, for her roots to stretch and grow. (Draw a line* across the picture to separate the air and ground)

8. Put extra soil* around Penny’s roots.) Now, Penny’s Place had sun, air, water, minerals, and soil.

9. Penny began to grow. “Oops!” she said. “I’m too hot. I’m drying out!” Penny Plant needed shade. So, to her Place, she added a shade tree*.

10. One day, a pretty flower poked out of her leaves. “Oops,” she said after awhile. “Something is wrong! My flower is producing pollen. But I have to get pollen from other flowers. I need more flowers just like me. And I need some pollen carriers.”

11. So Penny added some more things to her Place. Now Penny’s Place had sun, air, water, minerals, soil, a shade tree, and more flowers* like her.

12. She also added some bees* to carry pollen. Oops! Penny’s problems were growing. The bees had a large family and they needed a place to live. They needed many, many flowers. Some of these flowers wanted shade trees too.

13. So Penny got to work until her Place had sun, air, water, minerals, soil, lots of flowers*, another shade trees*, with a hole in it* for a bee house.

14. Penny’s flowers were fading, leaving sticky brown seeds. “Oops!” said Penny. “How am I to get the sticky seeds from my stems to some good soil?” She needed a furry carrier. So, to the sun, air, water, minerals, soil, shade trees, flowers, bees, a hole in a tree for a bee hive, she added a fox.*

15. and mice* to eat

16. and a stream for water.*

17. Oops! Penny’s problems were growing. The bees had a large family and they needed a place to live. They needed many, many flowers. Some of these flowers wanted shade trees too. So Penny got to work until her Place had sun, air, water, minerals, soil, lots of flowers*, more shade trees*,

18. The fox needed a tree-root den* in a thicket with lots of plants. It needed rabbits* and a stream for water.* So, Penny’s Place soon had not only sun, air, water, minerals, soil, shade trees, flowers, bees, stumps, and a fox, but a fox den, rabbits and mice, and a stream. STOP!

19. Is your picture getting too crowded? Indeed, Penny’s place is becoming a HABITAT for many plants and animals. And more will be needed!

20. Did you notice that to meet her needs, Penny has not only built a habitat but put together and ECOSYSTEM? A ECOSYSTEM is the life-supporting web that develops among the living and non- living parts (like air and sun) of an environment.

21. Let’s play a Game to see how the parts work together and are interconnected!

22. Did you know that in an ecosystem, each plant and animal is part of its habitat and plays a role in providing ECO-SERVICES. Each member (including us) of an ecosystem depends on these eco-services to survive.

23. Read on to discover what the eco-services are in Penny’s Forest.

24. Some of the important eco-services provided in Penny Plant’s Forest are described below. But, part of each name is missing. Unscramble the words that describe each Eco-service in Penny Plant’s Forest Ecosystem

25. RIA ANCLINEG _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Eco-service All the plants in Penny’s Forest work together to clean the air. Tiny openings (stomates) on the bottom of each leaf filter the air. Natural ecosystems also have plant species that help keep water clean.

26. OFDO _ _ _ _ Production Eco-service Plants and some animals serve as food for the residents. For example, caterpillars munch leaves and birds gulp down caterpillars. Squirrels gather acorns and foxes hunt plant-eating rabbits.

27. LOIS _ _ _ _ Production and Maintenance Eco-service The trees, grasses, and broad-leafed plants like Penny help to hold soil in place. They protect soil from erosion, that is, being blown off by winds or washed away by rain.

28. TESP _ _ _ _ and Disease Control Eco- service Crowds of plant eaters are not good! So, many animals help to keep down their numbers. Birds gobble up plant-eating insects. Owls, foxes, and others make sure there are not too many seed-eating mice. And ladybugs eat aphids that consume many plants

29. Let’s say this is Penny Plant ecosystem. How many ‘Penny Plants’ are in this picture?

30. Let’s look at some changes that are taking place!

31. What’s changed? How many ‘Penny Plants’ are left?

32. Now what’s changed? How many Penny Plants are left now?

34. Which Place was better for Penny plant? Is our school site a good place for plants and animals to live? What can we change on our school site to make it a better place for plants and animals?

35. Assemble ECOSERVICES Rubric on wall

36. Activities: School site inventory 1 and 2 Issues cards What can we do to help our school site ecosystem?