Powerpoint and script for fall Nature Studies
Wrap-up slide in our show about seed distribution. We used a blank version of this strategy-by-habitat grid, for students to glue down their own seed collections. It’s a great way to look for patterns. For example, check out how many old-growth understory plants are distributed in animal guts.
When I started the Nature Studies program at Harborview Elementary in the late 1980s, my master teachers-&-mentors wanted to get right outside in September and October, to immerse their 3rd, 4th & 5th graders in saturated forest, meadow and wetlands, before snow covered everything. Plants may not be looking their best at that time; many, in fact, are limp and drooling. But this is the perfect time to think about seeds and their dispersal strategies.
I love asking kids about seed (and spore) distribution because it invokes so many connections to other branches of nature studies. Here are some good ways to do that. Graphics created back in the analog days, with pen and film.
● a 20 MB powerpoint with embedded presenters’ notes 
● a script for the above, with slide thumbnails, titled How do seeds travel? 2 MB pdf 
