What Is the "Wheel" Identity of This Plant? - Students use an identification wheel to help them recognize prairie plants.

Seed Olympics - Using a variety of materials, the students will develop a seed dispersal device. The travel of the seed will be measured by distance and accuracy.

Prairies Have A Lot of Gall . . . - Students will search and count goldenrod galls in an area of the prairie. A count will be taken. The students will then predict how many goldenrod plants with galls will be found in a larger prairie area by extrapolating. This is best done in the fall or winter.

Prairie Plants Change - Through seasonal visits to the prairie students will observe and record the various changes that prairie plants go through each season.

Outstanding Oaks - A Living History - This activity will reinforce the idea that an oak tree is a living history. It will also show students how to use the technique of cross-dating to determine the age of a tree.

Prairie Artistry - Students look for elements of design on the prairie and create an art work emphasizing one of these elements.

Pretty Prairie - During a walk on the prairie, students will collect a variety of interesting prairie objects that they will use to make a prairie picture using sunlight to make a sun print.

Prairie Poetry - Students will experience a walk on the prairie and use their observations as the inspiration for a poem to be written in one of the forms presented by the teacher.

Myth Making - Students will observe constellations (or cloud formations) and interpret them into their own myths.

Dream Weavers - Students listen to the story of the dream catcher, then design a dream catcher of their own, making an adapted version in clay.

Prairie Smoke - Students listen to legends about prairie plants and then create stories of their own based on observations of characteristics of the plants.

Bison / Elk Department Store - The students will study the importance of bison and elk to the prairie ecosystem and human inhabitants through: (1) observation of their use and impact on the prairie, (2) study of related literature and (3) knowledge gained and experiences with construction of useful items from bison and elk contributions (elements).

As The Wheel Turns - While walking in the prairie, the students will keep track of how far they have traveled by using a trundle wheel.

Prairie Playtime - Students will work in small groups to create games using the resources available on the prairie. They will share the games with the rest of the group.

So, You Want to be a Prairie Partner - Through an interview session with a Neal Smith NWR biologist, students will become aware of the various job responsibilities and the importance of the National Wildlife Refuge in relationship to restoration and preservation of habitats with emphasis on prairie.

Food Web - Students will look for signs of animal and plant life on the prairie. They will then construct food chains or webs with those species.

There Goes the Neighborhood - A new species is introduced into the prairie ecosystem. Students determine whether or not that species would be able to survive and/or adapt, as well as the effect it could have on native species.

Curious About Clouds - Students will use their knowledge of the various types of clouds to construct a cloud diagram. They will also use their knowledge of clouds to forecast weather and infer how different types of weather effected pioneers, Indians, and animals on the prairie.

Soil Profiles - Students will take soil probes in a variety of locations, measure and observe the horizon coloration and texture differences of each probe.

Wet and Wild at Walnut Creek - This activity allows students to investigate the life in a pond with hands-on netting and identification of aquatic life. The students will determine how these animals fit into a food web.

Water-Logged - Your class will soon be taking a field trip to study the watershed of a small prairie lake, pond, or stream. On your field trip you will be measuring certain chemical aspects of the water to determine if the water is polluted or pure. These are: (1) the oxygen dissolved in the water, (2) the pH of the water and (3) the temperature of the water.

Down the Stream - This activity leads students to calculate stream flow and to speculate how it might affect life downstream.

Biodiversity on de cline - Each student will make a simple clinometer to be used to determine if various elevations are related to specific forms of prairie life.

Gold Dust - Participants will become aware of sources of pollen, its different sizes, shapes and colors and will note how pollen is transferred. They will view various structures of pollen transporters.

The Write Stuff - Students will practice field observations and record keeping.

Patterns on the Prairie - Through a walk on the prairie, students will develop an awareness of patterns found in various prairie plants. They will investigate and record observations as they look for patterns in nature.

Prairie Birds - Sights and Songs - Students will tour the refuge observing birds. They will practice bird watching techniques (binocular skills, visual and sound identification, behavior and habitat associations). NOTE: Early morning is best for this activity.

Signs of Life - This activity allows students to see the signs made by animals on the prairie that may not be active at the time of their visit. These animals can then be categorized into habitat types and classified by the diet they eat.

Web Weaving - Students will locate and observe spiders, their webs and feeding habits in a prairie setting.

Home is Where You Hang Your Habitat - Students become another animal and search for their ideal habitat.

Prairie Pantry - Actions of prairie critters will be observed and related to food chains. The interactions of food chains will show the interconnectedness of prairie animals.

Mapping the Prairie - Students will map a study site of the prairie and will become familiar with using and reading map symbols.

Come and Live in the Beautiful Prairie - After reading or hearing selected readings about prairie, and taking a guided hike through the prairie, the students will use writing skills, art, role play, or group discussion to imagine a little of what the pioneers experienced in traveling across the Iowa prairies.

I Can Make the Difference - Prairie participants will actively participate in a stewardship project.

Prairie Rock Art - Students will use rocks or hammers to pound leaf stains into pieces of cotton fabric.

Prairie Scavengers - The students will participate in a scavenger hunt in which they will be placing colored flags along the trail where they have found actual objects or processes naturally occurring in nature.

Border Disputes - Students will explore the prairie and investigate the environmental factors that affect and determine community. They will look for differences in plant and animal communities where different environmental factors exist.

Succession Procession - A hike along a prairie savanna trail will provide participants the opportunity to observe successional changes.

Burning Questions - Participants will recognize some of the effects of fire on the prairie. They will explore the vegetation, wildlife and soil of burned and non-burned areas.

Deadly Prairie Links - Participants simulate a food chain where human interference through use of pesticides affects the continuation of the food chain. High physical involvement.

Prairie Ramble - Participants will have the opportunity to observe the prairie from a variety of perspectives and note inter-relationships of plants and animals.

Starlight, Starbright: Estimating Star Brightness - This activity will allow students to observe the stars of the big dipper and notice that each has a different brightness or magnitude, enabling them to make more detailed observations of stars and notice subtle differences in their brightness.

How Many Stars? - Students take a star census using a mathematical estimating method. Most of them will be surprised to discover that there are fewer stars visible than they think!

Shooting the Moon - Students use binoculars and their unaided eyes to complete a simple map of the moon.

Sky Watching - Students learn how to use the SKY CALENDAR published by the Abrams Planetarium in Michigan to observe the night sky. Students will then keep a journal or diary of their observations when they return home.

Sky Lights - Students will learn how to use a planisphere (star wheel) to learn which stars and constellations are visible in the night sky on any night of the year and at any time at night. By using the star wheel, students will become familiar with the bright stars and common constellations in the sky.

Profiles of Soil - Using exposed areas along creek beds, hillsides or a soil pit (or the remains of a soil probe test), students will determine the physical characteristics of soil in a given area [prairie (remnant or restored), disturbed area, savanna or woodlot].

Splish Splash - Students observe erosive effects of artificial rain (falling water) upon soil of various sites: prairie remnants/restored, woodlot/savanna, disturbed/ag land.

Plants Lunch - Students collect topsoil and /or subsoil and analyze soil samples from disturbed, prairie (remnant and / or restored), and savanna or woodlot.

Estimating Soil Erosion - Students will travel to specific spots on the refuge (row crop, prairie, etc.) And collect data such as slope length and gradient. They will then return to a computer to calculate soil erosion using the Jasper county soil survey report and the Universal Soil Loss Equation.

Walnut Creek Stream Quality - Creatures of the Creek - Data about the following physical features will be gathered: color, turbidity, width, depth, velocity, and temperature. Investigators will collect organisms from Walnut Creek and identify the aquatic life to determine the condition of the creek using the types of organisms found as an indication of the quality of the water.

Transect Search - A look at vegetative groups found within a range of selected sites: prairie (remnant / restored), savanna, woodlot or disturbed / ag land.

Tree Core Samples - Comparison of trees found in a savanna, creek bottom or near an old homestead.

Wildflower Identification - Students observe seasonal wildflowers of the Refuge. The wildflowers found will indicate the quality and quantity of life and the diversity of habitats.

Bur Oak Nursery Seeding - Students will collect bur oak acorns near their home or the oak savanna prairie and plant them in a raised bed tree seedling nursery. As follow-up stewardship activity, students may be able to transplant seedlings from the nursery to an oak savanna prairie area on the Refuge.

Propagation and Research in Outdoor Nurseries - Students will have the opportunity to practice identification of prairie seeds, seedlings, and mature dried plant specimens. In addition, they will be able to propagate prairie seeds in a greenhouse. The major activity will involve students designing an outdoor research nursery bed (6' x 30') experimenting with cover crops, planting density, soil types, spring versus fall seeding, mulching, depth, fertilizer rates, seeding dates, etc., as they work to establish prairie by direct seed planting, greenhouse transplanting, and transplanting starts from established prairies found within or outside the Refuge.

Prairie Seed Germination Experiments - Students will propagate native prairie plants, processing the seeds by four methods to determine which method is the most successful.

Who Lives There? - Organisms are identified in a soil community through observation of several soil samples from different plant communities.

Catch-and-Release Insects - Students observe insect groups found within various plant communities.

Grazing and Insect Population Research - Students will carry out grazing research using American Bison herd enclosure and exclosure areas to calculate grazing area needs and the effects of grazing on insect populations.

Bluebird Nesting Box Trail Management - This activity will give students the opportunity to design a bluebird nesting trail, select sites in which to place bluebird nest boxes, mount the boxes, collect and enter data on each individually coded nest box for entry into a computer database, and to learn more about the behavior and management of the Eastern Bluebird. The best time for this activity would be from March 1 to the end of October. Early sunrise and after sunset would be the best time of day to conduct this activity, though any time during the day will be rewarding.

Life on the 1800's Iowa Prairie - Through reading personal and other accounts and visiting the Prairie Learning Center, students compose a journal or a diary that could have been written by a young person in Iowa in the 1800's.

Comparing Prairie and Savanna Communities - Part A: Students will perform a survey of a prairie reconstruction area that is in the early stages of succession (or development into a stable ecosystem) - young prairie and old prairie. Part B: Students conduct two transects on a well established prairie - upland and lowland. Part C: Students conduct two transects through a savanna area.

Seasonal Changes on the Prairie - A Visual Account - Students will use photography or video-taping skills to illustrate the changing images of a natural habitat at different times of the year. They will use the Prairie Learning Center to discover the main characteristics of their particular habitat.

Pop Bottle Pots (Target Grades 3-6) The students will plant various prairie species in 2 liter plastic bottles (one species per bottle) early in the fall. These plants will grow during the year, giving students the opportunity to observe the above and below ground growth of the plants. In the spring, the students will visit the Refuge or other natural area and plant their plants.

Endangered Prairie Animals (Target Grades K-5) This activity should take place before or after a visit to the prairie. Students will become familiar with animals of the tallgrass prairie which are endangered or extinct at this time. Through discussion and activities, students will share their knowledge with others to arouse awareness of the importance of these animals.

Traveling Trunks (Target Grades K-5) Use this activity pre-prairie and post-prairie. Or, parts of the activity could be used in the Visitor Center with objects available here. Through this activity, students will be able to visualize the hardships experienced by pioneer children and be able to make choices regarding items needed to make a cross-prairie trip.

Human Prairie Homes (Target Grades 2-6) Students will design a dwelling which would be at home on the prairie. They will study the attributes of the prairie and make their designs in harmony with those attributes.

Blowing in the Wind (Target Grades 2-6) The students will construct and fly kites on the prairie.

Draw Me a Prairie (Target Grades 2-6) While listening to the description of the prairie in the Little House on the Prairie, the students will draw a picture of what they are hearing.

Stewardship is for Everyone! (Target Grades K-6) The students will search out the needs of their school, community, and area and take action to make their world a little better. They will then be ready to continue that action by using the Stewardship Board at the Refuge.

At Home in the Savanna (Target Grades 4-6) By constructing a bulletin board of the layers in a woodland or savanna, the students will learn about the interrelationships of plants and animals of wooded areas. Students will research a particular species to be included on the bulletin board and share this information with the rest of the class.

2, 4, 6, 8 . . . What do they Regurgitate? (Target Grades 6-9) Students will explore owl pellets to recognize interdependence in ecological systems and create a method for comparing similarities and differences.

What is Important? (Target Grades 6-9) Students will discuss and evaluate the needs of wildlife versus human wants and needs. They will research, interview, and in other ways collect information which helps them decide whether the human needs or the wildlife needs take precedence over the other.

You Be the Judge (Target Grades 6-10) Students will use this post-field trip activity to compile the overall information that was learned on the field trip. By using data and information from the field trip, students will write a management report to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, evaluating all or part of the resources at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

Environmental Valuing (Target Grades 6-9) This post-field trip activity helps students to think and react to how they feel about environmental problems and about what they can do about these problems as individuals, or as a class. By the use of environmental cartoons, students will write appropriate captions with environmental themes.

To Restore or Not to Restore . . . (Target Grades 6-9) In this simulation, students will have the opportunity to explore and understand varying points of view on land use.

Whence the Watershed? (Target Grades 6-9) One way to study a problem of land use and conservation is to look at all of the land in a watershed. To protect the water and soil, all of the land in the watershed must have good conservation and land use practices on it. This pre-visit activity helps students understand that.

Make Your Own Dip or Plankton Net (Target Grades 9-12) Using some very simple materials, students will construct a net to collect aquatic invertebrates or plankton.

Make Your Own Secchi Disk (Target Grades 9-12) Using some very simple materials, students will construct a secchi disk to determine the turbidity (suspended solids) of the water.

Measuring Dissolved Oxygen (Target Grades 9-12) Students will practice using dissolved oxygen test kits, using tap water, an aquarium plant, and a small goldfish.

Water Analysis - So What Does It Mean? (Target Grades 9-12) During this post-activity the students analyze the data collected during the water testing activities at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge by comparing their data with information in the Water Quality Factors Reference Unit, available from Hach Chemical Company. They present an oral report about some aspect of this comparison.

Scarify, Stratify, Germini (Target Grades 8-12) Students harvest prairie grass seed in the fall from local road ditches or other known locations, strip and store the seed, cold or hot stratify the seed, and propagate seed in a school greenhouse or under grow lights. They will be able to identify plants of the prairie and collect seeds from these remnants in a local ecotype.

Trees of the Prairie (Target Grades 8-12) Students will identify deciduous trees in the fall using a tree key.

A Weed Feed (Target Grades 9-12) As a follow-up to a visit to the Refuge, students create a variety of salads from some of the plants pulled form the prairie in their stewardship activities.

Eastern Bluebird Nest Box Construction and Placement (Target Grades 8-12) Students will assemble Peterson bluebird nesting structures and place them properly to help develop a bluebird nesting trail at a class adopted site.

Farmers and the Prairie (Target Grades 8-12) As a competition, students are asked to develop a list or bring products from home to school that are made from crops and livestock and in another category, those derived from prairies of today or the past. Emphasis will be placed on how society has called on farmers to plow the sod and grow crops and livestock for a rapidly growing nation.

Adopt-an-Acre (Target Grades 8-12) This activity is designed to have students (a class or youth group) organize and adoÑ a plot of land to manage as a prairie reconstruction or restoration in cooperation with other conservation groups or agencies.

Seasonal Changes on the Prairie (Target Grades 9-12) After students have recorded the seasonal changes of habitats at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, they will share their new knowledge of prairie and their artistic views of the prairie by organizing a presentation, and inviting members of the school community to view their work.

Estimating Carrying Capacity (Target Grades 9-12) Students will estimate carrying capacities and current populations of wildlife species on the Refuge with a biologist.