| Curriculum Notebook - Grades 4-9 | ||||||||||||||||
Interpretive Stops
1. Along Aptos Creek
Additional Information |
Habitat Lap Sit
Grades 4-9 Students will:
1. Identify the components of a habitat
2. Recognize how humans and other animals depend upon habitat
3. Interpret the significance of loss or change in habitat in terms of people and wildlife.
People and animals share basic needs. The environment in which an animal lives is called "habitat." An animal's habitat includes food, water, shelter, and adequate space in an arrangement appropriate to the animal's needs. If any of these components of habitat are missing or are affected significantly so that the arrangement for the individual animal or population of animals is no longer suitable, there will be an impact. The impact will not necessarily be catastrophic, but can be. There are a great many additional limiting factors beyond those of suitable food, water, shelter, and space. For example, disease, predation, pollution, accidents, and climatic conditions are among other factors which can have impact. None. Instructions: 20 minutes
Use the Pourroy's Picnic Area, Stop No. 16., to do this activity. 1. Ask students to number off from one to four. All the ones go to one corner of the leveled out area. The twos to another, threes, and so forth. 2. Clear a space in the center. Each group should stand together: All the ones, twos, etc. 3. Assign each group the following basic habitat needs: ones = food, twos = water, threes = shelter, fours = space. 4. Form a circle. This is done by building the circle in chains of food, water, shelter, and space. A student from each of the four groups walks toward the cleared area. The four students stand next to each other, facing toward the center. Four more students -- one from each group -- join the circle. Keep adding to the circle in sets of four until all the students are in the circle. 5. Students should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the center of the circle. 6. Ask students to turn toward their right, at the same time taking one step toward the center of the circle. They should be standing close together, with each student looking at the back of the head of the student in front of him or her. 7. Don't panic--this will work! Ask everyone to listen carefully. Everyone should place their hands on the waist of the person in front of them. At the count of three, you want the students to sit down...on the knees of the person behind them, keeping their own knees together to support the person in front of them. You then say, "Food, water, shelter, and space -- in the proper arrangement, are what is needed to have a suitable (good) habitat." 8. The students at this point may either fall or sit down. When their laughter has subsided, talk with them about the necessary components of suitable habitat for people and wildlife. 9. After students understand the major point -- that food, water, shelter, and space are necessary for any animal's survival, and in their appropriate arrangement comprise a suitable habitat -- let the students try the circle activity again! This time ask them to hold their lap sit posture. As the students "lap-sit" -- still representing food, water, shelter, and space in their appropriate arrangement -- identify a student who represents "water." Then say, "It is a drought year. The water supply is reduced by the drought conditions." At this point, have the student who was identified as representing "water" remove himself or herself from the lap-sit circle -- and watch the circle collapse, or at least suffer some disruption in arrangement. You could try this in several ways -- removing one or more students from the circle. Conditions could vary: pollution or water supply, urban sprawl limiting availability of all components, soil erosion impacting food and water supplies, etc. Since animals' habitat needs depend upon food, water, shelter, and space, in their appropriate arrangement, "removal" of any will have an impact. 10. Ask the students to talk about what this activity means to them. Ask the students to summarize the main ideas they have learned. These could include 1) food, water, shelter, and space, in their appropriate arrangement, can be called habitat b) humans and other animals depend upon habitat c) loss of any of these elements of habitat will have impact on the animals living there and d) the components of habitat must be in an arrangement suitable to the needs of the individual animals or populations of animals in order for the animals to survive. Modified from Project Wild
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Objectives
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