Tule Ponds at Tyson Lagoon Field Trip
Reinforces the following
California Science Standards and Next Generation Science Standards for Fourth Grade (Designing Solutions - Constructed Wetlands)

Designing Solutions-Constructed Wetlands (Fourth Grade)  Students learn how engineering and restoration have helped enhance Tule Ponds, our water supply system, and the surrounding city.  They tour constructed and natural wetlands with a focus on engineering solutions used to design Tule Ponds. They use microscopes to look at plankton and monitor the performance of the constructed wetland system.   

The following are activities the students will engage in
1. Reading of “Wetland in the City”
2. Tour of Tule Ponds with a focus on engineering solutions in a wetland
3. Observe the design and function merging the constructed and natural wetlands of Tule Ponds
4. Conclude the current performance of the system
5. Use the microscope to look at plankton

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Standards arranged by Disciplinary Core Ideas.  Codes in parenthesis represent Performance Standards.  For more detailed information visit   http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

FOURTH GRADE
LS1.A:  Structure and Function
Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. (4-LS1-1)

ESS2.E:  Biogeology
Living things affect the physical characteristics of their regions. (4-ESS2-1)

Ca Science Standards

Life Sciences
2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.
b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.
c. Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.
3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter.
d. Students know that most microorganisms do not cause disease and that many are beneficial.

Earth Sciences
4. The properties of rocks and minerals reflect the processes that formed them. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation (the rock cycle).
5. Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape Earth's land surface. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know some changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
b. Students know natural processes, including freezing and thawing and the growth of roots, cause rocks to break down into smaller pieces.
c. Students know moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places (weathering, transport, and deposition).