Procedure

1. Introduce the concept of community. Teachers can engage students by showing them a picture of a jungle or a desert. Ask students to name all of the plants and animals that might use each environment as a habitat. Explain that because these plants and animals live together in the same environment they are known as a community (like people living in the same town belong to a community). Explain that a community is made up of all of the living things (plants and animals) in an environment. Explain that the things that are not living in an environment (water, air, rock) affect which plants and animals live there.
2. Introduce the concept of ecosystems. Ask students to list some of the nonliving things in a jungle or desert. Explain that an ecosystem is made up of all of the members of a community (all of the plants and animals) plus all of the nonliving things (or physical factors) in their environment. Ensure that students know what the difference is between a community and an ecosystem.
3. Advise students that they are about to receive a special card. Tell students that most of the cards represent things that can be found in one of South Carolina's regions. Tell them that their job will be to use the clues on their cards to figure out:
• what South Carolina region they belong in and
• which ecosystem within that region they belong

Younger students can be given additional clues at the beginning of the class, if needed. For example, you can place blown up copies of the region cards (ocean, coastal plain and mountains) in three separate locations around the classroom and introduce the characteristics of each region to begin the activity OR students could be told that they will receive cards representing things that can be found in either the Mountains in a mountain stream, in the Coastal Plain in a blackwater swamp or in the Ocean on a rocky reef. This type of introduction, however, may limit student interactions and discussions at the onset of the activity. As the teacher, you will need to decide what level of scaffolding will work for your class.
4. Tell students that three of them will receive a South Carolina region card and that three of them will receive a South Carolina ecosystem card. Once all of the cards are handed out, this group of six students should first determine which ecosystem is found in each region. All of the other students in the class will need to rely on the information provided on that group of six students' clue cards to determine in which region and ecosystem they belong.
5. Hand out one card to each student in the classroom from a set of 36. Three cards describe major South Carolina regions (Mountains, Coastal Plain and Ocean). Three cards describe one ecosystem located in each of the regions listed above (mountain stream, blackwater swamp and rocky reef, respectively). Eighteen cards describe a plant or an animal. Twelve cards describe an abiotic factor. They are grouped as shown below:

Mountain	Coastal Plain	Ocean
Mountain Stream	Blackwater Swamp	Rocky Reef
Black belly salamander	Cypress Tree	Phytoplankton
Blackbanded darter	Red-bellied water snake	Queen angelfish
Canadian hemlock	Great Blue heron	Green sea turtle
Wood frog	American alligator	Cannonball jellyfish
Cucumber tree	Bluespotted sunfish	Spider crab
Bog turtle	Yellow-bellied slider	Black sea bass
Air	Air	Air
Sun	Sun	Sun
Water	Water	Water
Rock	Rock	Rock

6. Ensure that the following cards are given to students first: the Coastal Plain, the blackwater swamp, the Mountains, the mountain stream, the Ocean and the rocky reef. Once those cards have been distributed it is best to distribute an even mix of the community members (the plants and animals) and nonliving things (sun, water, rock, air) that comprise the blackwater swamp, rocky reef and mountain stream ecosystems. All cards do not need to be used.
7. Ask students to read their cards, talk to their classmates and organize themselves into three distinct ecosystems according to their cards.
8. Once students have broken themselves into three distinct groups, ask students to read the contents of their card to the rest of the class, and explain why they are a part of their particular ecosystem.
9. Ask students to raise their card in the air if they hold a South Carolina region card. Only the Mountains, Coastal Plain and Ocean cards should be raised.
10. Ask students to raise their card in the air if they hold a South Carolina ecosystem card. Only the mountain stream, blackwater swamp and rocky reef cards should be raised.
11. Ask students to raise their cards in the air if they hold a card that pictures a member of a community. Check to see if only students with plant or animal clue cards raise their hand.
    1. Optional: Ask students in each group to work together to determine which community members are producers and which community members are consumers.
12. Ask students to raise their cards in the air if they hold a card that pictures a member of an ecosystem. Check to see if students with plant, animal, rock, sun, air and water cards raise their hands.
    1. Optional: Ask students in each group to work together to explain ways ecosystem members are dependant on one another.