"HABITATS"

PROJECT GOAL:

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

• SCIENCE

  1. The students will observe a square meter area outside the school. They will classify "living, non-living, and once living" things. Then they will observe the environment around their square meters. Discussion of how living and non living things interact.
     Lesson 122
     Lesson 196
  2. The students will set up model environments in two liter bottles: desert, grassland, forest, and pond.
     Lesson 57
     Lesson 22
  3. Children will turn environments into ecosystems by adding plants, animals, earthworms, and water. Children will make and record observations over the couse of this project - - do animals (snails, sow bugs, worms) survive? do they make homes? where do they go? what do they eat?
  4. Children will examine the contents of an owl pellet as part of their study of food webs and food chains.
     Lesson 19
     Lesson 54
  5. Children will grow mold on bread as part of their study of decomposers. They will also bury organic garbage in plastic bags -- sealed and with holes - - to dig up and observe later. Children will observe their bottle environments for evidence of decomposers.
  6. Children will observe Priestly experiment (glass jar over a candle) to demonstrate that plants and animals each take in and release gases from the atmosphere.
  7. Children will use the Internet to find information on how ecosystems recover from natural disasters - - fire, flood, hurricane.
     Earthwatch
  8. Children will use the Internet to find the effects of humans on the environment. eg. Use maps to graph the decline of forests.
  9. Individually, or in teams, the children will select an animal to research using the library and the Internet. They will design a natural habitat that will meet the animal's needs. The plan may be a diagram, a three dimensional model, or a written description.

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• READING

  1. Books on animals will be available for reading during Readers' Workshop.
  2. Teachers of older children will read aloud at least one of Jean George's eco-mysteries: Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo, Who Really Killed Cock Robin, and Fire Bug Connection. Children will use the Internet to research some of her animal facts. Other books which may be useful Keepers of the Earth and Keepers of the Animals.
  3. Children will read and discuss fables checking animal facts on the Internet or in printed text. Older children will share the fables with the younger children.
     Fables
  4. Children will subscribe to The Environment Express, a collection of children's art and writing about the environment.

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• WRITING

  1. After reading Fables the older children will write original fables - - with correct animal facts -- to share with younger children and to publish on the Internet.
     Lesson 23
  2. After a field trip to the zoo, children will write poems about the animals.
     Lesson 59.
  3. Older children will pair with younger children to produce a Big Book of Animals illustrated by younger children.
     Lesson 32
     Go to Science - animal coverings and butterflies.

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• MATH

  1. Children will design surveys about local animals to post on the Internet for replies. They will graph results.

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• GAMES

  1. Oh Deer
  2. Survival of the Fittest
  3. Animal Round Game

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• E-MAIL

  1. Using Classroom Connect children will use "Classroom Web" to find key-pals to discuss and share information about animals in their local environments. (An example is the Quaker Hill School in Australia qhill@ozemail.com.au)
  2. Children may request e-mail from other classes through the IECC List Serve. The address is iecc-request@stolaf.edu. The message is subscribe iecc

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• FIELD TRIPS

  1. Ponderosa - - a local resource - - to see a pond ecosystem.
  2. Norman Bird Sanctuary to observe field, forest, pond, and ridge ecosystems.
  3. Roger Williams Park Zoo to observe animals.

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• USE OF THE INTERNET

  1. Individual research on animals using search features, eg.) elephant habitat
  2. Research natural disasters and their effects on ecosystems, eg. Mt. Helens, Hurricanes.
  3. Research Biosphere
  4. Research Penicillin
  5. Tree people-Calif Conservation Project - Lipkis
  6. Zoos and Museums - - some possible sites:
     Science Museums and Exhibits
     Sea World
     Mill Mountain Zoo, Roanoke, VA USA
     Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
     Roger WIlliams Zoo

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• SOCIAL STUDIES

  Children will use maps to locate the natural habitats of animals using cartography sites we haven't explored yet.

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• ART

  Children will design a bulletin board world map indicating where in the world animals are located.

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• TEACHER RESOURCES

  Teachers may subscribe to newsletter on aquaculture, hydroponocs, and aquaponics at ZLNQ31A@prodigy.com
  
  

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  OTHER COOL LINKS THAT OFFER GREAT PLACES TO BEGIN

  • North Carolina Zoo
  • Kids' Action: Rainforest Animals
  • Zoo
  • Zoo Atlanta Home Page
  • NetVet/Electronic Zoo Animal Information & Archives Home Page
  • The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Zoos;
  • Looking For Wildlife
  • Australian Endangered Species
  • Yahoo - Recreation:Animals, Insects, and Pets
  • Animals - Vertebrates
  • Animals Project
  • Electronic Zoo
  • ZooNet
  • Perspectives of the Smithsonian: Mammals
  • Rainforest Mammals
  • Big Cats Info Page

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  AUTHORS:
  • Carol Belair ride0819@ride.ri.net Wilbur - Little Compton, Rhode Island all subjects (also EBEC K.I.T.E.S.)

  • Carole Donahue ride1226@ride.ri. net Wilbur and McMahon - Little Compton, Rhode Island language, reading, math, science, social studies K

  • with special help from Diane Morris dmm@uriacc.uri.edu Bristol/Warren special ed. resource (K-3 buildings) K-3

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