MOTIVATION:  Review the vocabulary words from the previous lesson, especially what abiotic
    means.  Have children brainstorm about what each of these factors are from looking at pictures
    and accessing the website:
   http://www.richmond.edu/~ed344/webunits/biomes 

PROCEDURE:
    1.  Have students fill in the database, listing the abiotic factors for each biome.

SAMPLE DATABASE:
 

BIOME NAME	ILLUSTRATION	ABIOTIC FACTORS
TUNDRA		Frozen ground, long, cold, dark winters, short cool summers, little rainfall.
TAIGA		Long. cold winters, short, cool summers, moderate rainfall
TEMPERATE FOREST		Cold winters, warm summers, moderate rainfall
GRASSLAND		Very cold winters, very hot and dry summers, moderate to light rainfall.
RAIN FOREST		Hot, humid, rainy.  Constant temperatures.
DESERT		Hot, dry days, cold nights, little to no rainfall.
OCEAN		Varying temperatures depending on currents and latitude.

ACTIVITIES:
    1.  Students fill in the database, using the above web site, or Encarta OnLine Encyclopedia at
http://encarta.msn.com
    2.  Students may search for information using http://www.yahooligans.com or another search engine/directory geared toward younger readers.

FOLLOW-UP:
    1.  This lesson will lead into lesson 4:   "Where are the earth's biomes located?"
    2.  Students can use the data on average yearly temperature for each biome and create a graph comparing the temperatures of the various biomes.