What are 10 common invasive weeds in the local area?
Learning Outcomes:
- Students can name and identify 10 common invasive weeds in the local area.
- Students can draw and label the main identifying characteristics of at least one of these invasive weeds.
Resources Required:
- GO WEED Cards - make up laminated sets.
- Weed Match-Up Cards - make laminated sets.
- Mind Map example (model for your own local mind map)
- Pest Plant Fact Sheets from the Department of Conservation or your Regional Council
- Weed Collection instructions
Activities:
The following games could be played as a whole class or in small groups. Resource 4 could be on hand for extra information if required. Have fun!
- GO WEED game (based on Memory). Place the GO WEED cards face down in the middle of your group. Turn two cards up and show everyone.
Put the cards back down in the same place if they do not match! Next person takes two cards and tries to make a pair of the same weed e.g. Wild Ginger. The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins!
- WEED MATCH UP
Match up the weed pictures with their correct descriptions. Read the descriptions carefully!
Extend yourself and play like GO WEED, making pairs with the picture and description cards.
Match up Challenge: Challenge your friends or have a team competition using the description cards. Each card has five clues on it. Beside each clue is a number that translates to points. Elect one person to be the caller! The caller selects a description card and reads out the first clue. If a team guesses the name of the weed on clue number 1 they get five points and another card is selected. If no one gets the clue the caller reads out the second clue worth four points, then the third clue worth three points until a team gets the correct weed. The team or person with the most points wins!
Weed Charades: Use both the picture and description cards to act out what a weed would 'look' like. Complete the warm up first to get a feel for how these weeds move. Warm Up! Move around the class acting out the following words: arching, prickly, climbing, smother, droopy, ragged, spiky, creeping.
- Create a mind map of the 10 common invasive weeds in your region. Combine your art and word-smart skills together to map out where these weeds are found and what their main characteristics are. Check out the mind map example and teaching methods section for ideas!
- Art Attack - Create a pencil sketch of one of the 10 common invasive weeds with its identifying characteristics. Develop your sketch to create a crayon and dye or pastel artwork. Display your artworks! You may be able to use them as part of an action project later in the unit.
- Weed Collection - make a collection of dried specimens of local invasive weeds.
Extra Activities:
What Weed Am I? Write the names of the 10 common invasive weeds on individual sticky labels (you may have to do two sets!) Stick one name onto each student's back. The aim of the game is to find out which weed you are by asking only Yes/No questions e.g. Am I a spiky weed? Do I smother plants?
Students will need to be familiar with the descriptions of the weeds! Challenge them to guess their name in less than 10 questions.
Reflection:
Have you seen any of these weeds in your local area?
Do any of the common invasive weeds have the same characteristics?
Add any new ideas to your class Pool of Knowledge.
Teachers' Notes:
The 10 common invasive weeds in this activity are part of a large list that regional council Pest Plant Officers manage and help landowners control. They are not necessarily the greatest threats to the environment but are all invasive and are relatively easy to find.
To find out the names of 10 common invasive weeds that occur in your school's neighbourhood, contact your regional or local council.
Using this information and the Go Weed cards and Weed Match Up cards for Bay of Plenty as models, an able team of students could create a local set of Go Weeds and Weed Match Up cards. Some of the cards will be the same.
-What are 10 common invasive weeds in the local area? doc
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