Basis for a lesson on natural resources, those things from nature that we need to survive, pitched at about the 3rd or 4th grade level.

1. Natural Resources
3rd / 4th Grades
Moira Whitehouse PhD

2. Like dinosaurs, if humans
don’t meet their needs
they also will become
extinct

3. So what do humans, like us-- you and me--
need to survive? What must we have in
order to continue living?
We are not talking about your dog or cat, or
your computer games or cell phone.
We are talking about those really important
things you must have if you are to continue
living (things that would cause you to die if
you didn’t have them).

4. Let’s think of some of those things. First,
pinch your nose tightly and try holding your
breath as long as you can.
What happens? How long could
you stay alive without breathing?
So, what then is one of
the things in nature we
need to survive?
Yes, oxygen --without the oxygen
in air we would quickly die.

5. •The air around us has
many different gases
including oxygen and
carbon dioxide.
•We need some of that
oxygen from the air in order
to survive (live).
•Plants need carbon dioxide from the air to
make their food. (Important because the
energy stored in plants comes to us as food
through the food chain.)

6. This is an animation that
http://www.dillpickletheater.com/cj/flash_gall helps explain the exchange
ery/web_pages/gas.htm of gases that takes place
between plants and animals.
So air is one of those “things” that we must
have in order to live and... air is part of:

7. Nature
Nature
Nature

8. Now think about running around outside at
recess when it is very hot. What Is
something you need as soon as you come
inside?

9. Yes, water is another thing we need to survive.
Most of all
we need it to
drink.
A reasonably fit human could
be expected to live only 3 to 5
days without water.

10. Although we could
perhaps live without
these, we also need
water to clean our
clothes, our bodies
and our homes.

11. And guess
what, just like
us.... plants
cannot live
without water.
(Remember without
plants, no food).
Water is part of

12. Nature
Nature
Nature

13. Something else we may
notice at school just
before lunch time, is
that we are
hungry.
Along with oxygen
and water, humans
need to have food.
It seems that most humans can survive up to
30-40 days without any food, so long as they
have air and enough water to drink.

14. So there are at least three things that we
must have to survive, air, water and food.
So far we discovered that air and water
come from nature, but what about food?
Maybe we know that food comes from the
store, but where did it come from before it
got to the store?
Food for thought?

15. Let’s think about where all
the stuff we eat comes
from?

16. Where does milk
come from?
Yes, from a
cow.

17. Where do eggs
come from?
Yes,
chickens lay
them.

18. What about the different meats we find
at the store?
Where do they come from?

19. sausage
sausage
pork chop
All these meats come from a pig
bacon

20. hamburger
All these meats (beef) come from a cow
meat loaf
beef
enchilada
beef
taco

21. chicken tenders
fried chicken
chicken Chicken soup
echilladas
All these meats come from a chicken

22. What about flour tortillas and bread?
Where do they come from?

23. Flour tortillas
and most bread
is made with
flour which is
made from
ground up
kernels of
wheat.

24. Ground up kernels of wheat.
Kernels of wheat
or wheat seeds
wheat
wheat

25. What about our cereals?
Where do they come from?

26. From a corn plant

27. From a plant called rice

28. From a plant called oats
Oat seeds

29. Wheat seeds
From a plant called wheat

30. What about pasta such as spaghetti and
macaroni—what are they made of?
Main ingredients?
Flour (wheat) and
eggs (chickens).

31. What about that food
we all love—sugar?
Where does it come
from?
A plant called sugar cane

32. As you can see, our bread, pasta and cereals
all come from
plants .
We also eat many plant parts such as the
fruits and vegetables seen in these pictures.

33. So, where does our food come from?

34. Our food comes from these natural sources:
Yes, from plants and animals and they are all part of

35. Nature
Nature
Nature

36. We also need something to cover our
bodies to protect ourselves from the cold
and the sun.
So what about our clothes?
Where does the material our clothes are
made of come from?

37. Most jeans are
made out of

38. Many socks we
wear are made
of

39. Many of
our T shirts
are made
out of

40. What is cotton?
Cotton is a plant that grows all over the world
including Texas.

41. Harvesting
cotton
Cotton plant
Raw bales of cotton
Field of cotton Bale of cotton

42. Raw cotton can be changed into cotton
thread which is then woven into cotton fabric
and made into clothing.
Raw cotton to cotton thread

43. People who live in cold
climates often wear
wool socks, sweaters
and coats.

44. Wool comes from sheep.
Man
shearing
Sheep sheep
A shorn
sheep Sheep wool

45. Raw wool can be changed into wool yarn
which is used to knit wool clothes.

46. Many of our
shirts,
jackets,
socks and
shorts are
made out of
polyester or
nylon.

47. Polyester or nylon clothes are made from
crude oil.
crude oil Crude oil is a yellowish black
liquid found underground. It
gives off a very strong smell or
odor.

48. Crude oil can be changed into polyester
thread which is then used to make clothes.

49. What is Crude Oil and How was it Formed?
Animal and plant remains are a large part of oil.
The animals and plants lived in oceans 300-400
million years ago. As these remains were covered
by mud, heat and pressure helped to change these
remains into crude oil.

50. Sometimes our clothes are not pure
cotton, pure wool or pure polyester or
nylon.
Like these socks
which are made
up of 80% cotton
threads and 20%
polyester thread.

51. Some of our
clothes may be
made our of all
(100%) cotton.
Some of our
clothes may be
made our of all
(100%) polyester.
Some are made of
some polyester or
nylon and some
cotton or some
polyester or nylon
and wool.

52. So what have we learned here????

53. Cotton clothes
come from
Wool clothes
come from Sheep
Polyester and Which comes from
nylon clothes the remains of
Crude dead plants and
come from oil
animals.

54. Our clothes come from either living or
dead plants and animals which are part of
Nature
Nature
Nature

55. Something else we couldn’t survive
without is soil.
Why is soil necessary to our survival?

56. We need soil to grow plants
Without soil we would not have the plants we
need for food or the animals which eat these
plants. And like all those other things, soil
comes from:

57. Nature
Nature
Nature

58. Because all these things we need to
survive come from
Nature
We call them natural resources.
Natural resources are those things in
nature man needs to survive.