Topic: Soils

Target group

Students of the 4th grade of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

4th grade

VI. The natural environment of the nearest area. The student:

1) identifies the components of animate and inanimate nature in the nearest school area.

The general aim of education

The students identify soil components and describe the importance of soil organisms.

Criteria of success

• describe what soil is;

• examine the fertility of soils;

• name the role of earthworms as soil organisms;

• determine the composition of soil.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue; 

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence; 

• learning to learn; 

• social and civic competences.

Methods / forms of work

Conversation, work with text, and laboratory method.

Individual work and work in groups.

Teaching aids

• abstract;

• interactive or traditional board;

• tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Before lesson

The teacher divides the students into groups. Each group brings several soil samples collected from various places and put in the described plastic containers with screw caps, 2 large jars, a sieve with large mesh, a foil with several holes to cover the bottles, 5 live earthworms in a separate container, a few leaves of fruit trees, half a liter of sand and garden soil, dark paper, rubber bands.

Introduction

The teacher gives the topic and the goals of the lesson in a language understandable for the student, and the criteria of success.

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students to become familiar with the text in the abstract and explain what soil is.

2. The teacher hands out to the student groups cards regarding Observation 1 that the teacher had previously prepared: Soil fertility. Additionally, the students determine the smell, colour and mass of the same amount of soil measured with, for example, a glass.

3. After completing the tests, the teacher asks each group to present the results of the observations on the class forum.

4. The teacher asks the students to carry out Observation 2 in the same groups. The meaning of earthworms for soil. At the end of the observation, each group wraps the jars with dark paper, fixing it to the jars with a rubber band, and setting the jars in a quiet place. After a week, the students make observations.

5. The teacher asks the students to watch a film and explain what the type of soil depends on.

6. The teacher asks the students to perform an interactive exercise No.3 by themselves.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students to perform interactive exercises No. 1 and 2 by themselves.

2. The teacher asks the students to finish one selected sentence:

I want to tell you that ...

It was difficult for me to ...

I have learnt that ...

I have found out that ...

I did not like…

I liked the most ...

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Soils

Soil is an approximately two‑metre‑thick layer consisting of rock particles, air, water, remains of dead organisms, as well as living plants, animals and fungi. It is hard to find a border between its components as they interpenetrate each other. Soil contains water and nutrients used by various soil organisms that live in it and at the same time co‑create it. Most plants use soil to anchor their roots and to extract water, air and other substances present in it. Many animals dig their burrows in soil. Soil is also used by people to grow plants for their own needs. Several layers may be distinguished in soil:

• On the surface there are non‑decomposed remains of plants and animals;

• below there is humus created as a result of decomposition of plant and animal remains;

• deeper than that there is the eluvial layer from which various substances are being washed away by permeating rainwater;

• on the bottom there is the bedrock, i.e. the rock from which soil was formed.

Soil fertility, i.e. the content of substances necessary for organisms to grow and develop, depends on many factors. The most important of those factors are: humus content, humidity, temperature and amount of air contained in the soil. Fertile soil has a lot of humus. Substances it contains are necessary for plants to develop. Between soil lumps there is space filled with air and water and used by plants and other soil organisms.

Why do you have to keep working on your garden (fertilise it, break up the soil), while in the forest or in a meadow everything happens without any intervention? There are thousands of organisms that inhabit and constantly co‑create soil.

Soil animals include, for example earthworms. I am sure you know them: they have narrow, long bodies divided up into segments. They do not have any legs - they move about by shrinking and extending their bodies. They live in soil and feed on plant remains. By drilling tunnels in the soil they break it up and enable water and air to penetrate even the deepest layers. This is how earthworms and other soil organisms co‑create soil.

• The soil consists of crumbs of rocks, air, water and plants, animals, fungi and their dead debris.

• Soil organisms, including earthworms, have a significant influence on the formation and development of soils.

• There are various types of soils in Poland, including podzolic, brown, loess, mady and chernozem.