HGA | Gaw00


Endangered Animals
Mary Frances Higuchi
August 2000


Purpose: Stewardship for the land and wildlife has been our tradition. We don't want to see different species become extinct. We need to continue to save those that have been threatened and those that are endangered. To ensure the quality of life, we need to help students become stewards of the land. Awareness is the first step.

This unit is geared toward the K-5 student. It is written in stages and teachers have the flexibility of using the different parts to meet the needs of their students.

Primary Question: How can we ensure the quality of life?

Secondary Questions: Where are the endangered species located? When is a specie threatened, endangered, or extinct? Why do we need to save the endangered species?

National Geographic Standards: The geographically informed person knows and understands:
3. How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface
8. The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface.
14. How human actions modify the physical environment.

Hawaii Content and Performance Standards:
1. Students use geographic representations to organize, analyze, and present information on people, places, and environments.
*(K-3) Read and make geographic representations to locate and describe locations, distances, and directions and scale.
*(4-5) Collect, organize, and analyze data to interpret and construct geographic representations.
3. Students understand how physical processes shape Earth's surface, and create, sustain, and modify the ecosystems.
*(K-3) Give simple explanations of earth's physical systems, physical features, and ecosystems.
*(4-5) Explain how physical processes affect formation and distribution of climates, natural resources, and ecosystems.
5. Students demonstrate stewardship of earth's resources through the understanding of society and the physical environment.
*(K-3) Explain how people depend on, adapt to, and modify the physical environment in their community, and demonstrate stewardship of a local environment.
*(4-5) Analyze the consequences of human modification of the physical environment in Hawaii, the United States, and other parts of the world, and implement a plan of action to address the consequences.


Geographic Skills: Throughout the lesson students will:
Ask geographic questions
Acquire geographic information
Organize geographic information
Analyze geographic information
Answer geographic questions

Objectives: Depending on the age, students will be able to:



Materials Needed:

Vocabulary:

Assessment:
Part A. Check if students are able to put the picture of the animal on the world map. How well do they know the continents where these animals live? How well are the students able to use the map as a tool to organize information? How well are students able to generalize between the habitat descriptions and the locations of the habitats?
Part B: Have students write definitions, or draw a picture for the words: threatened, endangered, and extinct. How well can they distinguish them? Give students several examples of HIPPO. How well can they apply what they've learned?
Part C: Check students' visual essays. How well do they address why they should save the endangered species and what they are going to do to ensure the quality of life. How well do their examples illustrate ways in which the physical environment should not be stressed by human activities.

Procedure:
Part A: Where are the endangered species located?
  1. Read the book Earthsong to students. Discuss what the animals are, where they live, and the added descriptions of the place. Have them locate each place on the large world map. Depending on students' experiences, have them locate the country and continent. If you have picture cards of the animals in the book, have students place them on the map. Discuss any patterns of information that appears on the map.
  2. Discuss the difference between habitat and ecosystem. Have students look at the pictures and describe the animals' habitat or ecosystem. (For younger students, it may be easier to just introduce them to habitat.) Have them discuss the different habitats with the locations on the map. Have them generalize their findings.
  3. Other activities that you can do with the book.
    1. Verbs - Dramatize the verbs so students understand the meaning of the words.
    2. Verbs - Have students practice the present and past tense of the verbs. If cards are available, have students match the present tense with the past tense.
    3. Use cards to learn the vocabulary and word recognition of the places, verbs, and descriptions. If you run them off on three different colors, students can match the place, verb, and description.
    4. Sing the words to the tune that is on the back cover. The book is based on Sally Rogers' popular song "Over in the endangered Meadow." Suggestion: Play and tape the music for students to sing with. Pass out different word cards or pictures to students. As they sing the song, have them raise the card or picture. Pictures of the animals can also be made into stick puppets. Or have students dramatize the story.


Part B: What is the difference between a threatened specie and an endangered specie? And, when does it become extinct?
  1. Discuss threatened, endangered, and extinct. Discuss how a specie becomes endangered. Discuss the Endangered Species Act of 1973
    http://endangered.fws.gov/esa.html
  2. Introduce The HIPPO Dilemma (Stands for the five major problems threatening the Earth's biodiversity: Habitat Loss, Introduced species, Pollution, Population growth, Over-consumption). Many of these problems are interrelated. A few examples can be used from the Student Atlas of Hawaii by James O. Juvik, Thomas R. Paradise, and Sonia p. Juvik.
    1. For younger students, read the Big Book, Animals in Danger. Apply the HIPPO Dilemma. Discuss how the animals in in the book became endangered. Students should be able to apply HIPPO. Use a graphic organizer to chart out and organize data.
    2. For older students, they can research different animals and plants. Or, use the examples from the book, There's Still Time by Mark Galan. Have students complete the graphic organizer. They will find out the animal's name, where it lived, what caused it to be endangered (HIPPO), how they were saved, and the status of the animal at this time.

  3. Have students analyze their findings of tell the reasons why the animals are endangered.


Part C: Why save the endangered species?
  1. If available, have students read "Hawaii's Wetlands" by Hawaii Nature Focus. This reading describes how human activities threaten the wetlands, increasing awareness of wetland values, losing wetlands means losing wildlife, endangered birds of Hawaii's wetlands, loss of wetlands today, and the outlook for conservation of wetlands improves thru greater public awareness. Students can also find other readings that answer how endangered species can be saved. Have them read and develop reasons for saving the endangered species. (Possible reasons: Protecting the endangered species helps protect a healthy environment. Protecting endangered species and biodiversity saves species that are important sources for drugs, foods, etc. Endangered species serve as warnings for pollution and environmental concerns. Endangered species are linked the the quality of the environment. If our environment is healthy, the quality of life is better.)
  2. Have students create a poster by illustrating how a healthy environment for wildlife contributes to a healthy environment for people. They should show how endangered species are linked to the quality of the environment. Students should include examples, charts, maps, and short explanations to add to their visual essay. Based on all of their findings, students should state what they are going to do to ensure the quality of life.
  3. Students should share their posters with an audience beyond their classroom. Have the audience provide feedback.


Resources:
"Windows on the Wild WOW!" A Biodiversity Primer World Wildlife Fund. Acorn Naturalists 1-800-422-8886. #EE-5661 $3.00. (The HIPPO Dilemma included in this issue.)

Online Links:

© August 2000 Hawaii Geographic Alliance. All rights reserved.