Ten-Minute Field Trips. A Teacher's Guide to Using the Schoolgrounds for Environmental Studies. Second Edition.

This book has been written to help teachers learn with their students and discover the advantages of using their own school ground for field trips. Since every school ground is different and since all field trips should be a part of classroom experiences, this book can only suggest possibilities that the teacher can select and adapt as a starting point. Each subject is introduced with a page or two of background information on the general topic. Next, some related classroom activities are suggested as a reminder that field trips need an introduction and and a follow-up in the classroom. There is also a section on teacher preparation. A cross-referenced listing of field trips for hard-topped school grounds is given at the back of the book. There is also a listing of trips that can be taken on completely hard-topped school grounds with plantings only in concrete cracks and broken concrete areas. An annotated list of supplementary materials includes books, recordings, project materials, guides, and sources of supplies. Reading levels, as well as the subjects for which each material can be used, are also indicated. Topics include trees, leaf coloration, buds, seeds, grasses, dandelions, vertebrate animals, birds, animal tracks, insects and other arthropods, earthworms, characteristics of living things, requirements for life, microhabitats, population explosion, succession, physical and chemical change, sound, heat and light, geology, weather and climate, solar system, and ecology. (KR)